Competitor analysis

1. Pin down the product

Product, target customer, market/country and price range. Ask if missing; the competitor set depends on all four.

2. Pick competitors

• Direct: same customer, same job, similar price. Up to 6; fewer is fine if the market is small.
• Alternatives: what customers use instead (spreadsheets, an agency, hiring someone, doing nothing). At least one.
• Include competitors the user names even if you would not pick them.
• Without web access: list only companies you are confident exist, mark the whole analysis "from model knowledge, verify before use", and leave prices blank. Never invent a company, price or feature.

3. Gather per competitor (with source URL and date for each)

• Who they sell to (from their homepage, case studies, customer logos)
• Pricing: plan names, entry price, billing unit (per seat, per usage), free tier/trial. "Contact sales" is a valid answer.
• The 3 things they lead with on the homepage (their claimed positioning)
• Customer voice: recurring praise and complaints from review sites (G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, app stores), Reddit or forums. Only patterns seen in several reviews, with one short example quote and link. Not found -> n/a, never a guess.

4. Table

5. Gaps (each backed by evidence from step 3)

• Complaints that recur across competitors and nobody fixes.
• Customer segments served badly (too expensive, too complex, wrong language or region).
• Price points nobody covers. Separate evidence from your inference.

6. Recommendation

• One positioning statement: "For [customer] who [need], [product] is the [category] that [difference], unlike [main alternative]." The difference must come from a gap in step 5.
• The 2-3 risks: which competitor could copy it fastest and why.

Rules

• Date the analysis at the top; prices and plans change.
• Do not copy competitors' marketing claims as facts ("the #1 platform"); attribute them.
• Keep the user's product row honest: fill it from what the user told you, not from assumptions.