SaaS & software products competitor analysis
Criteria, weights, features, KPIs and sources for analysing competitors of B2B SaaS, developer tools, vertical software, AI tools, browser extensions.
Software buyers shortlist on review sites, comparison articles and AI assistants, then run trials. Competitors publish most of what matters: pricing pages, changelogs, integrations and docs. That makes SaaS one of the easiest markets to analyse thoroughly.
This template covers product depth, pricing model, ease of use, integrations, go-to-market reach, support and momentum. The pricing module handles per-seat and tiered plans across currencies.
What decides who wins
Score every competitor from 0 to 10 on these criteria. The weights are a starting point; adjust them to what your customers say matters.
| Criterion | Weight | What to look at |
|---|---|---|
| Product depth & fit | 20% | Coverage of core jobs for your ICP |
| Pricing & packaging | 14% | Entry price, value metric, free plan or trial |
| Ease of use & onboarding | 14% | Time to value, UX quality, setup effort |
| Integrations & ecosystem | 12% | Native integrations, API, marketplace |
| Market reach & SEO | 14% | Organic traffic, content, review-site presence |
| Support & reliability | 12% | Support channels, uptime, response time |
| Momentum & funding | 14% | Release velocity, hiring, funding, launches |
Features and offers to compare
Mark each competitor yes, partly or no. Critical items missing from your offer are the first gaps to close.
- Free plan (Important)
- Free trial (Important)
- Public API (Important)
- Native integrations (10+) (Important)
- AI features (Important)
- Role-based permissions (Important)
- SSO / SAML (Nice to have)
- Mobile apps (Nice to have)
- Audit logs (Nice to have)
- Templates library (Nice to have)
- White-label / custom domain (Nice to have)
- SOC 2 / ISO 27001 (Nice to have)
Where to find your competitors
- G2 and Capterra category pages and the 'alternatives' lists for your closest rival
- Google: '[category] software', '[rival] alternatives', '[rival] vs'
- Product Hunt launches in your category
- Your trial signups' 'how did you hear about us' and lost-deal notes
- AI assistants: ask which tools they recommend for your use case
Well-known players in related categories
Larger brands your customers may compare you with. Listed for research only; inclusion does not imply they compete with you.
- CRM software: Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho CRM, Pipedrive, Freshsales, Microsoft Dynamics 365, monday sales CRM, Close
- Project & work management: Asana, monday.com, ClickUp, Trello, Notion, Jira, Wrike, Basecamp
- Email marketing: Mailchimp, Brevo, Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, Kit, MailerLite, Constant Contact, Omnisend
KPIs to benchmark
- Entry paid price per seat per month and the value metric
- Review-site rating and review count (G2, Capterra)
- Estimated organic traffic and top-ranking pages
- Changelog frequency over the last 90 days
- Open roles by department (signals where they invest)
Five Forces snapshot
Typical pressure in this market. Your local situation may differ; rate it in the Five Forces tool.
| Force | Typical level |
|---|---|
| Competitive rivalry | High |
| Threat of new entrants | High |
| Threat of substitutes | Medium |
| Bargaining power of buyers | Medium |
| Bargaining power of suppliers | Low |
Estimating market share
For this industry, website visits are usually the most practical public proxy for share. Use the same source for every business and read the result as a share of the businesses you track. See how to estimate market share and HHI.
Mistakes to avoid
- Building a feature checklist and calling it strategy
- Comparing list prices without the value metric (seats, usage, contacts)
- Ignoring spreadsheets and agencies as substitutes