# How to Do Competitor Analysis for a SaaS (Free, in One Day) > A one-day, free competitor analysis workflow for a bootstrapped SaaS: find rivals, capture pricing, mine bad reviews, check traffic, then decide what to build. - Canonical: https://zeroraised.com/blog/how-to-do-competitor-analysis-for-a-saas - Published: 2026-11-07T09:37:12Z - Author: ZeroRaised Team (https://zeroraised.com/blog/authors/zeroraised) - Publisher: ZeroRaised (https://zeroraised.com/) - Section: Growth - Tags: competitor-analysis, positioning, pricing, saas **Short answer:** Block one day. List 5 to 8 real competitors, save their homepages and pricing pages (plus pricing history from the Wayback Machine), read their 1 to 3 star reviews, check their traffic with free tool tiers, skim their changelogs and job posts, then fill one feature and pricing matrix and one 2x2 positioning map. Finish by writing three decisions: your positioning line, your price and what you will not build. Every tool limit below was checked on the vendor's own page on 7 Nov 2026. The workflow and advice are ours and are marked as such. ## TL;DR - **You do not need Crayon or Klue.** Neither publishes prices: Crayon says its "pricing is tailored to the needs of your competitive intelligence program" ([Crayon pricing](https://www.crayon.co/pricing)) and Klue's pricing page routes you to a demo ([Klue pricing](https://klue.com/pricing)). - **Morning:** find competitors and capture their positioning and pricing, including old versions via the [Wayback Machine](https://help.archive.org/help/using-the-wayback-machine/). - **Midday:** read their worst reviews. That is where your gaps live. - **Afternoon:** check traffic and keywords with free tiers: Ahrefs free tools, Semrush Free (10 reports per day), Similarweb (3 free searches a day) and Google Trends. - **End of day:** a matrix, a 2x2 map, and three decisions written in plain sentences. **Disclosure:** ZeroRaised publishes this guide and runs a launch site for bootstrapped products. We have no commercial relationship with any tool mentioned and earn nothing if you sign up. The worked example uses a fictional product and fictional competitors, clearly labelled. ## Before you start: what this is for For a bootstrapped SaaS, competitor analysis has one job: better decisions about positioning, price and scope. If you have not yet confirmed anyone wants the product, start with [how to validate a SaaS idea before building](https://zeroraised.com/blog/how-to-validate-a-saas-idea-before-building). Before 9am, create a `competitors/` folder with one subfolder per rival, a file for the matrix (template below) and a timer. Our read: the real risk is not missing a competitor, it is researching for a week and deciding nothing. ## Step 1: Find your real competitors (9:00 to 10:00) Look where your buyers look, not where founders look. - **Google.** Search the problem, not your product category: "how to [job your product does]", "[incumbent] alternative", "[incumbent] vs". The companies buying ads and ranking on those pages are competing for your buyer. - **Review sites.** Browse the relevant category on G2 and Capterra. Note which products show up with many reviews and which show up repeatedly in "alternatives" sections. - **Product Hunt.** Use [search](https://www.producthunt.com/search?q=invoicing) and the [topics](https://www.producthunt.com/topics) list (tags such as Developer Tools or Accounting). Newer competitors show up here before they rank on Google. - **Reddit.** Search niche subreddits for "what do you use for" threads. Whatever people name, spreadsheets included, is your competition. - **Launch directories.** Scan the directories in our list of [where to launch a SaaS](https://zeroraised.com/blog/where-to-launch-a-saas). Indie competitors often appear there first. Write down everything, then cut to 5 to 8. Our read: keep 2 or 3 direct competitors, 1 or 2 incumbents buyers mention, and 1 or 2 non-software alternatives (a spreadsheet, an agency, doing nothing). The non-software alternative is often the one you actually have to beat. ## Step 2: Capture positioning and pricing (10:00 to 11:30) For each competitor, save: - A full-page screenshot of the homepage. Copy the headline and subheadline word for word into your notes. - The pricing page: plan names, prices, the value metric (per seat, per project, per usage), what the free tier or trial includes, and which plan is visually highlighted. - The "for" line. Who do they say it is for? "Teams", "agencies", "enterprises" and "freelancers" each tell you which buyer they gave up on. Then check pricing history. The Internet Archive's help page explains that you enter a URL and press "Browse History" to see a calendar of captures, with blue dots marking successful ones ([Wayback Machine help](https://help.archive.org/help/using-the-wayback-machine/)). Open the pricing page from one and two years ago and note price rises, removed free tiers or new top plans. A competitor that just raised prices or cut its free plan has customers shopping around. Use "Save Page Now" on each current pricing page too, so you have a dated record for next quarter. ## Step 3: Read the 1 to 3 star reviews (11:30 to 13:00) Five-star reviews tell you what the category does well. Low-star reviews tell you where the opening is. Pick each competitor's G2 or Capterra page, app store listing or Chrome Web Store page, and read the 1, 2 and 3 star reviews. Add Reddit complaint threads. Log each complaint in a simple table (the rows below are placeholders, not real data): | Competitor | Complaint (paraphrased) | Type | Count | |---|---|---|---| | Competitor A | Too complex for one person | Fit | 7 | | Competitor A | Price jump between plans | Price | 4 | | Competitor B | Slow support | Service | 5 | Use four types: **Fit** (built for a different buyer), **Price**, **Missing feature** and **Service**. Our read: repeated Fit and Price complaints are the best openings, because big competitors cannot fix them without hurting their main market. A missing feature can be shipped next quarter. Copy the exact phrases customers use. They become your landing page copy. ## Step 4: Check SEO and traffic with free tiers (14:00 to 15:30) You want rough answers to three questions: how big is each competitor, where does its traffic come from, and which search terms does it own? Free tools give you estimates, not facts. Use them for orders of magnitude only. | Tool | Free option (checked 7 Nov 2026) | Use it for | |---|---|---| | [Ahrefs free SEO tools](https://ahrefs.com/free-seo-tools) | Website Traffic Checker for organic traffic estimates on any site; Backlink Checker showing the top 20 backlinks; Keyword Generator; SERP Checker for the top 10 results | Competitor organic traffic, top linking sites, keyword ideas | | [Ahrefs Free (formerly Webmaster Tools)](https://ahrefs.com/webmaster-tools) | Free for your own verified sites only; competitor (unverified) sites need a paid plan | Your own site, once you are live | | [Semrush Free](https://www.semrush.com/prices/) | $0/mo, no card, 1 demo project, 10 reports per day | Domain overview and top keywords for a few competitors | | [Similarweb](https://www.similarweb.com/website/) | Free traffic checker with 3 free searches a day; its [pricing page](https://www.similarweb.com/corp/pricing/) calls free data a "high-level sample" | Rough total traffic and channel mix | | [Google Trends](https://support.google.com/trends/answer/4365533) | Free; scores are scaled 0 to 100 relative to all searches, not absolute volume | Is the brand or problem growing or fading? | - **Ahrefs Webmaster Tools will not show competitors.** Ahrefs' FAQ says subscription plans are what "allow you to analyze competing websites (unverified websites)". Use the separate free tools for rivals. - **Ration Semrush and Similarweb.** Spend Semrush's 10 reports a day on domain overviews of your top 3 to 5 rivals, and Similarweb's 3 searches on the ones you are least sure about. Screenshot everything. - **Google Trends compares, it does not count.** Google says values are "scaled on a range of 0 to 100 based on a topic's proportion to all searches on all topics", and low-volume terms show as 0. Compare brand names over five years to see who is rising. Note which pages bring each rival its search traffic. If it is mostly comparison pages and templates, that is the content that works in your niche; our [SEO guide for bootstrapped startups](https://zeroraised.com/blog/seo-for-bootstrapped-startups) covers how to act on it. ## Step 5: Read changelogs and job posts (15:30 to 16:15) These two pages show where a competitor is heading, not where it is. - **Changelog.** A run of enterprise features in the last six months (SSO, audit logs, admin roles) means they are moving upmarket and leaving small customers behind. A quiet changelog can mean a stalled product. - **Job posts.** Check their careers page and LinkedIn. Enterprise account executives point upmarket; a new integration or platform role points to the next feature area. Note one line per competitor: "Heading toward ___." ## Step 6: Build the matrix and the 2x2 map (16:15 to 17:00) ### Feature and pricing matrix template Copy this into your notes and fill one column per competitor. Keep rows to what buyers actually decide on. ```markdown | | You | Competitor A | Competitor B | Competitor C | Spreadsheet | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | Who it says it is for | | | | | | | Headline (verbatim) | | | | | | | Entry paid price | | | | | | | Value metric | | | | | | | Free tier or trial | | | | | | | Price change in last 2 years (Wayback) | | | | | | | Top 3 low-star complaints | | | | | | | Est. organic traffic (order of magnitude) | | | | | | | Main traffic channel | | | | | | | Heading toward (changelog/jobs) | | | | | | | Key feature 1 | | | | | | | Key feature 2 | | | | | | | Key feature 3 | | | | | | ``` ### 2x2 positioning map Take both axes from the review complaints, not your feature list, for example "for one person vs for teams" and "does one job vs does everything". Place each competitor, then look for an empty quadrant customers are asking for. ``` Does one job well | | For one person ------+------ For teams | | Does everything ``` Our read: if every competitor sits in the same quadrant and the low-star reviews keep saying "too complex" or "too expensive for me", you have found your positioning. ## Step 7: Make three decisions (17:00 to 17:30) Research is only worth something if it changes what you do tomorrow. Write these three down. 1. **Positioning line.** One sentence: "[Product] is the [category] for [specific buyer] who [problem competitors ignore]." Use a customer phrase from Step 3. 2. **Price.** Set your entry price by reference to the matrix: who you are replacing, what they pay, and the price complaints you logged. If everyone charges per seat and buyers complain about seats, a flat price is a positioning move, not just a number. 3. **What not to build.** List three features competitors have that your chosen buyer does not need. This list protects your roadmap more than any feature list. ## Worked example (hypothetical) **Everything in this section is fictional.** The product, competitors and numbers are invented to show the method. They do not describe any real company. "Tallyroom" is a hypothetical booking tool for solo music teachers. The founder spends one day on the workflow: - **Find:** three direct competitors (A, B and C), one general scheduling tool teachers mention on Reddit, and the usual alternative: a paper diary plus bank transfers. - **Pricing:** A and B both say they are "for studios and schools" and price per seat. The Wayback Machine shows B removed its free plan last year. - **Reviews:** A and B's low-star reviews include 11 Fit complaints ("too much for just me") and 6 about paying for unused seats. C's are mostly bugs. - **Traffic and direction:** A gets far more organic traffic, mostly from "lesson schedule template" pages, and its changelog is full of multi-location admin features. It is heading upmarket. - **Map:** A and B sit in "teams, does everything". The "one person, one job" quadrant holds only the paper diary. The three decisions: 1. **Positioning:** "Tallyroom is lesson booking and payments for solo music teachers who don't need studio software." 2. **Price:** one flat monthly plan with no seats, set below what a solo teacher pays for a one-seat studio plan, plus a free trial because B dropped its free tier. 3. **Not building:** multi-location admin, staff payroll and a built-in marketplace. None of these decisions came from a feature checklist. They came from complaints, history and direction. Our read: the most common mistake is copying the leader's feature list, which gives you its complexity and none of its distribution. ## Frequently asked questions ### How do I do competitor analysis for a SaaS with no budget? Spend one day on six steps: list competitors from Google, review sites, Product Hunt, Reddit and launch directories; screenshot their homepages and pricing pages and check pricing history in the Wayback Machine; read their 1 to 3 star reviews; check traffic and keywords with free tiers from Ahrefs, Semrush, Similarweb and Google Trends; skim their changelogs and job posts; then fill a feature and pricing matrix and a 2x2 positioning map and write down three decisions. ### Can I use Ahrefs Webmaster Tools to analyse competitors? No. Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, now called Ahrefs Free, covers websites you verify. Ahrefs says its subscription plans are what let you analyse competing, unverified websites. For competitors, use Ahrefs' separate free tools such as the Website Traffic Checker and the Backlink Checker, which shows the top 20 backlinks. ### What are Semrush's free account limits? Semrush's pricing page lists the Free plan at $0 a month with no credit card, 1 demo project and 10 reports per day across its main tools. That is enough to look up a handful of competitors' domains and keywords in one sitting. ### How many competitors should a SaaS startup analyse? Our read: 5 to 8. Include 2 or 3 direct competitors, 1 or 2 bigger incumbents buyers mention, and 1 or 2 alternatives such as a spreadsheet or an agency. More than that and you will spend the day collecting instead of deciding. ### How often should I redo competitor analysis? Our read: a full pass before launch and before any pricing change, then a 30 minute check each quarter where you revisit pricing pages, changelogs and new low-star reviews. Save Wayback Machine captures of competitor pricing pages so you can compare later. ## Launch where your competitors are not looking Once you know your positioning, put it in front of people. [Submit your product to ZeroRaised](https://zeroraised.com/submit), the launch directory for products built without VC money, and [join the newsletter](https://zeroraised.com/newsletter) for more practical guides on growing without investors. ## Sources - [Crayon pricing](https://www.crayon.co/pricing), last checked 7 Nov 2026 - [Klue pricing](https://klue.com/pricing), last checked 7 Nov 2026 - [Internet Archive: Using the Wayback Machine](https://help.archive.org/help/using-the-wayback-machine/), last checked 7 Nov 2026 - [Product Hunt search](https://www.producthunt.com/search?q=invoicing), last checked 7 Nov 2026 - [Product Hunt topics](https://www.producthunt.com/topics), last checked 7 Nov 2026 - [Ahrefs free SEO tools](https://ahrefs.com/free-seo-tools), last checked 7 Nov 2026 - [Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (Ahrefs Free)](https://ahrefs.com/webmaster-tools), last checked 7 Nov 2026 - [Ahrefs Website Traffic Checker](https://ahrefs.com/traffic-checker), last checked 7 Nov 2026 - [Ahrefs Backlink Checker](https://ahrefs.com/backlink-checker), last checked 7 Nov 2026 - [Semrush pricing](https://www.semrush.com/prices/), last checked 7 Nov 2026 - [Similarweb website traffic checker](https://www.similarweb.com/website/), last checked 7 Nov 2026 - [Similarweb pricing](https://www.similarweb.com/corp/pricing/), last checked 7 Nov 2026 - [Google Trends data FAQ](https://support.google.com/trends/answer/4365533), last checked 7 Nov 2026 ## Frequently asked questions ### How do I do competitor analysis for a SaaS with no budget? Spend one day on six steps: list competitors from Google, review sites, Product Hunt, Reddit and launch directories; screenshot their homepages and pricing pages and check pricing history in the Wayback Machine; read their 1 to 3 star reviews; check traffic and keywords with free tiers from Ahrefs, Semrush, Similarweb and Google Trends; skim their changelogs and job posts; then fill a feature and pricing matrix and a 2x2 positioning map and write down three decisions. ### Can I use Ahrefs Webmaster Tools to analyse competitors? No. Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, now called Ahrefs Free, covers websites you verify. Ahrefs says its subscription plans are what let you analyse competing, unverified websites. For competitors, use Ahrefs' separate free tools such as the Website Traffic Checker and the Backlink Checker, which shows the top 20 backlinks. ### What are Semrush's free account limits? Semrush's pricing page lists the Free plan at $0 a month with no credit card, 1 demo project and 10 reports per day across its main tools. That is enough to look up a handful of competitors' domains and keywords in one sitting. ### How many competitors should a SaaS startup analyse? Our read: 5 to 8. Include 2 or 3 direct competitors, 1 or 2 bigger incumbents buyers mention, and 1 or 2 alternatives such as a spreadsheet or an agency. More than that and you will spend the day collecting instead of deciding. ### How often should I redo competitor analysis? Our read: a full pass before launch and before any pricing change, then a 30 minute check each quarter where you revisit pricing pages, changelogs and new low-star reviews. Save Wayback Machine captures of competitor pricing pages so you can compare later.