Alternatives

Roundups where we are not the answer

An alternatives page written by a vendor usually puts the vendor first. These do not. Each one carries the incumbent’s real published rate card, names who every option genuinely suits, and places Plotbook wherever it honestly belongs, which so far is last.

How these are written

Four rules, and the reason for each

  1. 01

    Every price is quoted, never estimated

    Figures come from a vendor's own published pricing page with the date it was read, or they do not appear. Where a vendor publishes no rate card, the page says that instead of guessing a range, because an invented price about a named competitor is a legal exposure and not just a quality problem.

  2. 02

    Every option names its own limits

    Including ours, and in the same amount of detail. An entry with strengths and no drawbacks is an advertisement, and a reader who has already been oversold by one vendor will spot it immediately.

  3. 03

    Plotbook is ranked where it belongs

    Which for a property-sourcing incumbent means below several competitors, because on that job several competitors are better. Each page prints its own rank and the reasoning, so you can hold us to it.

  4. 04

    Staying put is a valid recommendation

    Most people looking for an alternative have a pricing problem rather than a product problem, and the honest answer is often a smaller plan on the tool they already know. Each page says when to stay.

Published roundups

One, so far

These take a long time to write properly and go stale quickly, because each one carries several vendors’ pricing. We would rather publish one that is right than six that are filler.

Looking for one to one

13 direct comparisons

A roundup surveys a market. A comparison argues one product against one other in depth, and every one of ours carries a required section on what the competitor does better. If you have already narrowed it to two, start there instead.

All comparisons

The fastest way to judge this is on ground you know

Every claim on these pages is checkable in an afternoon against a market you already understand. Start with a street you could describe from memory.

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