Knowing what competitors charge is the fastest way to price your own product sensibly. When the pricing page is public, that takes minutes. When it says “Contact sales” or “Request a quote”, it takes more work. This guide covers both, with the public sources that reveal prices competitors do not publish.
When the price is public
Most software and many consumer businesses publish prices. Collect them properly the first time and you will not need to redo the work:
- Record every plan, not just the cheapest. The spread from entry plan to top plan tells you who the company is really selling to.
- Note the pricing unit. Per user, per location, per order, per month, per year. Two prices are only comparable in the same unit.
- Check monthly and annual. Many companies show the annual price divided by twelve by default, because annual billing is discounted. Record both, or you will compare one company's monthly price with another's annual one.
- Read the limits. The cap on users, projects or volume decides which plan a real customer ends up on.
- Add to cart where you can. For e-commerce, shipping, taxes and fees at checkout change the real price.
When the price is hidden: eight sources
“Contact sales” usually means the price depends on the customer's size, or the company wants a conversation first. It rarely means the price is secret. These sources reveal most of it:
- Review sites. G2, Capterra and TrustRadius reviews often mention what the reviewer paid, and G2 has a pricing section for many products. Search reviews for “price”, “expensive” and “per seat”.
- Reddit and communities. Search “[company] pricing reddit”. Buyers post the quotes they received, and often what they negotiated down to.
- Government price lists. Companies that sell to the US federal government often publish prices through GSA schedules, searchable on GSA Advantage and GSA eLibrary. State and city procurement contracts are frequently public records too.
- Marketplace listings. AWS Marketplace, Salesforce AppExchange, the Shopify App Store and Amazon often show prices a company's own site hides.
- The Wayback Machine. Many companies hid their pricing after years of publishing it. Old snapshots of the pricing page show the structure, if not today's numbers.
- Your prospects. Ask buyers who evaluated a competitor what they were quoted. Many will tell you, especially if they chose you.
- Former customers and employees. Public posts and interviews by people who used or sold the product often describe the pricing model.
- Request a quote honestly. Asking for pricing as yourself, for a real use case, is fair. Posing as someone you are not is not, and it can create legal and reputational problems.
What to record
| Field | Example |
|---|---|
| Plan name | Pro |
| Price and unit | $29 per user per month, billed annually |
| Main limits | Up to 10 users, 5 projects |
| Free plan or trial | 14-day trial, no free plan |
| Source and date | Pricing page, September 28 |
| Confidence | Published / from a review / estimated |
The last two fields matter more than they look. A price from a two-year-old review is not a price from today's pricing page, and your analysis should say which is which.
What the numbers tell you
Once you have prices for five to ten competitors, lay them out from cheapest to most expensive and look for:
- Clusters: where most prices sit is what customers expect to pay.
- Gaps: an empty band, such as nothing between $10 and $80, can be a position.
- Units: if everyone charges per user, a flat price can be your difference.
- Free plans: if nobody offers one, a free tier may win the top of the funnel; if everyone does, you probably need one.
The full method for turning this into your own price is in the competitor pricing analysis guide.
Keeping it current
Prices change quietly. A competitor can add a tier or drop a free plan on a Tuesday, and you hear about it weeks later from a lost deal. Re-check pricing pages at least monthly, or monitor them automatically; the guide on monitoring competitor websites shows how.