How to write competitor landing pages for SaaS
Your competitor may already have a page about you. With a comparison table where you’re losing out on every row.
And buyers aren't the only ones reading it. In G2's 2026 survey, 69% of B2B software buyers said an AI chatbot steered them to a different vendor than planned.
So the comparison happens with or without you, so it sure is better it's built from your words.
Here's how I write competitor and alternative pages for SaaS as a copywriter and brand strategist.
Let's get into it. ⬇️
What is a competitor comparison landing page?
A competitor comparison landing page is a page on your own website that compares your product with one or more named rivals, so a buyer who's close to a decision can see the difference and act on it.
In SaaS, it usually targets searches like "[competitor] alternative" or "[you] vs [competitor]", and its job is to make switching to you feel reasonable, safe and easy to check.
The four types of competitor page
| Page type | Typical URL | The reader | The page's one job |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alternative page "[Competitor] alternative" |
/competitor-alternative |
Has decided to leave a tool, unsure where to land | Be the obvious place to land |
| Alternatives list "[Competitor] alternatives" |
/competitor-alternatives |
Exploring what else is out there | Get you on the shortlist |
| Vs page "[You] vs [Competitor]" |
/compare/you-vs-competitor |
Down to two options | Win the head-to-head |
| Rival vs rival "[A] vs [B]" |
/compare/a-vs-b |
Choosing between two tools, neither of them yours | Offer a third way |
A few rules I like to hold to:
One intent per URL. An alternative page and a vs page answer different questions. If you mash them together, you end up not answering either question well.
Rival vs rival pages need a different angle. If you're a third near-identical tool, you'll look like a gatecrasher. But if you solve the problem a different way, you're a welcome third option.
Start with the singular alternative page. It's the easiest to write well, because the reader has already decided to leave. You don't have to win an argument, you just have to be the best place to go next.
Competitor page vs comparison page vs alternative page?
These terms are used pretty loosely.
"Competitor page" is the umbrella
“Comparison page" usually means a head-to-head (vs)
“Alternative page" is for someone leaving a specific tool
Why are competitor pages important for SaaS in 2026?
In 2026, buyers now weigh their options inside AI chatbots, and comparison searchers convert better than almost any other organic visitor.
Buyers now compare inside AI tools
In G2's survey, 51% of B2B software buyers said they now start research in an AI chatbot more often than in Google, up from 29% in April 2025. The top reason they use one? Comparing vendors' strengths and weaknesses, cited by 41%.
Those AI answers lean on what's published
The same survey found that citations from software review sites were the signal buyers trusted most in an AI answer.
A fair, sourced comparison on your own site gives the model something solid to work with. But a page that claims you win every row is a clearly biased resource that LLMs know not to trust.
And comparison searchers convert
Grow and Convert analysed 95 of their client articles and found that alternatives and competitor keywords had the highest average conversion rate of any keyword type, at 8.43%, against 1% or less for typical top-of-funnel posts.
But before we get too excited: most of those alternative posts converted below 4%, and a handful of stars pulled the average up.
One more thing to keep us humble. Kevin Indig's analysis of 3.7 million AI citations found that 91% appeared in only one of ChatGPT, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews. There's no single AI leaderboard to win, but just being the clearest, most checkable source for this decision, wherever it's being made.
Here’s the practical upshot for your copy:
Your page is now read by two audiences: a human mid-decision, and a machine summarising that decision for someone else.
Both reward the same things: a plain verdict, specific claims, dated facts, honest trade-offs.
Both punish the same thing: a page that's obviously rigged.
What do you need to work out before you write a word?
Before you write a competitor page, work out three things: your argument against this rival, what the switch feels like from the buyer's side, and the words switchers would use.
1. Your argument against this specific competitor
If your competitor page is hard to write, you have a positioning problem.
A competitor page is basically positioning made public against one specific competitor. So you need a clear answer to: why would someone who knows this exact tool pick us instead?
And that answer changes for every competitor. What makes you better than a cheap DIY tool is not what makes you better than an enterprise suite.
Template the layout of your competitor pages, by all means, but never template the argument.
2. Contrast the model, not the features
This is the biggest lever I've found on these pages.
Feature-by-feature fights are a war of attrition. They add a feature, you add a feature, and your page is quickly out of date. But a different model (a different way of solving the problem) is a contrast that holds through time, and gives the whole page a spine.
| Their model | Your model | The page's core argument |
|---|---|---|
| Raw infrastructure you assemble yourself | Finished, managed output | Skip the build. Get the result. |
| A marketplace of third-party tools | One supported product | One schema, one contract, one team to call |
| A suite that does everything | A specialist that does one job well | Built for the job, not the org chart |
| Per-seat pricing | Usage-based or flat pricing | Add the whole team without a new budget line |
| Annual contract, sales-led | Monthly, self-serve | Start today. Leave whenever you like. |
Plausible's comparison with Google Analytics is a masterclass here. It barely plays the feature game. Instead, it argues that GA4 is built around Google's advertising business rather than the needs of website owners, and every section ladders back to that one idea.
3. What the switch feels like from the buyer's side
My tip here: don’t write your comparison page only to make the new product attractive.
People switch when the push of their current problem and the pull of the new solution beat their anxiety about the new choice and the habit of what they already know. Every competitor page has to work on all four:
| Force | What your reader is thinking | What your copy has to do |
|---|---|---|
| Push | Their price went up again. Support takes days. |
Name the reason for leaving, in their words |
| Pull | That's what we actually need. |
One clear, provable difference |
| Anxiety | What if the migration breaks everything? |
Migration help, trials, honest limits, switcher stories |
| Habit | My team knows the old tool. It's… fine. |
Show what carries over and how fast the team's up and running |
4. Your switchers' words
Go and read your competitor's one- to three-star reviews on G2, Capterra and Reddit. Then read your own wins: sales call notes, onboarding calls, "why did you switch?" emails.
Sort what you find into the four forces above. The bluntest, most specific phrases become your hero line, your subheads and your FAQ questions.
If you've run a value proposition workshop or built a messaging pyramid, you already have most of this. A competitor page is that messaging, pointed at one rival.
💡 The one-sentence test: before you draft anything, finish this sentence. "Choose [them] if… Choose us if…" If you can't, you're not ready to write the page.
How do you write an alternative page, section by section?
Your reader has already decided their current tool isn't working. Your job is to be the obvious, safe next step. Here's the structure I use, top to bottom.
1. Hero: name them, and name the reason for leaving
Say the competitor's name in the headline. The reader searched for it; hiding it reads as evasive. Then use the subhead to show you understand why they're looking.
❌ "The modern alternative for growing teams"
✅ "The [Competitor] alternative for teams who've outgrown per-seat pricing"
The second one passes a test I use on every line: could a competitor have written this sentence? If yes, cut it.
2. Validation: acknowledge the problem without sneering
One short paragraph that proves you get it. Keep things specific rather than overly sympathetic.
❌ "We know [Competitor] can be frustrating."
✅ "If you're paying for 40 seats so that six people can build reports, you're not imagining it. That's how per-seat pricing works."
3. Positioning: who you're for, in one paragraph
This section tells the reader who you're built for, so they can recognise themselves before they have to go to the effort of reading more.
Skip the feature list here; features answer "what does it do?", and your reader already knows roughly what a tool in your category does. What they don't know yet is whether you're for them.
So write a fit statement: one short paragraph that names who you're for and what that person needs:
❌ "Tidyfile offers document storage, approval workflows, audit trails, integrations and an API."
✅ "Tidyfile is perfect for finance teams of 5 to 50 who need invoices approved fast, without paying for a seat for everyone who looks at one."
4. Two or three differences with proof
Pick the differences that matter most to someone leaving this specific tool. Put the proof next to the claim: a screenshot, a number, a named customer, a link.
❌ "Easier to use"
✅ "New users build their first dashboard in under ten minutes”
5. Switcher proof
Quotes from customers who moved from this competitor, ideally in the same role as your reader. It’s hugely powerful if you can get a quote with your competitor’s name.
💡 More ideas in 12 ways to add social proof.
6. The switching section
The switching section tells the reader exactly what moving to you involves, so the fear of switching doesn't cancel out everything you've just persuaded them of.
By this point, your reader likes what they see. But liking you isn't the same as being ready to move. In their head, they're running through everything that could go wrong: lost data, broken integrations, a team that refuses to learn a new tool, a month of disruption they'll have to explain to their boss.
If you don't answer those worries, they stay with what they know, because moving feels risky and staying feels safe.
So make the switch feel concrete and small. Spell out:
What moves: data, history, integrations, settings.
Who does it: you, them, or a mix.
How long it takes: in hours or days, not "seamlessly".
How to try before committing: trial terms, or running both tools side by side.
7. One clear next step
The call to action should ask for the one step that matches how people naturally buy from you.
The rule is simple: match the CTA to your sales motion.
Self-serve product (people sign up and pay without talking to anyone): ask them to start a trial or sign up free.
Sales-led product (a person is involved before anyone buys): ask them to book a call or a demo.
A mix of both: pick the one that suits the reader this page is for. A team leaving an enterprise competitor probably wants a call. A small team leaving a cheap tool probably wants to try it themselves.
What you want to avoid is two equal buttons side by side, "Start free trial" next to "Book a demo". It looks generous, but it hands the reader one more decision at the moment you want them to stop deciding. If you must offer a second option, make it a quiet text link, not a second button.
Then make the button say what happens next, and fold in the switching offer from the section above.
❌ "Get started"
✅ "Start your free trial, and run it alongside [Competitor] for 30 days"
✅ "Book a 20-minute call. We'll show you how your [Competitor] data moves over."
How should you talk about a competitor?
State what's true, admit what's true about them too, and let the reader reach the verdict.
Name them. Say the competitor's name. Dancing around it ("other tools", "legacy platforms") reads as nervous.
Say what's true. Specific, checkable facts about how you differ.
Concede what's true. If they're better at something, say so. It costs you a little and buys you a lot of trust.
Let the reader decide. Lay out who each option suits. Don't tell them they'd be foolish to choose the other one.
And keep your voice. A lot of brands sound warm and helpful on their homepage, then turn sharp and sarcastic the moment a rival's name appears.
4 ways to criticise a competitor without sounding petty
Own your bias. Close's HubSpot comparison opens with a card titled "We're biased, not ignorant". It admits the obvious, and the reader relaxes.
Give the competitor a headed section of praise. Plausible has a full section called "What GA4 does better".
Send some readers away. Close also lists the situations where HubSpot is the better choice. The people who self-select out were never going to be happy customers anyway.
Be blunt with facts, never with adjectives. You can absolutely say a competitor charges an onboarding fee. Just say the fee, not that it's outrageous.
There's a fine line between persuasive and manipulative copy, I've written about where that line sits in dark patterns in copy.
What changes when the page is for paid traffic?
A competitor page for paid traffic needs a shorter page, fewer comparison rows, one call to action and a headline that picks up where the ad left off.
Your ad may not be able to say the competitor's name
Google's own policy allows you to bid on a competitor's trademark as a keyword, but a trademark owner can complain about its use in ad text, and Google may then restrict ads that use it. So your ad often has to stay vague ("a simpler alternative", "compare your options") while the landing page does the naming.
Which means the page has a split second to confirm: yes, you're in the right place, and here's why we're different from the tool you just searched for.
Long tables can work against you
On an organic page, a full, fair comparison table builds trust and helps the page rank. On a paid page, I've learned to be ruthless.
A huge feature grid hands a paid visitor dozens of new things to weigh up, and every extra thing to weigh is a reason to open another tab instead of talking to you.
Keep to the deciding rows, usually three to five. Put the full comparison a click away for the people who want it.
One page, two very different readers
Paid traffic on a competitor's name brings two people to the same URL:
The switcher, already paying for the competitor and fed up.
The researcher, still choosing and curious about both.
You often can't split them at ad level. So let them split themselves. A simple self-select hero (two cards, or a toggle: "I use [Competitor] today" / "I'm still choosing") lets each reader see the argument that fits them. So switchers get migration and pricing and researchers get the verdict and the comparison.
Show what your CTA promises
If your button promises a demo, a sample or data, show some of it on the page.
A visitor who has to book a call just to see what you do is a visitor who bounces. A screenshot, a sample output or a short product tour does more than another paragraph of benefits.
| What changes | Organic (SEO) page | Paid (ads) page |
|---|---|---|
| Reader | Researching, may be early | Clicked an ad, closer to acting |
| Headline | Contains the searched phrase | Picks up where the ad left off |
| Length | Long enough to answer the query fully | As short as the decision allows |
| Comparison table | Full, grouped, includes rows you lose | Three to five deciding rows |
| Navigation | Normal site navigation and internal links | Minimal, no exits that don't convert |
| CTA | Soft and hard options | One primary action |
Hey you, want me to write ya competitor pages?
I write competitor pages for SaaS teams going up against big, loud rivals.
Or take a look at my website copywriting service.
And if your messaging needs sorting before any of this, start with my brand messaging framework template. 🫡
Competitor and alternative page FAQs
What should a competitor comparison landing page include?
A competitor comparison landing page should include both product names in the headline, a one-line verdict near the top, a fair comparison table with dated prices and at least one row the competitor wins, proof beside every claim, quotes from customers who switched, a section on how switching works, and one clear call to action.
How many competitor pages should a SaaS company have?
Start with two or three, for the competitors you meet most often in sales conversations and see most in your search data. Make those excellent and keep them current before adding more. It’s better to have a handful of well-maintained pages than a long list of stale ones.
Should a competitor page be a landing page or a blog post?
For paid traffic, always a dedicated landing page that picks up where the ad left off. For organic search, either can work. Choose whichever format lets you give the most useful, honest comparison. What matters more is that the page answers the buyer's decision clearly.
Should you link to the competitor's website?
Linking to the competitor's pricing page or documentation, where you quote it, makes your claims easier to check and signals confidence. It also helps you meet UK verifiability expectations. You don't need to link everywhere, only where a reader might want to verify what you've said.
Do AI tools like ChatGPT use competitor pages?
They can. AI answers draw on published web content, and comparing vendors is the top reason B2B buyers use AI chatbots for software research, according to G2's 2026 survey. Clear verdicts, specific claims, dated facts and real text tables make your page easier for an AI tool to use accurately.
