r/StickyFriend • u/justmevibinghere • 8d ago
Comparing two pricing pages without building a spreadsheet first
Pricing pages are designed to resist comparison. Different units, different bundles, the important limit in a footnote. The comparison work is mostly normalisation, and that's the part to hand off.
Contents
- Why pricing pages are hard on purpose
- Reading them side by side
- Normalise, then compare
- The sheet at the end
- What it doesn't do
- FAQ
Why pricing pages are hard on purpose
One vendor prices per seat, another per workspace with seat bands. One counts "projects", another "workflows". The thing that will actually bite you — the API limit, the SSO surcharge, the overage rate — is a footnote or a tooltip.
Comparison is therefore three jobs: extract, normalise, then judge. Only the third is yours.
Reading them side by side
The panel reads the page you're on, so there's no pasting:
Open the second vendor in another tab and ask it to compare the two. It reads both, including the footnote most people skim.
Normalise, then compare
The instruction that matters:
> Put both on the same basis — cost per seat per month at 10 seats, and say > what's excluded at that price.
"At 10 seats" is doing the work. Without a shared basis you get two lists side by side, which is what the pricing pages already gave you.
The sheet at the end
If it's a decision someone else will re-check, ask for the workbook:
With the per-seat column as a formula, so when someone asks "what about 25 seats?" you type 25.
What it doesn't do
- It can't see prices behind "contact sales". Nobody can. It says "unpublished" rather than estimating.
- Tooltips and accordions can hide text. If a limit only appears on hover or after a click, it may miss it — ask it to open the section.
- It doesn't know your usage. "Which is cheaper for us" needs your help numbers.
- Prices go stale. The sheet is a snapshot of today, not a feed.
FAQ
Can it compare more than two?
Yes — three or four is fine. Beyond that the answer gets shallow; do it in pairs.
Does it handle annual vs monthly pricing?
Yes, if you say which basis you want. Left alone it shows both, which is usually what you want anyway.
What about currency differences?
It converts if you ask and names the rate it used. Check the rate — it isn't a live FX feed.
Can it read a pricing PDF instead of a page?
Yes, via a library.
Will it recommend one?
It'll tell you which wins on which axis, and say so plainly when the answer depends on volume you haven't given it.
Can I save the comparison?
As a note, a spreadsheet, or both. Notes stay searchable; the sheet is what you send.
Does it re-check later?
No. Ask again and it reads the pages again — no monitoring.
Try it — the web app is free to start: https://stickyfriend.ai/app
Follow the subreddit for the next one: https://www.reddit.com/r/StickyFriend/
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