competitive-pricing-intel

Competitive Pricing Intel

Track competitor pricing pages over time. Detect when they change plans, shift feature gating, adjust pricing models, or introduce new tiers. The output is a living pricing comparison matrix plus alerts when something changes.

Core principle: Pricing is the most under-monitored competitive signal. Most teams only check competitor pricing when they're about to change their own. This skill makes it continuous.

When to Use

• "What are our competitors charging?"
• "Has [competitor] changed their pricing recently?"
• "Build a pricing comparison matrix"
• "Monitor competitor pricing for changes"
• "We're rethinking our pricing — show me the competitive landscape"

Phase 0: Intake

1. Your product name + pricing page URL
2. Competitors to track — Names + pricing page URLs (2-5 recommended)
3. Your pricing model — How do you charge? (per seat, usage, flat, freemium, etc.)
4. Key comparison dimensions — What matters to your buyer? (price per seat, included features, limits, support tiers)
5. First run or recurring?
   • First run: Full baseline capture + historical analysis
   • Recurring: Compare against last snapshot

Phase 1: Current Pricing Capture

1A: Live Scrape

For each competitor's pricing page:

Fetch: [competitor pricing URL]

Extract:

• Plan names and prices — Every tier with monthly and annual pricing
• Feature matrix — What's included in each tier?
• Limits — Usage caps, seat limits, storage, API calls
• Add-ons — What costs extra beyond base plans?
• Enterprise tier — "Contact us" or listed price? What's gated behind sales?
• Free tier / trial — What's available without paying?
• Pricing model — Per seat / per user / usage-based / flat / hybrid

1B: Web Archive Historical Check

Search for past versions of their pricing page:

Search: "web.archive.org" "[competitor pricing URL]"
Fetch: web.archive.org/web/*/[competitor pricing URL]

Look for the last 2-3 snapshots to detect:

• Price increases/decreases
• Plan restructuring (new tiers added, tiers removed)
• Feature gating changes (features moved between tiers)
• Model shifts (e.g., moved from per-seat to usage-based)
• Free tier changes (expanded or restricted)

1C: Pricing Announcement Research

Search: "[competitor]" pricing change OR "new pricing" OR "updated plans"
Search: "[competitor]" blog pricing OR announcement plans
Search: "[competitor]" site:reddit.com pricing OR "price increase"

Capture any public announcements or community reactions to pricing changes.

Phase 2: Pricing Analysis

2A: Competitive Pricing Matrix

Build a normalized comparison across all competitors:

Dimension	Your Product	Competitor A	Competitor B	Competitor C
Starter price	$X/mo	$X/mo	$X/mo	$X/mo
Mid-tier price	$X/mo	$X/mo	$X/mo	$X/mo
Enterprise	$X/mo or Custom	...	...	...
Pricing model	[Model]	[Model]	[Model]	[Model]
Free tier	[Yes/No + limits]	...	...	...
Annual discount	[X%]	...	...	...
Key limit (starter)	[e.g., 5 seats]	...	...	...
Key limit (mid)	[e.g., 20 seats]	...	...	...
Overage cost	[$/unit or blocked]	...	...	...
Support included	[Email/chat/phone]	...	...	...

2B: Price-to-Value Ratio

For the ICP's typical use case, calculate effective cost:

Scenario: [Typical ICP — e.g., "10-person growth team, 5,000 contacts, 1,000 emails/month"]

Your Product: $[X]/mo for this scenario
Competitor A: $[X]/mo for this scenario
Competitor B: $[X]/mo for this scenario

This reveals true competitive pricing position, not just list price.

2C: Packaging Strategy Analysis

For each competitor, identify their packaging strategy:

Strategy	Description	Who Uses It
Good-Better-Best	3 tiers, clear upgrade path	Most SaaS
Usage-based	Pay for what you use	API/infrastructure
Per-seat	Price scales with team	Collaboration tools
Freemium	Free forever, premium features	PLG products
Reverse trial	Full features free, then downgrade	Conversion-optimized
Platform + add-ons	Base platform + modular features	Enterprise

2D: Change Detection (Recurring Runs)

Compare current snapshot against previous:

Change Type	Severity	Example
Price increase	High	Starter: $29 → $39/mo
Price decrease	High	Aggressive competitive move
New tier added	Medium	"Growth" plan between Starter and Pro
Tier removed	Medium	Simplified from 4 to 3 plans
Feature ungated	Medium	Feature moved from Pro to Starter
Feature gated	Medium	Feature moved from Starter to Pro
Model change	Critical	Shifted from per-seat to usage-based
Free tier change	High	Free plan limits reduced/expanded

Phase 3: Output Format

# Competitive Pricing Intel — [DATE]
Products tracked: [your product], [competitors]
Previous snapshot: [date or "first run"]

---

## Pricing Change Alerts

### [Competitor Name]
- **Change detected:** [Description of what changed]
- **Previous:** [Old pricing/plan structure]
- **Current:** [New pricing/plan structure]
- **Implication for us:** [What this means for your positioning/pricing]

*(Repeat for each competitor with changes. If no changes: "No pricing changes detected since [last run date].")*

---

## Competitive Pricing Matrix

| | [You] | [Comp A] | [Comp B] | [Comp C] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Starter** | $[X]/mo | $[X]/mo | $[X]/mo | $[X]/mo |
| **Mid-tier** | $[X]/mo | $[X]/mo | $[X]/mo | $[X]/mo |
| **Enterprise** | [Price] | [Price] | [Price] | [Price] |
| **Model** | [Type] | [Type] | [Type] | [Type] |
| **Free tier** | [Details] | [Details] | [Details] | [Details] |
| **Annual discount** | [X%] | [X%] | [X%] | [X%] |

---

## ICP Scenario Pricing

For: [Typical buyer scenario]

| Product | Monthly Cost | Annual Cost | Notes |
|---------|-------------|-------------|-------|
| [You] | $[X] | $[X] | [Context] |
| [Comp A] | $[X] | $[X] | [Context — e.g., "requires add-on for [feature]"] |
| [Comp B] | $[X] | $[X] | [Context] |

**Your position:** [Cheapest / Mid-range / Premium] for this scenario

---

## Feature Gating Comparison

Features that matter most to ICP — where are they gated?

| Feature | [You] | [Comp A] | [Comp B] |
|---------|-------|----------|----------|
| [Feature 1] | [Tier] | [Tier] | [Tier] |
| [Feature 2] | [Tier] | [Tier] | [Tier] |
| [Feature 3] | [Tier] | [Tier] | [Tier] |

---

## Packaging Strategy Summary

| Competitor | Strategy | Target Motion | Notes |
|-----------|----------|--------------|-------|
| [Comp A] | [Strategy type] | [PLG/Sales-led/Hybrid] | [Key observation] |
| [Comp B] | [Strategy type] | [Motion] | [Observation] |

---

## Pricing Recommendations

Based on competitive analysis:

### If holding current pricing:
- **Strength:** [Where your pricing wins]
- **Vulnerability:** [Where a competitor undercuts you]
- **Messaging guidance:** [How to position price on sales calls]

### If considering a change:
- **Opportunity:** [Gap in market you could fill — e.g., "no one offers usage-based in this category"]
- **Risk:** [What to watch out for — e.g., "Competitor B is already cheaper at scale"]

Save to clients/<client-name>/product-marketing/pricing-intel/pricing-comparison-[YYYY-MM-DD].md.

Scheduling

Run monthly (pricing changes are infrequent but impactful):

0 8 1 * * python3 run_skill.py competitive-pricing-intel --client <client-name>

Cost

Component	Cost
Web scraping (pricing pages)	Free
Web Archive lookups	Free
Web search (announcements)	Free
Analysis and comparison	Free (LLM reasoning)
Total	Free

Tools Required

• web_search — for pricing announcements and community reactions
• fetch_webpage — for scraping current pricing pages
• No API keys required

Trigger Phrases

• "What are competitors charging?"
• "Has [competitor] changed their pricing?"
• "Build a pricing comparison matrix"
• "Run competitive pricing intel for [client]"
• "Monitor competitor pricing pages"