Competitive Intelligence Firms or Software: The Tools Scored
Crayon scores highest of the thirteen tools on this competitive intelligence firms grid, 7.8 on 10 tagged reviews, with ease of setup at 8.7 on 6 tagged reviews. Prices were read on or after Sep 26, 2026.
Every score on this page validated by the site owner · latest validation Oct 16, 2026 · How we score
The top three
Rank follows score, nothing else; the full table of 13 is below.
Crayon scores 7.8 on 10 tagged reviews: ease of setup scores 8.7 on 6 tagged reviews and value for money 8.6 on 6 tagged reviews, while feature depth scores 7.5 on 9 tagged reviews.
SpyFu scores 7.7 on 1 tagged review: ease of setup scores 8.6 and value for money 8.5, while Basic lists 10k row search results and its current data comes from Google only.
Perplexity scores 7.7 on 1 tagged review. It lists inline citations on every answer, read on Sep 29, 2026, and Enterprise Pro at $34 per seat a month, billed annually, read on Oct 5, 2026.
Highest-scored for your situation
One tool per situation: the highest-scored of the 13 whose reviews describe that situation. Each card names what it gives up.
Crayon is the highest-scored of the tools with team reviews, and 9 of its 10 tagged reviews come from teams; it lists battlecards built from templates, read on Sep 29, 2026.
SpyFu is the highest-scored of the tools with agency reviews, but on 1 tagged review only; its Team / Agency plan is $187 a month, billed annually, read on Sep 29, 2026.
BuiltWith is the highest-scored of the tools with solo reviews, but only 1 of its 13 tagged reviews is from a solo user; it offers free individual site lookups, read on Oct 3, 2026.
All 13, side by side
Sorting reorders the table; it never changes a rank. Rank follows score, nothing else.
Sort by
| Rank | Tool | Score | Entry price | Trial | Best for | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crayon |
7.8 | Quote | Team | ||
| 2 | SpyFu |
7.7* | $29/mo billed annually | Agency | ||
| 3 | Perplexity |
7.7* | $20/mo (billing period not stated) | Team | ||
| 4 |  Harmonic |
7.7* | Quote | |||
| 5 | BuiltWith |
7.6 | $295/mo | Team | ||
| 6 |  Ahrefs |
7.6* | $29/mo | |||
| 7 |  Brandwatch |
7.6* | Quote | |||
| 8 |  Semrush |
7.6* | $139.95/mo | |||
| 9 |  Sprinklr |
7.6* | Not published | |||
| 10 |  Bombora |
7.6* | Not published | Team | ||
| 11 |  6sense |
7.3 | Quote | Team | ||
| 12 |  Similarweb |
7.1 | $129/mo | Team | ||
| 13 |  Crunchbase |
6.3 | $99/mo | Team |
Entry prices read on each vendor's public pricing page where one exists; the oldest reading dates from Sep 28, 2026. Some of these prices have not been read again for 6 months. Check the vendors' pages before you buy. * Under 10 tagged reviews: the score is weighted toward the site average; with none, it comes from the averages of the tools we score. How we score
The top six, in detail
The first six rows of the table, in rank order: what the reviews and the vendor's pages say about each one.
Crayon scores 7.8 on 10 tagged reviews. Ease of setup scores 8.7 on 6 tagged reviews and support quality 7.8 on 5 tagged reviews, while feature depth scores 7.5 on 9 tagged reviews. Feature range draws 3 favourable mentions and Integrations draw 1 negative mention. Crayon is priced on request.
- Ease of setup scores 8.7 on 6 tagged reviews
- Feature range draws 3 favourable mentions
- Feature depth scores 7.5 on 9 tagged reviews
- Integrations draw 1 negative mention, 2 favourable
SpyFu scores 7.7 on 1 tagged review. Ease of setup scores 8.6, feature depth 7.8 and value for money 8.5, each on 1 tagged review. Basic is $29 a month, billed annually, read on Sep 29, 2026. The help center states that current results track Google only, read on Sep 29, 2026.
- Ease of setup scores 8.6 on 1 tagged review
- Value for money scores 8.5 on 1 tagged review
- Basic lists 10k row search results, read Oct 5, 2026
- API billed pay-as-you-go beyond a $40 credit
Perplexity scores 7.7 on 1 tagged review. Feature depth scores 7.8 and value for money 8.5, each on 1 tagged review. The product page lists inline citations on every answer, read on Sep 29, 2026. Enterprise Pro lists $34 per seat a month, billed annually, and Enterprise Max $271 per seat a month, billed annually, read on Oct 5, 2026.
- Value for money scores 8.5 on 1 tagged review
- Inline citations listed on every answer
- Enterprise Pro lists $34 per seat a month, billed annually
- Feature depth scores 7.8 on 1 tagged review
Harmonic tracks companies and people as they hire, fundraise and launch products, per the vendor's pages read on Sep 26, 2026. Scouts run recurring searches and alert on triggers, read on Sep 27, 2026, and a Chrome extension shows company and team data on a company's website. No plan shows a price, read on Oct 3, 2026. The site holds no tagged review counts for Harmonic.
- Lists 40M companies, 200M people and 250K investors
- Scouts run recurring searches and alert on triggers
- No price on any plan, read on Oct 3, 2026
- Refunds left to the vendor's discretion, read Sep 26, 2026
BuiltWith scores 7.6 on 13 tagged reviews up to Sep 2026. Feature depth scores 8.3, and 4 of the 5 tagged reviews that discuss it read as favourable. Data accuracy draws 2 negative mentions. Basic is $295 a month, read on the vendor's page on Oct 4, 2026, and lists 2 technologies.
- Results and time saved: 3 favourable mentions, none negative
- Feature depth scores 8.3 on 5 tagged reviews
- Data accuracy draws 2 negative mentions, none favourable
- Ease of setup scores 7.4 on 3 tagged reviews
Ahrefs lists Site Explorer for backlink analysis, Keywords Explorer for keyword research, rank tracking across 190 locations and Site Audit for 170+ issues, read on Sep 29, 2026. Starter allows 200 credits a month, and Enterprise has a minimum 1-year subscription. The site holds no tagged review counts for Ahrefs.
- Site Explorer analyses backlinks for any website
- Rank tracking across 190 locations on desktop and mobile
- Starter allows only 200 credits a month
- Enterprise needs a minimum 1-year subscription
Beyond the scores
This page ranks software, not agencies: it reads no healthcare competitive intelligence firms and no competitive intelligence consulting firms. The sections cover the review evidence, what the tools watch, prices and cancellation terms.
Tagged review counts behind these scores run from none to 32
The scores rest on different amounts of evidence, so each one should be read with its count of tagged reviews. Crunchbase's 6.3 rests on 32 tagged reviews up to September 2026. 6sense's 7.3 rests on 22 tagged reviews. BuiltWith's 7.6 rests on 13 tagged reviews. Similarweb's 7.1 rests on 10 tagged reviews. Bombora's 7.6 rests on 3 tagged reviews, while Perplexity and SpyFu have 1 tagged review each. Semrush, Ahrefs, Sprinklr, Brandwatch and Harmonic have no tagged review counts and are scored from the averages of the tools we score. In the table, an asterisk marks each score that rests on fewer than 10 tagged reviews.
The tools watch different things: conversations, web technologies, companies or buyers
Brandwatch lists 1.7 trillion historical conversations back to 2010 and 501 million new conversations a day, read on Oct 5, 2026. BuiltWith tracks 127,692 web technologies, read on Oct 3, 2026. Sprinklr publishes across 30+ channels and shows sentiment in one engagement dashboard, read on Sep 29, 2026. Crunchbase lists full private company profiles, read on Oct 13, 2026. 6sense lists keyword intent data and web deanonymization, which identifies the accounts behind anonymous traffic, read on Oct 3, 2026. Bombora lists Company Surge, which shows each target account's stage in the buying journey, read on Oct 3, 2026. Semrush lists keyword research, competitor analysis and AI visibility tracking, read on Sep 29, 2026.
Prices here are quote-only, billed annually or billed monthly
Published prices are not like for like. Similarweb's Individual plan is $129 a month billed monthly, or $99 a month billed annually, read on Sep 26, 2026. Semrush's SEO plan is $139.95 a month billed monthly, or $117.33 a month billed annually, read on Sep 29, 2026. Crunchbase's Pro plan is $99 a month, and its Business plan starts at $199 a month, billed annually, read on Oct 13, 2026. BuiltWith's Pro plan is $495 a month and its Team plan $995 a month, read on Oct 4, 2026. SpyFu's Pro + AI plan is $89 a month, billed annually, read on Sep 29, 2026. This page reads no price for Crayon, Brandwatch, Sprinklr or Bombora, and 6sense and Harmonic list their plans by quote only.
Cancellation and refund terms differ across the tools that publish them
Similarweb asks for 14 days' notice to cancel a monthly plan, and its annual plan renews for 12-month periods unless notice is given, read on Sep 26, 2026. Crunchbase refunds a payment within 7 days if no data was exported, and none after 7 days, read on Oct 3, 2026. Semrush lists a 7-day refund on initial plans of 12 months or more, and on add-ons, read on Sep 29, 2026. Crayon's terms renew a subscription automatically for the same period unless its Authorization Form says otherwise, and refund nothing for a voluntary cancellation during a committed period, read on Sep 29, 2026.
Before you choose
This page reads no agency's offer, so it holds no fact on what a firm delivers beyond software. It compares thirteen tools by their tagged reviews and published terms, each with the date it was read.
This page reads no firm's quote or project fee, so it gives no figure for an engagement. The prices it shows are software plans read on the vendors' pages on or after Sep 26, 2026, and several tools publish none.
This page does not weigh a firm against a tool, because it reads no firm's offer. It does show the terms some tools publish before you buy, such as BuiltWith's 1-month minimum on monthly plans and 1-year minimum on yearly plans, read on Oct 3, 2026.
This page reads no firm's sources, so it cannot say what a firm uses. The tools list theirs: Crayon collects competitor website changes, news and customer reviews, and Similarweb lists traffic, technology, news and ad network signals, read between Sep 29 and Oct 3, 2026.
This page reads the audience each vendor states, not who uses competitive intelligence inside a company, and they differ. Crayon names product marketing and competitive intelligence teams, Similarweb B2B sales teams, Crunchbase investors, go-to-market teams and analysts, and Brandwatch researchers and analysts, read between Sep 25 and Sep 29, 2026.
This page does not audit any firm's method, because it reads no firm. It shows its own: five dimensions on the same grid for every scored tool, from tagged reviews up to September 2026, with an asterisk on every score under 10 tagged reviews.
Where to go next
The pages this ranking links to: its category, neighbouring rankings and guides.
* Under 10 tagged reviews: the score is weighted toward the site average; with none, it comes from the averages of the tools we score.
Score colours: under 77 to 7.47.5 to 7.98 and above* Under 10 tagged reviews: the score is weighted toward the site average; with none, it comes from the averages of the tools we score.
Four dimensions only. The fifth changes with the category, so it would not compare.