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Claude for Operators

Competitive Analysis

Last verified: 13 February 2026 | Applies to: All plans (best with Cowork for web browsing)

In 30 seconds

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Knowing what your competitors are doing shouldn’t require a consulting engagement or a week of desk research. Claude builds structured competitive briefs, SWOT analyses, and feature comparisons in minutes — pulling from public information, your own knowledge, and (with Claude in Chrome) live competitor websites. The output is a solid starting point for strategy conversations, not a replacement for deep market expertise.

Step by step

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Competitive brief before a strategy meeting

Section titled “Competitive brief before a strategy meeting”
I need a competitive brief for our leadership meeting on Thursday. We're [Company Name], a project management SaaS for construction companies. Our main competitors are [Competitor A], [Competitor B], and [Competitor C]. We charge $45/user/month. I'll give you what I know about each — fill in the gaps from your knowledge. [Competitor A]: enterprise-focused, recently raised $50M Series C, strong in commercial construction. [Competitor B]: SMB play, freemium model, popular with residential builders. [Competitor C]: new entrant, AI-native, launched 6 months ago, aggressive pricing at $25/user/month. Build a 1-page brief for each competitor: what they do, who they serve, how they price, their strengths, their weaknesses, and where they threaten us most.

Claude produces:

  • One-page brief per competitor — structured, scannable, decision-ready
  • Head-to-head comparison — where you win, where you lose, where it’s close
  • Key threats — ranked by urgency
  • Suggested talking points — for the strategy meeting

Feature comparison matrix

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Create a feature comparison matrix: us ([Product Name]) vs [Competitor A] vs [Competitor B] vs [Competitor C]. Categories to compare: (1) core project management — task tracking, Gantt charts, resource allocation, (2) field-specific features — site diaries, defect tracking, safety compliance, (3) integrations — accounting software, document management, (4) pricing — per user, per project, enterprise tiers, (5) mobile experience, (6) reporting and analytics. For each feature, rate as: Full (we have it), Partial (limited version), None, or Unknown. Add a column for notes — anything worth flagging. Format as a table.

With Claude in Chrome: Open a competitor’s pricing or features page, then ask Claude in the side panel:

Read this page. Extract all the features they list and their pricing tiers. Compare against our features list [paste or describe yours].

Claude reads the live page and builds the comparison in real time — no screenshots or copy-pasting needed.

Market positioning map

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Create a market positioning analysis for [your industry]. Map the key players across two axes: (1) horizontal axis = target market (SMB to Enterprise), (2) vertical axis = product depth (point solution to full platform). Players to map: us ([Company Name]), [Competitor A], [Competitor B], [Competitor C], [Competitor D]. For each, write 1-2 sentences on their positioning. Identify any gaps in the market — where is there space that nobody is serving well?

Claude produces:

  • Positioning map description — where each player sits and why
  • Cluster analysis — who’s competing directly with whom
  • White space identification — underserved segments or positioning opportunities
  • Strategic implications — what this means for your positioning choices

”What are they doing that we’re not?”

Section titled “”What are they doing that we’re not?””

Sometimes the most useful analysis is the simplest:

I've been watching [Competitor Name] closely. Here's what I know they've done in the last 6 months: [list recent moves — product launches, partnerships, hires, pricing changes, marketing campaigns]. We're [describe your recent activity]. Tell me honestly: what are they doing that we're not? Where are they ahead? Where are they making moves we should be worried about? And where are they making mistakes we can exploit?

This works best when you give Claude a lot of specific context. The more details you share about both sides, the sharper the analysis.

How operators actually use it

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