methodology

Where prices come from

Every price is read from the vendor's own pricing page. Each plan stores its source link and the date it was checked. We never quote a vendor's own comparison as a source: where a vendor claims it is cheaper than a rival, we recompute the figure from both pricing pages.

"Checked" is not "verified"

"Checked" means a price was read from the vendor's page on the date shown. Pages change. If a price cannot be read or verified, it is shown as missing and left out of rankings, because a wrong number is worse than a missing one.

How cost is compared

Tools are compared at stated usage levels (for example 25,000 monthly users for sign-in, 50,000 emails a month, 100,000 pageviews a month). The scenario and its assumptions are printed under each table, so any figure can be reproduced. We show the cheapest published monthly plan that covers the size.

Vendors bill on different units (subscribers, emails sent, monthly active users, pageviews, errors, a percentage of each payment, a share of revenue). Where units differ we state the assumption used. Tools with no public price are listed as such and excluded from cost rankings.

What you give up

A lower price is only useful next to what it costs you in features. You choose what you need, and each alternative shows what is missing against that. "Not stated" means we found no statement either way on the vendor's own pages. It does not mean the feature is missing. Feature coverage is still being built out layer by layer.

The verdict on the list

For each tool people pay for we ask one question at a typical size: is there something cheaper that covers the must-haves for that category? SWITCH means a cheaper tool covers all of them. MAYBE means a cheaper tool exists but at least one must-have is missing or not confirmed. STAY means nothing cheaper. The must-haves are listed on each category's results page, and you can change what you need there.

Reports from people

Visitors can report a swap, suggest a tool, or say a price is wrong. Swaps are anonymous, self-reported and shown as raw counts (with a median saving once three or more people give amounts, and a note only after it has been read), and they never change the order. Suggestions and corrections are read by a person, checked against the vendor's own page, and fixed with the date. Changes to prices and features are written to a change history.

What gets listed

A tool is listed if it has a live product, a public pricing page with real numbers, and at least one proof signal, such as a maker with a public track record, third-party verified revenue, named customers, an active open-source repository, or the maker running it in production. Age is not a factor. Each listing shows a maturity label: New (under 3 months), Young (under 12 months) or Established.

How the site is made

I build saascheaper with help from an AI assistant (Claude), which writes much of the code. The prices are not guessed by it: scripts read each vendor's pricing page and flag anything that differs from our data, every change is confirmed against the vendor's page before it goes live, and each one is recorded on the changes page. If you spot something wrong, tell me and I will fix it.

What we do not claim

We do not test performance, deliverability, uptime or support quality, and we do not rate or review tools. Any vendor-published figure is labelled as the vendor's claim.

Neutrality

Order is computed from price only. Nobody pays for position. We are not affiliated with any listed vendor.