Compare {{tech / tool / vendor A}} vs {{tech / tool / vendor B}} (add more if applicable) for our use case.
Inputs:
- Our specific use case: {{paste — be specific, not "we need a database"}}
- Our scale (now + projected 18 months): {{traffic, data volume, team size}}
- Constraints (cloud, compliance, talent, budget): {{paste}}
- What previous failed comparisons missed: {{paste — if you've done this before and the chosen option underperformed expectations}}
Output:
## Side-by-side on what matters
A table where rows are the dimensions that actually decide the call for us. Skip generic dimensions that match every comparison (uptime, support tiers) unless they materially differ.
| Dimension | Option A | Option B | What this means for us |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost at our scale | | | |
| Total cost of ownership over 3 years | | | |
| What breaks at our projected scale | | | |
| Developer experience day-to-day | | | |
| Maturity of integrations we'd actually use | | | |
| Lock-in (how hard to migrate away) | | | |
| Bus factor of the company | | | |
| Likely behavior in next 12 months (funding, public roadmap signals) | | | |
## What each option is genuinely best at
Skip the marketing pitch. The 1-2 things each option actually wins on.
## What each option is honestly weakest at
The trade-off each one made that you'd inherit.
## Where the marketing pages lie
Common claims that don't survive scrutiny — performance benchmarks under unrealistic conditions, "1-click migration" that takes 6 weeks, "enterprise" tiers that gate basics.
## Our specific dealbreakers
The 1–2 hard requirements that if either option fails, it's out regardless of how good the rest looks.
## Recommendation
Pick one. State the reason in 2 sentences. State what would change the recommendation (e.g. "if our scale shifts >5x in 18 months, revisit").
## What we don't know
Honest. Where the public data is thin and we'd need a paid POC or reference call to confirm.
## Citations
URLs to docs, pricing pages, public benchmarks, recent customer write-ups.
Hard rules:
- Cite directly — don't paraphrase vendor claims
- Distinguish "vendor benchmark" from "independent benchmark" from "our test"
- Skip features neither team uses
- If one option seems too good — the comparison is biased or the requirements are wrong; check bothvendor-evaluationresearchdecision-making