By Mehdi HassanWhat is an alternatives page?
An alternatives page is a page built to rank and convert for searches like "Competitor alternatives" or "alternative to Competitor". The person searching usually uses or has tried that competitor, has a reason to look elsewhere and wants to see what else exists.
It's one of several product pages that support your feature pages; our hub on SaaS feature pages shows how they fit together. This article separates alternatives intent from vs intent, then gives you a template for each kind of alternatives page.
How is an alternatives page different from a vs page?
An alternatives page serves a buyer who's looking for options, while a vs page serves a buyer who has already narrowed the choice to two named products. The intent differs, so the page structure should too. Sources that cover these pages disagree on whether one page can serve both; we build them separately because the reader's question is different.
Alternatives page | Vs page | |
|---|---|---|
Typical search | "Competitor alternatives" | "YourProduct vs Competitor" |
Buyer's state | Unhappy or curious, exploring options | Shortlisted, choosing between two |
What they want | A short list and who each suits | A detailed head-to-head |
Page shape | List or single-alternative pitch | Summary, table, differences, switching |
Main risk | Looking like spam or a fake ranking | Looking biased |
Best CTA | Try it or see how switching works | Start a trial or book a demo |
For the vs side of this, see our guide to competitor comparison pages. The rest of this article covers alternatives pages.
Which competitor alternatives page format should you use?
There are two workable formats. A best-alternatives list covers several options, including yours, and ranks for the broad plural search. A single-alternative page positions your product as the alternative for a specific type of unhappy user and suits the singular search. Many companies eventually run both.
Pros
- A list page matches what plural searches expect and can rank broadly.
- A single-alternative page converts better for a well-defined switcher.
- Both pages give sales a link to send prospects who mention a competitor.
Cons
- A list page that ranks you first every time looks like a fake ranking.
- A single-alternative page can read as a sales pitch if it ignores why people leave.
- Both need upkeep as competitors change pricing and features.
Choose by search data and by how clearly you can name the switcher. If you know exactly who leaves the competitor and why, start with a single-alternative page. If the category is crowded and buyers want to survey options, start with a list.
What is the template for a best alternatives page?
A best alternatives page should acknowledge why people look for alternatives, set out how the options were chosen, list each one honestly with who it suits, and end with a clear recommendation. This is the template we use.
Hero and summary
"The best Competitor alternatives in 2026", followed by two sentences naming the main reasons people switch and the top picks for each.
Why people look for alternatives
Three to five common reasons, such as price at scale, missing features or complexity, written in users' words.
How we chose
State your criteria and that you make one of the products. Disclosure is what makes the rest believable.
The list
Four to eight options. For each: what it is, who it's best for, a strength, a limitation and a pricing approach.
Comparison table
A short summary table of the options against the criteria buyers care about.
Recommendation by buyer
"If you need X, choose A. If you need Y, choose B." Your product appears where it genuinely fits.
Switching section and CTA
For readers choosing you: what migrates, how long it takes and one clear next step.
What is the template for a single alternative to a competitor page?
A single-alternative page positions your product as the answer for one kind of unhappy user. It should name the frustration, show how your product handles it differently, prove that others have switched and make the move feel easy.
Section | What it says | Copy prompt |
|---|---|---|
Hero | Names the switcher and the reason | "The Competitor alternative for teams who [specific need]" |
The frustration | Shows you understand why they're looking | Three pain points from real switcher interviews |
How we're different | Addresses each pain point | One short section per pain point, with product views |
Where they're still better | Builds trust | One or two honest admissions |
Proof from switchers | Shows others made the move | Quotes or stories from customers who came from the competitor |
Switching | Removes fear | What imports, timeline, help available |
FAQ and CTA | Closes the decision | Contracts, data, pricing, one next step |
The switching section often matters more than the comparison. Our guide to switching pages goes deeper on migration guides and onboarding offers, and our piece on alternatives pages that win switchers without trash-talking covers tone in detail.
How do you list competitors without trash-talking them?
List competitors by describing their real strengths and who they suit, and state limitations as fit issues rather than flaws. "Best for large teams with a dedicated admin" is fair and useful; "bloated and confusing" is an insult that makes readers doubt you.
- Describe, don't judge. State facts about the product and leave conclusions to the reader.
- Frame limits as fit. "Less suited to teams under ten" rather than "too complicated".
- Keep facts current and sourced. Check each competitor's pricing and feature pages before publishing.
- Don't fake rankings. If you always come first, explain the criteria that put you there.
For example, suppose a scheduling startup built both page types
Hypothetical example. A scheduling tool for clinics noticed two searches in its data: a plural "alternatives" search for a large general-purpose scheduler, and a singular search for an alternative to it for healthcare.
For the plural search, it built a list of six options, including two it competed with directly, and disclosed at the top that it made one of them. Its own entry appeared under "Best for clinics that need intake forms and reminders", not at number one.
For the singular search, it built a single-alternative page for clinic managers: the hero named the frustration (general schedulers lacked patient intake), three sections showed how intake, reminders and calendars worked together, and a switching section explained that existing appointments could be imported. One page served the explorer; the other served the switcher.
How do you measure an alternatives page?
Measure an alternatives page on qualified actions, not just traffic: trial starts or demo bookings from the page, clicks into the switching section and the share of visitors who go on to pricing. Set up events for each CTA and section before launch; our guide to landing page conversion tracking covers the GA4 setup.
Scroll depth helps you see whether readers reach the recommendation and switching sections, though it can't tell you whether they understood them; see what scroll depth tells you. Be careful comparing your rate with published benchmarks. Unbounce's benchmark report puts the SaaS median around 3.8%, but our guide to conversion rate benchmarks explains why traffic source and offer type matter more than any single number.
Which alternatives page should you build first?
Build first for the competitor that appears most often in your lost deals and that buyers search for most. Look at search data for "Competitor alternatives" and "alternative to Competitor", ask sales which competitor comes up most, and pick the overlap.
Then decide the format by how well you know the switcher. To see how other companies handle the vs side, our SaaS comparison page examples are scored on honesty and clarity, and our use-case pages guide helps when the reason people switch is a specific job the competitor handles poorly.
