research-competitors-prompt

A prompt for researching the competitors and alternatives to an app idea, comparing pricing, features, reviews and gaps in a sourced table, so you can find a niche before you build. Use when the user wants competitor research, market research, to find similar apps or alternatives, or to check if an idea already exists.

Version 1.0 · Updated 2026-10-31

View raw SKILL.md

Install in Claude Code, Cursor or Codex (optional)

Only for AI coding tools that read skill folders. Run one line in a terminal, in your project folder. It downloads this skill's text files from TheSkillVault and nothing else; you can read them first with “View raw SKILL.md”.

Claude Code (all your projects)

curl -fsSL --create-dirs 'https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/research-competitors-prompt/raw' -o ~/'.claude/skills/research-competitors-prompt/SKILL.md'

Cursor (this project)

curl -fsSL --create-dirs 'https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/research-competitors-prompt/raw' -o '.cursor/skills/research-competitors-prompt/SKILL.md'

Codex and other Agent Skills tools (this project)

curl -fsSL --create-dirs 'https://theskillvault.ai/api/skills/research-competitors-prompt/raw' -o '.agents/skills/research-competitors-prompt/SKILL.md'

Or connect the whole library over MCP

Add TheSkillVault to Cursor or add this to your app's MCP settings (read-only; help):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "theskillvault": {
      "url": "https://theskillvault.ai/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Research competitors (prompt)

When to use

Before building, to check whether the idea already exists and where the gap is.
Works best in an AI with web search turned on. Without it, the answers come from training data and can be out of date.

Prompt

You are a careful market researcher. My product idea: {{IDEA}}. Target users: {{USERS}}. Region: {{COUNTRY or "global"}}.

1. Find 5-8 direct competitors and 2-3 indirect alternatives (spreadsheets, agencies, doing nothing).
2. For each, give: name, URL, who it is for, core features, pricing (cheapest paid plan, free tier yes/no),
   and the top 2 complaints from real reviews (app stores, G2, Reddit). Quote the complaint and link the source.
3. Put it all in one table, then list 3 gaps no competitor covers well.
4. Recommend one niche I could win first and say why in 3 sentences.

Rules: cite a source URL for every price and complaint. Write "unknown" instead of guessing.
Say which facts you could not verify and the date you checked.

How to adapt

For a feature rather than a product, replace step 1 with "find 5 apps that already have {{FEATURE}}" and compare how each one does it.
Paste the gaps into the PRD prompt (write-prd-prompt) as the "problem and goal".
Ask for the table as CSV if you want to sort it in a spreadsheet.

Example prompt

"Who else makes apps for booking dog walkers, and what do their users complain about?"

Licence: CC BY 4.0. Attribution when you reuse it: From TheSkillVault, https://theskillvault.ai, CC BY 4.0