If you’re running a B2B go-to-market team, you’ve probably noticed that “competitive intelligence platform” is the new hot thing. Vendors promise you’ll never lose a deal to a rival again, your team will get smarter overnight, and your product marketing will run itself. Spoiler: that’s not how it works.
This guide is here for the hands-on folks—sales enablement managers, product marketers, and revenue leaders—who actually have to use these tools. Not just buy them. I’ll show you how to compare Crayon with its main competitors, what to look for, and what’s mostly just shiny packaging.
Step 1: Get Clear on What You Actually Need
Before you start comparing features, stop and ask: why do you want a competitive intelligence platform in the first place? If your answer is “because our CRO saw a Gartner report,” you’re probably headed for shelfware.
Here’s what most B2B go-to-market teams really need: - Actionable intel for sales: Competitor battlecards, objection handling, quick updates. - Market and competitor tracking: Automated alerts about meaningful moves, not just press releases. - Content for enablement: Easy ways to share insights with the team, without a 40-slide deck. - Collaboration: A way for PMM, sales, and CS to actually use and update intel. - Proof of impact: Can you show that win rates or deal cycles improve?
Pro tip: If you just need basic battlecards, don’t overcomplicate things. Sometimes Google Docs works fine until you outgrow it.
Step 2: Know Who the Real Competitors Are
Crayon isn’t the only game in town. The main alternatives you’ll run into are: - Klue - Kompyte (by Semrush) - CI platforms built into enablement tools (e.g., Highspot, Seismic) - Manual processes (Google Docs, Slack channels, Notion)
Each has its own angle. Klue leans hard into sales enablement and integrations. Kompyte pushes automation and SEO overlap. Highspot and Seismic bolt CI onto wider enablement suites. Docs and Notion are cheap but manual.
Ignore the “market map” hype. The list above covers 95% of what you’ll actually see in B2B.
Step 3: Compare What Matters (Not Just Feature Grids)
Forget the endless feature checklists. Here’s what really separates these platforms:
1. Data Collection & Signal Quality
- Crayon: Known for broad web monitoring—pulls from news, websites, social, reviews. Decent at filtering noise, but you’ll still get some junk.
- Klue: Focuses on curated, human-sourced intel. Less noise, but more manual upkeep.
- Kompyte: Heavy on automation; can surface lots of SEO and digital marketing signals, but relevance for B2B sales is mixed.
- Enablement suites: Usually rely on manual uploads or basic web scrapes.
What to watch for: - Can you filter out irrelevant signals (e.g., product updates that actually matter vs. PR fluff)? - Are you drowning in noise, or missing key moves?
2. Battlecard Usability
- Crayon: Battlecards are customizable and integrate with Salesforce, Slack, and some sales tools. Not the prettiest, but they work.
- Klue: Battlecards are their bread-and-butter—slick UI, solid integrations, easy for reps to use.
- Kompyte: Flexible, but sometimes feels built more for marketers than sellers.
- Enablement tools: Battlecards are often just static PDFs or wiki pages, not interactive.
Ask your reps: Would they actually open these during a call? If not, it’s just shelfware.
3. Collaboration & Workflow
- Crayon: Lets multiple teams comment, suggest updates, and track changes. The interface is a bit utilitarian, but it works.
- Klue: Heavy on collaboration—crowdsourcing intel is a core feature.
- Kompyte: Decent tagging and sharing, but less focused on cross-team workflows.
- Enablement tools: Collaboration is limited; often just a “view only” doc.
If intel isn’t easy to update, it goes stale fast.
4. Integrations
- Crayon: Good Salesforce, Slack, and CRM integrations. Not as deep as Highspot or Seismic, but better than most.
- Klue: Integrates with major CRMs and enablement platforms. Some advanced options for notifications.
- Kompyte: Strong integrations with marketing stack, but less with sales tools.
- Enablement tools: Integrate with themselves (obviously) but not much else.
Don’t buy “open API” promises unless you have devs who’ll actually use them.
5. Reporting & ROI Tracking
- Crayon: Basic dashboards—win/loss impact, usage rates, top competitors. Not mind-blowing, but covers the essentials.
- Klue: Similar reporting. A bit better at usage analytics if you’re tracking rep adoption closely.
- Kompyte: More marketing-centric analytics; less focused on sales outcomes.
- Enablement tools: Reporting is usually broad, not CI-specific.
If you can’t tie CI to win rates or deal velocity, you’ll struggle to justify the spend.
Step 4: Go Beyond Demos—Test Real-World Workflows
Don’t just watch a vendor demo; make them show you how their platform fits your workflow. Try this checklist: - Give them a recent competitive deal—ask how their tool would prep a rep for a call. - Have them show how you’d update a battlecard after a product launch. - Ask how frontline reps would submit fresh intel (and how you’d validate it). - See how long it takes to get a notification about a major competitor move.
If they can’t do these things quickly, or it feels like pulling teeth, keep looking.
Pro tip: Ask for a real trial or pilot, not just a sandbox with dummy data. Nothing reveals weak spots faster.
Step 5: Price vs. Pain—Don’t Overbuy
Let’s be honest: most CI platforms are not cheap. You can easily drop five figures a year for 20–50 users. Here’s what to keep in mind: - Crayon and Klue: Both are priced for mid-market and enterprise, but have flexible user tiers. Ask for a starter package if you’re not rolling out to hundreds of reps. - Kompyte: Sometimes more affordable, but you get what you pay for—fewer sales-centric features. - Enablement suites: If you’re already paying for Highspot or Seismic, their CI add-ons may be “free”—but they’re basic.
Don’t pay for seat licenses your team won’t use. Start with a pilot group, then expand if there’s real adoption.
Step 6: Watch Out for Common Pitfalls
A few things nobody tells you before you buy: - “Automation” will not replace judgment. You’ll still need a smart PMM or enablement lead to curate what matters. - You’ll have to drive adoption. No matter how good the tool, if sales doesn’t trust or use it, you’re back to square one. - Freshness is everything. Stale battlecards do more harm than good. Pick a tool that makes updates easy—and assign real owners. - Ignore the AI hype (for now). Most “AI-powered insights” are just keyword alerts or basic summaries. Don’t chase buzzwords.
Keep It Simple—and Iterate
Competitive intelligence isn’t magic. The best platforms—Crayon included—are just tools. The real value comes from how you use them, who owns the process, and whether your team actually trusts what’s inside.
Pick a platform that fits your current needs, not some fantasy future state. Get it working for a small group, prove it helps, then expand. And remember: it’s better to have a simple battlecard that reps use than a Cadillac platform nobody touches.
You don’t win deals with software alone. But the right CI tool can get your team sharper—if you keep it real.