Most competitor analyses are read once and filed. The ones that change anything are commissioned with a decision in mind: whether to enter a segment, how to price, what to build next, or where the marketing budget should go. Without a decision attached, the report becomes a description of the market that everybody already broadly knew.
Commission it against a decision
State the question the analysis is meant to answer and what you would do differently depending on the answer. That single constraint changes the work from a survey into an argument, and it makes the report shorter, more pointed and far more likely to be acted on.
What can legitimately be gathered
Public pricing, published positioning and claims, job advertisements, patents and filings, review content, published financials, search visibility and advertising that is publicly visible. That is a great deal, and it is all obtainable without misrepresentation. Posing as a customer to extract confidential information, or approaching employees under false pretences, is where legitimate research stops.
Reviews and job ads are underused
Competitor review content tells you what their customers complain about, in their own words, which is the best source of positioning material available. Job advertisements reveal what they are building and where they are investing months before it is announced. Both are public, both are cheap to read, and both are more useful than a features table.
Refresh rather than repeat
A full analysis has a shelf life of a year or two in most markets. What is worth maintaining continuously is a light monitor of pricing, positioning changes and advertising. Commissioning the same full study annually produces the same document with updated screenshots.
Questions people ask about competitor analysis services
How much does competitor analysis cost?
It varies with the number of competitors and the depth. The more useful control is scope: a focused analysis answering one decision costs a fraction of a market survey and is used far more often.
Can I use a competitor's product to analyse it?
Buying publicly available products is normal commercial practice. Misrepresenting who you are to obtain confidential information or access is not, and it creates legal exposure.
What is the most useful single input?
Their customer reviews. They tell you what the market dislikes about the current options, which is where positioning opportunities actually come from.