Alternative: A community software search engine

[D2man]

https://alternative-a.com/en/blog/v3release

[yboris]

I tried using alternative-a but couldn't find anything (just search for "photo" for example). And there is no obvious way to add what's missing.

Also, when I hear "software" I expect software for the computer, not websites that provide a service.

I recommend https://alternativeto.net/ -- very easy to recommend alternatives and add new ones.

[D2man → yboris]

Alternativeto is an old player in this game. They, definitely have a better database, but it's quicker to add software on Alternative and we have a complete set of tools.

We are covering website, software, toolkit, code, API, and library. You'll have this detail in the detail sheet. In addition, if you sign in, the comparator allows you to filter by type (for example "software").

Alternative is focusing on comparison tools to make your selection faster. The database is growing but it still new. Join us to make a difference!

[foxbee]

When I seen the title, I thought, 'a search engine that allows me to search for communities that fit an inputted search criteria, cool!' Sadly, it doesn't seem to be the case and it is more of a tool for searching alternatives to popular software.

[D2man → foxbee]

Indeed, this is not the problem we are answering, but your first though seems a great idea.

[foxbee → D2man]

It really is a good idea

[vhanda]

Hey. I tried to signup, and it redirected me to the login page in the french language. My locale is English. After manually changing the url to use English, and trying to Sign In, it redirected me to the French Signup Page.

Something strange is going on.

[D2man → vhanda]

Thanks for reporting this bug. The problem has been corrected in a new version. It's in production.

Tell me if it persists :)

[pimterry → D2man]

I signed up and was presented with a French dashboard page. Everything was in English before. I manually changed the 'fr' in the URL to 'en' and then everything seemed to work fine :-).

[mdaniel → pimterry]

I had this same experience, and between this experience and the GP comment -- how in the world is asking users to do URL surgery considered a valid UX? To say nothing of the hubris of ignoring the `accept-language:` header sent from every browser since I can remember

[D2man → mdaniel]

Problem fixed. Sorry for these sad emotions you were experiencing will using Alternative. I am doing my best.

[karsinkk]

Is it just me or is anyone else having a tough time trying to wade through all the jargon to figure out what this is actually about?

[laurent123456 → karsinkk]

It's alternativeto.com but with a few differences.

[xanth → laurent123456]

My first thought was there are now 15 competing standards, I hope at least this is semantic web or at least scrape friendly.

[tyingq → xanth]

"at least scrape friendly"

Decidedly not. If you disable javascript for a search, you get a mostly empty page back.

The results themselves do come from an api at benchmarker.fr, but it wants a bearer token.

[D2man → tyingq]

We provide an open search route API :

https://benchmarker.fr/opensearch?q={searchTerms}

You can then configure a redirection folowing these guidelines:

  <Url type="text/html" template="https://alternative-a.com/en/search">
    <Param name="q" value="{searchTerms}"/>
    <!-- other Params if you need them… -->
    <Param name="view" value="list"/>
    <Param name="sort" value='["reduction","DESC"]'/>
  </Url>

Can you precise, why would you scrape Alternative? Your answer will help us define the next priorities.

[D2man → xanth]

That's true, we build Alternative knowing the advantages and drawbacks of the market. Besides data, we tried to build tools that help you to make your choices. We relied on scraped data and reviews.

[tyingq → karsinkk]

Search for software and alternatives to named software.

Here's the results of a search for "Trello":

https://alternative-a.com/en/search?q=trello&view=list&sort=...

[D2man → karsinkk]

Sorry for that, I tried to be as clear as possible. May I help you ?

Can you precise which jargon ?

[gk1 → D2man]

I think the issue is grammar, not jargon. There are many grammar mistakes which make it difficult to understand. I recommend you check the text through Grammarly, or ask someone for help reviewing the text.

[D2man → gk1]

Sorry for my poor english ! I'll ckeck grammarly

[gk1 → D2man]

At the very least I recommend fixing the headline to avoid confusion:

Introducing Alternative, the community-powered search engine for software

[D2man → gk1]

On your advice, I have edited the title.

[cutemonster → gk1]

Agreed, I was confused too

[btbuildem → karsinkk]

No idea what this service? product? vaporvare? does..

[D2man → btbuildem]

You can use Alternative now. It's an online service. More we are to share our knowledge on Alternative faster you will find your software.

Have you tried it?

[btbuildem → D2man]

Not to be flippant, but I _still_ don't know what it does. Am I just ignorant of current trends? Does the name provide enough information that folks will immediately know what it is?

Honestly, a short paragraph describing what it does would be really helpful.

Some of your target audience may be the "poke around spend time finding out what it does" type. But another swathe could be of the "tell me what this is before I spend any time looking at it" sort.

[D2man → btbuildem]

Alternative store data, provided by the community, about the software and online service market.

With these data, Alternative helps to select your future software.

You can start from a similar software search or a functionality search and then reduce the results list to a shortlist of 3 candidates using the tools we provide.

Does it sound clearer? :)

[btbuildem → D2man]

Thanks! Yes, that explains it well.

[andyxor]

what is "community software"?

[D2man → andyxor]

To avoid misunderstandings, On the advice of @gk1, I edit the blog post title to :

"Introducing Alternative, the community-powered search engine for software"

Unfortunately, I couldn't edit it on HN

Does it sound better?

[stanislavb]

I'm wondering whether this is better/different than AlternativeTo or SaaSHub.com?

[D2man → stanislavb]

You are right! Alternative is similar to AlternativeTo and SaaSHub. We are mainly if you are not connected to the Alternative dashboard. In the offline version, the search results are presented as a list. Moreover, softwares are added by the community.

Nevertheless there are differences!

When using Alternative without sign in, we differ by :

- search filters that allow you to build your requirements

- a display of search results by similarity index

When using Alternative with sign in, we differ by :

- more advanced comparison tools

- more data in the software file

- a space to share your stacks and argue about about its

- a semi-automated filling of the form to add a software

These differences are the result of a vision oriented search engine more than data directory. We hope that with the craze that could be around this project we will build indexing robots specialized in the discovery and revalidation of data.

It seems ambitious but, we target to be more exhaustive than AlternativeTo and SaaSHub. That's why we combined crowdsourcing and robots.

Did I answer your question ?

[laurent123456 → D2man]

You explain what the website does not but so much what problem is being solved. I use alternativeto a lot, and never had an issue finding what I need. I usually type the name of an app related to what I need and browse the alternatives. Usually I'd also select a few filters, for example the operating system or open source.

At not point did I think "I can't do x or y, and if only there was a similarity index or robots I could". So you might have more features than alternativeto but why would anyone need them is the part that's missing.

[D2man → laurent123456]

1. There's no alternativeto in french.

2. With those tools, we think you'll make your choice faster even with a very long results list. I think you deserve these tools as a counterpart for your work on Alternative. We build it thinking to corporate needs.

If you are ok with Alternativeto that's fine. :)

[dgan]

searching for "dns" gives a blank page https://alternative-a.com/en/search?q=dns&view=list&sort=[%2...

While searching for "bind9" gives me "Your research isn't recorded!"

hmmm

[D2man → dgan]

Thanks for the report. "bind9" is not recorded in the database yet. "dns" is recorded as a category but without software liked to it that's why the page is blank.

[Kikkhal]

Great design, I found great results concerning Airtable. Interesting site.

[D2man → Kikkhal]

Thanks