The short version
Why we call ourselves the #1 alternative: you stop renting
| Local Falcon | DecodeLocal | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Subscription plans metered in scan credits | Free 13-point check; citywide grids inside one-time reports |
| The grid | You configure and run scans as credits allow | We run the grid for you and write up what it means |
| Deliverable | Heatmaps in a dashboard you interpret | A finished report: the map plus the diagnosis and the plan |
| When you stop paying | Scans and history sit behind the subscription | Reports are yours forever; re-measure when you choose |
| First step | Pick a plan, spend credits | Run the free check right now, no account |
Credit for the category: grid measurement is the right way to do this, and they helped prove it. Our disagreement is the meter. We think measurement is an ingredient of a finished report, not a utility you subscribe to.
We agree about the grid. We disagree about the meter.
A single rank check lies politely: it reads one point, usually the center of town, and calls it your ranking. Grid measurement fixes the lie by reading many fixed points and showing the surface: first here, seventh there, gone past the highway. On all of this we and the grid-tracker crowd are the same church. Distance is a ranking input, so rank is geometry, so measure geometrically.
The split is what happens next. A metered tool hands you the heatmap and the interpretation is your job, every scan drawing down credits like a parking meter outside your own business. We sell the finished thought instead: the grid gets run, then somebody reads it, connects it to your reviews, your competitors’ weaknesses, and your entity signals, and writes down what to do in what order. You are not buying scans. You are buying the answer the scans exist to produce.
Corners get taken by whoever reads the map better
When Marlo went at the Barksdale organization, he didn’t outnumber them and he certainly didn’t out-reputation them. He out-scouted them: muscle placed where their grip was thinnest, corner by corner, while the incumbents kept saying their own name like it settled things. Our citywide sweeps show exactly that terrain in ordinary markets. In one prairie city we measured, the most-reviewed name held six percent of the quadrants and a two-review shop quietly held ten. The map never belongs to the crown. It belongs to whoever is reading it this week.
So read it, then act on the soft squares. The free check reads thirteen points around your business today. The paid reports read further and tell you which corner to take first, and both cost what they cost exactly once.
What replaces what
- RankCheck is a free 13-point geo grid read around your business, on live results, with the interpretation included. Run it free
- CitySweep is the citywide version: hundreds of points, every quadrant, who owns what, block by block. See CitySweep
- The SEO Engine converts the grid reading into the outrank plan. $129.99 once. See the Engine
Honest questions, honest answers
Is DecodeLocal a direct Local Falcon replacement?
If your job is running dozens of self-serve scans a month across client accounts, a metered scan tool fits that workflow and we’ll say so plainly. If you are a business owner or a consultant who wants the reading plus the diagnosis without babysitting credits, that is exactly what we sell, once per report.
How can the 13-point check be free when others meter scans?
Because it is our storefront. The check costs us a few cents of live data and earns your attention honestly: it shows your real surface, and if the surface says you have a problem, our reports are the obvious next step. No credits, no trial clock, one check per business.
What do the paid grid reads cost?
They ship inside the reports: the SEO Engine at $129.99, GroundTruth at $149, or both in the War Room at $219. One-time each. When you want a fresh sweep next season, you buy a fresh report, and the old one stays yours.
The cheapest way to decide is evidence: run the free rank check. It reads live Google results from fixed points around your business and shows you exactly where you stand before you spend a dollar with anyone, including us.