The short version
Why we call ourselves the #1 alternative: you stop renting
| Local Falcon | DecodeLocal | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Subscription plans metered in scan credits | $4.99 per 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 a $4.99 check right now — just sign in |
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 $4.99 check reads thirteen points around your business today. The reports read further and tell you which corner to take first, and everything costs what it costs exactly once.
What replaces what
- RankCheck is a $4.99 13-point geo grid read around your business, on live results, with the interpretation included. Run a check
- CitySweep is the citywide version: hundreds of points, every quadrant, who owns what, block by block. from $99 per deep-intelligence run. See CitySweep
- The SEO Engine converts the grid reading into the outrank plan. $79.99 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 is $4.99 a check different from a credit subscription?
You pay for the measurement you take, the moment you take it, and nothing else. No monthly plan holding your scans hostage, no credit balance expiring while you are busy running a business. One search, one flat price, and the interpretation comes with it.
What do the paid grid reads cost?
They ship inside the reports: the SEO Engine at $79.99, GroundTruth at $59.99, or CitySweep deep intelligence from $99 for the full citywide grid. 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 rank check. For $4.99 it reads live Google results from fixed points around your business and shows you exactly where you stand before you commit real money to anyone, including us.