The short version
Why we call ourselves the #1 alternative: you stop renting
| Moz Local | DecodeLocal | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Recurring subscription, priced per location per month | One-time: $129.99, $149, or $219, whole business |
| Core job | Keeps your listings synchronized while subscribed | Tells you where you rank, why you lose, and what to fix first |
| Scope of vision | Your own listings and profile health | The whole battlefield: you and the competitors above you |
| When you stop paying | The syncing stops | Nothing to stop. You own the deliverable |
| First step | Pick a plan | A free rank check on live Google results |
Their published tiers change and are billed per location; we compare models rather than freeze numbers that will drift. Ours is simple to state: three one-time prices, no meters.
Listings hygiene is a chore, not a lifestyle
Keeping your name, address, and phone consistent across the web genuinely matters: it is entity hygiene, and blurry entities lose tie-breaks. But hygiene is a chore with a finish line, not a condition requiring lifelong medication. An audit finds the inconsistencies, a fix pass corrects them, a periodic check keeps them honest. Renting software by the month to stand guard over your own address is how the industry converted a task into an annuity, theirs.
Our reports flag exactly which of your signals disagree and where, alongside the part no listings tool addresses at all: who is actually above you on the map, how deep their review moat runs, and which corner of your city is soft enough to take this quarter.
Whose corner it was, whose corner it is
The Barksdale crew learned the hard way that a corner’s history confers nothing. Avon had the name, the years, the legend; Marlo had present-tense hunger and better field discipline, and the map quietly changed hands. Local search runs on the same physics. We have swept entire cities point by point and found the most-reviewed name in a market holding six percent of its quadrants while twenty-seven different operators each held a piece. History decided nothing. That week’s signals decided everything.
That is why our money goes into measurement instead of maintenance dashboards. Maintenance assumes the map is yours to keep. Measurement assumes the map is contested every day, which is the truth, and tells you where the contest is winnable. One philosophy bills you monthly to feel safe. The other hands you a war map once and lets you fight.
What replaces what
- RankCheck gives you the neutral, block-by-block reading of where you actually stand. Free, no account. Run it free
- The SEO Engine audits your signals against the rivals above you and delivers the outrank plan. $129.99 once. See the Engine
- GroundTruth adds the reputation layer: what your market’s reviews say and the gaps you can own. $149 once. See GroundTruth
Honest questions, honest answers
Does DecodeLocal push my listings to directories like Moz Local?
No. We identify which listings are inconsistent or missing and put the fixes in your plan; the submitting is yours or your web person’s, and for a single location it is usually an afternoon. What you get instead is the part syncing tools don’t attempt: the competitive picture and the priority order.
Why choose one-time pricing over a small monthly fee?
Small monthly fees are how large annual sums dress for church. Twelve months of even a modest per-location plan outspends our biggest one-time report, and renews silently into year two. Our model bills when you decide to learn something new, and at no other time.
Is the free rank check actually free?
Yes: one check per business, on live Google results, no account and no card. It exists because it is the best sales pitch we have. If it shows you a problem we can’t help with, you’ve lost two minutes.
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.