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Alternative: A community software search engine
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- stanislavb 5y agoI'm wondering whether this is better/different than AlternativeTo or SaaSHub.com?
- D2man 5y agoYou 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 5y agoYou 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 5y ago1. 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. :)
- Kikkhal 5y agoGreat design, I found great results concerning Airtable. Interesting site.
- D2man 5y agoThanks
- karsinkk 5y agoIs 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?
- D2man 5y agoSorry for that, I tried to be as clear as possible. May I help you ? Can you precise which jargon ?
- gk1 5y agoI 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 5y agoSorry for my poor english ! I'll ckeck grammarly
- gk1 5y agoAt the very least I recommend fixing the headline to avoid confusion: Introducing Alternative, the community-powered search engine for software
- cutemonster 5y agoAgreed, I was confused too
- D2man 5y agoOn your advice, I have edited the title.
- laurent123456 5y agoIt's alternativeto.com but with a few differences.
- vhanda 5y agoHey. 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 5y agoThanks for reporting this bug. The problem has been corrected in a new version. It's in production. Tell me if it persists :)
- pimterry 5y agoI 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 5y agoI 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 5y agoProblem fixed. Sorry for these sad emotions you were experiencing will using Alternative. I am doing my best.
- dgan 5y agosearching for "dns" gives a blank page https://alternative-a.com/en/search?q=dns&view=list&sort=[%22reduction%22,%22DESC%22] 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 5y agoThanks 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.
- foxbee 5y agoWhen 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.
- andyxor 5y agowhat is "community software"?
- D2man 5y agoTo 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?
- yboris 5y agoI 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/ https://alternativeto.net/ -- very easy to recommend alternatives and add new ones.
- D2man 5y agoAlternativeto 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!