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Comparative advertising rules for SaaS comparison pages

November 12, 2026 · The Selvio team

Can your vs page name a competitor and show its prices? What US, EU and French law say, quoted from the texts, and a checklist for SaaS teams.

A “vs” page names a competitor, describes its product and often shows its prices. In legal terms, that is comparative advertising. The US, the EU and France all allow it, under conditions that are close to each other: the comparison has to be true, fair and checkable.

This article quotes the texts, read on November 12, 2026. It is not legal advice.

The short answer

You can name a competitor, compare your product with its product and show its prices, if:

• what you say about it is true and not misleading;
• you compare things that meet the same need;
• the reader can check what you say;
• you do not denigrate the competitor, or suggest a link with it.

United States

The FTC encourages comparisons, if they are truthful

The Federal Trade Commission’s policy statement on comparative advertising (16 CFR 14.15) defines it as advertising that “compares alternative brands on objectively measurable attributes or price, and identifies the alternative brand by name, illustration or other distinctive information”.

The FTC is in favor of it: “Comparative advertising, when truthful and nondeceptive, is a source of important information to consumers and assists them in making rational purchase decisions.”

It judges a comparison like any other advertising claim: “The ultimate question is whether or not the advertising has a tendency or capacity to be false or deceptive.”

The competitor can sue under the Lanham Act

Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)) makes liable anyone who, “in commercial advertising or promotion, misrepresents the nature, characteristics, qualities, or geographic origin of his or her or another person’s goods, services, or commercial activities”. The action is open to “any person who believes that he or she is or is likely to be damaged by such act”. In practice, that is the competitor you described wrongly.

European Union

Eight conditions, in Directive 2006/114/EC

The directive defines comparative advertising as “any advertising which explicitly or by implication identifies a competitor or goods or services offered by a competitor”. Its article 4 allows it when eight conditions are met. Five of them matter for a SaaS comparison page:

• (a) it is not misleading;
• (b) it compares goods or services meeting the same needs or intended for the same purpose;
• (c) it “objectively compares one or more material, relevant, verifiable and representative features of those goods and services, which may include price”;
• (d) it does not discredit or denigrate the competitor’s trade marks, products or activities;
• (h) it does not create confusion between the advertiser and the competitor, or between their trade marks and products.

The other three concern designations of origin, taking unfair advantage of a competitor’s reputation, and presenting a product as an imitation of a trade-marked one.

“Verifiable” means the reader knows where to check

In Lidl Belgium v Colruyt (case C-356/04, 19 September 2006), the Court of Justice of the EU ruled on what “verifiable” means when the details of a comparison are not in the advertisement itself. The comparison is verifiable “only if the advertiser indicates, in particular for the attention of the persons to whom the advertisement is addressed, where and how they may readily examine those details with a view to verifying” their accuracy.

For a comparison page, the simplest way to meet this is a link to the competitor’s official page that each value comes from.

The advertiser must prove it, quickly

Article 7 lets courts “require the advertiser to furnish evidence as to the accuracy of factual claims in advertising”, and, for comparative advertising, “in a short period of time”. If the evidence is not provided, or is judged insufficient, the court can consider the claims inaccurate.

France

French law transposes the directive in the Consumer Code, articles L122-1 to L122-7.

• L122-1: a comparison is lawful only if it is not misleading, compares goods or services meeting the same needs, and “compare objectivement une ou plusieurs caractéristiques essentielles, pertinentes, vérifiables et représentatives de ces biens ou services, dont le prix peut faire partie”.
• L122-2: it must not take unfair advantage of a competitor’s brand, denigrate it, create confusion with it, or present a product as an imitation.
• L122-5: the advertiser “doit être en mesure de prouver dans un bref délai l’exactitude matérielle des énonciations, indications et présentations contenues dans la publicité”.

These rules are not limited to ads aimed at consumers: L122-1 covers “toute publicité” (any advertising), and article L121-5 applies the rules on misleading practices to practices aimed at professionals too. A B2B SaaS is covered.

The penalties can be heavy. Under article L132-25, breaches of L122-1 to L122-5 are punished, where applicable, with the penalties for misleading commercial practices (L132-2): two years’ imprisonment and a €300,000 fine, which can rise to 10% of average annual turnover. When the offense is committed online, the penalties rise to five years and €750,000.

A checklist for your comparison page

1. Compare like with like. Plans of the same level, the same billing period, the same unit. If one tool charges per seat and the other per account, say so.
2. Make every value checkable. Link the competitor’s official page each value comes from, and write the date you read it.
3. Keep prices current. Price is a lawful point of comparison, but a former price is a misleading one.
4. Say “not listed”, not “no”. Write that a competitor does not have a feature only when its own page says so. Otherwise: “not listed on its pricing page”.
5. State facts, not judgments. “Starts at $29 per seat, billed monthly” compares; “overpriced” denigrates.
6. Identify the competitor, do not suggest a link. Its name and logo can show who you compare with; nothing on the page should suggest a partnership or an endorsement.
7. Keep your evidence. Save the page you read, with its date, so you can prove the value “in a short period of time” if it is challenged.

Our audit of 29 comparison pages shows how often these points are missed: 20 of the pages had at least one claim contradicted by the competitor’s own pages.

Selvio builds points 2 and 4 into every page: each value about a competitor is copied word for word from its official page, linked and dated, and a feature that cannot be found is written “not listed”, never “no”.

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