Candidates, partisan groups and advocacy organizations collectively spend millions of dollars buying software services, everything from website content management and constituent relationship management, to email campaign management and delivery, to online fundraising, database integration, campaign finance compliance and FEC filing.

But the users of these services often have little to go on as they try to figure out what services they need and whose tools they should buy. Nor do they have a clear sense of how much they should be paying, and whether they are getting good value for their money. Until now, there's hasn't been a place on the web to get access to this kind of information.

For that reason, we at Personal Democracy Forum decided to create this Consumer Guide to Software-as-a-Service. The companies featured here offer a variety of software products, with each tending to take an individual approach, focusing on fundraising, advocacy or database management.

Inside, you'll find detailed profiles of each company, written in consultation with their staff, that explains their philosophy, describes the core uses of their software services, and highlights some of their strengths and top clients. In addition, you'll get access to aggregate user ratings of their software products, their level of customer service, and the fairness of their pricing. Finally, at the bottom of each company profile, you'll find an ongoing dialogue by users of their tools.

These ratings came from subscribers to PDF's e-newsletter and anyone they could have sent our survey to. We did not specifically target these companies' customers.

*We have only compiled the ratings for companies that received over ten responses; those that received ten or fewer responses have grayed-out stars and should be considered unrated. We will update the survey periodically and will update the company ratings accordingly.

NOTES

All the firms included in this guide make technology development and software services their primary business, and a significant portion of their client base is politically-oriented, be they issue advocacy or 527 groups, political candidates, party organizations, PACs or associations. All the firms profiled spoke with PDF staff during the compilation of their profiles, which are up-to-date as of December 2006. Not included in this survey are the many political consulting firms that offer in-depth Internet services, including website design, online advertising, and strategic communications planning.

User ratings of each of the companies are based on an online survey of Personal Democracy Forum’s registered members and subscribers conducted in December 2006. Respondents were asked first if they had used a company’s services, and then to rate them from one (lowest) to five (highest) on three scales: quality of software products, quality of customer service, and fairness of fees. User ratings are inherently subjective and should not be taken as conclusive or predictive of future service.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION

This is a living document. We will continue to provide updates to company profiles and fresh consumer survey data. It's also up to you, our readers, to provide your own comments and add to these profiles. Have you used one of the vendors we profile? Add your comments to the mix.

To access full reports on each company, become a premium member of PDF.