By Mehdi HassanEvery pricing page has two kinds of reader. The scanner looks at the plan cards, picks one in seconds and leaves the table alone. The analyst, often a technical evaluator or someone building a business case, wants to confirm specific features, limits and terms. The feature comparison table exists for the analyst, and the most common mistake is designing it for neither.
How detailed should a pricing comparison table be?
A pricing comparison table should include every feature or limit that differs between plans, plus the handful of shared features buyers explicitly look for, such as SSO, API access or support level. Everything else either belongs in a collapsed section or doesn't belong on the pricing page at all.
The test is simple: would removing this row make any buyer less able to choose a plan? If not, it's noise. Our SaaS pricing page guide explains how the table fits under the cards; this article is about what goes inside it.
Row type | Keep it? | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
Differs between plans | Yes | Top of its group, always visible |
Same on all plans, buyers ask about it | Yes | Visible, but lower in the group |
Same on all plans, rarely asked | Maybe | Collapsed 'All plans include' section |
Internal feature names nobody searches | No | Rename or remove |
Limits and quotas | Yes | Own group, with units buyers understand |
Support, security and terms | Yes | Own group near the bottom |
How should you group features in a plan comparison table?
Group features in a plan comparison table by the job a buyer is trying to do, such as collaborating, reporting, securing data or integrating with other tools. Grouping by your internal product modules makes sense to your team and very little sense to a first-time buyer.
List every row you have today
Export the current table into a spreadsheet, one row per feature, one column per plan.
Mark rows that differ
Highlight every row where at least one plan is different. These are your decision rows.
Sort into four to seven jobs
Examples: Core use, Collaboration, Limits, Integrations, Admin and security, Support. Fewer groups scan faster.
Order rows inside each group
Decision rows first, then commonly asked shared rows. Move the rest to an 'Included in every plan' block.
Rewrite row labels
Use the words buyers search for. 'SAML SSO' beats 'Enterprise identity layer'. Add a short tooltip only where a term is genuinely unclear.
Should a feature matrix be collapsible?
A feature matrix should be collapsible when it runs longer than one or two screens, with the most decision-relevant groups open by default and the rest closed. This keeps the page short for scanners while giving analysts a complete reference.
There are three common patterns, and each suits a different table length:
Pattern | Best for | Trade-off |
|---|---|---|
Fully expanded | Short tables that fit on about one screen | Simple, but grows unwieldy fast |
Collapsible groups | Medium tables with clear groups | Hides detail some analysts expect to see |
'Compare all features' link | Very long tables | Moves detail off the main page, adds a click |
Whichever you choose, keep collapsed content in the page HTML rather than loading it on click, so search engines and AI tools can still read it. Our guide to FAQ sections that earn citations explains the same principle for accordions.
What makes pricing table design easy to scan?
Pricing table design is easy to scan when the plan names and buttons stay visible, values are aligned in columns, and the recommended plan is highlighted down its full column. Visual polish matters less than these structural choices.
- Sticky header. Plan names, prices and buttons stay visible as the buyer scrolls, so they never lose track of which column is which.
- Highlight one column. Carry the recommended plan's highlight from the card into the table.
- Use values, not just ticks. '5 projects' or 'Unlimited' says more than a checkmark. Use ticks only for true yes-or-no features.
- Show 'not included' clearly. A dash or an empty cell is fine; a grey cross can feel punitive. Be consistent.
- Repeat the button at the end. Someone who reads the whole table has done their research; give them the action right there.
For example: reworking a 60-row table
For example, suppose a project tool's table has 60 rows in one long list, and 40 of them are identical across all four plans. A rework would split the 20 differing rows into five groups (Projects and limits, Collaboration, Reporting, Admin and security, Support), keep those open, and move the 40 shared rows into one collapsed 'Every plan includes' block. The table goes from five screens to about two, and nothing is removed. This is a hypothetical example.
How should a compare plans section work on mobile?
A compare plans section on mobile should let the buyer compare two plans at a time, or show one plan per screen with a plan switcher, instead of shrinking four columns into an unreadable grid. Horizontal scrolling tables hide which column you're looking at.
- Let the buyer pick which two plans to compare, defaulting to the recommended plan and the one below it.
- Keep the plan names pinned at the top while scrolling.
- Collapse groups by default, with the decision rows group open.
- Make every row label readable without truncation; wrap long labels instead.
If you're rebuilding the whole page, this is usually where the build effort goes. A static table is quick; a sticky, collapsible, mobile-aware table wired to the billing toggle takes real front-end work. Our guide to the monthly vs annual toggle covers keeping the table's prices in sync.
How does the table relate to the plan cards and FAQ?
The plan cards, the comparison table and the FAQ each answer a different level of question. The cards answer 'which plan is for me?', the table answers 'does it include X?', and the FAQ answers 'what happens if?'. Problems start when one tries to do another's job.
If buyers can't choose from the cards, the fix is in the card copy and plan structure, covered in how many pricing tiers to show. If the FAQ is full of 'does plan X include Y?' questions, those belong in the table. And if your table can't make the plans look different, your plans may genuinely be too similar, which is a packaging problem, not a design one. The pricing page FAQ guide covers what the FAQ should handle instead.
