Scored evaluations such as a Wave, a Radar or a Leadership Compass place vendors against criteria. Market maps list who exists. Timing reports judge categories, not products. Advisory notes and vendor profiles do other jobs again. Knowing which format you hold tells you what it can support in a purchase.
Scored vendor evaluations
Forrester's Wave, GigaOm's Radar and KuppingerCole's Leadership Compass place vendors against criteria under published methods. Frost's Radar benchmarks companies on growth and innovation. IDC's MarketScape describes a scoring method that yields one graphic of vendor positions. These support shortlisting, with the caveats in each method.
Market maps
Forrester describes its market-mapping report, called a Landscape, as a report that helps clients identify and explore vendors, defines a market's maturity and dynamics, outlines use cases and lists notable vendors by size, focus and geography. Its methodology page does not say it scores or ranks them. Use this format to find names and understand how a market is shaped.
Timing and category reports
Forrester's Tech Tide assesses categories by business value and maturity and assigns Experiment, Invest, Maintain or Divest. It helps with budget timing, not with choosing between products.
Advisory notes, profiles and commentary
KuppingerCole's research library lists several types. Its public listing explained four: an Advisory Note, described as guidance for a specific buying decision, a Whitepaper, which is a longer topic paper, a Rising Star profile of an early-stage vendor and its capabilities, and a Blog Post of analyst commentary. The listing names other types such as the Leadership Compass, Buyer's Compass and Executive View without describing them, so check KuppingerCole's site for what each does. It also shows whether each item is free, free with an account or restricted.
A quick sorting guide
- You need to: Find who sells in a new category. Reach for: A market map
- You need to: Narrow ten vendors to four. Reach for: A scored evaluation
- You need to: Decide whether to fund a category this year. Reach for: A timing report
- You need to: Guide a specific decision, such as a vendor type. Reach for: An advisory note
- You need to: Learn about a very new vendor. Reach for: A vendor profile, with extra care
Cautions
- A profile of one early-stage vendor is not a comparison.
- A market map is not an endorsement.
- A scored chart is not a test of your environment.
- Access terms vary, so some of these will be behind a paywall. Use only what you are licensed to use.
Quick check
Can I shortlist from a market map?
You can use it to find candidates, but it does not score vendors, so you need your own criteria to narrow the list.
Is an advisory note a vendor ranking?
The public listing describes it as guidance for a specific buying decision, not as a ranking.
Safeguard's GA capabilities include policies, gates and guardrails and compliance and evidence automation, useful when your decision is about governance rather than discovery.
Sources
- Forrester market-mapping report methodology
- Forrester Tech Tide Methodology
- KuppingerCole research library
- About KuppingerCole's Leadership Compass
- The Forrester Wave Methodology
Last reviewed: 19 October 2026.
