About
About SoftwareLore
An independent field guide to the software people rely on every day, and to the companies and founders who build it.
Why SoftwareLore exists
Most people use dozens of software products without knowing who makes them. Yet the company behind a product shapes almost everything about it: how it is priced, how long it is likely to be supported, where its data lives, what it integrates with and what happens to it after an acquisition.
SoftwareLore answers those questions in one place. Every software profile explains what a product does, when it was first released, how it is priced and which alternatives exist. Every company profile explains who founded the company, who owns and runs it today, how it makes money and how it grew.
What SoftwareLore covers
- 25 company profiles: founders, leadership, ownership, business model, milestones and FAQs. Browse companies.
- 71 software profiles: features, use cases, history, pricing model and alternatives. Browse software.
- 15 categories, each with an explanation of the market and its best-known products. Browse categories.
- A timeline of when companies were founded and products shipped, and a directory of founders.
The periodic table
Companies on SoftwareLore are arranged like elements. Each one has a number based on its founding date, starting with the oldest, and a two-letter symbol. Tiles are colored by sector (business software, data and AI, design, collaboration, developer tools, security and infrastructure, games, and internet and community) so related companies are easy to find.
Independence
SoftwareLore is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by any company it covers. It does not sell placements, rankings or reviews, and it does not use affiliate links. Product names, logos and trademarks belong to their respective owners and are used only to identify the products being described.
Sister publication
SoftwareLore is a sister site of Company Crunch, which publishes profiles of innovative companies and the founders behind them.
Get in touch
Read the editorial standards to learn how profiles are researched, or visit the contact page to suggest a correction or a company to cover.
Last updated .