[4][5] Software Advice, Inc., formerly known as River Guide, Inc., was co-founded in 2005 in San Francisco, California by CEO Don Fornes and Austin Merritt, the company's former general manager and COO.

[6][4] The company provides advice on different software for buyers in several verticals: construction, medical, retail, property, manufacturing, distribution, electronic health record, CRM, applicant tracking systems, and more.

[2][13] The Software Advice website gives pricing and demo information on individual systems, as well as market reports based on buyer interactions, and detailed reviews and comparisons.

[3][14][15] The company's reports have been used as a source of expertise in Forbes,[16][17][18][19] Entrepreneur,[20] Huffington Post,[21] Business Insider,[22] Yelp,[23] Inc.,[24][25] and the Wall Street Journal[26] among others.

[28] In the report, Software Advice used analyzed data to plot the market’s top ERP products graphically, based on Usability and User Recommended.