Which political-technology company does the best job providing a package of campaign tools and services to its clients? According to the nearly 200 people who responded to our online Software-as-a-Service survey, CompleteCampaigns.com ranks highest, with an overall average score of 4.2. Coming in second is ActBlue, with a 3.73 overall score. Third is Democracy in Action, at 3.62. Rounding out the top five are NGP Software at 3.55 and GetActive at 3.29. Powerhouse firms like Convio, Capitol Advantage, Aristotle International, Plus Three and Kintera were all ranked lower by our respondents, who were asked to rate each company that they had worked with on the capacity and reliability of their software, the quality of their service and the fairness of their pricing.

We're publicly releasing these top-line numbers as part of the launch of PDF's new premium section, which features company reviews and consumer feedback, starting with our newly-updated Consumer Guide to Software-as-a-Service Providers. This online report is packed with detailed reviews of a total of eighteen leading "software-as-a-service" vendors that serve advocacy groups, political campaigns, and non-profits. The companies we focus on offer a variety of software products, with each tending to take an individual approach, focusing on fundraising, advocacy or database management.

Access to PDF"s premium section is $25 a year. In addition to detailed company reviews, you get the ability to add comments to the reviews and to read the comments of your fellow members. Premium membership also gets you a $75 discount off the price of admission to our annual conference, which will be in New York City this May 18. (Stay tuned for more details on the conference, coming very shortly.)

Inside the premium version of the Consumer Guide, 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 the specific 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.

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 company 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.

Over the last few months we've published several pieces about software vendor issues, including Sheeraz Haji's "User Conferences Worth the Risk," Ben Schaffer's "Open Standards for Online Advocacy Tools," and Peter B. Kelly's "Aristotle: Approaching Interoperability." In addition to continuing to act as a forum for the political technology industry to discuss such issues, we hope this new premium section will be another helpful hub for discussion among software vendors and clients alike , where everyone can come to learn about the industry and important issues from interoperability to email list management to database integration.

You can go here to check out PDF's new premium section.