Comparison - Tradeoff Spectrum.

Best for: Comparing options that trade off on criteria too different to add into one score, such as fast launch versus full control or low initial cost versus low operating cost; laying out the tradeoffs between build, partner, and SaaS strategic options; showing a decision meeting that no option wins on every axis

Use: Use it when there are three or four independent evaluation criteria that trade off within themselves but cannot be weighted and summed into a single winner across criteria, such as a build-versus-partner-versus-SaaS strategic choice. Use it where forcing the choice onto a two-axis plane would drop the third criterion, or a scorecard would wrongly declare the highest total the winner.

Avoid: Use diagram-quadrant-matrix for a point on the intersection of two axes, comparison-decision-matrix or comparison-gtm-channel-scorecard when a weighted score should pick one winner, problem-benchmark-gap to measure the gap between us and a baseline, diagram-force-field for the sum of forces for and against, chart-radar-comparison when outward is better on every axis, and comparison-pros-cons for one option's pros and cons alone. Two axes read more clearly as a plane, and more than four options crowd the track markers until they overlap.