FAQ
Answers to the questions buyers ask before they start.
Honest answers to the questions we get most often, including the sharpest critiques from people who don't think the hosted senior PM category is real yet.
- How is this different from ChatGPT or Claude?
- ChatGPT and Claude are general-purpose AI tools. They're great for brainstorming, drafting, and answering questions. ProductLobster is a hosted senior PM that runs structured PM work: customer research, competitive analysis, strategic framing, prototype iteration, decision capture. Over a per-product memory that compounds with every decision you make. The difference is the difference between a smart conversation and a senior PM running the work.
- How is this different from ChatPRD?
- ChatPRD is a PRD generator. It writes the document. ProductLobster runs the PM work that produces the decisions a PRD codifies. Then it keeps those decisions as versioned state your next analysis can read. If you're a PM who wants a faster PRD, ChatPRD is the right tool. If you're a business that needs a PM team, we are.
- How is this different from Glean, Notion AI, and horizontal Company Brain tools?
- Glean and Notion AI are horizontal: they index your whole company shallowly. ProductLobster is vertical: it knows your product deeply. A combine harvester is the wrong tool for a window box. We're the right-sized tool for a small team focused on shipping a product.
- Won't this be replaced by Anthropic's Auto Memory feature?
- Auto Memory remembers your build commands and debugging lessons. It solves the engineer's problem. ProductLobster runs the senior PM workflow over your product's evidence and decisions. Different layers. Auto Memory is substrate; ProductLobster is hosted workflow software with opinionated PM judgment built in. The two compose. Your CLAUDE.md is what the engineer needs; ProductLobster is what the business needs.
- Why not Claude Skills plus a CLAUDE.md for product work?
- Claude Skills are reusable how-tos for your local agent. ProductLobster is a hosted senior PM you call. The skills tell your agent how to do something generically. ProductLobster does the thing, with your product's full history, opinionated methodology, and decision-grade memory behind it. They compose: a thin Claude Skill on your side can call ProductLobster on the server side. The skill is the doorbell; ProductLobster is the PM who answers.
- I see GitHub repos with free PM skills for Claude Code. Why pay for ProductLobster?
- The repo is a toolbox. ProductLobster is the workshop, the tools, the workflow, and the senior PM running the work. A repo can't run your audit pipeline; can't maintain your product's memory across sessions; can't fast-forward stages; can't refine your checkpoints; can't generate prototypes grounded in your accumulated context; can't validate its own output. And when we ship sharper methodology, you get it the next morning. A forked repo rots.
- How do you handle pricing? What is a "hybrid overage"?
- You pay a flat monthly tier (Free, Plus $29, Pro $79, Studio $200). Tiers include monthly allowances of analyses and prototypes. When you go over, you pay per unit in human-readable amounts: extra audit, extra launch analysis, extra prototype, extra focused analysis, extra refinement session. No token meters. No opaque limits. No surprise bills.
- I live in Codex, Claude Code, or Cursor. Can I use ProductLobster from there?
- Yes (coming soon). ProductLobster connects as a native MCP server. Your agent calls Brain commands (`pl audit`, `pl focused-analysis`, `pl context-pack`, and more); we run the work server-side; the structured result comes back. Same Product Brain as the hosted app. You can use both doorways for the same workspace.
- What if I cancel my subscription?
- You stop paying. Your decisions, your strategic state, and your locked product profiles are exportable. The methodology and prompts that ran the workflow stay with us; those were never yours to take. We don't ship portable methodology artifacts because we'd love to keep building better ones for you. You're free to leave anytime.
- Is my product data safe?
- Yes. OAuth-first authentication (coming soon, when the MCP server ships), scoped permissions per workspace, every Brain command call audit-logged. We validate and quarantine uploaded content before any model reads it, so a hostile document or a prompt-injection payload in someone's email cannot escalate into your product's state. We don't train on your data, ever.
- When are the agentic capabilities (Granola, Gmail, weekly briefings) shipping?
- We ship them when the methodology and the quality are right. No specific date pinned. Subscribe and you'll get them as they land. Phase 1 capabilities are in active development.
- Who built this and why should I trust it?
- Brian Benitez. Director of Product at Disney Streaming for 4 years, CPO at BoardLens for 2 years, executive PM coach for 5+ years. The methodology in ProductLobster is the methodology Brian runs when he's on a team. ProductLobster is the version of that methodology that doesn't require him to be on your team.