docs: README marketing — comparison table, live demo, screenshots

README.md

@@ -10,13 +10,20 @@ A self-hosted status monitoring and incident-communication platform for teams th
 
 Applegate Monitor combines protocol checks, controller and POS integrations, live observability, incident timelines, planned maintenance, alert delivery, and tenant-aware administration in one Node.js and MariaDB application.
 
-[Product page](https://richardapplegate.io/static/case-studies/applegatemonitor.html) · [Live deployment](https://uptime.richardapplegate.io) · [Docker Hub](https://hub.docker.com/r/applegater/status-server) · [Releases](https://github.com/X4Applegate/status-server/releases)
+[Live demo](https://uptime.richardapplegate.io/dashboard/demo) · [Product page](https://richardapplegate.io/static/case-studies/applegatemonitor.html) · [Docker Hub](https://hub.docker.com/r/applegater/status-server) · [Releases](https://github.com/X4Applegate/status-server/releases)
+
+> **🔴 Live demo:** try a sample dashboard at **[uptime.richardapplegate.io/dashboard/demo](https://uptime.richardapplegate.io/dashboard/demo)**.
+
+[![Applegate Monitor — public status dashboard](docs/screenshots/dashboard.png)](https://uptime.richardapplegate.io/dashboard/demo)
+
 
 > [!IMPORTANT]
 > Applegate Monitor is **source-available, not open source**. Personal and internal non-commercial use is permitted. Modification, redistribution, derivative works, and commercial use require prior written permission. See [LICENSE](LICENSE).
 
 ## Contents
 
+- [Screenshots](#screenshots)
+- [How it compares](#how-it-compares)
 - [Quick start](#quick-start)
 - [What it provides](#what-it-provides)
 - [Supported checks](#supported-checks)
@@ -30,6 +37,39 @@ Applegate Monitor combines protocol checks, controller and POS integrations, liv
 - [Development](#development)
 - [Security and license](#security-and-license)
 
+## Screenshots
+
+> A live sample dashboard is at **[uptime.richardapplegate.io/dashboard/demo](https://uptime.richardapplegate.io/dashboard/demo)** — the fastest way to see it in action.
+
+**Product tour**
+
+![Applegate Monitor product tour](docs/screenshots/demo.gif)
+
+**Public status page**
+
+![Applegate Monitor — public status dashboard](docs/screenshots/dashboard.png)
+
+**Admin operations console**
+
+![Applegate Monitor — admin console](docs/screenshots/admin.png)
+
+## How it compares
+
+Most self-hosted monitors watch **one** set of endpoints for **one** audience. Applegate Monitor is built for operators who serve **multiple teams or clients** — each getting its own branded, access-controlled status page from a single deployment.
+
+| | **Applegate Monitor** | Uptime Kuma | Gatus | Statping-ng |
+| --- | --- | --- | --- |
+| Multi-tenant, per-client **branded** dashboards from one install | ✅ Built-in | Limited | ✗ | ✗ |
+| Per-tenant login + role-based visibility (RBAC) | ✅ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
+| Configuration | Web admin UI | Web admin UI | YAML file | Web admin UI |
+| Incident timelines + planned maintenance windows | ✅ | Partial | ✗ | Partial |
+| Checks: HTTP/TCP/UDP/Ping/DNS/TLS-cert | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ (HTTP-centric) | ✅ |
+| Network/POS integrations (TP-Link Omada, UniFi, Square) | ✅ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
+| Email alerts, quiet hours, embeddable SVG badges, JSON/SSE feeds | ✅ | Partial | Partial | Partial |
+| Storage | MariaDB | SQLite/MariaDB | In-memory/store | SQLite/Postgres |
+
+*Uptime Kuma, Gatus, and Statping-ng are excellent projects with large communities; this table is a general positioning guide as of 2026 — check each project for its current feature set. Applegate Monitor's focus is the multi-tenant, white-label use case.*
+
 ## Quick start
 
 ### Requirements

docs/screenshots/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+# Screenshots
+
+Drop PNG/GIF assets here and reference them from the root README:
+
+- `dashboard.png` — public status page (hero)
+- `admin.png` — admin console
+- `incident.png` — incident timeline
+- `demo.gif` — ~10s screen capture of the live dashboard
+
+Keep images under ~1 MB where possible; GIFs compressed.