Abstract: Systems and methods can support tree-based comparisons within a vendor comparison system. A vendor category may be established. Vendors associated with the vendor category may be identified. Capabilities associated with the vendor category may be specified. A capability tree structure may be established representing the relationships within the received capabilities according to a hierarchical structure. Indicators of one or more of the capabilities may be received for one or more of the vendors. The received indicators may be aggregated and organized according to the hierarchical structure associated with the capability tree. The capability tree may be defined and/or refined by the users. Comparison queries comprising indications of a subset of the capability tree for comparison may be received and evaluated. Evaluation results may be provided according to the aggregated indicators within the specified subset of the capability tree.