Real user reviews wrapped in a business that sells to the vendors it ranks.
What it's really for A software-buying research site. The user reviews are the draw; vendors fund it through leads and intent data.
What our grade covers The grade on this page is about its star ratings and 'Grid' placements for business software, not everything the site does.
High Scoring Confidence Checked against primary sources. We are confident in the facts and the grade here.
Its revenue comes from the vendors it ranks: G2 sells them buyer-intent data and a pay-per-lead product, so the companies featured are the customers.
Source →- Operating since
- 2012 (14 years)
- What it costs you
- Free to read The reviews are free to read.
- How they make money
- Vendor-funded. Sells buyer-intent data and lead generation to the software companies featured, including a pay-per-lead offering.
- What they do
- Aggregates a large volume of user reviews and "Grid" placements across tens of thousands of products. In early 2026 it acquired Capterra, Software Advice, and GetApp from Gartner for roughly $110M.
- What to watch for
- It will not tell you a tool is wrong for you, and a vendor that stops spending can quietly slide down the page. Trust the individual reviews, not the ranking.
- Composite score
- 2.60 / 5.00 → grade C+
How the grade was reached
Does the site take money from the very entities it ranks? Pay-for-placement, vendor-funded data, and affiliate commissions all pull this down. The less the ranking can be bought, the higher the score.
What is the ranking actually built on? Hands-on testing scores highest, then verified first-hand reviews, then opinion or popularity surveys and self-reported figures, then pay-to-rank, which scores lowest.
Is the methodology published, specific, and reproducible? Can a reader see how a given rank was reached, or is it a black box?
Are commercial relationships, sponsorships, and affiliate arrangements disclosed clearly and near the rankings themselves, rather than buried?
How hard is it to game? Controls against fake reviews, solicited reviews, and vendor gaming raise this; an open box anyone can stuff lowers it.
Evidence
- G2 agreed (Jan 29, 2026) to acquire Capterra, Software Advice, and GetApp from Gartner; the deal closed Feb 5, 2026 for ~$110M. Source: G2 newsroom →
- Stated model is selling "up to 3x more Buyer Intent signals" and a new pay-per-lead offering to vendors, i.e. monetizing the vendors it ranks. Source: PR Newswire →