G2 and Capterra Reviews: A Guide for Software Companies

G2 reviews and Capterra reviews are written by verified software users, moderated before they’re published, and heavily read by B2B buyers comparing tools. To build a strong presence, claim your free profiles, ask customers for reviews at moments when they’ve seen real value, invite every eligible customer rather than only happy ones, reply to reviews professionally, and report reviews that break the sites’ guidelines. Neither site removes a review because you disagree with it.

The details differ between the two sites, and both have rules on incentives that are stricter than many vendors assume.

How G2 and Capterra fit together

G2 and Capterra are among the review sites B2B software buyers check most, along with Capterra’s sister sites GetApp and Software Advice. In early 2026, G2 acquired Capterra, Software Advice and GetApp from Gartner. For now the sites still have their own profiles, reviews and guidelines, so treat them as separate channels and check each site’s current rules before running a campaign, since policies may change as the businesses are combined.

For buyers, the two sites answer slightly different questions. G2 is known for comparison grids and category reports that position products against each other. Capterra and its sister sites organize products by category, so buyers often use them to browse options and read reviews side by side. If you also ship a mobile app, our guide to App Store and Google Play reviews covers that channel, and agencies selling services rather than software can see our guide to Clutch reviews.

Step 1: Claim your profiles

Your product may already have a listing on both sites, created from public information or from a user’s first review. Claiming it gives you access to the vendor tools: editing your product description, categories, screenshots and pricing model, getting review notifications and replying publicly.

1. Search for your product on each site and check whether a listing exists, including under an old product name.
2. Use the claim or “for vendors” option on each site and follow its verification steps, which usually involve a work email address on your company’s domain.
3. Pick categories carefully. Being listed in the wrong category puts you in front of the wrong buyers and in comparisons that don’t reflect what you do.
4. Complete the profile: a plain description of who the product is for, current screenshots, integrations and support options.
5. Add at least two people from your team as profile admins so access doesn’t disappear when someone leaves.

How reviews are verified

Both sites put reviews through verification and moderation before publishing. That matters to you because it means low-effort tactics tend to fail, and because a rejected review isn’t a sign of bias against your product.

• G2 requires reviewers to verify their identity, for example through LinkedIn or a business email, and may ask for a screenshot showing they use the product. Reviews go through automated filtering and then a manual check by G2’s moderation team before they’re published. G2 doesn’t allow reviews from the product company’s employees or from employees of direct competitors.
• Capterra says it verifies that each reviewer is a real person with genuine experience of the product, using manual checks by its moderation team along with tools that check text quality and detect plagiarism and AI-generated content. Reviews where the identity can’t be confirmed, or where a conflict of interest is flagged, aren’t published. Vendors may not submit reviews of their own or a competitor’s product, directly or indirectly.

Moderation takes time, typically days rather than hours, so a campaign’s results show up gradually.

Incentives: what the sites allow and what the FTC allows

This is where software companies commonly get into trouble. Gift cards for reviews are common in B2B software, and both sites permit incentives in some form, but only under their own rules.

• G2’s guidelines say incentives are a thank-you for approved reviews, and that eligibility is never based on the opinions, positive or negative, expressed in the review. G2 also sets rules on what can be offered, so check its current guidelines before offering anything.
• Capterra’s guidelines say incentives must be offered through its approved processes and offered equally to all eligible participants regardless of the rating given. Vendors must not offer rewards for reviews outside those processes.

The FTC’s 2024 rule on consumer reviews adds a federal layer on top. It prohibits offering compensation or other incentives conditioned, expressly or implicitly, on writing a review that expresses a particular sentiment. So “leave us a review and get a gift card” can be compliant; “leave us a five-star review and get a gift card” isn’t, and neither is quietly only rewarding the positive ones. Our guide to the FTC fake review rule explains the rest of what it covers.

Step 2: Ask customers at the right moment

A review request lands best when the customer has just experienced the value they bought the product for. For software, that’s rarely day one. Good moments include:

• After onboarding is complete, when the customer has gone live and used the core workflow for a few weeks.
• After a usage milestone, such as the first report sent, first integration connected or first month of invoices processed.
• After a renewal, which is a strong signal the customer sees continued value.
• After a support ticket is resolved, as long as you send the same request after every resolved ticket, not only the ones rated highly.

The key is that the trigger is an event, not a sentiment score. Every customer who hits the milestone gets the same request, whether they seem happy or not. Send it from a real person, keep it short, and use the review link each site provides for vendors. G2’s guidelines say to share review landing pages directly with customers or in closed communities rather than posting them publicly, where they can attract people who aren’t users.

Hi Priya, you’ve been running payroll on our platform for three months now. Would you share your honest experience on G2? It takes about ten minutes, and your review helps other finance teams decide whether we’re the right fit. Here’s the link. Thanks, Marcus

Step 3: Reply to reviews

Both sites let vendors respond publicly, and Capterra’s guidelines ask that responses be made through the site’s own tools and stay respectful and professional. Buyers read vendor replies to judge what you’d be like to work with, so:

• Thank reviewers for detailed feedback, positive or negative, and mention something specific.
• For criticism about a missing feature, say whether it’s on your roadmap, without promising dates you can’t keep.
• For a problem that’s been fixed, say so plainly: “We released a new export option in March that addresses this.”
• Never reveal customer account details or argue about the reviewer’s competence.

The general approach in our guide to responding to negative reviews works here too; the audience is simply more technical.

Step 4: Report reviews that break the rules

Both sites say they don’t remove reviews because a vendor disagrees with the opinion. G2 says it doesn’t edit or remove reviews at a seller’s request, and Capterra says a report triggers an investigation but doesn’t mean the review will be removed. What you can report is a review that breaks their guidelines, such as one written by a competitor’s employee, a former employee, someone who never used the product, or one containing personal information or abuse.

Use G2’s “Report a Concern” option on the review and Capterra’s reporting route described in its community guidelines. Give specific evidence, for example that the reviewer’s stated company has never been a customer, rather than a general complaint that the review is unfair.

Grids, rankings and badges

G2’s grids and reports, and Capterra’s category lists, draw on review data along with other information such as market presence. The exact methods are the sites’ own and are updated over time, so be wary of anyone who claims a formula for climbing them. What reliably helps is a steady flow of recent, genuine reviews from real users in your target segment, a correctly categorized profile, and an honest description of the product.

A sudden burst of reviews from a single campaign, followed by nothing, tends to look odd to buyers and may draw moderation attention. A steady, always-on request tied to milestones usually produces a more credible profile.

Don’t forget community discussions

Many software buyers also search Reddit, Slack groups and industry forums for unfiltered opinions. You can’t moderate those, and you shouldn’t try to seed them with fake accounts, which communities tend to spot and punish. Do monitor them, answer questions openly from an identified company account where the community allows it, and treat recurring complaints there as product feedback. Seeing how rivals are discussed is also useful context; our guide to competitor reputation analysis shows how to compare that data fairly.

A worked example: a small HR software company

This is an illustrative scenario. An HR software company has eleven G2 reviews, most over two years old, and a handful on Capterra. Its sales team keeps hearing prospects mention a critical review about slow support.

1. It claims both profiles, fixes an outdated category, and updates screenshots to the current interface.
2. It sets up an automated request that goes to every admin user 60 days after go-live, and after each renewal, with no satisfaction filter.
3. It uses the sites’ own incentive programs only, with the same offer for every reviewer regardless of rating.
4. It replies to the support complaint, explaining that it has since added live chat support, and replies to new reviews within a week.
5. It reports one review from a user whose stated employer is a direct competitor, with the evidence, and leaves the other critical reviews alone.

Over the following months the profile fills with current reviews, including a few critical ones, and the old support complaint becomes one voice among many rather than the most recent word.

Common mistakes

• Asking employees, friends or partners to review. Both sites prohibit it, and it counts as a fake review under the FTC rule.
• Filtering by NPS or CSAT before asking. This is review gating and gets reviews removed.
• Running your own gift card offer outside the sites’ programs. Check each site’s rules first.
• Posting review links publicly. It invites non-users and can compromise the landing page.
• Ignoring the profile between campaigns. An unmanaged profile with old reviews and no replies tells buyers the vendor isn’t paying attention.

If you’re managing several products or review sites, our SaaS reputation management page explains how we help software companies, and our review management service covers requests, replies and reporting.

Frequently asked questions

Can I pay for G2 reviews?

You can’t pay for positive reviews. G2 allows incentives as a thank-you for approved reviews under its own rules, as long as eligibility never depends on the opinion expressed. The FTC’s 2024 rule also bans incentives conditioned on a review’s sentiment.

How long does it take for a G2 or Capterra review to appear?

Both sites moderate reviews before publishing, which typically takes a few business days. Reviews that need extra verification, such as a screenshot of the reviewer using the product, can take longer or be rejected if the reviewer doesn’t respond.

Can I get a negative G2 review removed?

Only if it breaks G2’s guidelines, for example if it was written by a competitor’s employee or someone who never used the product. G2 says it doesn’t remove reviews at a seller’s request. Report it through the “Report a Concern” option with specific evidence.

Should we focus on G2 or Capterra?

It depends on where your buyers look. Ask recent customers and prospects which sites they checked, and look at which one ranks for your product name plus “reviews.” Many software companies maintain both, with an always-on request that points customers to one site at a time.