How to Get Your First G2 and Capterra Reviews

If you sell B2B software and buyers shortlist tools on review sites before they talk to you, your first G2 and Capterra reviews are a distribution job, not a vanity score. Claim the free listings, pick categories carefully, ask happy customers with a direct review link, and follow platform incentive rules plus the FTC review rule. This guide is for solo and indie founders with roughly 10 to 100 paying customers. It is not legal advice.

The short answer

Software review sites help when your buyers already use them to compare options. They do not help when nobody in your category shops there. Start free, get a handful of honest reviews from real customers, respond to every review including the negative ones, and only pay for premium placement after you know the channel sends you deals.

• Worth it: B2B buyers who shortlist on G2 or Capterra, categories that rank in Google, and pages AI assistants often cite when people ask for software recommendations.

• Not worth it yet: consumer apps, developer tools whose buyers live on GitHub, or a product with almost no paying users to ask.

• First move: free profile on G2 and a free basic listing on Capterra (and the related Digital Markets sites), then a short personal ask list, not a blast to every customer.

• Hard rules: no fake reviews, no employees or friends posing as customers, no incentives that require a positive rating, no pressuring someone to edit a review.

When are G2 and Capterra reviews worth the work?

Ask yourself one question: do your buyers research tools on peer review sites before they book a demo or start a trial? If yes, a thin or missing profile is a silent no. If no, spend the same afternoon on something closer to the buyer's path.

They help in three places: buyer shortlists (evaluators compare tools before they email you), search (category and alternatives pages often rank for high-intent queries; keep your own SaaS comparison page too), and AI answers (assistants often cite review-site pages; keep the profile accurate and quotable, and use Aura++'s guide on getting cited in AI search answers for the deeper AEO work).

Skip or postpone if you sell a consumer app, if buyers live on GitHub and docs, or if you are still pre-revenue. Ten paying users who used the product this month beat one hundred free signups who never came back.

G2 vs Capterra (and GetApp / Software Advice) as of October 2026

G2 and Capterra are the two names founders hear first. Capterra sits with GetApp and Software Advice under the Digital Markets review network; one vendor listing effort often shows up across those sites, but check the current vendor flow because portals keep shifting. TrustRadius and Product Hunt reviews can wait.

Facts in that table were checked on the linked official pages on 2026-10-15. Pricing and plan names change; trust the live page if it disagrees with this post.

How do you claim the free listings?

G2

Submit a new product through the G2 product submission form, wait for research to verify eligibility and category (often a few business days), then claim the profile. G2's create-a-profile page matches that arc: submit, go live, claim, then wait for final claim approval (commonly 1 to 3 business days). G2's listing help says G2 does not accept B2C products or products still in alpha or beta.

Once you are in my.G2, fill the free profile carefully.

1. Category is the biggest decision. Pick the category buyers actually search, not the one that makes you sound biggest. One accurate primary category beats five vague ones.

2. Description. Plain language for what the product does and who it is for. Skip slogan soup.

3. Screenshots. Real product UI, not marketing mockups.

4. Pricing field. Honest public pricing or a clear "contact us" if that is truly how you sell. Do not invent a number you will not honour.

5. Review collection link. Free plans include a non-incentivized review collection page. Use that link in customer emails so people land on the right form.

Capterra / Digital Markets

Capterra's Profile Guidelines (checked 2026-10-15) say listings are packaged solutions with a public call to action such as a trial, demo, or request for information. Waitlist-only products are not listed. Beta products can be listed when there is a working site with a public offer and at least one review collected within the first calendar year on the site. Description rules: no first-person "we", no "best/fastest" fluff, no CTAs or contact details in the description, and real UI screenshots.

Claim the free basic listing through Capterra's current vendor signup flow, then finish categories, screenshots, pricing, and integrations before you send traffic. One listing effort is meant to reach buyers across Capterra and related Digital Markets sites; confirm what your dashboard shows today.

Who should you ask first?

Do not email your whole customer list. Build a short list of people who are likely to write something specific and true.

• Used the product in the last week (login or a clear usage event).

• Replied to your emails or support threads without drama.

• Renewed, expanded, or told you something worked.

• Can speak to a real job: what they used before, what changed, what is still annoying.

Good timing: after a win they mentioned, after support solved a painful issue, or at renewal when they just chose to stay. Bad timing: right after a bug, during an outage, or the day you raised prices.

Aim for five to ten personal asks in the first pass. That is enough to learn your conversion rate from ask to posted review without turning into a spam campaign.

What should the ask look like?

Keep it personal and easy: one product, one link, one reason. Tell them what helps other buyers (before/after, setup time, who it is for). Never coach the star rating.

Illustrative example (made up, used in the templates and tracker below): Inkspan is a $49/month tool that turns messy client email briefs into first-draft proposals for boutique agencies. About 40 paying customers. Everything about Inkspan here is fiction.

Plain email you can adapt:

Subject: Quick favour: a G2 review for Inkspan?

Hi Maya,

You have been using Inkspan for agency proposal drafts for a couple of months, and the notes you sent after the Acme pitch helped a lot.

I am collecting a few honest G2 reviews so other agency owners can see what the product is actually like. If you have 10 to 15 minutes: [your G2 review collection URL].

Concrete detail helps most: what you used before, what changed, and what still frustrates you. Positive or critical is fine. No gift card is tied to a rating on this link.

Thank you either way,

[Your name]

In-app or post-support asks work the same way. If you later want a written case study from the same customer, use IndieHunt's guide on writing a customer case study when you only have three buyers. Do not mash a review ask and a case-study interview into one email.

What are the rules on incentives, employees, and fake reviews?

This section is compliance reading, not legal advice. Read the linked policies yourself before you run a campaign.

G2

From G2's Community Guidelines (fetched 2026-10-15):

• G2 will never require only positive reviews, will label incentivized reviews, and will not suppress negative reviews.

• Incentives for honest reviews are allowed; eligibility is never based on the opinions expressed. Cap is $100 USD across cash, gift cards, swag, credits, and similar.

• No biased collection: do not segment out likely negative reviewers, condition incentives on positive ratings, run undisclosed side incentives, or discourage negative reviews.

• Vendor employees and direct competitors may not leave reviews. Fake reviews are prohibited. Do not pressure anyone to change a review.

Free plans include non-incentivized collection. Paid plans can include gift-card credits for G2-run campaigns. Stay inside G2's tools rather than inventing a side channel.

Capterra / Digital Markets

From Capterra's Community Guidelines (last updated May 4, 2026 on the page; fetched 2026-10-15):

• Reviews must come from verified real users with first-hand experience.

• Vendor employees, competitors, and people with a financial interest in the product may not review it.

• Vendors must not influence ratings, submit reviews for themselves, coach review content, or harass reviewers.

• Solicitations must be fair across a broad cross-section of users, not only people you expect to be happy.

• Where incentives are used in the Reviews Collection Program, they must be equal regardless of rating, nominal under applicable law, disclosed with material terms, and run through the approved Vendor Portal incentive link. Incentives are not contingent on a positive review.

Capterra also states that reviewers may be offered nominal incentives, and that Capterra / Digital Markets themselves run gift-card style thank-you offers for eligible published reviews in their programs. That is different from you privately paying for five-star ratings.

FTC Trade Regulation Rule on Consumer Reviews and Testimonials

The FTC's final rule was announced August 14, 2024 and took effect October 21, 2024 (see the FTC press release and the Federal Register notice). In plain terms, the rule targets conduct such as:

• Fake or false reviews and testimonials (including reviews by people who do not exist or did not use the product).

• Buying reviews where the incentive is conditioned on a particular sentiment (positive or negative).

• Certain insider reviews without clear disclosure of the relationship.

• Review suppression tactics such as unfounded legal threats or intimidation to remove negative reviews, and misrepresenting that displayed reviews are all or most reviews when negatives were filtered by sentiment.

The FTC's Q&A on the Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule says incentives for reviews are not banned by the rule if they are not conditioned on sentiment, but failing to disclose incentives can still violate the FTC Act under the Endorsement Guides. Asking only happy customers is not listed as a rule violation there, yet the FTC notes it can still be a problem under the broader FTC Act. G2 and Capterra are stricter on selective "only happy" solicitation than a thin reading of the rule alone.

Practical version: ask real customers, do not pay for a star rating, disclose any thank-you, never use employees or friends as fake customers, and never pressure someone to delete or soften a review.

How should you respond to reviews (including a 1-star)?

Respond on the platform, in public, in a calm voice. Thank them, address the concrete issue, say what you fixed or will fix, and offer a private follow-up for account-specific details. Do not argue about their feelings. Do not ask them in the public reply to change the stars.

For a negative review:

1. Reply within a business day if you can.

2. Own the part that is true.

3. Skip sarcasm and legalese.

4. Take the account cleanup to email or a call.

5. If the review violates platform rules (fake identity, competitor, confidential data), use the platform's report tools instead of threatening the reviewer.

G2 explicitly invites sellers to respond publicly and warns against pressuring reviewers to edit. Capterra requires respectful replies through the Vendor Portal tools and forbids harassment. The FTC rule also restricts intimidation and unfounded legal threats aimed at killing negative reviews.

How do you use reviews after they are posted?

Use them carefully.

• On your site: Free G2 plans may republish the aggregated star rating with a backlink and "Source: G2.com, Inc." attribution, and may use the "Users Love Us" badge when earned, per G2's Community Guidelines cheat sheet. Republishing individual review text generally needs a higher plan and customer opt-in.

• In sales follow-ups: Link to the live profile instead of pasting orphaned quotes.

• In product work: Tag recurring review complaints like support tickets. Reviews are slow feedback, not a substitute for talking to users.

• Case studies: A review is not a case study. Use the IndieHunt case-study playbook linked above for longer proof.

A simple review ask tracker (illustrative)

Keep a sheet with one row per ask. The rows below are made up for Inkspan.

How many reviews is "enough"?

There is no official "you are done" number. Be honest about what the platforms publish.

• G2 Grid inclusion: a product needs at least 10 reviews in the category to qualify for Grid report inclusion. Live Grids need categories with at least three products that have 10+ reviews. Seasonal Grid reports need at least six products with 10+ reviews and 150+ reviews overall (G2 Research Scoring Methodologies, fetched 2026-10-15).

• G2 "Users Love Us": 20 reviews averaging 4.0+ stars, available on the free plan when earned (G2 Badges docs and plans page).

• Capterra: no equivalent public "10 reviews for X" figure was verified here. "Enough" means enough recent, specific reviews that a careful buyer sees real usage.

Sensible early goal: claim both free profiles this week, land your first few honest reviews in 30 days, and aim toward G2's 10-review category bar if Grid visibility matters. Do not buy the number.

What traps should you avoid?

• Asking everyone at once. You learn nothing and look desperate.

• Buying reviews or swapping with other founders. Platforms ban fakes; the FTC rule hits fake reviews and sentiment-conditioned incentives.

• Paying for premium placement too early. Prove the free profile converts first.

• Picking a crowded, wrong category. You drown next to giants.

• Ignoring reviews after they post. Silence after a 1-star is its own message.

• Coaching the stars. "Leave us a 5 if you loved it" gets reviews removed.

• Employees, friends, or your co-founder reviewing. Not allowed, and undisclosed insider reviews are a regulatory problem.

A 30-day plan

FAQ

Can I offer a gift card for a review?

Only if the platform allows it, the thank-you is not tied to a positive rating, you disclose it, and you use the approved path. G2 caps incentives at $100 and labels them. Capterra requires equal, nominal, disclosed incentives through approved tools. The FTC rule bans sentiment-conditioned incentives. When in doubt, use the free non-incentivized link with no gift card.

Should I pay for a G2 or Capterra plan?

Not on day one. Use the free profile until you see visits, comparisons, or deals that mention the site. G2 Starter pricing is public on the plans page.

G2 or Capterra first?

Start where your buyers already compare tools. If you do not know, claim both free listings, then put early asks on the site that shows up most in sales chats and search.

What if I get a 1-star review?

Reply in public, fix what you can, follow up in private, and leave the stars alone. Report fake or rule-breaking reviews through vendor tools. Do not threaten an edit.

Where to start this week

Claim the free profiles, write the eight-person ask list, and send the first three emails with a direct review link. Keep the tracker honest. Reviews compound slowly; fake shortcuts blow up fast.

When you are ready to put the product in front of more founders on a launch and discovery board, Aura++ is built for that job.