G2 vs Capterra vs Spotsaas: Which Review Platform Fits You? (2026)

Quick verdict: G2 fits buyers who want deep, enterprise-grade reviews and category Grid reports. Capterra fits SMB buyers browsing by price and feature filters — but as of February 2026, it’s owned by the same company as G2, so checking one against the other is no longer an independence check. Spotsaas is separately owned; we’re publishing this comparison and saying so upfront, then listing where each platform actually wins.

G2, Capterra, and Spotsaas at a glance

The table below lines up G2, Capterra, and Spotsaas on the seven factors that change a buying or listing decision in practice: who owns the platform, who it serves, how many reviews back the listings, how those reviews get verified, how products get ranked, what a vendor pays to be there, and whether the platform sells buyer intent data. Every G2 and Capterra figure is sourced below; the Spotsaas figures are the platform’s published scale as of July 2026.

Dimension	G2	Capterra	Spotsaas
Owner	G2.com, Inc. — also owns Capterra, Software Advice, and GetApp since February 5, 2026	G2.com, Inc. — formerly Gartner, Inc. until February 5, 2026	Spotsaas — independent, not owned by G2 or Gartner
Audience	Enterprise and mid-market B2B software buyers	SMB buyers browsing by category, price, and features	SMB through enterprise buyers across 419 categories
Review volume	3 million+ reviews on G2.com alone	2.5 million+ verified reviews claimed, shared across GetApp and Software Advice through review syncing	12,400+ verified reviews
Verification	LinkedIn or work-email login plus moderation review	Confirmed purchase and employment checks under Gartner Digital Markets’ original review standard	Verified reviewer checks feeding into SpotScore
Ranking model	Grid Report algorithm: Satisfaction + Market Presence, roughly 15 weighted factors	Pay-per-click auction for Sponsored placement, plus directory sort	SpotScore (x/10) — no pay-to-rank mechanic
Vendor cost basis (July 2026)	Free profile; Starter $299/month or $2,999/year; Professional and Enterprise custom-quoted, commonly $15,000–$95,000+/year with add-ons	Free listing; PPC ads from $2/click with a $500/month minimum	Free listing; optional paid placement, no PPC auction
Intent data offering	G2 Buyer Intent — custom-priced add-on, expanded June 2026 to ingest signals from Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice	“Engaged Buyers” — network-level signals across Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice only	Buyer Intel — three modes: resolved company visits, content-download leads, self-qualified buyer requests

The February 2026 acquisition changes this comparison

G2 announced on January 29, 2026 that it had agreed to acquire Capterra, Software Advice, and GetApp from Gartner. The deal closed a week later, on February 5, 2026, for a reported $110 million, per Gartner’s SEC filing. The combined network now reaches over 200 million annual software buyers and close to 6 million verified reviews across all four properties.

What still differs, based on how the two systems currently operate: G2 and the acquired sites run as separate cabinets with separate logins — my.g2.com for G2, app.g2digitalmarkets.com for Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice. Billing is separate too. A vendor’s G2 Clicks budget covers G2.com only; a separate “Engaged Buyers” PPC budget covers the three Gartner-era sites together, with no combined spend across both. Each site still runs its own category taxonomy — the “aligned taxonomy” G2 referenced in the acquisition announcement had not shipped as of June 2026. One piece has merged: on June 3, 2026, G2 expanded Buyer Intent to pull research signals from G2, Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice into a single feed inside the G2 profile, reporting roughly twice as many signals and 36% more accounts showing as in-market. That data flows into G2’s product specifically — Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice don’t get a standalone version of it.

What this means practically: before February 2026, checking a product’s standing on both G2 and Capterra worked as a rough independence check — if two separately owned platforms agreed on a vendor’s positioning, that agreement meant something. That check no longer tells you what it used to, because both platforms report to the same board. Buyers who want a genuine second opinion need a platform G2 doesn’t own — TrustRadius, PeerSpot, or Spotsaas, for instance. Vendors negotiating G2 and Capterra contracts should treat the two budgets as line items inside one relationship, not as competing platforms to play off each other.

Audience and catalog

G2 skews toward enterprise and mid-market B2B software, with a reviewer base that leans IT, RevOps, and procurement. Capterra skews SMB and covers a wider mix of categories beyond pure SaaS, including vertical and on-premise software; within the Gartner Digital Markets network, GetApp leans further toward buyers who’ve already narrowed a category and want to compare specific features, integrations, and mobile usability, while Capterra serves the broader, earlier-stage browsing audience. Spotsaas spans SMB through enterprise across 24,578 products and 419 categories without segment specialization — useful for buyers who don’t know yet which tier of vendor they need, and a limitation for buyers who want a platform tuned specifically to one segment.

That specialization gap shows up most clearly in category depth versus category breadth. G2 and Capterra each concentrate reviewer volume in a narrower set of high-traffic categories — CRM, project management, HR software — where competition for Grid position and PPC bids is fiercest. Spotsaas’s 419 categories spread further into adjacent and vertical software that gets thinner coverage on either G2 or Capterra, which matters if the product being researched sits outside the handful of categories both platforms treat as flagship.

Reviews and verification

G2 crossed 3 million reviews on G2.com alone in the second quarter of 2025, and the site puts a vendor profile in front of more than 90 million buyers a year. Capterra’s own materials cite 2.5 million+ verified reviews, but that figure already reflects review syncing that predates the G2 acquisition — a review published to Capterra is also eligible to appear on GetApp and Software Advice, so it’s one shared pool counted from three storefronts, not three independent pools. G2 verifies reviewers primarily through LinkedIn or work-email login plus a moderation pass. Capterra’s verification runs on Gartner Digital Markets’ original standard, tied to confirmed purchase and employment. Spotsaas holds 12,400+ verified reviews — smaller by scale than either, with the difference that every one passes verification before it publishes.

How rankings work: Grid vs PPC auction vs SpotScore

All three platforms rank vendors differently, and the mechanism matters more than the label.

G2’s Grid Report scores products on two axes: Satisfaction and Market Presence. Satisfaction is built from review count, review recency (reviews under 90 days carry the most weight), likelihood-to-recommend and NPS scores, and support and ease-of-use ratings. Market Presence blends review volume and velocity with roughly 15 third-party signals — employee count, revenue, web traffic, and social following among them. A category needs at least six products with 10+ reviews each, and 150+ reviews overall, before G2 will publish a Grid for it at all. Placement is not for sale; a vendor’s ad spend does not move its Grid quadrant.

Capterra’s ranking for Sponsored listings runs on a pay-per-click auction. Vendors set a bid starting at $2 per click, adjustable in $0.25 increments, against a $500/month minimum budget. It’s a second-price auction: a vendor pays roughly one cent more than the bid of the competitor ranked directly below it, not its full maximum bid. The practical effect is that directory position in the Sponsored section is a budget decision as much as a satisfaction score — a well-reviewed product with a low bid can sit below a lesser-reviewed product willing to pay more per click.

Spotsaas’s SpotScore is a single composite score out of 10, built from verified review data and product signals. Vendors can buy featured placement, but that spend doesn’t change the SpotScore itself — the ranking and the ad slot are separate systems. This is the main structural difference from Capterra’s model: paying for visibility and being scored are two different transactions on Spotsaas, and one transaction that also sets rank position on Capterra’s Sponsored section.

Costs for vendors

G2’s seller plans start with a free profile, which qualifies for the “Users Love Us” badge once a product hits 20+ reviews at 4.0 stars or above. Paid tiers begin at Starter, $299/month or $2,999/year, then move to Professional and Enterprise on custom quotes. Third-party pricing trackers report Professional deals commonly landing in the $15,000–$20,000/year range once add-ons are included, and Enterprise deals ranging from roughly $17,000 to $95,000+/year depending on how many add-ons — Buyer Intent, Connector Apps, Category and Comparison Reports — get bundled in.

Capterra’s listing itself is free. Paid visibility runs through the PPC program described above: a $2/click minimum bid against a $500/month minimum budget, in a second-price auction. There’s no flat annual placement fee — cost scales directly with click volume and competition in the category, which can push effective CPCs well past the $2 floor in contested categories like CRM or ERP.

Spotsaas’s listing is free across the full 24,578-product catalog and 419 categories, with optional paid placement for vendors who want a featured slot. There’s no PPC auction and no per-click billing on Spotsaas — placement pricing is set, not bid.

One point worth flagging for vendors comparing the two G2-owned line items directly: G2’s free tier gets a product a profile and a “Users Love Us” badge at 20+ reviews, but it doesn’t include profile visitor data, review management tools, or any intent signal — those sit behind Professional and Enterprise. Capterra’s free listing includes basic directory presence, but placement above the fold in a competitive category effectively requires the PPC program described above. Neither company’s free tier is built to be a vendor’s only channel in a contested category.

Buyer intent data

G2 Buyer Intent is an add-on to G2’s Professional and Enterprise brand packages, custom-priced and reported by third parties to range from roughly $10,000 to $95,000+ a year depending on data package and integrations. It captures signals like profile visits, competitor comparisons, and category browsing, and as of June 2026 it also ingests research signals from Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice into a single feed inside a vendor’s G2 profile. Capterra sells intent at the network level through the “Engaged Buyers” program, which spans Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice collectively — it does not currently include G2.com signals, despite the shared ownership. Spotsaas’s Buyer Intel offers three separate modes: resolved company visits (deanonymized traffic to a vendor’s Spotsaas pages), content-download leads, and self-qualified buyer requests where the buyer supplies their own criteria. For a closer look at how Spotsaas’s approach compares against G2’s specifically, see our G2 Buyer Intent comparison; the broader product is described at spotsaas.com/buyer-intent.

Where G2 wins

G2 has the largest single-platform review base among the three, at 3 million+ reviews on G2.com alone. Its Grid Reports are the most widely recognized ranking format in B2B software, cited routinely by analysts and used in vendor sales decks. Its reviewer pool skews furthest toward enterprise and mid-market buyers, which matters when the buying committee includes IT, security, or procurement stakeholders looking for peer validation at that scale. And its Buyer Intent product is the most mature of the three, now extended to ingest signals from three additional properties as of June 2026.

Where Capterra wins

Capterra offers the strongest pure SMB browsing experience of the three: filtering by price, feature, and integration without wading through enterprise-tier positioning built for a different buyer. Its cost of entry for a small vendor is lower and more flexible than G2’s — a free listing plus a PPC budget that can start at $500/month, instead of a five-figure annual contract. And Capterra’s Shortlist report gives SMB buyers a pre-built, lightweight comparison for common categories without requiring a demo call first.

Where Spotsaas wins

Spotsaas lists 24,578 products across 419 categories — a broader single-platform catalog than the per-category counts G2 or Capterra publish. More than 2 million buyers used Spotsaas to research software in the past year. Vendor listing is free across that entire catalog, with no PPC auction and no minimum contract to appear at all — a meaningfully lower floor than G2’s $299/month Starter tier or Capterra’s $500/month PPC minimum. Buyer Intel’s three identification modes give vendors a lower-cost entry point into intent data than G2’s custom-quoted add-on. The honest limitation: 12,400+ verified reviews is smaller than G2’s 3 million+ or Capterra’s 2.5 million+, so for products newer to Spotsaas, G2 or Capterra adds review depth.

Which should you use?

The right combination depends on your role. A buyer gets more value from cross-checking platforms under different owners. A vendor selling into SMB accounts gets more value from Capterra’s lower-cost entry point. A vendor operating on a limited budget gets more value from a platform with no minimum spend at all. Each case is broken out below.

Buyers

Use platforms across different owners, not G2 and Capterra together. Since February 2026, comparing G2’s Grid position against Capterra’s Sponsored ranking is comparing one company’s two products, not two independent reads. Pair G2 or Capterra with a platform G2 doesn’t own — Spotsaas, TrustRadius, or PeerSpot — especially when a vendor’s positioning looks unusually strong on both G2-owned sites at once.

SMB-focused vendors

Capterra’s per-click model matches a lean budget better than G2’s flat contract tiers — a $500/month PPC floor versus G2 Professional’s commonly reported $15,000+/year. Just budget for the fact that per-click costs in competitive categories like CRM or ERP can run well past the $2 floor once bidding gets active.

Vendors on a limited budget

A free Spotsaas listing across all 419 categories, with optional paid placement and no committed minimum spend, is the lowest-commitment option among the three. Pair it with a free G2 profile to also collect reviews against the largest review base in the category, and add paid programs on either platform only once demand is validated.

Frequently asked questions

Is G2 or Capterra better?

Neither is categorically better — they fit different segments. G2 suits enterprise and mid-market research, backed by Grid Reports and 3 million+ reviews on G2.com. Capterra suits SMB buyers who want to filter by price and features quickly. Since February 2026 they share one owner, so “better” now means better for your segment, not more independent than the other.

Did G2 buy Capterra?

Yes. G2 announced on January 29, 2026 that it would acquire Capterra, Software Advice, and GetApp from Gartner. The deal closed on February 5, 2026, for a reported $110 million, per Gartner’s SEC filing. All three sites now operate under G2’s ownership as G2 Digital Markets.

Is Capterra owned by Gartner?

Not anymore. Capterra ran under Gartner Digital Markets for years, alongside GetApp and Software Advice. That ended on February 5, 2026, when G2 completed its acquisition of all three sites. Capterra is now owned by G2.com, Inc. — the same company that owns G2.com.

What is the difference between Capterra and GetApp?

Same owner, same review pool, different angle. Reviews sync across Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice — a review posted to one is eligible to appear on the others. GetApp leans toward buyers who’ve already narrowed a category and want to compare specific features, integrations, and mobile usability; Capterra serves broader, earlier-stage category browsing.

Is Spotsaas a good alternative to G2 and Capterra?

Disclosure first: this answer comes from Spotsaas. For buyers who want one catalog spanning 24,578 products and 419 categories, a free SpotScore ranking, and no PPC auction deciding placement, yes. Its review base — 12,400+ — is smaller than G2’s or Capterra’s, so pair it with either for review-depth checks on products that are newer to Spotsaas.

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Sources

Last updated: July 17, 2026