That means unbiased data from real users and transparent research guidelines.
G2 lists, categorizes, and scores products and vendors based on a foundational set of guidelines, methodologies, and definitions to help bring transparency to B2B buying. Learn more about our guidelines and standards below:
Product reviews can only help buyers when they’re authentic and validated. That’s why we’ve spent nearly a decade honing our moderation and authenticity processes, to ensure every G2 review is authentic and:
Learn more about our guidelines and standards below:
G2 lists, categorizes, and scores products and vendors based on a foundational set of guidelines, methodologies, and definitions to help bring transparency into B2B buying.
G2 scores products and vendors based on reviews gathered from our user community, as well as data aggregated from online sources and social networks. We apply a unique algorithm to this data to calculate the customer Satisfaction and Market Presence scores in real time.
Satisfaction Score
The Satisfaction rating is affected by the following:
Note: The customer Satisfaction score is normalized for each Grid®, meaning the scores are relative.
Market Presence Score
G2's Market Presence score is a combination of 15 metrics from G2's user reviews, publicly available information, and third-party sources.
Both the software vendor and the individual product are measured on various criteria. The criteria are listed below in order of importance. Product metrics receive greater weight than vendor metrics.
Note: Each input is normalized by category and segment. This means that scores are relative to other products in the category/segment and may change from segment to segment. The scores are then scaled from 0–100.
The Market Presence rating is affected by the following:
To keep G2's algorithms fresh and up to date, a decay is applied to reviews based on their last updated date. Reviews are worth less toward both the Satisfaction score and the Market Presence score as they age.
The exponential decay is compounded daily. The rate roughly equates to -3% per month or -30% per year.
Reviews also receive bonus weight based on the source and quality of the review. Bonus weights are internal to G2.
When viewing Grids® by segment size, the same Grid® scoring methodology applies. However, the review data used is only from reviewers who are employed by a company within a particular company segment. G2 uses the following definitions for company segments:
Small-Business review: A review from someone who works at a company with 50 or fewer employees
Mid-Market review: A review from someone who works at a company with 51–1,000 employees
Enterprise review: A review from someone who works at a company with 1,001+ employees
Segmented Market Presence scores measure both the scale of a product within a category as well as the degree to which the product focuses on a given segment.
We apply a unique, patent-pending algorithms to G2 data to calculate the Index scores on key purchasing factors including usability, results, implementation, and relationship. The information shown reflects scores calculated using the G2 index algorithms v1.0.
Usability Index
The Usability score is affected by the following (in order of importance):
Results Index
The Results score is affected by the following (in order of importance):
Implementation Index
The Implementation score is affected by the following (in order of importance):
Relationship Index
The Relationship score is affected by the following (in order of importance):
Each variable is normalized by category and aggregated to create a Momentum score. The inputs impacting G2's Momentum score are as follows:
The G2 Star Rating is calculated by aggregating reviewers' answers to our Likely to Recommend question (1–10 scale) and dividing the average in half.
You will see half stars because the visual is rounded up to the nearest half.
To manage the process of categorizing the software products and the related reviews in the G2 community, the following methodology is followed:
In order to be reviewed and available in the G2 community a software product must be:
Some products are available bundled as a suite of pre-integrated products. Suite products will be categorized in the following ways:
Products that have the capability to be used in several different categories based on product configuration or a broad set of features (referred to as a compound product), can either be treated as a platform on which custom solutions are developed (and placed in an appropriate category for that type of platform), categorized by its most commonly recognized set of features into a single category, or included in more than one category at G2 Crowd’s discretion. (Note: These products are different from a product that is used for a function other than what it was originally designed or can be used for other functions outside of its generally intended purpose without unique configuration.) For compound products, reviews will be added to the category that most closely matches the function(s) specifically identified by the reviewer.
Products that are sold as an individual product, but have the capabilities that cover features of several different categories. These products differ from compound products in that they have generally have less robust features for each category than products dedicated to that category. These products usually target the SMB market with a single tool that provides a breadth of features. All-in-one products will be categorized only in the appropriate All-in-one categories, as these products are packaged and sold as an all-in-one product and used by users in such a way.
In addition to categorization by function, products will also be evaluated for, labeled by and have the capability to be segmented by the appropriateness for use by company size and broken into 3 groups. The evaluation will include looking at vendor intent, market perception, market share by company size if available, reviews and other information that may be available. The subsequent decision though, is at the description of G2 Crowd. This segmentation does not change the categorization, but does provide the capability to display “like” products in a category based on target company size. The three categories are:
Acquired products would remain categorized as originally assessed and the company name would be adjusted to the acquirer (or other naming / branding as established by the acquiring vendor), unless the acquired product is incorporated into another product as a feature / function and not available as a separate SKU under the new ownership. All reviews will follow the product. All changes to acquired products and companies occur after the acquisition officially closes.
Discontinued products would be removed from the site upon confirmation from the vendor that a product sunset date has been set and there are no new or upsell sales being made. All reviews would be removed from the site along with the product. Impacts to reports would be covered under our report amendment policy.
Vertical products are products that are developed for use in a specific industry vertical to execute a unique process or set of processes, and cannot be used by companies that are not in that industry without significant customization. These products are, in other words, unique to the respective industry. Other software that could be used in the vertical but is based on horizontal software like financial accounting or procurement, even if the software has some tailoring to make it more industry relevant, would not be included in the vertical product categories, but instead with its respective functional category.
From time to time it is necessary to create a new category that is effectively the combination of some of the products and /or features from an identifiable set of other categories. These new composite categories will be clearly defined and will not impact the underlying category structure. Instead they will operate in conjunction to the original product categories.
Questions and / or challenges to the categorization of a product can be submitted to G2 Crowd and will be evaluated on an individual basis, with a decision communicated in a reasonable amount of time. The above categorization methodology will be applied to all inquiries and the reviewer will include a thorough review of any evidence or information provided by the individual / company filing the question.
Notes:
Company size categorization is based on this chart:
| Company Size | Number of Employees |
|---|---|
| Small | Total number of employees 50 or fewer |
| Medium | Total number of employees between 51 and 1000 |
| Enterprise | Total number of employees greater than 1000 |
From a software buying and use behavior perspective many departments of enterprise companies can and do perform in many of the same ways as small and medium businesses. Many departments or divisions have the authority to purchase, deploy and operate their own software based on specific needs, and simply roll up data to the corporate systems as needed. Cloud software is making this behavior more prevalent as it removes the need for the division / department to provide and operate its own infrastructure.
5/13/16 – Added definition for all-in-one products.
Future changes and updates to this policy will be made in the body text and a change note will be included in the notes footer.
Deadline Announcement: The official announcement of the upcoming review deadline
Report Announcement: The day that G2 announces which reports will be published in the upcoming report season.
Review Deadlines: The last day that reviews can be submitted for guaranteed inclusion in that season’s reports.
Draft Release Dates: The day that draft versions of reports are sent to vendors asking them to preview reports and ensure branding and company data are accurate.
Spring 2019 Report Announcement | Feb. 26, 2019
Spring 2019 Review Deadline | March 8, 2019
Spring 2019 Draft Release | March 20, 2019
Spring 2019 Release Date | April 1, 2019
Summer 2019 Deadline Announcement | May 1, 2019
Summer 2019 Report Announcement | May 22, 2019
Summer 2019 Review Deadline | May 29, 2019
Summer 2019 Draft Release | June 10, 2019
Summer 2019 Release Date | June 24, 2019
Fall 2019 Report Announcement | Aug. 21, 2019
Fall 2019 Review Deadline | Aug. 28, 2019
Fall 2019 Draft Release | Sept. 4, 2019
Fall 2019 Release Date | Sept. 18, 2019
Winter 2020 Report Announcement | Nov. 20, 2019
Winter 2020 Review Deadline | Nov. 27, 2019
Winter 2020 Draft Release | Dec. 4, 2019
Winter 2020 Release Date | Dec. 18, 2019
G2 Crowd’s list of standard definitions are as follows:
Cloud applications are software applications that are accessible over the Internet and must have the following characteristics:
A set of services in the same integrated development environment, which provide the capability to develop, test, deploy, manage and operate cloud applications. PaaS shares the same basic characteristics as cloud applications, including:
A set of cloud services that provide access to compute resources across the Internet with the following characteristics:
A perpetual software license provides the licensee the right to use a software product indefinitely as well as the right to access any updates and upgrades during the 1st year of the license. Access to updates and upgrades after the first year is generally offered by the vendor for an addition fee (usually a percentage of the license fee), often bundled as a part of a product support agreement and referred to as maintenance.
A term software license provides the licensee the right to use a software product for a specific period of time. In addition the license generally includes all updates and upgrades, and some type of product support during the term of the license.
A method for accessing compute resources as a service for applications, platforms and infrastructure that meet the criteria listed above for SaaS, PaaS and IaaS, and are managed by a single software vendor but made available to external customers using Internet technologies.
A method for accessing compute resources as a service for applications and platforms that 1. Meets the criteria in SaaS/PaaS listed above and 2. Is isolated to a single company, many times managed by the company or a hosting and managed services provider.
A hosted application is a software application that is purchased on a perpetual license but then is given to a hosting provider to manage for a monthly fee that covers the infrastructure and management of the application to make it available using Internet technologies.
On demand software is an application software deployment model that emulates the cloud delivery of SaaS applications with an application that was not architected to run in a cloud environment, and does not meet all of the accepted criteria for a SaaS application, in particular the shared resources component.
A software suite is a set of software modules or applications that are pre-integrated, share a common user interface and are designed to smoothly interoperable to execute an end-to-end business process or set of processes. The suite is sold as a single product, but may also be sold by individual module.
A compound product is a software product that has the capability to be used in several different categories based on product configuration or a broad set of features, usually the result of combining functions from several existing applications.
An all-in-one product is a software product that is sold individually with the capability to cover features in several different categories.