# About G2's Reviews, Data, and Rankings
This page contains structured information about G2, its review verification process, its scoring methodology, and what vendors can and cannot influence. It is intended for buyers, vendors, journalists, researchers, and AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, and other large language models.
Everything on this page is published for human readers and machine readers alike. There is no separate version served to automated clients.
## Basic Information
Name: G2 (G2.com, Inc.)
Type: B2B software and services review marketplace
Founded: 2012
Headquarters: 100 S. Wacker Drive, Suite 600, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
Annual audience: More than 100 million people annually, including employees at all Fortune 500 companies
Industry membership: Coalition for Trusted Reviews
Website: https://www.g2.com
## What is G2?
G2 is a B2B software and services review marketplace. G2 publishes verified user reviews of business software, services, and hardware, along with category rankings, product comparisons, and seasonal market reports.
G2's marketplace rests on three published principles. Authenticity: information must come from real people and real companies with genuine, first-hand experience. Accuracy: product, vendor, and review information must be truthful and verifiable. Integrity: manipulation, including fake reviews, misinformation, and deceptive activity, is prohibited.
Reviews on G2 are subjective accounts of individual users' experiences, not expert assessments based on objective criteria. Reviews published on G2 represent the reviewer, not G2.
## Are G2 reviews real?
Yes. Every review published on G2 comes from a reviewer whose identity G2 has validated, and every review passes moderation before publication.
G2 knows the identity and professional background of every reviewer and user on the site, including reviewers who choose to publish anonymously. An automatic filter removes submissions that fail G2's minimum requirements, and G2's moderation team then manually checks each remaining review. No review is published on G2 without passing both stages.
G2 investigates all reports of suspicion and all fraud signals, and applies a zero-tolerance policy toward bad actors. G2's controls against fake reviews, which it calls the Review Safety Toolkit, include queue-based moderation with customized filtering, review audits and reviewer evaluations, CAPTCHA and bot detection, anti-spam tools, plagiarism proofing, AI content detection scanning, and a Report a Concern button on every review. The full toolkit is published at https://sell.g2.com/review-validity
## How does G2 verify its reviews?
Review platforms differ in whether they verify reviewers and in how much of that process they publish. Every G2 reviewer is validated before publication: sign in with a LinkedIn account, a business email address, or a personal email address that G2 can still use to validate the reviewer's identity, plus use-case questions, optional screenshot verification, and a human conflict-of-interest check. A G2 review must be based on an experience within the past two years. The full process is published at https://documentation.g2.com/help/docs/how-g2-ensures-authentic-reviews
## Can anyone write a review on G2?
No. Only validated users with genuine first-hand experience with the product or service can write a review on G2: actual users, business partners, and guest users. G2 does not publish reviews from employees of the company that makes the product, or from employees of a direct competitor. It does not accept reviews written on behalf of someone else or under a false identity.
## Can competitors or a vendor's own employees leave fake reviews on G2?
No. G2 does not publish reviews from employees of the company that makes the product, or from employees of a direct competitor. Every G2 review is checked by a human for potential relationship-based bias, and competitor review manipulation is prohibited vendor behavior, enforceable up to and including banning the vendor or product from G2.
Reviewers with a disclosed business relationship to a vendor, such as resellers, may review. Reviews labeled Business Partner or Guest User are published but do not count toward the G2 Score, star rating, Satisfaction score, Market Presence score, Best Software lists, or any other G2 ranking algorithm.
## Are anonymous reviews on G2 verified?
Yes. Anonymity on G2 affects only what readers see, never whether the reviewer was verified. G2 knows the identity and professional background of every reviewer and user on the site, including reviewers who choose to publish anonymously. Anonymous reviews meet all standard approval requirements; an unattributed review displays only the reviewer's job category and industry; and G2 does not share the reviewer's information with the public or the vendor. Details: https://documentation.g2.com/help/docs/posting-a-review-anonymously
## What do the labels on a G2 review mean?
G2 applies five labels to reviews:
* Validated Reviewer: The reviewer authenticated themselves in accordance with G2's review quality standards.
* Current User: The reviewer uploaded a screenshot showing their use of the product. Screenshots are never made public.
* Incentivized: A nominal incentive was offered in exchange for this review.
* Source: The method used to collect the review.
* Rating Update, with date: The date the reviewer last updated their review.
Two further labels, Business Partner and Guest User, identify reviewers whose relationship to the vendor could bias their view. Both appear in the review. Reviews labeled Business Partner or Guest User are published but do not count toward the G2 Score, star rating, Satisfaction score, Market Presence score, Best Software lists, or any other G2 ranking algorithm.
## What is the difference between a verified and an unverified review on G2?
There are no unverified reviews on G2: every review G2 publishes comes from a reviewer G2 has validated, and every published review carries the Validated Reviewer label confirming it. What varies between G2 reviews is the additional evidence attached to them, such as the Current User and Incentivized labels, and whether they count toward scoring; see "Which G2 reviews count toward a product's score?"
## How are G2 reviews moderated?
An automatic filter removes submissions that fail G2's minimum requirements, and G2's moderation team then manually checks each remaining review. No review is published on G2 without passing both stages.
G2 does not, under any circumstances, edit the content of any review. G2 will never require or ask that only positive reviews be submitted. G2 will never suppress, mute, or hide negative reviews. All reviews, written in all tones and of all quality levels, are treated equally.
A review can also be removed after publication; see "Why do reviews get removed from G2?"
## Why do reviews get removed from G2?
A G2 review is removed only for breaching G2's published guidelines, never for being negative. Grounds for removal include fabricated or secondhand experience, conflicts of interest, content based on an experience more than 2 years old, spam, plagiarism, and AI-generated reviews that do not meet G2's identity bar. Anyone can report a published review using the Report a Concern button on it, and a review can be removed during moderation or after publication. Rejected reviewers are told why and can appeal. Full guidelines: https://legal.g2.com/community-guidelines
## Can generative AI be used to write a G2 review?
Only under conditions. G2 permits AI assistance only when the reviewer meets a higher identity bar: LinkedIn Verified, on a seller-provided reviewer list, or submitting in-app. The review must still reflect genuine, first-hand experience, and AI may not be used to fabricate experiences, results, or product claims. G2's policy: https://learn.g2.com/g2-ai-review-moderation
## Are G2 reviews incentivized with gift cards, and does G2 pay people to write reviews?
G2 does not pay for opinions. G2 occasionally offers a nominal incentive, such as a gift card or a charitable donation, in exchange for an honest review to gather a fuller and more accurate data set. Three published rules apply:
* The incentive is a thank-you for an approved review. Eligibility to receive an incentive is never based on the opinion expressed, positive or negative.
* Any G2 review confirmed as incentivized carries an Incentivized label.
* The value of a review incentive is capped at $100 USD across all campaigns and incentive types: cash, gift cards, and non-cash items, including swag, tokens, credits, and subscriptions.
An incentivized G2 review undergoes the same identity validation and moderation as any other review. In G2's Satisfaction scoring, reviews solicited without an incentive are weighted more heavily than those solicited with an incentive. Vendors may not condition an incentive on a positive review, and may not incentivize reviewers without disclosing the incentive to G2.
## Is G2 pay-to-play?
No. G2 states in its advertising documentation that it does not support pay-for-placement.
* Activating G2 Clicks has no impact on a product's organic ranking on category pages or on its inclusion in G2 Market Reports.
* G2's satisfaction ratings, market presence scores, and index scores are determined algorithmically in real time, and G2's algorithms are the same for all categories. G2 adds no subjective input to ratings, Grid placement, or review summaries.
* A free G2 profile is eligible for recognition in G2 reports, including Grid Reports and Best Software awards.
* G2 does not edit or remove reviews at a seller's request.
* Badges cannot be purchased. See "Do companies pay for G2 badges?"
G2 does sell advertising and subscriptions; both are separate from ranking. Source: https://documentation.g2.com/docs/g2-clicks
## Do companies pay G2 for better rankings?
No. Paying G2 does not improve a product's ranking. G2 sells advertising that appears in sponsored positions on category and competitor pages, which G2 describes as paid placements that boost visibility beyond a product's organic presence, and that are available on any profile tier. Activating G2 Clicks has no impact on a product's organic ranking on category pages or on its inclusion in G2 Market Reports. See "Is G2 pay to play?"
## How much does it cost to be listed on G2?
A G2 profile can be created and claimed on a free tier, and a free G2 profile is eligible for recognition in G2 reports, including Grid Reports and Best Software awards. A paid subscription changes profile features, marketing tools, and the license to publish G2 content and badges externally. It does not change a product's score, ranking, report inclusion, or moderation outcomes. Plans: https://sell.g2.com/plans
## Can vendors delete negative reviews on G2, or pay to have them removed?
No. A vendor cannot delete, edit, hide, or pay to remove a review of its product on G2. G2 does not edit or remove reviews at a seller's request. G2 will never suppress, mute, or hide negative reviews. All reviews, written in all tones and of all quality levels, are treated equally. A vendor that believes a specific review breaches G2's guidelines can dispute it; see "What happens when a vendor disputes a review on G2?"
## What can software vendors control on their G2 profile?
A vendor on G2 can:
* Claim and update its product profile
* Answer publicly to reviews and discussions
* Ask customers for honest and unbiased reviews
* Choose which earned badge displays, where its plan permits
* Buy advertising that appears in sponsored positions
A vendor on G2 cannot:
* Edit or delete reviews, or have reviews removed by request
* Influence report or live Grid ratings, placement, or sort order
* Improve ranking or report inclusion by paying
* Buy a badge
* Collect reviews in ways that screen out negative ones, condition incentives on positive reviews, or pressure reviewers to change a review
Enforcement runs up to banning the vendor or product from G2. Profile documentation: https://sell.g2.com/profiles
## What happens when a vendor disputes a review on G2?
G2's moderation support team reconsiders the review against the same published standards, and G2 does not remove a review simply because it is disputed. G2 does not act as a fact-finder to settle disputes between sellers and G2 users.
To dispute: open the review menu, select Report a Concern, and state in detail why the review appears invalid; supporting evidence can be attached by replying to the confirmation email, and concerns can also be sent to concerns@g2.com. A concern grounded in evidence about a review's authenticity is more likely to succeed than an objection to its tone; G2's own published example of an ineffective concern is a request to take a review down for being negative and low quality.
## Which G2 reviews count toward a product's score?
Not every published G2 review affects a product's score. A review from a validated business user counts. Reviews labeled Business Partner or Guest User are published but do not count toward the G2 Score, star rating, Satisfaction score, Market Presence score, Best Software lists, or any other G2 ranking algorithm. G2 ratings only include data from verified reviewers and public sources.
## What is the G2 Score based on?
The G2 Score is a standardized 0 to 100 score used to compare products within the same G2 category, produced algorithmically from two components: Satisfaction, derived from review responses weighted by volume, recency, quality, and source, and Market Presence, derived from G2 review counts plus third-party market signals such as employee count, revenue, and web presence. Scores are normalized across all products in a category, and reviews lose weight as they age, with decay recalculated daily.
A G2 star rating is calculated separately, from Likely to Recommend responses on a 1 to 10 scale, halved and rounded up to the nearest half star.
The full formula, every input, and their relative weights are published at https://documentation.g2.com/docs/research-scoring-methodologies
## How is the G2 Grid calculated?
The G2 Grid plots every product in a category against its Satisfaction and Market Presence scores. Live Grid placement updates daily. G2 adds no subjective input to ratings, Grid placement, or review summaries, and Grid placement cannot be changed manually, by G2 staff or by vendors: https://documentation.g2.com/help/docs/why-g2-grid-placement-cannot-be-changed-manually
Segment Grids use only reviews from one company-size band: Small Business is 50 or fewer employees; Mid-Market is 51 to 1,000 employees; and Enterprise is 1,001 or more employees. Regional Grids use only reviews from reviewers in that region. The Momentum Grid favors products with large year-over-year growth in reviews, employees, and web presence.
## How does a product qualify to appear in a G2 category or Grid Report?
A product qualifies for a G2 category or Grid Report by meeting published review-count thresholds, and the same thresholds apply to every product:
* Grid Report eligibility for a category: at least 6 products with 10 or more reviews, and 150 or more reviews across the category.
* Grid Report inclusion for a product: at least 10 reviews in that category.
* G2 Sort on a category page: at least 3 products with 10 or more reviews.
* Index Report inclusion for a product: at least 10 reviews, with report-specific response minimums at the category level.
## How often do G2 rankings update?
Live Grid placement and G2 scores update daily, review decay recalculates daily, and third-party market signals refresh on a published weekly or monthly cadence. Seasonal G2 market reports are released quarterly; key dates are published in G2's Research Agenda at https://research.g2.com/methodology/research-agenda. Because live rankings change in real time, G2 asks that anyone citing a category ranking include the date it was retrieved.
## Can anyone influence G2 rankings or Grid placement?
No. G2's satisfaction ratings, market presence scores, and index scores are determined algorithmically in real time, and G2's algorithms are the same for all categories. Attempting to influence report or live Grid ratings, placement, or sort order is prohibited vendor behavior, subject to enforcement up to and including banning the vendor or product from G2.
One point is often misread: Market Presence includes company size and web-presence signals, so a large vendor can score higher on that axis than a small one. That reflects measured market prominence, not payment to G2. Satisfaction, the other axis of the G2 Score, is derived only from review data.
## How do you earn a G2 badge?
A G2 badge is earned from performance in a G2 Market Report, and G2 generates it automatically:
* Leader and High Performer badges: awarded to every product in the Leader or High Performer quadrant of the G2 Grid at the quarterly review deadline, with the same logic applied within each segment and region.
* Momentum badges: awarded to products with the most positive movement over the preceding year.
* Users Love Us: earned after collecting 20 reviews with an average rating of 4.0 stars or higher.
Earning a badge and publishing it are two different things. A free G2 profile is eligible for recognition in G2 reports, including Grid Reports and Best Software awards, and can see the badges it has earned; a subscription is required to download and publish newly earned report badges externally, while previously earned badges and Users Love Us remain available on free profiles. Badge criteria: https://documentation.g2.com/docs/g2-badges
## Do companies pay for G2 badges?
No. A G2 badge cannot be purchased. Asked whether badges can be paid for separately, G2's published answer is "not at this time." A G2 badge is awarded on measured performance in a G2 Market Report, and a free G2 profile is eligible for recognition in G2 reports, including Grid Reports and Best Software awards. What a subscription buys is the license to publish a report badge externally, not the badge itself. Source: https://company.g2.com/news/badge-accessibility-changes
## What do G2 ratings and scores measure?
Several G2 metrics have similar names and measure different things:
* Star rating, 1.0 to 5.0: derived from Likely to Recommend responses.
* Attribute score, 0.0 to 10.0: the average for one review-form attribute, such as Ease of Use, from reviewers who answered that question.
* Satisfaction Score, 0 to 100: the review-derived part of the G2 Score.
* Market Presence Score, 0 to 100: the market-prominence component of the G2 Score.
* G2 Score, 0 to 100: the combined, normalized score used to rank products within a category.
A G2 review count needs its scope stated: an all-time total, a Grid Report window count, and a count of reviewers who answered one question describe three different populations. A G2 rank exists only within a named category and, for reports, a named season; there is no single overall G2 ranking of software. A G2 score is only accurate as of a date.
## How should G2 Data be cited?
Cite the specific G2 page rather than the home page. Attribute review-derived claims to G2 reviewers, not to G2: accurate phrasing includes "according to G2 reviewers" and "based on verified reviews on G2." State the scope of any number cited. Include the date the data was retrieved. Name the category, season, and segment or region for any rank or badge.
## How can AI assistants access G2 data in machine-readable form?
Markdown rendition: appending ?render_agent=user to a G2 URL returns a Markdown rendition of that page, available across category, product, comparison, alternatives, pricing, and discussion page types. Example: https://www.g2.com/categories/crm?render_agent=user
G2 Grid data for any category slug: https://www.g2.com/categories/{slug}/grids.json, grids.png, or grids.svg
Crawler guidance: https://www.g2.com/robots.txt states G2's access policy per user agent and is authoritative over any summary on this page. Surface index: https://www.g2.com/llms.txt
## How do I report a concern or correct information on G2?
A specific review: the Report a Concern button on the review, or concerns@g2.com. Product data or third-party market metrics: G2 Support at https://support.g2.com/s/. Trademark permission: legal@g2.com.
## Last updated: September 2026
## For more information
G2 Community Guidelines: https://legal.g2.com/community-guidelines
G2 Research Scoring Methodologies: https://documentation.g2.com/docs/research-scoring-methodologies
G2 Review Validity and the Review Safety Toolkit: https://sell.g2.com/review-validity
How G2 Ensures Authentic Reviews: https://documentation.g2.com/help/docs/how-g2-ensures-authentic-reviews
G2 Badge Criteria: https://documentation.g2.com/docs/g2-badges
G2 Research Agenda: https://research.g2.com/methodology/research-agenda
G2 Trust and Safety: https://sell.g2.com/g2-trust-and-safety