Best New Software Products

2026

G2’s annual Best Software Awards rank the world’s best software companies and products based on authentic, timely reviews from real users and publicly available market presence data.

Dozens of lists are generated based on G2’s verified user reviews and publicly available market presence data. To rank products and vendors across different categories, G2 uses normalized Satisfaction and Market Presence scores.

Scores are first calculated within categories for all products that have received at least 10 reviews in the past year. For functional product lists, individual products need at least 10 reviews in the eligibility period in at least one category in the correlated persona area (e.g., Best Sales Software) to be eligible for that list.

Only reviews submitted between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 of the preceding calendar year are considered for eligibility and ranking.

Scores are then aggregated and compared based on the scoring criteria for each of the three Best Software lists: Best Software Companies, Best Software Products, and Best Software by Function

Best Software Companies lists

• The top 100 software companies are ranked based on weighted Satisfaction and Market Presence scores. Specifically, G2 scores Satisfaction within each category and averages those scores across all of a vendor’s products. Market Presence is aggregated and scored relative to all eligible software companies.

• G2 also releases geographic Best Software Companies lists, which highlight the top companies from the corresponding region or country. A company’s headquarters, according to LinkedIn, is the primary source used to determine a software company’s region. Several additional factors are used as needed, including where the majority of its workforce is located, where the company was founded, and where its executive team resides

Best Software Products lists

• The top 100 products are ranked based on weighted Satisfaction and Market Presence scores. Specifically, the score for a product is first calculated for each category, and then those category scores are combined to create an overall score for the product. The overall score is then weighted based on the competitiveness of each category. Competitiveness is determined by how many products are competing in each category and how many reviews those products receive.

• G2 also releases the following supplemental Best Software Products reports:

  • Highest Satisfaction: Ranking is based solely on Satisfaction scores.

  • Fastest Growing Products: Ranking is based on Momentum scores.

  • Segment: Rankings are based on reviews submitted by reviewers from the corresponding market segment.

  • Rookies of the Year: This report includes the top 25 products that were listed on G2 and received their first review during the previous calendar year. To qualify for inclusion, both the product and its corresponding vendor must be newly listed.

Best Software by Function lists

• For these lists, which focus on the software’s function or persona use case, individual products need at least 10 reviews in the eligibility period in at least one category in the correlated persona area (e.g., Best Sales Software) to be eligible for that list.

• The top 50 products are ranked based on weighted Satisfaction and Market Presence scores, based on reviews within the corresponding top-level G2 categories. The score for a product is first calculated for the subcategory, and then those category scores are combined to create an overall score for the product. The overall score is then weighted based on the competitiveness of each category and the relevance of each product to the given function or persona.

Read more about the methodology used to calculate G2’s Best Software Awards here.

To be eligible for one of G2’s Best Software Companies or Products lists, a software product or company must have at least 10 reviews in the prior calendar year. Scores reflect only data from reviews submitted during the evaluation period (Jan. 1 – Dec. 31, 2025).

Yes. A software company and/or product has the potential to be named on multiple lists based on its eligibility and rankings.

Authenticity and trust are paramount to our approach to review collection, moderation, and publishing. It is our aim to ensure every review is the honest opinion of a real user and their own experience with a product or service. Every review submitted to G2 undergoes rigorous moderation. We verify reviewer identities and use more than 43 data points and consistent guidelines to ensure authenticity. In fact, G2 rejects more than one-third of the reviews submitted for not meeting those guidelines and standards. For more information, view G2’s approach to review validity and learn why G2 joined the Coalition for Trusted Reviews.

Some eligibility requirements have changed for Best Software 2026, including:

• Product and vendors now need a minimum of 10 reviews from the prior calendar year.

  • In 2025, just one review from the past year was needed, in addition to appearing on a G2 Grid®. Last year’s change was made to expand eligibility for vendors and products on G2 while simplifying the requirements, making it easier to be considered.

  • This year’s change is to maintain that simplicity while prioritizing review recency and volume as a key factor for continued and consistent high performance.

  • However, on the most competitive Best Software lists, winners typically have hundreds or even thousands of reviews.

• For the Functional Product Lists, a product’s percentage of categories and reviews earned within that functional list will be used as a factor in scoring. This year, we have adjusted the category weighting in our algorithm.

  • We did this to ensure the best possible fit for products on persona lists, based on their categories and reviews.

We also added the following new lists in 2026:

• New “Best Software By Function” lists:

  • Best Agentic AI Software

  • Best ERP Software Products

All winners will receive an email from G2 providing promotional materials and instructions, including templates and guidelines for:

• Accessing their Best Software Award badge(s) in my.g2 (for customers only)

• Promoting their recognition via news announcements

• Celebrating with social media graphics

G2 will celebrate award winners through a series of promotions, including news announcements, social media posts, emails, website banners, and more. While some winners will be featured on billboards in New York City, this is limited to select top winners pre-determined by G2.

Key differences between G2’s Best Software Awards and Market Reports include:

• Best Software consists of annual award lists that can be accessed without a login; whereas, Seasonal Market Reports are quarterly, detailed reports that only can be viewed by logging into my.g2.

• There are also differences in eligibility criteria and the depth and breadth of the product and vendor recognition.

• Learn more here.