--- title: OpenWater Application and Review Cloud Reviews meta_title: 'OpenWater Application and Review Cloud Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 151 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how OpenWater Application and Review Cloud works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 4.4 review_count: 151 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-08-07' parent_category: name: Education url: https://www.g2.com/categories/education --- # OpenWater Application and Review Cloud Reviews **Vendor:** Advanced Solutions International (ASI) **Category:** [Scholarship Management Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/scholarship-management) **Average Rating:** 4.4/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 151 ## About OpenWater Application and Review Cloud OpenWater streamlines program management with its end-to-end solution for accepting and reviewing applications, awards, grants, scholarships, proposals, and abstracts. OpenWater’s secure, all-in-one platform makes navigating the review process easy with its user-friendly features. Empower your program administrators by automating time consuming administrative tasks, collecting high volume submissions, and driving data-proven decisions through custom reporting and analytics. ## OpenWater Application and Review Cloud Reviews ### 1. User-Friendly and Easy to Navigate, but Customization Feels Limited **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Lori D. | Awards and Recognition Manager, Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** February 19, 2026 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Overall, the program is user-friendly and easy to navigate. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** The customization options are limited, which makes it harder to create a smoother, more user-friendly interface. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** We appreciate being able to move from manually reviewing nominations to a more automated process. The judge review workflow is straightforward and easy to navigate, which makes the overall experience feel clear and efficient. Overall, the added automation has noticeably improved the experience for our judges. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for your thoughtful feedback, Lori! We’re happy to hear OpenWater has helped simplify and automate your nomination and judging workflows while providing an easy-to-use experience for reviewers. We also appreciate your comments on customization and are continually working to enhance flexibility and create even more seamless user experiences. ### 2. Excellent Support, But Needs UI Improvements and Fewer Bugs **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 29, 2025 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Great customer service and quick response times. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** We've experienced several "bugs" (more than we think is acceptable) as well as other not so great standard features that have affected our own processes as well as our applicants'/reviewers' experiences. (For example, in the review form, when going to the second page, it does not take the user to the top of the form, it starts them in the middle. We've been told that this is just the way it is... But we keep getting complaints about it because it makes our reviewers' jobs harder.) This is just one example of a standard feature that we are not happy with. The amount of bugs we have experienced has also been frustrating. The overall look and feel / user experience of the software could also be improved. (Just looks outdated and is not always very user friendly). I know you are working on updating this, so we are hopeful it will improve soon. Also, this is probably our biggest issue, but only one person can own and fill out a form— others can't log in to complete their own sections. We wish it were possible for multiple people to enter their individual information into a shared form, with everything connecting to the same place. I know you said you were working on adding this too, so we are holding out hope! **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** We need a way for people to apply to speak at our Conference, for reviewers to review the proposals, and then ways to collect the finalized session and speaker information. **Official Response from Brittany Holt:** > Thank you for taking the time to share your detailed feedback! We’re delighted to hear that our support team has provided quick and helpful assistance - they take great pride in delivering excellent service. We truly appreciate your honesty about the user experience and bugs you’ve encountered. Your input is invaluable as we continue to enhance the platform’s interface and functionality. Thank you for your patience and for being part of the OpenWater community as we continue to make things even better. ### 3. I used OpenWater to manage funding applications and award nominations **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Evan S. | Program Specialist, Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 27, 2024 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Single sign-on validation is critical. Its customer service is fantastic. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** The user interface is not very intuitive. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** It's validating applicant identities which saves the reviewing team dozens of hours a month. **Official Response from Debbie Willis:** > Hi Evan, we appreciate the feedback on the user interface. I'm excited to share that the OpenWater team has been working on a new UI for the past 12 months and it will be releasing soon. ### 4. A New Comer's Perspective **Rating:** 2.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Non-Profit Organization Management | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 03, 2023 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** The best part about OpenWater is having live chat support. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** There are so many odd UI/UX paths through the system. So many times I have to dig in menus for a commonly used thing. And the overall look is unappealing. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** It's simply another platform, one place to hold all our applications and coordinate phases of the review process. ### 5. Platform Uses Far Exceed Capabilites **Rating:** 3.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Elle C. | Program Manager, Research Programs and Evaluations, Non-Profit Organization Management, Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** August 01, 2019 **What do you like best about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** I've been using OpenWater since the beginning of the Year, my company has been using about a year. I also became a Master User in order to facilitate grant applications for four different programs. The company does not use OpenWater for all of it's possible capabilities, particularly scheduling and assessing conference sessions. It's typically used for application processes, and we don't even collect payment on the platform. There are so many ways that Open Water can be used, and the individual secure home-pages is a huge benefit of the platform. Overall, the responses I've gotten from customer service have been wonderful, though I am a SuperUser so I don't know what the general response is like. I have been able to master the basics of the platform pretty easily. **What do you dislike about OpenWater Application and Review Cloud?** Some of its more rudimentary details, like moving and editing pre-fixed text make it difficult to use the platform for the different uses within the company. **Recommendations to others considering OpenWater Application and Review Cloud:** Would recommend selecting an appropriate Super User who will be able to master the platform basics. **What problems is OpenWater Application and Review Cloud solving and how is that benefiting you?** We've been able to use open water in multiple different application review processes for both grants and peer nominated awards. The platform has helped to streamline our Grant Applications, we were able to move from accepting applications in email attachments, to a comprehensive review platform for judges and blinded application process. ## OpenWater Application and Review Cloud Discussions - [Is there any plan to expand the capabilities of OpenWater to an Event Management Tool?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/13738-is-there-any-plan-to-expand-the-capabilities-of-openwater-to-an-event-management-tool) - 1 upvote - [When will we be able to customize more with CSS?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/13605-when-will-we-be-able-to-customize-more-with-css) - 1 upvote - [View OpenWater Application and Review Cloud pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/openwater-application-and-review-cloud/reviews?filters%5Bnps_score%5D=3§ion=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-08-14+01%3A44%3A23+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=ca9c9a7e-024c-433e-a681-466f2b009766&secure%5Btoken%5D=ba42f1074996baf443be823409a87f3b48a7d9d8abfba67efff7ba30de945f14&format=llm_user) ## OpenWater Application and Review Cloud Integrations - 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Grantee Portal - Attachments - Task Management - Customizable Forms - Collaboration Tools - Ratings/Reviews - Document Review - Deadline Management - Contact Management - Contract/License Management - Document Management - Grant Application Management - Compliance Management - Workflow Management **Submission Management** - Form Builders - Countdown Timers - Landing Pages - Applicant Portal **Application Review** - Automated Review Assignments - Scoring Tools - Review Portal - Review Comments - Messaging - Document Review - Applicant Portal - Collaboration Tools **Fund Tracking** - Disbursements - Grant Allocations - Email Notifications - Alerts/Notifications **Judging Management** - Judge Assignments - Multiround Scoring - Scoring and Voting - Submission Dashboards **Administration and Integrations** - Activity Dashboard - Reports - Integrations - Third-Party Integrations **Impact & Outcomes** - Program Evaluation - Ad Hoc Reporting - Activity Dashboard - Administrative Reporting - Financial Reporting **Awards Administration** - Event Support - Applicant Communications - CRM - Reporting **Additional Functionality** - Electronic Payments - Generative AI - Customizable Branding - Multi-Currency - Audit Management - Application Management - Customizable Questions - Student Management - Email Templates - Approval Process Control - Access Controls/Permissions - Reviewer Management - Preview Functionality - Labeling - Categorization/Grouping - Single Sign On - Admissions Management - Forms Management - SSL Security - For Nonprofits - Customizable Fields - Reporting & Statistics - AI Copilot - Alerts/Notifications - Scoring - Data Import/Export - Role-Based Permissions - Email Reminders - Recommendations - For Schools - CRM - Search/Filter - Workflow Management - Interview Management - Grant Management - White Label **Grant Prospecting** - Funder Lists - Automated Responses **Compliance** - Eligibility Screening - Auditing **Integrations** - Fund Accounting - Donor Management - Forms Management **Additional Functionality** - Third-Party Integrations - Generative AI - AI Copilot - Role-Based Permissions - Configurable Workflow - Data Import/Export - Customizable Branding - Customizable Reports - Email Reminders - Audit Trail - Monitoring - Reminders - Categorization/Grouping - Quotes/Estimates - Customizable Templates - Search/Filter - For Grantseekers - Grant Discovery - Grant Award Tracking - Electronic Submission - Payment Tracking - API - Customizable Fields - Reporting & Statistics - Activity Tracking - Applicant Tracking - Customizable Questions - Due Date Tracking - For Grantmakers - Budgeting/Forecasting - Budget Control - Status Tracking - Impact Measurement - Approval Process Control ## Top OpenWater Application and Review Cloud Alternatives - [Submittable](https://www.g2.com/products/submittable/reviews) - 4.5/5.0 (167 reviews) - [SurveyMonkey Apply](https://www.g2.com/products/surveymonkey-apply/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (42 reviews) - [Award Force](https://www.g2.com/products/award-force/reviews) - 4.7/5.0 (289 reviews)