The campaign builder is flexible and embedding the voting contest on our WordPress site was straightforward. Setting up a video contest with public voting and email verification worked as described, and the entry moderation before publishing was useful. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Two serious problems overshadowed everything else.

First, the anti-fraud protection did not work. We ran a public music contest and, after voting closed, a full audit revealed 306 fraudulent votes — disposable/temp-mail addresses, machine-generated email aliases, and coordinated bursts from single network blocks. Fraud detection is advertised as a feature of the platform, yet not one of these 306 votes was stopped or flagged. Worse, every piece of detection — a disposable-domain blocklist, alias pattern recognition, network clustering — I had to design and implement myself. Without that effort, the integrity of our contest would have been destroyed.

Second, and even more disappointing: support never replied. I sent four detailed, polite emails over several weeks documenting the fraud and requesting clarification and a refund. I received no response at all — not one reply, not even an automated acknowledgement. For a paid service, being ignored completely across four emails is unacceptable. Honestly, for this contest the value did not match what we paid. We were on a paid plan specifically for the anti-fraud protection and email-verified voting — that was the core reason we chose ShortStack over cheaper options. The embedding, entry collection and moderation worked fine and were reasonably worth the price, but the one feature we were really paying for, fraud detection, failed to catch any of the 306 fraudulent votes we later found ourselves. When you add the complete lack of support (four emails, zero replies), the price stopped feeling justified: we ended up doing the fraud-detection work ourselves, which is exactly what the subscription was supposed to cover. For basic contests the value is probably fair, but if you're paying for the fraud-protection tier expecting it to safeguard a vote that matters, it did not deliver the value for us. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Easy to use. Several templates to choose from. Immediate real-time leads sent directly to your client. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Honestly, nothing. It's awesome and was a cornerstone of our business. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The contests were easy to build and manage, forms were easy in their WYSIWYG and embedded onto our site super easily! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Not super feature-rich. Difficult to divorce from their system and get my data. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I love how easy and quick you can set up a very professional looking site that allows you to collect important data and re-market to those who enter. There is a bit of a learning curve on all the widgets, but once you figure them out it makes developing your entry site a snap. ShortStack has allowed us to collect entries, survey questions and encourage social media engagement with our brand, resulting in increased awareness and new consumer acquisition opportunities. The ShortStack field points feature makes it easy to award extra entries. With this feature, you choose which fields entrants will receive extra entries for filling out and how many points those fields are worth. When choosing a winner, these extra entries can be applied to increase the chances of winning for those who earned them. Plus, our Earn Extra Points Giveaway template is an easy way to get started. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I honestly have not had any big issues or dislikes with ShortStack other than maybe it starts to get a bit pricy when you have to move up plan levels to the Brand Plan (once you exceed over 50,000 entries) but you do have the option to pause the account while not in use and you can also download and clear the number of entries in order to downgrade levels. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What I like best about this application is that if you want an engaging link in your Instagram bio, then this is the application to have as it creates social contests amongst customers and views of one's page which is good for engagement. The features you can use depend on the kind of contests you wish to launch, this means there is a wide variety of features with the application. Aside from using the link on one's Instagram bio, you can also embed the contest landing page on your website to maximize visibility and generate more entries this means the link is able to use everywhere including in WhatsApp messages. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What I dislike about this application is that it takes a while to get set up before one can use the link, it requires one to have a lot of tech knowledge in order to use it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Customer service is A+, and the range of customization is fantastic!! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

No dislikes. This is a great program and if you have questions, they are always ready to help! Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It's easy to use and fairly simply to customize which makes the entire expierence pretty pleasant. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I wish it was a little less expensive as far as a license goes. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It's incredibly easy to use and integrates seamlessly with mailchimp and websites. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There is a bit of a learning curve and the customizable options could be expanded. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Ease of use, customer service, lots of customization and options, very affordable Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I've only ever received one package of great ShortStack swag from their customer service department, love my green ShortStack t-shirt. Seriously though I can't think of anything I really dislike. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

It truly is definitely very simple to set up a contest or landing site rapidly, with simple to switch templates plus the new theme customization. You could insert your very own codes and scripts to provide you with more characteristics as opposed to the wide range you'll find currently. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Information: retrieval and exportation are rather limited to a small number of applications, and the lack of an API means that there is certainly no workaround. My organization uses email and CRM tools that are not supported by Shortstack so all data retrieval needs to be manual, which just isn't great if we want to contact entrants ASAP. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.