Community Guidelines

G2 works hard to earn your trust. Below are some of the principles we operate by to ensure G2 is the most valued and trusted source of information to find and select business software, services, and hardware.

We strive to keep our ratings authentic.

We require the use of a LinkedIn™ account or verified business email address to validate a G2 reviewer’s identity and current employer. We also validate reviewers by partnering with sellers and organizations to securely authenticate users through select platforms. We do not allow users to leave reviews for their current employers, former employers, or competitors.

• No pay-to-play. Sellers cannot influence the ratings, placement, sort order, etc. by spending time or money with us.
• Review moderation. After our automatic filtering process removes reviews that do not meet our minimum submission requirements, our team manually checks each review. All reviews must pass our moderation process before they are published.
  • The “Validated Reviewer” label denotes how the reviewer was authenticated.
  • The "Verified Current User" label only appears for software reviews and indicates that the review includes an approved screenshot of the reviewer logged into the software.
• Our algorithms. G2 satisfaction ratings, market presence scores, and index scores are determined algorithmically in real time based on reviews gathered from our user community, as well as data aggregated from publicly available online sources and social networks. G2 ratings only include data from verified reviewers and public sources. Our algorithms are the same for all categories. Read more about our algorithm
• Business partners. Users who have a business relationship with a seller, such as resellers, can often provide valuable insight and are not restricted from leaving reviews on G2. However, because of the potential bias of such relationships, business partner reviews do not count toward the G2 score and are flagged with a "Business Partner" label on the review.
• Objective data. G2 does not add any subjective input to ratings, Grid® placement, or review summaries. We do not, under any circumstances, edit the content of any review.
• Rejected reviews. We reserve the right to remove reviews that do not meet minimum quality standards, including, but not limited to, those that have been copied from other sources, contain responses unrelated to the questions asked, include defamatory comments, or indicate trial or non-professional use. We also reserve the right to remove any reviews, comments, or other content contributed by a user when the user’s G2 or LinkedIn™ profile is missing critical identifying information.
• Editing reviews. Users can always edit their review to reflect changing opinions or to ensure that the review meets our quality standards. Edited reviews go back through our moderation process once changes are submitted.
• Incentives. G2 will occasionally offer incentives for honest reviews to help us gather a full and accurate data set. These incentives are offered as thank-yous for approved reviews; eligibility to receive an incentive is never based on the opinions, positive or negative, of the review.
• Buyer Alerts. If we discover attempts by sellers to manipulate their reviews, we may issue alerts to warn users about this behavior. Actions that trigger these alerts include, but are not limited to, soliciting only positive reviews, discouraging negative reviews, threatening users to remove negative reviews, and writing fake reviews from a shared IP address. Read more about our Buyer Alerts program.

We protect our users’ privacy.

• Account privacy. We do not share your data with outside sources for any reason without your express permission. While we do ask contributing users to sign in via their LinkedIn™ profiles, a verified business email, or other select platforms, this information is used strictly to validate reviewer identity and user authenticity.
• LinkedIn™ connections. If you grant G2 access to your LinkedIn™ connections, we do not access your connections' contact information. By granting access to your LinkedIn™ connections, you are able to see reviews written by your first-degree connections; this empowers you to then reach out to your connections for more information on the technology they use.
• Social sharing. We will not post to any social network on your behalf for any reason.
• Unattributed reviews. We understand that business relationships between customers and sellers may require discretion. G2 gives users the option to have any of their reviews posted without identifying information (their name, photo, company) accompanying the review. The G2 team still validates these reviews using the information provided by the user, but an “unattributed” review will display only the user’s current job category and industry. G2 will not share the user's information with the public or the company whose software, service, or hardware the user reviewed.

Tips for leaving reviews

• Review for the reader. Your review could help someone choose a new software, service, or hardware. In your review, include details you would be looking for if you were in need of the same type of solution. The more informative the review, the more attention it attracts and the more credible you appear. Your unique insights will be more helpful than the opinions of an analyst or consultant because you have firsthand experience in a business environment.
• Aim for balance. Even if you love what you’re reviewing, it’s probably not perfect. Your review can include glowing recommendations and commentary on favorite aspects, but be sure to mention anything that could use improvement. People are likely to place less trust in overwhelmingly positive (or overwhelmingly negative) reviews because they do not present a balanced and realistic account of the user experience.
• Be real. Along with being balanced, it’s also best to accurately present yourself and your level of experience with the software, service, or hardware. Reviews that speak to specific situations and use cases are much more relevant and valuable than those that do not.
  • For software, mention the level of experience you have with the tool, any integrations you use in conjunction, or any unique use-cases you’re addressing with the tool you’re reviewing.
  • For hardware, mention your set-up and what other systems the product interacts with at your company.
  • For services, mention the length of your engagement, the level of interaction, or anything else you think would help others evaluating similar providers.
• Stay current. If you haven’t used a software, service, or hardware in more than two years, we request that you refrain from submitting a review of it. B2B technology can change drastically in a relatively short amount of time.

Tips for participating in the G2 community

We work to keep our conversations useful, transparent, and safe for the whole community. Violating these guidelines may result in the removal of content or a user being permanently banned from contributing to the G2 community.

• Use your real identity. Use your real name and identity when posting to ensure you’re credited for your expertise!
• Your content is enough. Anything taken from another source must be properly attributed and legally yours to share.
• Respect each other. By using this platform, you are agreeing to treat other users with respect. We have no tolerance for content that harasses an individual or group based on race, gender, religion, nationality, ethnicity, political group, sexual orientation or other characteristics. Abusive behavior will not be tolerated.
• Respect the platform. Users who do not post meaningful content, use deceptive means to generate traffic, post unsolicited promotions, or manipulate content will be banned.
• Talk it out. We encourage different opinions. If someone has answered a question and you have a different solution, please feel free to share it! Engaging in respectful dialogue makes the entire community better.
• Tell the story. When participating in conversation, it’s helpful to share the background behind why you are asking something, or how you came to find an answer. The more you expand on your questions and responses, the better your peers will be able to understand where you’re coming from.
• Editing Posts. Users can always edit their posts to reflect changing circumstances or understanding.
• Removed Posts. We reserve the right to remove posts and discussions that do not meet minimum quality standards. This includes, but is not limited to, those that have been copied from another source or posts which include gibberish, or posts which include defamatory comments.

Tips for sellers

• Get involved. All sellers have an equal opportunity to take advantage of being part of G2’s community. They can be listed on the site, update the pages of their offerings, and respond to user posts free of charge. In fact, we encourage sellers to do so as this promotes transparency.
• Gather reviews. We encourage all sellers to ask their customers to leave reviews with authentic, unbiased feedback. If G2 finds evidence of a seller soliciting only positive reviews, we will remove the reviews. To assist sellers with outreach to their customers, G2 offers a free service through which we will contact a seller’s customers on their behalf to ask them to share their authentic feedback on one or more of their offerings.
• Start conversations. We encourage sellers to engage in a dialogue with users and we provide them with the opportunity to respond publicly to posts. If a post contains inaccurate or negative commentary, we invite sellers to provide their perspective and address the user’s comments in this forum.
• Keep us honest. All G2 users have the ability to report a concern on a review; when this occurs, a G2 team member will investigate and provide a response. We do not edit or remove reviews at a seller’s request or act as fact-finders to facilitate disputes between sellers and G2 users; however, we do encourage all users to submit concerns for reviews that seem fake, out of place, or to come from a biased source.
  • Review concerns can be submitted under a review by clicking the “Report a Concern” button. Providing as much relevant information as possible will help us respond thoroughly and accurately.
  • Review concerns are typically addressed within two business days.