Capterra Submission Guide: How to List Your B2B SaaS, Get Reviews, and Hit the Shortlist

What is Capterra

Capterra (https://www.capterra.com) is a B2B software review and discovery site owned by Gartner. Gartner bought it in 2015. It gets several million visitors a month, mostly from the US and Canada with some European traffic.

It's basically a SaaS shopping front door. The people on the site are the ones at companies who pick the software — IT, ops, HR, marketing. They come with a real need: pick a CRM, pick a project tool, pick a help desk. They compare a few options, read the reviews, look at price, then click through to your site.

GetApp and Software Advice are the two sister sites. They look like separate products but share the same backend database. A review you collect on Capterra shows up on the other two sites too. That's the most valuable thing about the whole system. More on this below.

One thing to be clear about: Capterra is not a G2 clone. G2 leans toward mid-market, the SaaS crowd, modern UI, more community feel. Capterra leans toward SMBs (5-200 person companies), traditional industries (construction, logistics, healthcare, education), and IT managers. The audiences only partly overlap. Don't treat the two as either-or.

Is Capterra still worth it

Depends on what you sell and who you sell to.

Worth doing:

• B2B SaaS, especially anything sold to SMBs (5-200 person companies). That's Capterra's core audience.
• Tools sold to non-technical buyers: HR, help desk, project management, accounting, CRM, ERP.
• North America and Europe are your main markets. Over 70% of Capterra's traffic is US/Canada.
• You have real customers and you can actually get them to leave reviews. A Capterra listing without reviews is basically empty space.
• Your category isn't owned by one or two giants. If you're a brand-new project tool fighting Asana, Monday, and ClickUp head on, you'll lose. But pick a niche subcategory ("project management for construction") and you can land in the top 5.

Skip it:

• Pure consumer products. Capterra visitors come with company budget. Wrong audience.
• Early-stage projects with zero paying customers. No reviews means no Google traffic, and the profile sits dead.
• Products only sold in China. Almost no Chinese buyers use Capterra. The listing is decoration.
• Developer tools (CLIs, SDKs, API libraries). Devs don't pick tools on Capterra. Try SourceForge or Product Hunt instead.

So for most teams selling B2B SaaS to SMBs, you should list — but don't expect Capterra to drive traffic on its own. The real value is this: as part of the Gartner family, alongside GetApp and Software Advice, it gives your brand a "vetted by real customers" stamp. Buyers come here near the end of their buying cycle to double-check. That traffic converts way better than cold visitors.

What Capterra rewards

Category-page rankings on Capterra come down to a few things:

• Review count and recency. 30 reviews beats 5. Reviews from the last 6 months count more than reviews that are a year old.
• Average star rating. A 5.0 from 3 reviews loses to a 4.5 from 80. The algorithm cares about volume.
• Profile completeness. Screenshots, video, pricing, feature list, integrations — fill them in and you rank ahead of half-empty profiles.
• PPC bids. Capterra is a pay-per-click model. You can buy the "Sponsored" slot at the top of a category page. It doesn't change organic rank, but it sits in the visual sweet spot.
• Shortlist inclusion. Each year Capterra picks the top 5 or so in each category. The badge shows on your listing. It's a real trust mark.

The most common screwup: you claim the profile and immediately mass-email your contact list asking for reviews. Capterra's anti-fraud system watches for that — same time window, same IP range, brand-new accounts, clustered submissions. One sweep and your whole listing gets downranked. Getting it unblocked is a hassle.

Before you submit

One month out

First decide if you should bother. Look at what your category page looks like right now. Search Capterra for your keyword ("project management software", "crm software"). Check the top 10 listings: how many reviews each, what star rating, how full the profiles are. That's the bar you have to clear.

Pick a niche category. Capterra has thousands of categories. "Project management software" is the big one. "Construction project management" is a niche. A niche is way easier to win than the big category. 5 reviews can land you on a niche Shortlist. In the big category, 5 reviews don't even crack the top 50.

Make a customer shortlist. Pick 30-50 of your most active, happiest customers. That's your seed pool for review invites.

Two weeks out

Get your profile assets ready.

• Logo (300×300px PNG, transparent background, or larger).
• 4-6 product screenshots (1920×1080 is a safe size, show real product views, not your landing page).
• A short product video (1-2 minutes, demos a feature, not a marketing reel). YouTube link is fine.
• Feature list (one short sentence per feature, fill against Capterra's checklist).
• Integrations list (every third-party integration you support, the longer the better).
• Pricing info (transparent pricing beats "contact us" every time).
• A 200-300 word product description. Lead with who you serve and what problem you solve. Don't list specs.

One week out

Sign up for a Capterra Vendor account at vendors.capterra.com. Use a company email. Personal Gmail accounts get rejected.

Check whether your listing already exists. Capterra often scrapes public data and pre-builds an empty shell listing for products. If yours is there, claim it. If not, create one.

Submission day

Once you submit, expect 1-3 business days for review. Don't ping support during that window. Don't resubmit.

The submission flow

Step 1: Sign up as a vendor

Go to https://vendors.capterra.com. Use a company-domain email (no Gmail or Outlook). Fill in company name, your name, role, phone. Approval takes 1-2 business days.

Step 2: Search for your existing listing

Once you're in, search for your product name. 9 times out of 10, Capterra has already auto-built an empty shell listing by scraping your website. If it's there, click "Claim this listing" — it's faster than building from scratch.

The claim flow verifies you're really from this company. Usually it sends a confirmation email to a company-domain address and you click a link. Sometimes they ask for incorporation paperwork. Standard stuff.

Step 3: Fill out the profile

Inside the vendor dashboard, work through these sections:

1. Basic info: product name, tagline, website, social links.
2. Description: long form (500-1000 chars). Lead with the problem you solve and who it's for.
3. Categories: pick 1 main + 2-3 related subcategories. Don't pick 5 unrelated ones. The algorithm flags low relevance.
4. Features: tick boxes from Capterra's feature checklist. Only tick features you actually have. If you fake one and a user trips over it, they'll leave a 1-star.
5. Pricing: starting price + model (per user/month, flat, freemium). Be specific.
6. Screenshots / video: upload them, add a caption explaining what each one shows.
7. Integrations: list every one. Capterra has its own integration tag library. Tick from their list.

Step 4: Submit for review

Once required fields are full, hit Submit. Capterra's editorial team reviews it manually — they check it's a real product, the info is accurate, nothing breaks the rules. Takes 1-3 business days.

Until they approve, the listing is unpublished and unsearchable.

Step 5: Start asking for reviews

Once the listing is live, the real work starts. Next section covers how to ask without breaking the rules.

How to collect reviews without breaking the rules

This is the hardest and most important part. Own section.

Why this is hard. Capterra's anti-fraud detection is better than most people think. They check reviewer email domains, IP spread, account age, writing style, device fingerprints. A burst of reviews from one company on the same IP gets flagged as "vendor solicited" or wiped outright. Bad violations get the listing downranked or pulled entirely.

Capterra has two clean channels for collecting reviews:

1. In-app review prompts. Add a small prompt inside your product: "Enjoying us? Drop us a review on Capterra." Send them to your Capterra review URL. This feels natural and converts well.
2. Capterra Review Collection program. Capterra has a paid program where you give them a customer email list, they send the invites for you, and Capterra (not you) pays each reviewer a $10 gift card. Because Capterra pays, not the vendor, it's not a violation. This is the cleanest path.

If you're inviting customers yourself:

• Only email real customers. Not someone who tried the product for 2 days and left. People who paid and used it for at least a month.
• Don't write "leave us 5 stars" or "leave a positive review." You can only write "share your experience." Capterra checks. Reviewers screenshot bad invites and send them in.
• Don't offer rewards. "$50 gift card for a review" is a textbook violation. The Gartner Review Collection program is the exception (because Gartner pays, not you).
• Spread it out. 5 reviews a week is way safer than 30 in a day. The system watches for natural distribution.
• Don't ask employees. IPs and email domains will give it away. That's a violation.

Ways to lift conversion:

• Have your CSM or sales rep mention it during a quarterly business review with the customer.
• Put a direct review link in the invite email. The vendor dashboard gives you a tracked URL.
• Ask customers who've already praised you somewhere else — tweeted about you, replied happy on an NPS survey, just renewed.
• Once a review goes live, reply to it. A short thanks for 4-5 star reviews. A real, specific reply for anything 3 or below. The algorithm weighs vendor responses too.

How to make the Capterra Shortlist

The Capterra Shortlist is the annual top-5 list per category, and the badge auto-shows on GetApp and Software Advice too. It's the most valuable badge in the system.

The official criteria are vague. What actually works in practice:

• Review count of 20+ (the bar varies by category, but 20 is a safe floor).
• Average rating of 4.0 or higher.
• At least one new review in the last 24 months. Old reviews lose weight over time.
• A complete profile: screenshots, video, pricing, integrations all filled.
• Cross-platform visibility: Capterra + GetApp + Software Advice all looking healthy.

Practical play: target a niche category Shortlist before swinging at the big one. Way easier. Once you've got the badge, put it on your landing page, in your email signature, in sales decks. Real, usable proof.

What to do after Capterra

Listing is live and you've got 10 reviews. Don't stop here.

One, embed the review badge on your site. Capterra gives you embed code in the vendor dashboard. You can show a live "X users on Capterra rate us 4.7 stars" widget. Free social proof.

Two, deal with GetApp and Software Advice. Reviews sync, but profile content doesn't. Copy your Capterra profile (screenshots, description, features) into the GetApp and Software Advice vendor dashboards. Each site indexes separately, so you get three SEO listings instead of one.

Three, lift quotes from reviews into your own content. Pick 3-5 reviews that are specific (real pain points, real numbers). Quote them on your blog, in case studies, on sales pages. Cite the source.

Four, decide whether to run PPC. Capterra is cost-per-click ($1-15 a click depending on category). Math it out: if your ACV minus CAC can absorb $5 a click and a 2-3 month conversion cycle, maybe. If your ACV is under $1000, PPC almost never pencils out.

Five, reply to reviews. Reply to every single one. Beyond being polite, vendors who reply often get an algorithm bump. And buyers who read your replies see you take service seriously.

Common mistakes

• Mass-emailing employees and friends for reviews. Easy to detect. Whole batch gets wiped.
• Asking for "5 stars" in the invite. Reviewer forwards it to Capterra support. Violation.
• Not fixing a scraped listing. Capterra's auto-built shell often has wrong info (old pricing, wrong features). Don't fix it and customers leave bad reviews based on stale data.
• Picking unrelated categories to chase exposure. Algorithm flags low relevance and you drop instead.
• Fighting bad reviews. Replying with anger or attacking the reviewer kills your conversion. Buyers see it.
• Letting the profile go quiet. No new reviews, no updates for months — your category rank slides.
• Faking reviews. Capterra's anti-fraud is stricter than you think. One catch and the account is in real trouble.
• Treating it as a one-and-done. This is a long-game channel. 2-5 fresh reviews a month is what compounds.

Capterra vs G2 vs GetApp vs Software Advice

Practical advice: do Capterra + GetApp + Software Advice together (one set of reviews benefits all three). Do G2 separately. The two systems don't overlap as much as people think.

FAQ

Does Capterra cost anything to list? No. Free profile claim, free reviews, free spot on the category page. What costs money: PPC ads (cost per click) and the Capterra Review Collection program (per-review fee).

How long does the review take? 1-3 business days for a new listing. Usually under 24 hours to claim an existing one. If 5 business days pass with no movement, ping vendor support.

Can I list without paying customers? You can list, but you can't get reviews. A no-review listing sits at the bottom of the category page with almost no traffic. It's a placeholder. Wait until you have around 10 paying customers before doing the real push.

Are reviews legit? How does Capterra check? Capterra requires reviewers to register with a company email, link a LinkedIn account, and sometimes upload an invoice screenshot to prove they're real customers. The vetting is fairly tight, but not perfect. Some fake reviews slip through and get pulled later.

Can I delete a bad review? No. Capterra's stance is that reviews belong to the user, not the vendor. What you can do: 1) reply with a real explanation; 2) if it actually violates the rules (personal attacks, false info), report it and Capterra moderators will review.

Is PPC worth running? Depends on ACV. B2B SaaS with annual contracts of $5000+ can usually make it work ($5-10 per click, 2-3 month conversion cycle). Anything under $1000 ACV almost never returns. Run organic for three months first, then decide.

How is the Shortlist picked? Capterra scores yearly based on review count, rating, profile completeness, and recent activity. The exact formula isn't public, but in practice: 20+ reviews, 4.0+ stars, a fresh review within 6 months, and a full profile usually lands a niche Shortlist.

Other platforms to run alongside Capterra

Capterra matters, but it shouldn't be your only channel. The combo:

• GetApp: Capterra sister site, reviews sync, fill the profile too.
• Software Advice: the other Capterra sister site. Same deal.
• G2: DR 91, different audience from Capterra, the other must-list system for B2B SaaS.
• SourceForge: DR 92, open-source and traditional software directory. Worth a listing if you serve traditional industries.
• SaaSworthy: DR 72, free to claim, picks up long-tail keyword traffic.
• AlternativeTo: DR 80, runs on "alternatives to X" search traffic. Get listed under the alternatives of the big competitors.
• Product Hunt: DR 75, the launch-day spike platform. Pairs well with Capterra's slow-burn SEO.

The full play: claim Capterra + GetApp + Software Advice with the same content, push for 20 reviews to land a Shortlist; do G2 as its own track; fill out SourceForge, SaaSworthy, AlternativeTo as space-holders; save Product Hunt for launch day. Run that for a year and your B2B SaaS is on the search results pages buyers actually use.

For more SaaS and directory submission sites, browse /c/saas and /c/directory.