# OpenWater Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Is OpenWater the right Scholarship Management solution for you? Explore 73 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/140294/OpenWater-Awards/reviews --- OpenWater 4.6 (73) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/140294/OpenWater-Awards/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated March 6th, 2026 # Reviews of OpenWater Ease of use 4.2 Customer Service 4.9 ## Pros and Cons in Reviews LM Luis M RightsCon Senior Program CoordinatorNon-Profit Organization Management, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Its vast arsenal of tools also lets you enhance your program each year or build-in new features.“ April 15, 2026 AR Amanda R Education AdministratorEducation Management, 1,001 - 5,000 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “To keep emails from being sent to the same people multiple times, we have to go in and individually mark that each presenter has already received the email--the process is very tedious and time-consuming. “ August 21, 2025 LM Luis M RightsCon Senior Program CoordinatorNon-Profit Organization Management, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “This means that you can use OpenWater for any conference that has a Call for Proposals process.“ April 15, 2026 LH Lawrence H CoordinatorNon-Profit Organization Management, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “While the system provides a great tool to manage these programs, the price increase for the service isn't matching additional benefits that are being released for my purposes.“ August 19, 2025 CL Chantelle L Internship and Work Study CoordinatorNon-Profit Organization Management, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: 6-12 months. “OpenWater has allowed our organization to streamline every one of our programs and application processes.“ September 18, 2025 JK Jenna K Education Systems Program SpecialistNon-Profit Organization Management, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “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.“ October 29, 2025 Paige S ManagerManagement Consulting, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “We have a very robust award judging process and it has always fulfilled our needs.“ April 20, 2026 TB Tammy B Event Program ManagerSemiconductors, 10,001+ employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “The interface and moving around inside the product is still a bit clunky. Once you know where to look, all the features are there, but it's not super intuitive or easy to train new users as a result.“ August 19, 2025 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-25 of 73 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use Jason B. Director, Membership Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Value, Value, Value" August 19, 2025 5.0 Pros I've truly enjoyed not only the product that OpenWater provides to us, but the ease it presents to our members. Cons It's expensive, but the value provides to our internal and external audiences continue to transcend the cost. Switched from [EmailMeForm](https://www.capterra.com/p/161042/EmailMeForm/) We needed more functionality and API's into our database. Review Source Response from Advanced Solutions International August 20, 2025 Thank you so much for sharing your feedback, Jason! We’re thrilled to hear that OpenWater has been a valuable tool for both your team and your members, and we truly appreciate your trust in us. LM Luis M. RightsCon Senior Program Coordinator Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Organizing a conference? OpenWater is your answer!" April 15, 2026 4.0 I have been using OpenWater for more than 5 years and I always recommend it when I have a chance. During these 5 years, I have never felt it has under performed, even when our program keeps growing. Its vast arsenal of tools also lets you enhance your program each year or build-in new features. I like this because open water can support you in doing your job better. I also want to highlight their customer support. It is super reliable. They are always there when you need them. Pros There are several elements I like about OpenWater. First of all, the judging process. We have over 80 experts reviewing the more than 1800 proposals we receive. You can divide the experts by categories, which is helpful. You can also decide the number of proposals you assign to each judge. The evaluation form for judges to use is easy to build also. Even though we don't use it for scholarship management, we use it for a conference focused on human rights and technology. This means that you can use OpenWater for any conference that has a Call for Proposals process. It really does fit your needs. As for the value for money, I believe that OpenWater is great. It doesnt have limits per applicants and you can decide the number of programs you can use. This means it is flexible and allows you confront challenges despite initial budget calculations. For example, you dont have to worry about ever receiving too many proposals. Ease of use is also guaranteed thanks to its incredible library of resources. This also means that it fosters your learning curve because of the resources but also because of the great customer support they provide. Cons If OpenWater could improve an aspect, it would be their dashboard. It tends to be difficult to capture an overview of where you stand regarding number of submissions, complete, incomplete, and other information you can find useful. Nevertheless, their reports feature is great. Whether you want the general raw data or the custom reports with pre-selected filters. Their report feature eventually lets you build your own dashboard when exporting it to google sheets or excel. You just have to download a report and use your formula skills. Switched from [Google Forms](https://www.capterra.com/p/176571/Google-Forms/) Google forms did no longer serve the number of proposals and the judging process that we needed. Review Source Response from Advanced Solutions International April 22, 2026 Thank you for your review, Luis! We’re glad OpenWater is helping you manage large-scale submissions and judging with flexibility, and that our resources and support have been valuable over the years. We also appreciate your feedback on the dashboard and understand the need for clearer at-a-glance insights. Thanks for your continued recommendation and for sharing your experience! JK Jenna K. Education Systems Program Specialist Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Excellent Support, But Needs Some UI Improvements" October 29, 2025 3.0 Overall it has been mixed. The limitations and bugs have been a bit frustrating, but their customer service is fantastic and it seems they are willing to fix things. I know that they are also currently working on a lot of updates so we are feeling hopeful that these will happen soon and improve our overall experience! Pros OpenWater has great customer service and quick response times. This is a huge benefit to us as when there are bugs or we need help with something quickly, they are right on it! Cons 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! Review Source Response from Advanced Solutions International January 27, 2026 Thank you for your detailed and honest feedback, Jenna; we truly appreciate you taking the time to share both the positives and the challenges of your OpenWater experience. We’re glad our support team has been responsive and helpful, and we understand how frustrating bugs, UI limitations, and form-sharing constraints can be. Your input is invaluable as we continue working on updates and improvements, and we’re grateful for your patience and optimism as we move those enhancements forward! VR Verified Reviewer Manager Management Consulting Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great Awards Platform " April 20, 2026 5.0 Overall experience has been great. The support team is always available to help when needed and super responsive. Pros The value for the money and judging process. We have a very robust award judging process and it has always fulfilled our needs. Cons The learning curve is quite significant. It is a very robust system, so takes some time to adapt to the system. Review Source Response from Advanced Solutions International April 22, 2026 Thank you for your review! We’re glad OpenWater is meeting your needs for a robust judging process and delivering strong value. We also appreciate your feedback on the learning curve; we're always working to make onboarding easier. It’s great to hear our support team has been helpful along the way. Thanks for sharing your experience! VR Verified Reviewer AVP Financial Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Huge Timesaver! " October 28, 2025 4.0 Our overall experience with OpenWater has been great. They're very responsive to questions and helping get things figured out quickly. Pros OpenWater has been a huge timesaver for our team! We used to have manual spreadsheets and scanning of documents, and now everything is in one place! Another pro is the ease of use for judges! Judges are now able to enter all of their scores and we can use OpenWater to calculate and weight things as needed versus having to do all of this manually before! Cons One of the cons of OpenWater is the UI. There have been several times where my team has needed to set something up and it isn't in a place that we would think it would be in. Thankfully their team is quick to respond when we have questions! Another downfall has been the number of programs and what is considered "active" versus "Inactive". I'd love to be able to work on a future program without it being "active" and counting against our program numbers, but find myself having to activate and deactivate programs to make quick changes that I want to remember for the following year, but needing to keep the other one as our active one to continue collecting information from winners, etc. Alternatives considered [Blackbaud Award Management](https://www.capterra.com/p/140271/AcademicWorks/) Reason for choosing OpenWater I can't remember what the exact reasons were that we chose OpenWater over others. Review Source Response from Advanced Solutions International October 29, 2025 Thank you for taking the time to share your experience! We’re so glad to hear OpenWater has saved your team time and simplified the judging process - that’s exactly what we aim for. We appreciate your feedback on the user interface and program management options; insights like yours help us continue improving the platform. It’s great to know our support team has been responsive and able to assist quickly. Thanks again for being a valued OpenWater customer! CG Careesa G. Program Manager Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "OpenWater is a great application platform!" August 19, 2025 5.0 Pros OpenWater is user-friendly and easy to use. The applicants have no issues submitting applications. Also, the judging process is easy to use, and whenever we have questions the support team is easy to access and quick to respond via chat. Cons The only thing I wish OpenWater would have done better would be to edit the home webpage for the applications. It would be nice to be able to customize the homepage more. Switched from [Google Forms](https://www.capterra.com/p/176571/Google-Forms/) we wanted something more formal and better to create reports Review Source JM Jenni M. Executive Director Entertainment Used the software for: 2+ years ### "ACE has been using Open Water since 2021 and going strong" August 19, 2025 5.0 Our members enjoy all it has to offer and we are so grateful. The submissions are especially easy and most studios thank us for using open water. Pros The customer service has been wonderful and I really appreciate my personal representative. As I learn more it gets easier. Cons The platform is a little tricky, but they make updates every day, so I'm hoping while I learn it also gets easier. Switched from [Award Force](https://www.capterra.com/p/148148/Award-Force/) Awards Force was not easy to customize and we needed to brand our event. Review Source Response from Advanced Solutions International August 21, 2025 Hi Jenni, thank you for sharing your experience! We’re delighted to hear that OpenWater's customer service has been such a support. It’s wonderful to know your members enjoy the platform and find submissions easy. We’re grateful for your partnership and committed to making your experience with OpenWater the best that it can be! CL Chantelle L. Internship and Work Study Coordinator Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Thank you, OpenWater, for streamlining our very inefficient processes!" September 18, 2025 5.0 Our organization desperately needed help organizing and streamlining our application and job board processes. OpenWater hosts almost all of our programs on it's platforms. It allows us to receive applications, build the job board, send emails, organize participant information, and even lets us pull reports that we use for metrics/data needs. Pros There are many things I like about OpenWater. Before using OpenWater, our organization did everything via email. When you have 400 or more students and businesses applying via email, that gets very overwhelming and becomes inefficient. OpenWater has allowed our organization to streamline every one of our programs and application processes. Not only that, but creating the applications and procedures on OpenWater is clear, straightforward, and efficient. On the user side, we've been told that the software is easy to navigate. Lastly, the customer support has been stellar! Once we began using OpenWater, we've worked exclusively with the \[sensitive content hidden\] , and she's been amazing! She answers every question or concern I have. It's felt very much like a collaborative process as my coworkers and I learn to use the platform. OpenWater has gone above and beyond for our organization. Cons I have yet to find a downside of using OpenWater. They have met our needs and continue to collaborate with our team to ensure program delivery and success. Review Source Response from Advanced Solutions International September 26, 2025 Chantelle, thank you so much for sharing such a thoughtful and detailed review! We’re thrilled to hear how OpenWater has helped streamline your programs and simplify application management for your team and applicants. It’s especially rewarding to know our customer support has been such a valuable resource as you’ve adopted the platform. We truly appreciate your kind words and are honored to help your organization deliver its programs more efficiently! AR Amanda R. Education Administrator Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great for Organizing Large Conferences" August 21, 2025 4.0 My overall experience with open water is very positive. Though some processes could be a bit more streamlined, I am overall very pleased with what it allows us to do. The customer service is fantastic. Pros We use Open Water to plan and organize a very large conference. We love that we can do almost everything we need to prepare for the conference using Open Water. We use it to collect, score, and approve/reject potential conference sessions, schedule conference sessions, and collect session presentations and resources. The customer service is top-notch. Open Water representatives help us build presentation applications and help us come up with solutions when any issues arise. They also help us build our conference website and app. They are always friendly, fast, and efficient. Cons The email wizard could use some work. It is nice to be able to send out emails in bulk, but it would be nicer if there were an easier way to send bulk emails to new groups of people without the email also going to groups that had already received it. It would also be great if a bulk email could be sent to one person. To keep emails from being sent to the same people multiple times, we have to go in and individually mark that each presenter has already received the email--the process is very tedious and time-consuming. I wish they had an interface with a conference web app other than Guidebook. The Guidebook app is too difficult for attendees to download to their phones and log in to. It causes problems every year. Review Source Response from Advanced Solutions International August 25, 2025 Hi Amanda, thank you for sharing your detailed review! We’re delighted to hear that OpenWater has helped streamline so much of your conference planning, from collecting and reviewing sessions to building your website and app, and that our customer service team has been a strong support along the way. We also appreciate your thoughtful feedback on the email wizard and app integration, which helps us identify ways to keep improving. We’re so glad OpenWater has been a positive part of your process and we look forward to continuing to support your events! VR Verified Reviewer Technical Desktop Support Engineer Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Openwater is excellent" August 19, 2025 5.0 The program setup is very intuitive and once setup very easy to clone for future programs. The support is top notch and my questions/issues are resolved right away. Pros The support is excellent. All of my questions are answered and taken care of right away. \[sensitive content hidden\] is an excellent rep for Openwater and is super responsive. Cons No phone call support, its all via email. It would be nice to be able to call for support but not a deal breaker at all. Review Source ML Michael L. Program Manager Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Good Platform for Capturing Information from Applicants" April 30, 2024 5.0 Overall I have had a good experience with OpenWater. We've always found their staff to be helpful and polite, and generally it's a good system and accomplishes what we need. Pros We like OpenWater because it is a good platform for capturing information from our applicants. Customizable forms allow us to streamline operations and reduce the amount of time spent on administrative tasks... items like acceptance forms, photos, bios, and the like can all be collected in a passive way that makes it easy to collect and store in one place and now I don't have to worry about losing this in my inbox. Cons Some items can be a bit difficult to set up. The e-mail system is a particular issue - other submission systems and CRMs have one central email module where emails are generated using substitution variables, and are able to be created from a template. OpenWater's system is program-dependent (as opposed to being uniform system-wide). Wish this would get fixed. Reason for choosing OpenWater Unsure - I was not a part of this discussion as it was before my employment. Review Source GO Greg O. IT Director Higher Education Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Continues to be a great return on investment" July 8, 2019 5.0 The entire OpenWater team from implementation to ongoing support have been terrific to work for. They put a great deal of effort into understanding our business needs to help us build programs that best take advantage of all the robust tools available through the platform. They also go to pains to solicit client feedback for new functionality and features, which only builds on the value of what has already been a terrific investment for our association. Pros We purchased the software primarily for abstracts collection, which the OpenWater platform excels at, but what we have found most appealing about the software is that its flexibility and ease of configuration have allowed us to apply it to many other areas to replace aging legacy, custom built software solutions (awards, elections, nominations). Cons There's very little negative I have to say, but if I had to quibble with anything it would be sometimes the form and report building tools are a little clunky for nontechnical staff, but that's a pretty nitpicky complaint for such a powerful tool. Review Source AB Amanda B. Program Manager Consumer Goods Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Always helpful!" February 27, 2019 4.0 The customer service is on point and that is AMAZING. \[SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN\] is always available when we need her and works so well with us. She makes using the system easier and provides slight suggestions for improvement while maintaining professionalism. I would not be taking this survey if it weren't for how awesome she is - because it needs to be said. With that being said, the overall software is great - but wouldn't be as amazing if I didn't have the customer service aspect of someone being available to guide me in the right direction. Once I am there, the system is user friendly and easy to operate. The massive collection of FAQ's available is very valuable and appreciated. Pros It is fairly user friendly, which is always very nice and allows for us to continue to use and learn the program. Cons Sometimes updating the website portion is difficult and you do need to know how to code/html coding. If you don't know that, you aren't able to fix small issues because they are buried in the background of the coding. Review Source GR George R. National Chairman, American Advertising Awards Com Marketing and Advertising Used the software for: 2+ years ### "OpenWater platform rocks the American Advertising Awards" September 25, 2016 5.0 Before OpenWater, I didn't think a five star awards competition entry software experience was possible. But as we enter our fourth year as their partner, my mind is forever changed. The American Advertising Awards competition conducts all entry submissions and judging on the OpenWater awards platform... this includes nearly 200 local club and district competitions which comprise the complex three-tiered national awards program structure. And OpenWater has been a true partner in every phase of our growth since we signed on, providing outstanding support services at every level. The back-end is so user-friendly, it is easily adopted by new local administrators each year. And the entrant interface is very intuitive, allowing more that 40,000 trouble-free entries from across the country during each competition cycle. And, perhaps best of all, the system just WORKS, handling literally tens of thousands of media file uploads without a hiccup. We have experienced other, less-reliable entry software products in the past, so we know first-hand how bad things can be. But OpenWater has been our rock since Day One. Pros It works all the time. Review Source NN Nicole N. Assoc. Director Events & Conferences Publishing Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "OpenWater" February 27, 2019 4.0 OpenWater has helped to make our awards programs easy to pick up each year. I like that we can dummy previous sites and just tweak and manipulate with new data etc. and then push out for a new season. Customer Service in particular - is amazing at helping me out and working out any issues I may have. I think having a strong customer service base is key when working on award programs that often have tight deadlines and external judges who are not used to working in the system. Pros Once I get a tutorial on what i'm looking to accomplish, the software is easy enough to manipulate to do on my own without having to bother my customer rep. Cons Some items aren't intuitive. Making reports etc. And it looks like the new interface of the portal isn't as easy on the eyes as the past look. But that might just take some getting used to. Review Source MS Madelyn S. Program Manager Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Love OpenWater" September 23, 2019 5.0 Pros I love OpenWater. Not only is the system easy to use and to customize to your specific program, but the customer service is phenomenal. Any time I have a question or concern they respond immediately, and also do our external client-facing customer service as well. Cons We are currently working with our support reps to add in a few more layers of customization that aren't currently options (adding a level of won proposal, not won proposal, but also a third option). Review Source GS Gabby S. Coordinator of Association Services Hospital & Health Care Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "We love OpenWater" February 11, 2021 5.0 Overall, we love our experience with OpenWater and everything has been very positive. We highly recommend the product. Pros My organization has been using OpenWater for a little over a year and it has been a life-saver for our company. We love it! It is easy to teach yourself things, and admin can reach out to customer service for calls and for help. There are many help articles. You are able to have applications, judging, and surveys. Open Water is very versatile. Cons While Open Water is easy to navigate and teach yourself, it is also very intricate. There are so many things that can be done in Open Water and so many different ways to do them that sometimes it is difficult to teach others how to use the program. Review Source MA Maria A. IT PM Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Great product" February 27, 2019 5.0 OpenWater has saved my organization money and time. It is a great product and I highly recommend it. We will likely use OpenWater for other business needs. Pros he software does want we want to do. The implementation was very fast and customer service is amazing! I have never before worked with a vendor that is this responsive. Cons The software has a lot of functionality that we will likely not use making it at first overwhelming. Once you get use to the application, you know exactly where you need to go and overlook the features you do not use. Review Source MO Michael O. Board Member Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "A great company who truly cares about your organization" September 28, 2016 5.0 This is our third year using OpenWater awards for our annual Golden Reel Awards program. We could not have found a better company to work with. The OpenWater platform is extremely user-friendly and the production team goes above and beyond our expectations. Successful programs take time to build. Please take the time to work with the support team and explore their tutorials. OpenWater will help you every step of the way! Michael Motion Picture Sound Editors Pros OpenWater will do their best to add custom solutions to their platform. Cons The back end doesn't allow for easy manipulation of large amounts of data. Would be great to have a table view to edit data. Review Source Response from Advanced Solutions International September 28, 2016 Hi Michael, Thanks for your review. We added a bulk edit view to our software. It covers many, but not all cases. Take a look here: http://academy.getopenwater.com/v2/articles/bulk-edit-view Your support rep will be reaching out to you with some more info about it. SM Sarah M. Partner Design Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Running Multiple Competitions" July 10, 2019 5.0 Pros OpenWater had pretty much all we needed to run our competitions, but through the years they have continued to update. It is an even better product than before. Customer service is very good. Cons There is a learning curve. You can do so much and as a result it takes some time to understand. So don't expect that you'll be up and running in an afternoon. Sometimes the UI/UX is a little weird (Settings vs Manage? I still don't understand the difference). Eventually, with enough use, you can intuit how the system works. Review Source PB Pavan B. Director Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Happy customer! " September 14, 2017 5.0 Pros Amazing service - lightning quick responses...wow! Super helpful to have the judges watch videos right through the platform. Loving the new premium theme feature :) Review Source LS Linzee S. Communications Project Manager Telecommunications Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Gets the job done" April 30, 2024 4.0 Pros judgment rounds were nice since each entry need to be reviewed by multiple people. Cons I did not like how I could not get the scores to automatically averge. Review Source ML Mel L. Used the software for: ### "Increasing efficiency and streamlining processes for multiple programs" September 30, 2016 5.0 We have used Open Water over the last 3 years, and in that time, they have evolved faster than we can keep up! We began with our most complex programming and customized reporting: Abstract Submissions/Reviews/Notifications, plus a SSO integration with our AMS. Then, we've expanded to other solicitation programs that the Open Water platform can serve: Awards (as they originally intended to be), Volunteer recruitments, and Submissions (a generic catch-all for other types of solicitations --> reviews -- > notifications processes). The technical support team is fantastic in listening and programming what is needed. As the primary user with admin rights for a small staff, I have very limited time with handling the platform, but it is very intuitive and has a checklist and videos for each configuration step (though I haven't watched them to help me since it's quite easy to follow). Bottom-line: Great system for simple (well-thought out) processes that work for the Open Water platform. Review Source MD Molly D. Used the software for: ### "A True Work Horse: OpenWater, Award Program Management Software Application" September 30, 2016 5.0 We have been using OpenWater for the last 2 years to manage our annual marketing awards competition and have been very pleased with the results. It has help streamline the application and evaluation process immensely. Our program is unique in that we allow entrants to enter online and then mail the entries to us. We do this because we still conduct our evaluation process in person and OpenWater is able to facilitate this easily. Feedback from both entrants and jurors has been very positive. This software allows us customize everything from the templates to the reports to fit our needs. Even the customization of the email notifications is extremely helpful. I would highly recommend this product to any organization that is looking to better manage their awards program. Review Source MR Michelle R. Director Commercial Real Estate Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "OpenWater Awards Review" February 27, 2019 5.0 This has helped our Awards process tremendously. We no longer have human error when scoring our candidates. The system has saved countless hours for our staff members. Pros Great functionality for our Awards Program. Ease of use. Cons It was very foreign to me at first. Took awhile to get used to using a software instead of the "old fashion" way we did our scoring. Review Source Similar Products Featured ## Related categories [Scholarship Management](https://www.capterra.com/scholarship-management-software/)[Grant Management](https://www.capterra.com/grant-management-software/)[Contest](https://www.capterra.com/contest-software/) ## Send me user reviews about this product ### Fill out the form and we'll send a list of the top-rated software based on real user reviews directly to your inbox.