# Zealous Software Pricing, Alternatives & More 2026 | Capterra > With the help of Capterra, learn about Zealous Software - reviews, pricing plans, popular comparisons to other Contest products and more. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/203404/Zealous --- # Zealous Software Review 2026: Features, Integrations, Pros & Cons Last updated on June 3, 2026 Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Description](#description)[Use cases](#use-cases)[Alternatives](#alternatives)[FAQs](#faqs)[Features](#features)[Pricing](#pricing)[Integrations](#integrations)[Support](#support)[Reviews](#reviews) Zealous ## What is Zealous? šŸ† Revolutionize contest management with Zealous: Starting at just $37/month, no hidden fees. Award-winning and built for growth. Automate submissions, boost visibility with our 70k+ creative network and simplify judging with our stunning gallery. Streamlined, secure, and efficient: Zealous simplifies contest management from entry collection to judging, saving you time and resources while keeping data secure. Engaging and flexible: With a visually captivating gallery and versatile voting options, enhance both participant and judge experiences. Affordable and effective: Monthly plans, cancel anytime. Get started for free: Dazzle your stakeholders with a cutting-edge, efficient solution. Zealous is the future of contest & awards management! ## What is Zealous used for? [Contest](https://www.capterra.com/contest-software/) Top alternative Featured Overall rating Based on 56 user reviews Reviews sentiment Positive 98% Neutral 2% Negative 0% Starting price Ā£26 Flat Rate, Per Month Free trial available Includes Free Version Capterra Shortlist charts the highest-rated and most popular products... Our "Best of" badge program showcases products with the highest ratings... Our "Best of" badge program showcases products with the highest ratings... Do you work for Zealous?[Manage this product listing](https://digitalmarkets.gartner.com/get-listed/claim-bx?url=https://zealous.co&name=Zealous) ## Compare with a popular alternative Capterra selects software alternatives based on relevant features, verified user reviews and user interactions. Placement may be influenced by client status. ### Zealous 4.7 (56) VS. [4.6 (73)](https://www.capterra.com/p/140294/OpenWater-Awards/reviews/) Starting Price Ā£26 Other Starting Price $5100 Per Year Free Trial Free Version Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version Ease Of Use 4.4 (56) Ease Of Use 4.2 (73) Value For Money 4.7 (52) Value For Money 4.3 (64) Customer Service 5.0 (56) Customer Service 4.9 (70) ## Zealous alternatives [4.7 (40)](https://www.capterra.com/p/232111/RQ-Awards/reviews/) Starting price $1275.00 Per User, Per Month Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 98% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [4.7 (18)](https://www.capterra.com/p/206626/Reviewr/reviews/) Starting price Contact vendor for pricing Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 94% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [4.8 (193)](https://www.capterra.com/p/148148/Award-Force/reviews/) Starting price $2500.00 Per User, Per Month Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 99% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars Highest Rated [4.8 (398)](https://www.capterra.com/p/158382/Submittable/reviews/) Starting price Contact vendor for pricing Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 98% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [View all alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/203404/Zealous/alternatives/) ## FAQs about Zealous Overview ### What problems does Zealous solve? Zealous solves the heavy admin, scattered submissions, and manual judging workflows involved in running awards, contests, and open calls. It gives organizers, arts teams, schools, and nonprofits one place to collect entries, manage categories, support anonymous judging, shortlist automatically, and scale participation without confusing applicants or judges. Answer based on 29 reviews Overview ### Which roles and teams benefit most from Zealous? Zealous is most used by executives, program directors, and founders who oversee submissions, judging, and participant workflows. Communications, campaign, and audience teams use it to manage outreach and engagement, while curators, artists, and creative leads rely on it to review entries, organize selection processes, and streamline event or award administration. Answer based on 56 reviews Overview ### What company size and industries is Zealous built for? Zealous is built mainly for small businesses, which make up 86% of reviewers, with Arts and Crafts leading industries at 27%. It also serves nonprofits at 16% and education management at 11%, with limited midsize and enterprise use at 7% each. It is most commonly used for contest management. Answer based on 56 reviews Features and Usability ### What are the key features of Zealous? Zealous includes core competition management features like entry management, electronic submission, customizable forms, and judging management with scoring, blind judging, and category-based judge assignments. Differentiators include automated emails and reminders, public voting, real-time analytics, and data export, all designed to handle awards, artist submissions, and review workflows in one platform. Answer based on 29 reviews Pricing ### How much does it cost and what fees or limitations are included? Zealous starts at Ā£26 per month for the Starter plan, with Pro at Ā£79 per month and Scale at Ā£239 per month. A free version and free trial are available. Starter includes up to 75 submissions and a 2.2% + 20p entry-fee commission capped at Ā£2. Answer based on 4 reviews Integrations ### Which third-party tools and platforms does Zealous integrate with? Zealous connects natively to Stripe for payment processing and billing workflows. With this single integration, Zealous supports core transaction management through a widely used finance platform. Answer based on 2 reviews Getting Started and Support ### What training and onboarding options does Zealous offer? Zealous provides in person training, live online sessions, webinars, documentation, and videos to help teams get started. In person and live online formats support guided setup, webinars cover group instruction, documentation offers written reference material, and videos provide self-paced learning for reviewing features and steps. Answer based on 1 reviews Getting Started and Support ### What customer support options does Zealous offer, and how do users rate the experience? Zealous offers email/help desk, FAQ/forum, knowledge base, phone support, and chat. Users generally describe support as quick, accessible, and highly helpful, with tailored guidance, proactive check-ins, and one-to-one assistance. A few reviews mention product issues, but support is often seen as responsive and able to resolve them. Answer based on 19 reviews Bugs and issues ### Does Zealous have bugs or technical issues? Zealous works well for many awards and submission workflows, but technical issues do come up for some teams. Common concerns include occasional submission glitches, public voting bugs, slow loading, and accessibility gaps, while organizers often add that support responds quickly and fixes or workarounds usually arrive without major disruption. Answer based on 22 reviews ## Features Features with the highest number of reviews are displayed first. Those that have no reviews appear next, sorted alphabetically. Customizable Questions 4.6 (19) 73.68% of 19 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Tailored or customizable questions for more targeted and relevant data collection Customizable Fields 4.3 (17) 70.59% of 17 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Customize data fields to support various needs and use cases Entry Management 4.6 (17) 82.35% of 17 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Manage entry processes via custom forms Judging Management 4.6 (17) 88.24% of 17 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Choose winners for contests, promotional events, games, or sweepstakes via voting, polls, random selection, etc. Scoring 4.6 (16) 87.50% of 16 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Automatically calculate score after the assessment Real-Time Data 4.8 (12) 50.00% of 12 reviewers that rated this feature as important or highly important Receive data and information in real time Zealous 33 features Define levels of authorization for access to specific files or systems Dashboard to view the status of ongoing processes, identify current incidents and track past activities Track and document all activities across devices, networks, and other systems Alerts or notifications of various types such as pop-up messages, sounds, banners, or badges Distribute awards to winners via prizes, coupons, giveaways, items, redemption codes, etc. Organize and group data or items based on various criteria Leave comments and notes on documents for others to view Manage, organize, and store contact information Add customized logos and colors to align with company branding Customize data fields to support various needs and use cases Customize contracts and forms to collect specific information Tailored or customizable questions for more targeted and relevant data collection Pre-designed layouts that can be customized to match preferences and requirements Import and export data to and from software applications Review and analyze existing information across documents Electronically collect payments for goods or services Reminders sent via email Manage entry processes via custom forms For the intention to be used by marketing teams Store, manage and track all forms in a centralized location Choose winners for contests, promotional events, games, or sweepstakes via voting, polls, random selection, etc. Create landing pages or online forms designed to capture new leads and prospects Enable custom polls/voting to facilitate decision-making or increase engagement Reporting on how each user, task or process has advanced since its initiation Design, communicate, and distribute incentives to perform a specific action Analyze and gain insights into data in real-time Receive data and information in real time Collection, analysis, and representation of numerical data and generation of reports to understand various patterns Automatically calculate score after the assessment Market event via social media tools Security protocol that ensures secure, encrypted communication over the internet, safeguarding sensitive data from unauthorized access Set up connections to third-party platforms to improve business processes Create, design and manage workflows for repetitive tasks Features 4.4 (56) 4.4 Based on 56 reviews ## Pricing Value for money 4.7 (52) Free Trial Free Version [View pricing plan details](https://www.capterra.com/p/203404/Zealous/pricing/) Free Plan Ā£0.00 It includes: - 20 entries - Unlimited programs - Unlimited draft entries - Unlimited file storage - Unlimited judges - Unlimited categories - HD Video Streaming Starter Ā£26.00 Flat Rate,Per Month It includes: - Up to 75 submissions - Unlimited programs - One scoring round - Judge comments & chat - Unlimited categories - Invoicing & refunds - 2.2% + 20p commission on entry fees (capped at Ā£2) Pro Ā£79.00 Flat Rate,Per Month It includes: - Up to 300 submissions - Unlimited scoring rounds - Multiple criteria scoring - Public voting - 1 hour onboarding - 2.2% + 20p commission on entry fees (capped at Ā£2) Scale Ā£239.00 Flat Rate,Per Month It includes: - Up to 1,000 submissions - Customize automated email content - Zapier integration - Webhooks - 2.2% + 20p commission on entry fees (capped at Ā£2) Value for money 4.7 (52) 4.7 Based on 52 reviews ## Integrations [ Stripe](https://www.capterra.com/p/123889/Stripe/) ## Support, customer service and training options Customer Service 5.0 (56) Support - Email/Help Desk - FAQs/Forum - Knowledge Base - Phone Support - 24/7 (Live rep) - Chat Training - In Person - Live Online - Webinars - Documentation - Videos Deployment - Web - Android - iPhone/iPad Typical users - Freelancers - Small businesses - Mid size businesses - Enterprises Customer Service 5.0 (56) 5.0 Based on 56 reviews ## User reviews Overall rating 4.7 Based on 56 reviews Filter by rating 5(41) 4(14) 3(1) 2(0) 1(0) Mentioned topic Sorted by most recent SW Stephen W. Consultant Automotive ### "Garage Awards 2026" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 June 2, 2026 Excellent - \[sensitive content hidden\] our account manager was superb and held our hand as much as we needed. She was a star. Pros Itā€™s and easy to use platform made even better by the support. We upgraded to Pro and it was a great decision. Cons Some of the demo videos early on were a bit confusing. Prior to being on the pro version, it felt a little lonely trying to navigate. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. CR Claire R. CEO Non-Profit Organization Management ### "Awards system review" 4.0 Overall Rating 4.0 4.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 4.0 4.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 8/10 June 2, 2026 It created a professional look and a relatively easy system to work with once teething problems were resolved. \[sensitive content hidden\] was great in supporting us. A lot of the challenges we had were with encouraging our judges to accommodate a new on-line system after many years of off-line forms but Zealous was a great step forward. Pros The support given by the team was hugely helpful - it makes such a difference to have access to people! Cons It would be useful to have different judging questions for different categories. It would also be useful to have freeform answers within the questions where judges could enter their comments, along with a section where you elect if the applicant won/highly commended/commended, or other categories that would be relevant to the awards. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. TR Tamara R. CEO Online Media ### "3 years in w zealous." 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 May 28, 2026 We've used them for 3 years now and have always had ease of use with our judges (over 160 applications per year now) and entrant communications. The zealous team are so proactive in reaching out if they spot anything on our subscription that could help us further - above and beyond. Pros Zealous has given us such an exceptional customer service over the last 3 years (even if a cheaper alternative) we would never go elsewhere. Cons Sometimes there a cheeky box somewhere that I havent found to either tick or untick - but thats likely more a me problem than a platform problem! Alternatives considered [Award Force](https://www.capterra.com/p/148148/Award-Force/) Reasons for choosing Zealous Ease of setup - self led trialling process. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. JD Juliet D. Director Arts and Crafts ### "Easy to use and excellent customer support" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 4.0 4.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 March 16, 2026 I can't fault the service I had with Zealous and would highly recommend them to others - their customer service is exceptional, they represent great value for money and offer a number of options to suit everyone's needs. Thank you for making this such a smooth and enjoyable experience! Pros Zealous is the perfect platform from which to set up and run an international arts competition. It is visually driven and well designed making it appealing to applicants and judges alike. As someone who is not very technically competent I found it surprisingly easy to set up the competition and whenever I did have any queries the customer support was amazing - a super quick response rate with very tailored advice. \[sensitive content hidden\] from Zealous was incredibly helpful; proactively reaching out and checking in with me throughout. The judging process was also very clear and easy to use - we even had a 94 year old judge who managed very ably to navigate the site! Cons The only suggestion I would make is relating to the design of the Competition details section. I would have liked the option to divide the text into chapters or boxes rather than reading as one long section of text over several pages. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. LP Lia P. Marketing Specialist Hospitality ### "Great Zealous Experience!" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 November 13, 2025 This is our second year using Zealous for our competition and we will be using it again next year as well! The customer support is wonderful and the actual platform for submissions is exactly what we need. Pros It is very organized for submissions and the judge feature is very useful! Easy to navigate user interface and amazing customer support anytime we had a question. Cons There were some minor glitches, sometimes with the email permissions, but we reached out to customer support and were greeted with a quick solution each time! Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. AD Alisa D. Student Engagement Manager Education Management ### "Brilliant submissions management platform" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 October 8, 2025 Weā€™ve used Zealous to manage our international Poetry and Art Competitions for several years now. Itā€™s a brilliant platform that has streamlined our processes, freed up capacity, and allowed us to scale. Huge thanks to the team at Zealous for their ongoing support! Pros Brilliant customer service - the team is always happy to help and goes above and beyond to provide support throughout. Their product is constantly evolving and improving to meet the needs of its users (e.g., we can now collect judge comments). Cons At times, the platform can be a little slow to load entries. Despite this, it has still greatly improved the way we manage our competitions. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. Kimberly R. Contest Chairperson for a Nonprofit Organization Writing and Editing ### "Zealous is a labor of love, and it shows." 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 5.0 5.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 August 8, 2025 My organization sought out Zealous after many years of running a contest using Excel spreadsheets and thousands of emails back and forth between the contest chairperson, the office staff, judges and entrants. Our old system was inefficient and, frankly, terrible. Zealous was a blessing to me (this year's contest chair), our office staff, and our judges. I'm not sure that our entrants had too different of an experience, but last year's contest chair told me running the contest felt like a full-time job. This year, using Zealous, putting the contest together was easy. The user-interface as an Opportunity organizer was very easy to understand, and provided me with some structure to organize information the way I liked. The reports I was able to pull at the end of the contest about entrant data are incredible and provide my organization with way more insight than we've ever had before. Beyond all of that, the woman who worked with me to train me in the software and ensure my contest was set up appropriately was incredibly helpful, nice, and made it very clear that Zealous is a labor of love that is constantly seeking ways to improve its service. I've had experience in the past using Submittable as a contest organizer, and can say that Zealous offers everything a contest organizer could need at a much better price (and with the option of being able to pay for the service for only a few months rather than a full year!) than other similar services. Truly I had a fantastic experience using Zealous and I urge anyone considering running a contest using Zealous to do so. Pros I loved so much about Zealous. The way it organizes entries, the way I can fully customize my opportunity to best represent my organization, and the data that I had access to during the duration of my organization's writing contest were all fantastic. The BEST part, though, was the amount of support and guidance I received from our contact there, \[sensitive content hidden\]. She was invaluable and so helpful at answering my many questions and providing guidance on how to use Zealous. Cons I found the process of creating private chat channels for each of my judges to leave private comments on entries was the most tedious part of my experience using Zealous, though the fact that I could create such a thing was greatly appreciated. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. VW Victoria W. No title Cosmetics ### "Amazing site would highly recommend " 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 July 24, 2025 Amazing experience, I never write reviews but this product was that good I felt I should. I would recommend them to anyone Pros The help I received in the back end of the site was so valuable. I would have struggled with a few things without the help Cons To be honest Iā€™m not very technical, I couldnā€™t even make a square space website but I found this to be a very easy site to work around. And when I did get stuck help was only ever a few hours away at best. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. AH Alasdair H. Global Director Non-Profit Organization Management ### "A fantastic first year on the platform and we look forward to year two" 4.0 Overall Rating 4.0 4.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 4.0 4.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 8/10 July 3, 2025 Overall we were really pleased with the experience. Our Awards in the GCC are still new, this was year 3, but we achieved record number of entries, and tripled our budget. The platform added a layer of professionalism to them for both the entries and judging. We're really excited by the team's willingness to listen and build the platform, with constant developments and more knowledge on our end we know next year will help us to grow more. Pros The platform made our judging incredibly easy and the user experience around the submissions, scoring and judging was great. The team at Zealous, especially \[sensitive content hidden\], were always there when we needed them to ask lots of questions and find the best way to build our Awards on the platform. The payments side of things with the Stripe integration made for easy payment and commerce. Cons The platform is still new so they're building lots of areas and developing on the fly. Not necessarily a con, but I'm confident the platform will be greatly improved for the 2026 Awards. Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. SH Sophie H. Director of Arts and Events Arts and Crafts ### "Great software for managing large open calls" 4.0 Overall Rating 4.0 4.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 4.0 4.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 8/10 May 14, 2024 Pros Zealous made the management of our art prize so much easier - the platform enabled judges to view admissions individually as well as collectively and made our administration of the entries so much easier. Would definitely use again. Cons The pricing structure for paid entrants, this is very high compared to other options our there, especially as you're also paying a monthly fee. Switched from [Jotform](https://www.capterra.com/p/158456/JotForm-4-0/) Review source Non-incentivized review: any software user can leave a review for any product listed on our site. All submitted reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. [View all Reviews](https://www.capterra.com/p/203404/Zealous/reviews/) ## Top-rated software of 2026 ### Fill out the form and we'll send a list of the top-rated software based on real user reviews directly to your inbox. Popular comparisons [Awardify vs Zealous](https://www.capterra.com/compare/203404-252478/Zealous-vs-Awardify)