--- title: "Zealous Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra" description: "Is Zealous the right Contest solution for you? Explore 60 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice." source_url: "https://www.capterra.com/p/203404/Zealous/reviews/" page_type: "reviews" language: "en" publication_date: "2026-09-29" --- Zealous 4.7 (60) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/203404/Zealous/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 September 29th, 2026 # Reviews of Zealous Ease of use 4.4 Customer Service 5.0 ## Pros and Cons in Reviews Kimberly R Contest Chairperson for a Nonprofit OrganizationWriting and Editing, Self-employedUsed the software for: Less than 6 months. “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.“ August 8, 2025 TR Tamara R CEOOnline Media, Self-employedUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “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!“ May 28, 2026 CR Claire R CEONon-Profit Organization Management, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: 6-12 months. “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.“ June 2, 2026 SW Stephen W ConsultantAutomotive, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: Less than 6 months. “Some of the demo videos early on were a bit confusing.“ June 2, 2026 CB Claudia B Corporate SustainabilityFinancial Services, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: Less than 6 months. “The support has been phenomenal, with helpful videos tailored to your needs and guidance on how to make your initiative work well and efficiently.“ August 17, 2026 SW Stephen W ConsultantAutomotive, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: Less than 6 months. “Prior to being on the pro version, it felt a little lonely trying to navigate.“ June 2, 2026 JD Juliet D DirectorArts and Crafts, Self-employedUsed the software for: Less than 6 months. “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. “ March 16, 2026 RM Rose M Project ManagerNon-Profit Organization Management, 201 - 500 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “We discovered some issues with the accessibility of the platform, specifically for entrants using screen readers.“ August 8, 2023 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-25 of 60 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use Kimberly R. Contest Chairperson for a Nonprofit Organization Writing and Editing Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Zealous is a labor of love, and it shows." August 8, 2025 5.0 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 FP Florina P. Program Manager Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "DI\_PLOMA AWARDS experience" July 21, 2026 5.0 Overall the experience was great. No matter the small problems that we got, we received great support, always fast answers and solutions to all the problems. This was a great plus cause we always knew that if we write to you we will receive support in minutes. Great customer support. Pros Easy to use and very intuitive. It was pretty easy to use all the features and we received great support from the team where we got stuck. Cons There was a step during the project where we could not go into the public vote without jury vote completed, and that gave us some anxiety, but we received help in managing this. Also with the jury allocation we were having some problems because of the fact that not all jury members entered the platform at the same time. Switched from [Evalato](https://www.capterra.com/p/180032/Evalato/) Cost vs value. For what we needed the previous platform costs to much. Review Source CB Claudia B. Corporate Sustainability Financial Services Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "An easy and sleak to use platform with excellent support" August 17, 2026 5.0 I have used Zealous twice, for a photography competition and a charity competition. The submissions on the platform are visually striking and nice to look through. I particularly liked the judging feature for the charity competition, as it aggregated and averaged the judges’ scores against the submissions, making the process fair, straightforward and easy to manage. Pros Zealous is simple, beautiful to view and it was easy for employees to use. The support has been phenomenal, with helpful videos tailored to your needs and guidance on how to make your initiative work well and efficiently. Cons Nothing so far. We are still testing the platform, but our experience to date has been very positive. The platform has been straightforward to use, and we have not encountered any issues or limitations so far. Review Source SKL Siska Kristanti L. Design Innovator Higher Education Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Zealous User Experience Review" July 3, 2022 3.0 Thankfully there was excellent customer support that helped our problems be resolved Pros The public voting feature is a great tool for competition organizers Cons Sadly that there were some bugs while the public voting is live Reason for choosing Zealous There is the public voting and judging round which we wanted Review Source RG Rita G. Publisher Publishing Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "photo magazine Zealous submissions review" August 4, 2026 4.0 Pretty good! The team behind the software has been really helpful when needed attending to questions and issues quickly is SO important! Pros It's a great tool for working with a lot of submissions and judges. Once set up, it's been helpful to be able to take payments - or not, and review work in one place. Cons A few small glitches... (luckily the humans behind the software are lovely and helpful!) One main issue that would improve my life would be if the sales report info could be merged with the submissions info as a single document/ download. I currently have to combine these 2 documents manually. Additionally, the way that I have to manage the submissions I don't want the judges to see is glitchy/ manual. The way that pricing works is also a little confusing at times. The rates are great - but the way it sometimes gets managed can be tricky. Alternatives considered [Submittable](https://www.capterra.com/p/158382/Submittable/) Reason for choosing Zealous Price was the main factor in selecting Zealous Switched from [Google Forms](https://www.capterra.com/p/176571/Google-Forms/) price and ease of use had us switch from $$$$ options and low cost/ high work options. Review Source CR Claire R. CEO Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Awards system review" June 2, 2026 4.0 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 TR Tamara R. CEO Online Media Used the software for: 2+ years ### "3 years in w zealous." May 28, 2026 5.0 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/) Reason for choosing Zealous Ease of setup - self led trialling process. Review Source SW Stephen W. Consultant Automotive Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Garage Awards 2026" June 2, 2026 5.0 Excellent - \[sensitive content hidden\] our account manager was superb and held our hand as much as we needed. She was a star. Pros It’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 JD Juliet D. Director Arts and Crafts Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Easy to use and excellent customer support" March 16, 2026 5.0 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 MM Marieke M. Partnerships Manager Environmental Services Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Zealous review" September 8, 2026 5.0 Pros We're lucky enough to have a dedicated account manager who is extremely helpful and responsive, and happy to think with us to help resolve any issues we might run into. Generally, the admin interface is clean and easy to manage. Cons The simplicity of the admin interface sometimes falls into clunkiness, but the help desk is always available for any basic questions. Review Source LW Lucy W. Events and Training Manager Higher Education Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "A useful tool for awards/ competition management" September 14, 2023 5.0 We have saved a lot of admin time using Zealous. It has streamlined our judging process and given confidence to entrants who submit their work. Pros I like the fact that judges can view and score all of the entries in one place and they can be allocated to judge certain categories/ entries according to expertise. The level of customer support/ service is very high and was especially useful in our first year using Zealous. It has saved us a lot of admin time and stress compared to our previous system. Cons I would like judges to be able to add comments/ notes for each entry and it would be useful to be able to customise the email notifications that are sent out - I currently switch them off because they're not quite the right fit. Review Source JM Julie M. Project manager Arts and Crafts Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Zealous - great for a competition" December 21, 2020 5.0 We set up an ran a photography competition with an older person's network based at a charity. No one in the group had any experience of running anything like this before. The Zealous team helped us to set up our competition online and it was really simple. We were able to achieve a much more professional look than we would have been able to if we had used our website to host the competition. Pros Zealous is very simple to use. We used it to run a photography competition and were able to invite participants to upload images and judges to score them - some people had very little experience of using a remote platform like this but we didn't experience any problems at all as there is no technical knowledge necessary. The platform looks professional and has all the functionality you need. Scores get collated automatically and you can define parameters for shortlisting - so it all happens pretty automatically. The Zealous team were super helpful and really made sure that everything ran smoothly. During the Covid-19 pandemic this software is so useful - it enabled us to run a competition completely remotely and we hope to use it again for exhibitions. Cons The whole process is super simple - I can't think of anything negative based on our experience. Reason for choosing Zealous I looked around and contacted Zealous with a couple of questions - they were so helpful I just went with them. Review Source AR Alec R. Trustee Design Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Eessential for Competition management" March 5, 2024 5.0 A useful tool to save administration time for Competition managenent of entries. Pros Ease of uploading Competition Entries and scoring of them by Judges. Cons The scoring system needs to have an optional 'comment box' to record Judges views of Entries too and for Judges to automate feedback to Competitors if required. Reason for choosing Zealous Cost was less and customer support seemed better. Review Source GA Georgina A. Students Prize Manager Arts and Crafts Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Zealous " February 3, 2021 5.0 They have been fantastic and are always there to help and assist should be have a query. They listen to our feedback and incorporate changes and accommodate our needs whenever possible. This has allowed us to expand the size and scope of our prizes, to the benefit of all those involved. Pros It provides a user friendly interface for artists to use and upload their entries. It enables judges to easily compare entries and mark in their own time and it is customisable so suits the needs of our different competitions. Cons It can be a little slow to load and it would be helpful for us to be able to close out previous competitions without having to complete the entire process as stipulated by the Zealous program. Review Source AP Anna P. Executive Assistant Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Terrific software and helpful customer support" January 5, 2023 4.0 Pros Zealous is really easy to use and has saved us a lot of time and hassle. We moved from using a spreadsheet to Zealous midway through judging an award and it streamlined the whole process. The customer service is excellent and there is always someone available to help. Cons It's important for us to allocate judges to a sub-section of the entries and this is not currently an easy process in Zealous. If a judge accepts an invitation midway through the judging period, this results in having to re-allocate the judges. Review Source JH Judy H. Founder Marketing and Advertising Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Great team!" October 16, 2023 5.0 Very satisfied! Pros Amazing team! Very helpful and made me feel part of a team. Cons The dashboard isn't completely intuitive (at least for me). Review Source FG Frida G. Campaigns Manager Publishing Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Great for awards submissions" May 12, 2021 5.0 It’s been great working with Zealous. It streamlines the whole submissions process, from taking submissions to judging. Pros • It significantly reduces the admin work around award submissions. • Easy to judge. • Additional exposure of the award to Zealous' subscribers. • Helpful team. Cons • Nothing that the team hasn't been able to help solving Review Source MF MONICA F. DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION Education Management Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Managing my Zealous Account" December 6, 2023 5.0 Pros I like Zealous because it is easy to set up year to year. It saves all your ´opportunities´making it an easy process from one contest to another. Cons What i like least are the search filters. Reason for choosing Zealous Easy to navigate for judges. Submissions clearly listed and categorised. Review Source JK Jason K. Illustrator Publishing Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Great website. " April 28, 2021 5.0 Great, would use again. Pros Zealous made my open call for art an easy and streamlined process both for myself and the artists applying. Navigating the site is quite easy once you get your head around it. And the final open call looks professional and inviting. Cons None that were detrimental to my project. Review Source SV Stephan V. CEO Arts and Crafts Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Great for receiving online submissions" February 3, 2021 5.0 It brought a lot of opportunities to my business, to connect with artists worldwide Pros The ability to reach new audiences and evaluate their art. Cons They have a lot of functionalities, so it could take a to get yoused to it, but the costumer support is the best out there! Review Source LP Lia P. Marketing Specialist Hospitality Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Great Zealous Experience!" November 13, 2025 5.0 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 AD Alisa D. Student Engagement Manager Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Brilliant submissions management platform" October 8, 2025 5.0 We’ve used Zealous to manage our international Poetry and Art Competitions for several years now. It’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 AH Alasdair H. Global Director Non-Profit Organization Management Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "A fantastic first year on the platform and we look forward to year two" July 3, 2025 4.0 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 VW Victoria W. No title Cosmetics Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Amazing site would highly recommend " July 24, 2025 5.0 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 I’m not very technical, I couldn’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 KS Katie S. Events Manager Events Services Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Functional and usable but small changes could make a big difference" July 18, 2023 4.0 Overall our experience with Zealous was positive - the platform is easy to use, the low pricing allowed us to forgive some of the (very small) annoyances and the excellent customer service throughout was also a strong bonus. We appreciate how welcoming they were of feedback and their desire to make improvements and changes to the functionality accordingly, so would definitely recommend Zealous and would be happy to use the platform again going forward. Our application numbers were up on the previous year. Pros Overall, Zealous was a good platform - it was relatively straight forward to set up and use and served it's purpose (in our case, collating entries for an industry awards event). The pricing structure was a huge improvement on the platform we had used prior which compensated for some of the features we lost by changing platforms. However, the best thing about Zealous is their customer service. Their team are very warm and friendly, no query is too much trouble and they are quick to respond to any queries. They also invite feedback in a way which made me feel that they really do want to continue improving, not just as a box-ticking exercise, and I have already been informed that some of our suggestions are being actioned which is really encouraging. It makes us feel valued as customers and makes it all the more likely that we will return year on year. Cons It would have been good to have been able to fully customise the forms - some of the language didn't really suit our audience (it is quite arts-centric) so we had to be creative in how we made the obligatory fields work for our applicants. It would also be great to have greater control over comms sent via the platform, i.e. reminders of application deadlines etc, which currently can't be sent en masse to those with applications in progress (they had to be done individually) and also can't be branded to our company. Both of these would be great features to have. Switched from [Award Force](https://www.capterra.com/p/148148/Award-Force/) It was extremely expensive for an awards portal when we only attract up to 150 applications. It was also quite clunky and difficult to set up. Zealous was much more user friendly. Review Source Similar Products Featured ## 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.