What Software Awards Actually Mean
What each badge signals about a product, how rigorous the requirements are, and how much weight to give it. We decoded 31 badges across 7 platforms: G2, Capterra, TrustRadius, PeerSpot, SourceForge, and Gartner Peer Insights (GPI).
G2
8 badgesUsers Love Us
Awarded when a product reaches 20+ reviews with 4.0+ average rating in a 12-month period.
Grid Leader
Top-right quadrant placement based on high satisfaction scores AND strong market presence.
Grid High Performer
High satisfaction scores but smaller market presence - great products that are less widely adopted.
Momentum Leader
Products showing fastest growth trajectory based on review velocity, web traffic, and employee growth.
Best Relationship
Based on relationship-focused review questions measuring ease of doing business and quality of support.
Easiest To Use
Ranked by usability scores from reviews - measures how intuitive and easy the product is to adopt.
Best Results
Products delivering strongest business outcomes based on results-oriented review questions.
Best Support
Highest-rated customer support based on quality of support review scores.
Capterra
6 badgesStar Rating
Simple average of all review ratings - displayed publicly on every product listing.
Shortlist
Top 5 products in a category based on ratings and review recency - refreshed monthly.
Best Ease of Use
Top 10% for ease of use ratings within a software category.
Best Value
Top 10% for value for money ratings within a software category.
Best Functionality
Top 10% for functionality ratings within a software category.
Best Customer Support
Top 10% for customer support ratings within a software category.
SourceForge
3 badgesLeader
Top 5% of highly reviewed products — seasonal award based on review volume, quality, and recency.
Top Performer
Mid-tier recognition requiring 10+ reviews, 4.0+ rating, and review within past 6 months.
Review Stars
Displays your average star rating from SourceForge reviews — automatic with just 1 review.
TrustRadius
3 badgesTop Rated
Annually awarded to products with 10+ recent reviews averaging 7.5+ trScore.
Buyer's Choice
Based on buyer intent signals - which products buyers most frequently shortlist and research.
Best Of
Category-specific awards for relationship, feature set, and value ratings.
PeerSpot
2 badgesSoftwareReviews
7 badgesData Quadrant Champion
Highest overall performers in product quality and vendor experience, based on 130-data-point user reviews.
Data Quadrant Leader
Upper-right quadrant placement demonstrating strong product features and vendor capabilities.
Vendor Capability
Universal strengths such as Best Support or Top UX, based on vendor capability dimension scores.
Top Feature
Category-specific standout for a particular feature (e.g., Best Forecasting in FP&A).
Emotional Footprint Champion
Vendors with the top CX Score measuring trust, fairness, support quality, and innovation across 26 dimensions.
CX Leader
Recognized for outstanding customer relationship quality across emotional footprint dimensions.
Emotional Footprint Experience
Targeted accolades showcasing specific relationship strengths across the five emotional footprint categories.
Gartner Peer Insights
2 badgesCustomers' Choice
Most rigorous badge - requires 50+ verified reviews, 4.5+ rating, meeting strict diversity criteria.
Strong Performer
Products with solid ratings and review volume that don't meet Customers' Choice thresholds.
How We Rate Effort
Each badge gets an effort rating from 1 to 5 based on what it takes to earn it: review volume requirements, rating thresholds, competitive positioning, time constraints, and verification complexity.
Our baseline: A B2B software company with a working product and actual customers who could write reviews. Even "Very Easy" badges require real effort — customers need prompting, review forms take time to complete, and follow-up is often necessary. The ratings reflect relative difficulty, not absolute ease.
| Rating | What It Means |
|---|---|
| 1 - Very Easy | Basic milestone with few requirements (e.g., 5 reviews, any rating) |
| 2 - Easy | Achievable with a focused review campaign (e.g., 20 reviews, 4.0+ rating) |
| 3 - Moderate | Requires sustained effort and strong ratings (e.g., top 25% in category) |
| 4 - Challenging | Competitive criteria or complex methodology (e.g., top 10%, multiple factors) |
| 5 - Very Challenging | Top percentile platform-wide or enterprise-only requirements |
What the Rating is Not
It's not a quality judgment on the platform. A "Very Easy" badge isn't worthless — Capterra Star Rating is visible to every buyer browsing Capterra. And a "Very Challenging" badge isn't automatically better — it might just mean the platform serves enterprise buyers with slower procurement cycles. The rating tells you what you're signing up for, not what the badge is worth.
Display Requirements
- Free to display: Use on your website, marketing materials, sales decks — no cost
- Requires subscription: Paid plan needed to download and use the badge
- Compliance required: Pre-approval needed before using in marketing
Related Resources
- Why AI Ignores Software Badges — The trust signal problem
- What is a Badge? — Glossary definition
- Running a Review Campaign — How to collect reviews
Need help earning these badges?
Blastra helps software companies manage their listings and review campaigns across G2, Capterra, TrustRadius, and 30+ other directories.