Software Advice Pricing for SaaS Vendors and Pay Per Lead Costs

How much does Software Advice cost for vendors?

There is no public rate card, so the honest answer is "it depends on your category and your bids." What is public are the rules. Software Advice, now part of the same G2 Digital Markets group as Capterra and GetApp, describes its pay-per-lead and pay-per-click programs in legal service descriptions. They tell you how you are billed, not what a lead costs in your market.

Figures come from Software Advice's own service descriptions as we read them on October 31, 2026. Programs change, so confirm every line in your order form.

What is the difference between pay per lead and pay per click on Software Advice?

With pay per lead you pay when a buyer asks to be contacted about software in your category, and the price comes from an auction. With pay per click you pay when someone clicks through from your sponsored profile to your site. A lead is a person who raised a hand. A click is a visitor who may or may not become one.

Leads cost more each, and they arrive with intent attached. Clicks cost less each and put the conversion work on your own site. A vendor with a strong trial page and a short sales cycle can do well on clicks. A vendor with a sales team that closes calls can do well on leads. Mixing them before you know your conversion rates is how budgets disappear.

Is it worth paying for Software Advice leads?

It pays back when one sale covers many lead fees. Do the arithmetic before you sign. Take your average first-year contract value, your close rate from a lead you did not source yourself, and the number of leads you need to win one customer. Multiply that count by the lead price from your quote. If the result is a third of the contract value or less, the program is worth testing. If it is half or more, it is not.

Take a plain example with made-up inputs for the sake of the method. A $1,200 first-year contract, a 5% close rate on bought leads, so 20 leads per customer. At $40 a lead you spend $800 to win $1,200. At $75 a lead you spend $1,500 to win $1,200. The same program is profitable or not depending on one number you only learn from your quote. Replace the inputs with your own.

Speed matters as much as price. Buyers often request information from several vendors at once, so the first reply tends to win the conversation. If your team answers the next morning, count that in the cost.

How does Software Advice compare with Capterra and G2 for vendors?

Software Advice, Capterra and GetApp share an owner and a vendor backend, so a sponsored profile and a click budget can run across all three. That makes them one decision, not three. Our Capterra PPC cost guide covers the click side in detail, with a reported floor of $2.00 a click. G2.com is a separate program with its own plans, covered in our G2 vendor pricing breakdown.

• Software Advice and Capterra. Lead and click auctions. Cost varies by category and bids.
• G2. Plans priced by quote, with a reported first-year start of $2,999 on the entry plan.
• TrustRadius. Customer Voice reported from about $30,000 per product per year. See the TrustRadius pricing guide.
• SaaSHub. Featured listing reported at $99 to $130 a month. See the SaaSHub listing cost guide.
• SaaS Reviews priority listing. $49 a month or $288 a year, billed as shown on our list your SaaS page.

What should you ask in the Software Advice sales call?

Ask for the current auction range in your exact category and company-size bands, not an average across the site. Ask how leads are qualified and what happens when a lead is invalid or a duplicate, and whether you get credit for either. Ask whether the sponsored profile and its approval are required before any click spend, and whether there is a monthly minimum or a contract term.

Ask what the free profile shows to buyers, how your listing is ranked against sponsored ones, and how reviews affect placement. Get the lead-scheduling surcharge and CRM fee in writing, because both are per lead and scale with volume. Then ask for the cancellation terms before you ask for anything else.

How can you cut the cost of buying software leads?

Start with the cheapest sources of intent. Complete free profiles, ask customers for honest reviews, and track where trials come from. Add one paid source at a time so you can measure it. If you also run paid search to support a listing, a tool that writes ad copy and images from a product URL can cut the time spent on creative so more of the budget goes to the clicks.

Cap spend with a monthly limit and review cost per trial every two weeks. Cut markets and company-size bands that burn budget without a single trial. A fixed-price listing, such as ours at $49 a month, gives you a baseline cost per trial that a lead auction can be held against.

Does paying Software Advice guarantee good placement or reviews?

No. Paid programs buy leads and visibility on the sponsored side. They do not buy a favorable review, and a vendor should be wary of any offer suggesting otherwise. Reviews come from real customers describing real experience, and your free profile still depends on them.

A simple plan for a small SaaS company

Month one, complete your free profiles on Software Advice, Capterra and G2 and request reviews from happy customers. Month two, add a fixed-price listing so you have a known cost per trial. Month three, if the numbers justify it, request a Software Advice quote and test one market with a hard cap. Compare cost per trial across sources before you move more money.

If you decide a fixed price suits your budget, our priority listing at $49 a month gives you a description, a followed link and an alternatives page, and the full comparison sits on the Software Advice alternatives page.