G2 Alternatives for AI Startups in 2026
G2 acquired Capterra, GetApp and Software Advice in February 2026, so four of the places you were told to list now answer to one owner. None of them publish vendor pricing. This page collects what third parties have published about the cost, runs the arithmetic against a typical AI-tool ACV, and lists what to do instead.
For makersComparing listing spend? A free listing here costs $0 and needs no contract.
List my tool — free →Quick Answer
If your average contract is under about $1,000 a year, G2's paid tiers and Capterra's PPC minimum are both larger than the revenue a listing can plausibly return. Claim the free profiles, skip the paid tiers, and put the money into places with no floor: AI-specific directories, a Product Hunt launch, and comparison pages you own.
If your ACV is five figures and you have a sales team, the calculation flips and G2 is probably worth its quote. This page is not for that company.
What G2 and Capterra actually cost
G2 does not publish vendor pricing, so everything below is third-party reporting rather than a rate card, and it should be treated that way — get your own quote before you budget against it.
- G2 entry tier: a thread on G2's own community describes a Starter plan at "around $299/month or $2,999/year", with enterprise plans custom-quoted.
- G2 Professional: the buyer-data site Vendr lists $13,500–$17,700 annually, with a median observed G2 contract of $27,813.
- Capterra: free to list, free to reply to reviews, free to display badges. PPC advertising is reported to start at $2 per click with a $500/month minimum budget on a second-price auction; category click prices are reported anywhere from $1 to $15.
- Ownership: G2 acquired Capterra, GetApp and Software Advice in February 2026. The two pricing models — subscription on G2, pay-per-click on Capterra — are still described separately, but they are no longer independent bets.
The arithmetic that decides it
Take the reported $500/month PPC floor and a middling $5 click. That is 100 clicks a month. Directory clicks convert to trials in the low single digits, and trials to paid lower still — call the whole path 1%, which is generous for cold comparison traffic. One customer a month.
At a $29/month product, that customer pays back $29 against $500 spent. You need an ACV in the low thousands before a single acquired customer covers one month of the floor — which is exactly what the category advice says: under a $1,000 ACV, PPC on a review site does not return. The $2,999/year subscription is the same problem with the meter running whether anyone clicks or not.
Where to list instead
1.An AI-specific directory (this one included)
Best for sub-$1k ACVBest for: AI tools whose buyers ask an assistant rather than filtering a B2B review grid
- • No contract, no minimum spend, no annual commitment to compare against your MRR
- • Category pages are narrow enough that a new entrant is visible on day one
- • Assistants read directory pages when asked which tool to use for a task — that is the actual distribution
- • Verification, where it exists, is one-time rather than a subscription
- • Far less enterprise procurement traffic than G2 — nobody is shortlisting a $40k contract here
- • No buyer-intent data product
- • Review volume is small, so social proof has to come from elsewhere
2.Capterra / GetApp / Software Advice
Best for: B2B tools with a five-figure ACV and a sales team to work the leads
- • Free profile, free review responses and free badges, which G2 reportedly gates behind a paid plan
- • You only pay when a click happens, so there is no floor until you opt into ads
- • One profile now feeds three properties under the same owner
- • The reported $500/mo PPC minimum functions like a subscription once you start
- • Clicks are reported at $1–$15 depending on category — under a $1,000 ACV that almost never returns
- • Second-price auction means your cost is set by whoever is bidding hardest in your category
3.Product Hunt
Best for: A single dated spike of attention from an early-adopter audience
- • Genuinely free to launch, with no vendor contract at any tier
- • The audience will try a brand-new product, which review grids will not
- • A launch page keeps ranking for your product name afterwards
- • It is an event, not a listing — the traffic is a spike and then a floor
- • Zero procurement intent; nobody is comparing enterprise contracts there
- • You get one good launch, so it cannot be a channel
4.TrustRadius
Best for: Mid-market B2B with a handful of reference customers willing to write long reviews
- • Long-form reviews carry more weight with a careful buyer than a star average
- • Less crowded than G2 in narrow AI categories
- • Paid tiers are quote-only, which puts you in the same opaque conversation as G2
- • Much smaller traffic base
- • Needs real reference customers before a profile does anything
5.Your own comparison pages
Best for: Anyone who would otherwise spend the $2,999 on a listing they do not control
- • You own the page, the claims and the conversion path forever
- • No platform can reprice it, gate it behind a tier, or sell your competitor the slot above you
- • Comparison and migration pages are consistently the highest commercial-intent content a small vendor can write
- • Zero third-party credibility — a self-published comparison is read as marketing, correctly
- • Slow: it needs indexing and links before it earns anything
- • Does not replace a review profile, it complements one
If you are already paying and want out
- Your reviews are not portable. Reviews stay with the platform that collected them. Before a renewal lapses, export or screenshot the ones you quote in your own marketing, and get written permission from the reviewer for anything you put on your site.
- The free profile survives. On Capterra, listing, replying to reviews and displaying badges are reported as free — dropping paid advertising is not the same as delisting. Check what specifically goes away before you assume the profile dies with the contract.
- Renewal pricing moves. One report puts a $2,999 first-year Starter tier at $6,000 on renewal. Ask what year two costs before you sign year one.
- Replace the slot before you vacate it. Have the free listings claimed and the comparison pages published first, so the traffic has somewhere to land when the paid placement stops.
Start with the listing that costs nothing.
A free listing here has no contract, no minimum spend and no renewal conversation. It publishes as soon as the automated checks clear, and it is what an assistant reads when someone asks which tool to use in your category.
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