For vendors pricing a lead program
Software Advice Pay Per Lead Cost and Capterra vs Software Advice for Vendors
Vendors report paying $70 to $250 for each buyer a Software Advice advisor qualifies, and the same buyer is passed to competitors. Here is what a customer really costs once close rates are counted, and a fixed price way to sit in front of the same buyers.
No bidding and no per lead fee. The Listing plan is live as soon as the payment clears.
One month of leads
example from a vendor report
The short answer
Software Advice pay per lead charges a software vendor for each buyer its advisors have phoned and qualified on budget, authority, need and timeline. There is no public price list. You bid by market and company size band, and vendors report $70 to $250 per lead. Leads are shared with competing vendors, and reported close rates sit around 10%, so a customer costs roughly ten times the lead price.
That works for contracts worth several thousand dollars a year. For a smaller product, a flat listing where buyers compare tools themselves costs less than a single lead. Ours sits next to 201 tools across 35 categories and costs $49 a month, or $24 a month billed annually.
How Software Advice pay per lead works
The program is described in Software Advice's own pay per lead service description. The steps below follow it, with the parts vendors learn only after signing marked as reported.
A buyer asks for help
Someone researching software on Software Advice, Capterra or GetApp requests a free call with an advisor, usually about 15 minutes.
The advisor qualifies them
The advisor runs a structured needs analysis and checks budget, authority, need and timeline before anyone is introduced.
Matching vendors are offered the lead
Leads are matched to your criteria such as company size, industry and geography. Vendors report that several matching vendors get the same buyer.
You pay and you call
You are billed for the lead at your bid. Bad leads can be disputed under a refund policy you see in the vendor account, and vendors say not every dispute is approved.
Two add ons carry their own fee in the service description: appointment setting, where the advisor books the call into your calendar (refunded if the buyer does not show and cannot be rescheduled), and CRM integration.
Software Advice lead cost next to the other ways to reach buyers
The same company now sells three of these, so the real question is which way of paying suits your deal size.
| Channel | How you pay | Price | What you get | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software Advice pay per lead | Per qualified lead, bid by market and size band | About $70 to $250 per lead (reported) | A buyer an advisor has phoned and qualified | Yes, with other matching vendors |
| Capterra and GetApp pay per click | Per click, second price auction | $2 minimum bid, about $500 a month minimum (reported) | A visit to your site from a listing | Buyer sees every listing in the category |
| G2 paid profile | Annual subscription | From about $3,000 a year, quoted on request | Profile features, buyer intent data, review tools | Category page lists every vendor |
| SoftwareHome Listing plan | Flat monthly or annual | $49 a month, or $24 a month billed annually | Profile, category slot, comparison and alternatives pages | Buyer compares you in your category |
| SoftwareHome featured placement | Flat weekly or monthly | $299 a week, $999 a month | Top of category and alternatives pages | You sit above the other listings |
Sources: Software Advice pay per lead service description and vendor page; lead prices and close rates from a vendor who ran the program for two products (RetainTrust); Capterra click minimums and G2 pricing from vendor and agency reports, since neither publishes a rate card. USD. The click side is broken down on our Capterra advertising cost page.
What a customer costs through pay per lead
The lead price is the number on the invoice, but the number that matters is cost per customer. One vendor who ran the program for a transport management product and a construction product reported 10 to 25 leads a month, more than 100 in the first year, and 13 closed deals. That is close to one customer in ten.
Their deals were worth $20,000 to $50,000 a year, which is why $1,500 per customer was a bargain for them. Put a $99 a month product through the same arithmetic and the first customer takes more than a year just to pay back the lead bill.
Small business lead
$70 a lead, 1 in 10 closes
$700
per customer
Mid range lead
$150 a lead, 1 in 10 closes
$1,500
per customer
Larger company lead
$250 a lead, 1 in 10 closes
$2,500
per customer
SoftwareHome Listing plan for a whole year
billed annually, no per lead or per click charge
$288
Capterra vs Software Advice for a software vendor
Both are G2 properties now and both draw on the same profile and the same reviews. What differs is what you are buying.
Capterra
You buy clicks and do the selling
A buyer reads the category page, clicks your listing and lands on your site. You pay per click, reported at a $2 minimum bid with a monthly floor around $500, whether or not the visitor signs up.
Fits self serve products with a free trial and a site that converts on its own.
Software Advice
You buy a conversation an advisor started
An advisor phones the buyer and introduces matching vendors. You pay per lead, typically more than a hundred clicks would cost, but the person has already said they have budget and a timeline.
Fits sales led products with a demo, a sales team and a contract worth thousands.
The listing rules on the sister site are covered in GetApp vs Capterra for vendors, and the subscription side in G2 vs Capterra for vendors.
When pay per lead pays back and when it does not
Worth testing if
- +a closed deal is worth $5,000 a year or more
- +a rep can call every lead within the hour
- +you sell to a vertical such as construction, legal or healthcare where buyers want a guide
- +you already win most head to head demos
Hard to make work if
- xyour plans are under $100 a month and sold self serve
- xnobody on the team owns follow up calls
- xyou have few reviews, so the buyer picks a better reviewed vendor from the same introduction
- xyour category is crowded and leads go to five or more vendors
Questions to ask before you set a bid
The service description leaves the commercial terms to your vendor account and your account manager. Get these answers in writing first.
- 1How many vendors receive each lead in my market and size band?
- 2What does the refund policy accept as a bad lead, and how many days do I have to dispute it?
- 3Is there a monthly minimum or a minimum term?
- 4What do appointment setting and CRM integration add per lead?
- 5Can I cap spend per week, and pause without losing my bid position?
Speed decides shared leads. The vendor who calls first usually gets the demo, so before the first lead arrives, set up automatic lead routing to the right rep rather than leaving introductions in a shared inbox.
A fixed price alternative to paying per lead
Here the buyer does the shortlisting. Your product gets a profile, a place in its category, head to head comparison pages with the tools it competes with, and a slot on each competitor's alternatives page. A buyer who clicks through has already chosen to look at you, and nobody else is introduced on the same call.
It costs the same every month however many visitors you get, which makes it an easy line to keep running while you test pay per lead on top.
Already listed? Claim your profile to control the description and reply to reviews.
Fixed price plans
Software Advice pay per lead FAQ
How much does Software Advice charge per lead?
Software Advice does not publish a rate card. Vendors bid for leads by market and company size band, and vendors who have run the program report paying around $70 to $250 per lead, with larger buyer companies at the top of that range. Scheduling a call for you and pushing leads into your CRM can cost extra.
Is Software Advice free for vendors?
A basic product profile is free, and since 2026 it is created through the same G2 vendor account that feeds Capterra and GetApp. What costs money is the pay per lead program, where an advisor qualifies a buyer by phone and passes the contact to you, and the click campaigns on the sister sites.
Are Software Advice leads exclusive?
No. Vendors who have bought them report that the same buyer is introduced to several matching vendors who also pay for the lead, so your sales team is competing from the first call. Ask your account manager how many vendors receive each lead in your market before you set a bid.
Is Software Advice worth it for software vendors?
It tends to pay when one closed deal is worth several thousand dollars a year. One vendor reported more than 100 leads and 13 closed deals in the first year, roughly a 10% close rate, so a $150 lead means about $1,500 per customer. Below a $3,000 annual contract the arithmetic is hard to make work.
What is the difference between Capterra and Software Advice?
Capterra sells clicks: a buyer reads your listing and clicks through to your site, and you pay per click whether or not they sign up. Software Advice sells conversations: an advisor phones the buyer, checks budget, authority, need and timeline, and you pay for the introduction. Both share one profile and one pool of reviews.
Who owns Software Advice?
Software Advice was founded in Austin in 2005 and bought by Gartner in 2014. G2 completed its purchase of Gartner Digital Markets, which includes Software Advice, Capterra and GetApp, in February 2026, so all three are now run from G2 vendor accounts.
Reach software buyers for less than one shared lead
$49 a month, or $24 a month billed annually, live once paid, on the pages buyers use to compare tools in your category.