PromoSimple vs ShortStack Comparison 2026
Both cover giveaways & referrals. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
Giveaways with the legal wording generated
Contests and giveaways with entry rules
At a glance
- PromoSimple starts cheaper, at $14.
- Only ShortStack has a free tier.
Side by side
PromoSimple | ShortStack | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price (they differ) | From $14 | From $24 |
| Pricing model (they differ) | Paid subscription | Free plan, paid tiers |
| Free tier (they differ) | No | Yes |
| Billing | Not stated | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| API | Not stated | Yes |
Shaded rows are where the two answers disagree and both listings have answered. A row where one side has not stated a fact is left plain, because silence is not a difference.
PromoSimple
Giveaways with the legal wording generated
PromoSimple builds giveaway entry forms and generates the official rules to go under them, which is the part most creators running a competition either skip or copy from somewhere unwise. Entries can be earned through actions on the major social platforms. Age and location restrictions are set on the form rather than policed afterwards. The cheapest plan does not connect to an email tool, so anybody whose point is list building should start one tier up.
Our note
Start at the Businesses tier if the giveaway exists to grow a list, since sending entrants to your email tool is the entire point and it is not on Basic. The generated official rules are the underrated part of this: most creator giveaways run without any, which is a problem nobody notices until it is one.
Only on this side
- Works with Pinterest
- Works with X
ShortStack
Contests and giveaways with entry rules
ShortStack builds the contest itself, not only the widget: a landing page, the entry form, the rules that decide what counts as an entry, and the random draw at the end. Emails to entrants go out from the same place. Pricing is by page views rather than by entries, and overage is charged per thousand once a campaign catches on.
Ratings are the average of reviews readers left. The facts are stated by each tool’s own listing and are not verified by CloutStack. How we make money.