Growing an audience
Running the business
Both cover giveaways & referrals. Here is what separates them on price, billing, what you can take with you, and coverage.
| ShortStack | ViralSweep | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | From $24 | From $49 |
| Pricing model | Free plan, paid tiers | Free trial, then paid |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Billing | Monthly or annual | Monthly or annual |
| Free trial | Not stated | 7 days |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Data export | Not stated | Not stated |
| Their cut | Not stated | Not stated |
| Runs on | Web | Web |
| Covers | Giveaways & Referrals, Landing Pages & Funnels | Giveaways & Referrals, Affiliate & Referral |
| Works with | Nothing in particular | Nothing in particular |
| Founded | Not listed | Not listed |
| Reader rating | No reviews yet | No reviews yet |
| Live deals | None right now | 1 |
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.
Only on this side
Sweepstakes and contests that stay compliant
ViralSweep runs the giveaway and, more to the point, runs the legal side of it: official rules, entry records, winner selection and the bonding a US sweepstakes needs above a prize threshold. Gleam is cheaper and lighter. This is the one to use when the prize is big enough that getting it wrong matters.
Our note
Gleam does the mechanics for less. The reason to pay four times as much here is the rules, the records and the bonding, which only matter above a prize value most creators never reach.
Only on this side
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.