The Best Social Media Contest Tools For 2026 (Pros and Cons)
What are the best social media contest tools to use to grow your audience?
These types of tools make it easy for creators to host giveaways with multiple entry methods and an automated selection process to pick winners.
In this post, I reveal my top picks and share my thoughts on each one. I discuss key features each tool offers, pros and cons, price, and more.
The best social media contest tools and apps compared
TL;DR
We’ll go into detail about each of the best social media giveaway tools to help you to figure out which app is right for you. But for those short on time, here’s a summary of my top recommendations:
- SweepWidget – The overall best social contest app with extensive features, a generous free plan, and affordable paid plans. The number of actions you can include in your giveaway is amazing. And there are plenty of integrations with email providers and other platforms.
- ShortStack – Best full-stack marketing app with contests, landing pages, and more. ShortStack is priced higher than other platforms but they take a more ‘all-in-one’ approach which negates the need to buy additional tools in some cases.
- Woorise – Best for those who need a social giveaway tool that also supports other interactive content. Giveaway functionality is somewhat more basic than SweepWidget but you can also run quizzes, surveys, and more.
#1 – SweepWidget
SweepWidget is the best social media contest tool overall. It has a free plan and an affordable pricing structure, but its form UI (user interface) and entry methods are where it truly shines.
The UI is similar to most form UIs, making it very familiar to users. It tracks the total number of entry requirements the user has completed, provides a total count of all submitted entries, and includes a countdown timer.
Along with a name and email address, participants can submit entries by logging into a social media account through the form.
They can also use the form (widget) to keep track of their entries.
I’m especially impressed with the tool’s potential for lead generation. By connecting your email marketing tool to the giveaway app, you can collect participants as new subscribers when they complete your form.
You can even make subscribing to your email list an entry requirement.
You can embed the form on any web page that accepts embed code, but SweepWidget also has dedicated plugins for WordPress and Shopify as well as landing pages for creators who don’t have websites.
Overall, I truly feel this app is the best option out there for giveaways and feel confident in recommending it.
Pros and cons
Pricing
SweepWidget has a limited free plan. Pricing for premium plans starts at $29/month. Annual plans come with a 17% discount.
#2 – ShortStack
ShortStack is a powerful contest tool that allows you to run contests that are hosted on high-converting landing pages and include social media-based actions as entry methods.
ShortStack’s most powerful and unique feature is its drag-and-drop builder, but it has a steep learning curve that can make the tool a little difficult for some to use, especially those who have never used a drag-and-drop builder.
In spite of this, the landing page builder sets this tool apart from other tools on this list.
This is because giveaways aren’t just an effective way to boost engagements on social media. They’re also an effective way to grow your email list, which is why it’s great to see a tool that takes landing page optimization into consideration.
The only disadvantage I found was that it doesn’t support as many entry methods as SweepWidget. Still, it does support a good number of them and this will depend somewhat on the template you choose.
There’s a large library of templates available. These support a wide range of types of giveaways.
I particularly like the “points for actions” template. This allows participants to receive points for sharing your contest on various platforms.
Also, it’s especially a fantastic tool for running hashtag and photo contests as it has a collection tool for Instagram posts, which allows you to create a collection of posts that use a specific hashtag or mention a specific username.
Pros and cons
Pricing
ShortStack has a limited free plan. Paid plans start at $49/month. Annual plans come with two months free.
#3 – Woorise
Woorise is a lead generation tool that’s based around a powerful form builder, giving it multiple use cases, including giveaways.
You can use its form and landing page builders to build lead generation forms, high-converting landing pages, quizzes, surveys, and, of course, giveaways.
You can run giveaways and contests for every major social media platform and increase your following and engagements with entry methods that require participants to follow you, like your post, view your social media profiles, and more.
I was impressed by the number of contest-based features the tool has given that it’s a form and landing page builder first and social media giveaway app second.
It has all of the features the other two tools offer and even includes more given how extensive those form and landing page features are.
Its landing page and form builders are very intuitive, especially if you’re already familiar with drag-and-drop builders. I especially enjoyed having access to numerous form, landing page, and giveaway templates, which are perfect if you don’t want to design your own forms.
Plus, its primary use case is lead generation, so it’ll help you grow your email list alongside your social media following, making this tool especially useful for bloggers who are struggling to earn organic traffic from Google.
Overall, this is one of the best tools to use to run social media contests, so long as you don’t anticipate hosting viral contests.
Pros and cons
Pricing
Plans start at $29/month after a 14-day free trial. Annual plans have a 20% discount.
#4 – Outgrow
Outgrow is a lead generation tool that can be used to create forms, landing pages, quizzes, surveys, assessments, calculators, and giveaways.
Its UI isn’t as intuitive as some other tools on this list, but it does have a drag-and-drop builder that’s pretty easy to use once you learn your way around it.
Outgrow thrives as a marketing tool as the majority of its features are designed for lead generation, engagements, and conversions.
And the same goes for its core giveaway functionality.
Like other tools on this list, you get to choose from a selection of giveaway templates covering various types of contests.
You can run two types of giveaways with this tool: “contest” and “random.”
Contest campaigns are powered by multiple entry methods and leaderboards where participants can compete and increase their odds of winning by completing multiple entry actions.
Random campaigns are simpler and are designed to pick a winner at random from a list of submissions.
Personally, I see this tool as a lead generation software first and a social media giveaway app second, so it works best when it’s used as your primary tool for generating leads and building landing pages first and a way to host social media giveaways second.
Pros and cons
Pricing
Pricing for plans that include giveaways starts at $45/month after a 7-day free trial. Annual plans have a discount of up to 44%.
#5 – Gleam
Gleam is a lead generation tool that’s designed to grow your audience with online contests, rewards, user-generated content (UGC), and exclusive content.
It’s one of the best tools to use to run viral contests due to the sheer number of entry methods you can add to each contest as well as the types of contests you can create, including photo and hashtag contests.
I was amazed by all of the entry methods at my disposal, some of which can be used as viral sharing features. You can ask participants to share your contest on various platforms in exchange for an additional entry per platform.
You’ll also have multiple methods to choose from when it’s time to select a winner, though they do depend on your pricing plan.
Speaking of which, a major drawback to using this tool is how its pricing is structured. Core features (called “apps”) are locked behind separate pricing plans, one for each feature.
Still, these core apps are quite powerful.
The Rewards app allows you to distribute prizes to users in exchange for them completing certain actions on your giveaway widget.
The platform even has a full-fledged lead generation tool called Capture. It allows you to create a well-designed popup to boost signups.
In spite of this disadvantage, Gleam is a fantastic giveaway tool to use and is quite affordable if you don’t need those other features.
Pros and cons
Pricing
Limited free account available. Premium plans for giveaways start at $19/month. Annual plans have a discount of up to 47%.
#6 – RafflePress
RafflePress is a simple yet incredibly effective WordPress plugin that helps you run viral giveaways to grow your audience.
As a WordPress plugin, you, of course, need a self-hosted WordPress site in order to use the tool. Fortunately, this limitation has not limited the plugin in any other way.
You can still use it to host social media giveaways, and it’s much cheaper than every other option on this list.
I was really impressed by how easy it is to set up a giveaway with this tool. Its drag-and-drop builder is really simple and straightforward to use. Plus, it has premade templates you can use to set up a giveaway in minutes with predefined designs and actions.
Entry methods include follow, like, and visit requirements for all major social media platforms.
Along with growing your social media audience, the plugin also helps you grow your email list by including email form fields and integrating with a number of different email marketing services.
You can even get your audience to create UGC with photo contests and bring in new potential customers with refer-a-friend giveaways.
Pros and cons
Pricing
Plans start at $39.50 for your first year, which is an introductory discount of 50%. The price for this plan rises to $79/year for each subsequent year you subscribe.
A lifetime plan is available. A 14-day refund is available on all plans.
Frequently asked questions
Here are answers to common questions people have that relate to social media giveaway tools.
How do you run a contest on social media?
Follow these steps to run a successful contest or giveaway on social media:
- Choose something irresistible to give away.
- Decide which social media contest tool you want to use.
- Pick out the entry requirements you want participants to use based on the tool you chose. Making them follow you, follow your collaborator (if applicable), like the giveaway post on social media, leave a comment, and share the post with a friend are common entry methods.
- Choose a duration for the contest, and promote it throughout the entirety of that duration.
- Use the tool you chose to announce a winner, and make sure that winner responds to you in a DM in order to claim their prize.
Related: 20+ Giveaway Ideas for Small Businesses
How do you pick a winner for social media contests?
The easiest way to pick a winner for your social media contest is by using a giveaway tool to collect entries, then using that tool to pick a winner automatically.
If you decide not to use a dedicated giveaway tool, publish a post announcing your giveaway, then use a tool like AppSorteos to pick a comment.
What apps do people use for giveaways?
I personally recommend SweepWidget because it’s affordable and lets you pick from a long list of entry methods.
I also recommend ShortStack and Woorise, and Gleam is quite popular as well.
What is the most effective social media marketing tool?
SweepWidget is the most effective social media marketing tool.
This is because it supports a high number of platforms and includes over 90 entry methods for giveaways, many of which are designed to increase your engagements on social media.
By requiring participants to follow you on Facebook or like a specific Instagram post in order to enter a giveaway, you enlist their help to spread awareness about your brand while growing your audience at the same time.
Final thoughts
That’s it for my list of the best social media giveaway apps.
The app you choose will determine which platforms you can host giveaways for and which entry methods subscribers can use to participate.
Here’s a recap on the tools I mostly recommend in case you need a refresher:
- SweepWidget – The best social media contest app due to its affordability, extensive number of features, and generous free plan.
- ShortStack – Best option for agencies and larger businesses that need a giveaway tool that also offers robust marketing features.
- Woorise – The best tool for businesses who need a tool that increases engagement in multiple ways. Along with hosting giveaways, it’s particularly good for lead generation and creating quizzes.
If you need more help coming up with an idea for your giveaway, check out my posts on Instagram giveaway ideas and Facebook giveaway ideas.
Social media scheduling tools will help you manage giveaway campaigns more effectively as will social media calendar tools.
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