Social Growth Index is affiliated with some listed providers. Every provider is evaluated under the same published scoring standard. None of the five providers in this report is an affiliated project.
The prices do not identify a universal winner. ShortStack, Gleam, and SweepWidget focus on contests and campaign actions; Viral Loops focuses on referral mechanics; Zealy focuses on recurring community quests and claim capacity. The useful comparison is therefore price plus the job and usage unit, not price alone.
ShortStack publishes the lowest commitment in this set because it includes a free tier. Gleam and SweepWidget both show paid entry points around $29 per month, but their included features and billing context differ. Viral Loops starts at $35 per month on annual billing and ties that plan to 1,000 participants. Zealy starts materially higher and combines subscription pricing with claim credits. Those units shape the real campaign budget before rewards, staff time, promotion, compliance, and creative work are added.
Five platforms, five buying contexts
| Provider | Published entry price | Billing context | Main usage unit | Best matched job | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SSShortStack | Free; $24/mo paid | Launch billed annually | Views and entries | Contests, UGC, forms, and landing pages | Primary source |
 Gleam | From $29/mo | Competition plan | Feature tier | Competitions and embeddable campaign actions | Primary source |
| SWSweepWidget | $29/mo Pro | Monthly figure shown; annual option available | Brands, actions, and features | Broad social and giveaway entry methods | Primary source |
| VLViral Loops | $35/mo | Start-up billed annually | Up to 1,000 participants | Referral, waitlist, and lead-generation loops | Primary source |
 Zealy | $149/mo | Standard billed annually | Plan plus claim credits | Community quests and recurring participation | Primary source |
Prices and plan labels were checked on 1 September 2026. Taxes, promotions, currency conversion, rewards, media spend, and operating labour are excluded. Checkout remains authoritative.
Choose the campaign job first
ShortStack
The published free tier is the clearest low-commitment route in this set, but its monthly view and entry limits are part of the decision.
Review provider recordSweepWidget
Its public matrix exposes many entry methods, integrations, verification controls, and plan limits before signup.
Review provider recordViral Loops
Participant allowances and referral-specific features make it easier to model the software cost for that job.
Review provider recordZealy
Quest operations and claim credits are a different workload from a one-off contest, so the higher entry price should not be compared on price alone.
Review provider recordBefore choosing a platform, write down the campaign type, expected participants or entries, required verification, integrations, branding rules, export needs, and operating owner. A cheaper plan that lacks the required workflow can cost more after manual work and migration.
Compare social buying modelsWhat this report does and does not measure
- Uses current provider-controlled pricing and feature pages as primary evidence.
- Keeps annual billing, participant limits, credits, feature tiers, and free-plan limits visible.
- Does not treat referral software, contest software, and community quest software as identical products.
- Does not score campaign results, fraud prevention, support quality, or ease of use without controlled testing.
- Does not infer conversion, audience quality, or revenue from a platform’s marketing claims.
We will update the report when a material public price, usage unit, or plan boundary changes. Providers can request a correction by sending the current public source and effective date to the contact address in the footer.
Google’s guidance on high-quality reviews informed the evidence and comparison boundaries; it did not determine any provider position.