How Does G2's Rating Actually Work?
The G2 star rating and the G2 Score are not the same number
The star rating on a G2 product profile is a straightforward calculation: G2’s own documentation states it is calculated by aggregating reviewers’ answers to the "Likelihood to Recommend" question on a 1–10 scale, dividing the average in half, and rounding to the nearest half star. There’s no hidden weighting in that number — it moves in a way vendors can reason about directly from their reviews.
The G2 star rating and the G2 Score are not the same number
The G2 Score is a different, heavier calculation, and it’s what actually determines placement on G2’s category Grid — not the star rating. G2 Score is the average of two proprietary components: a Satisfaction Score (built from review answers to product-attribute questions, review volume, review quality, and recency — reviews lose weight over time on roughly a -3%-per-month decay) and a Market Presence Score (15 metrics blending G2’s own review data with third-party sources like employee counts, funding data, and web traffic). A vendor can improve its star rating without materially moving its Grid position, or vice versa, because the two are pulling on different inputs.
Both numbers depend entirely on reviews clearing G2’s moderation. Every reviewer verifies identity through a LinkedIn account, a verified business email, or a personal email paired with a product screenshot, and every submission is checked against G2’s community guidelines before publication — G2 publishes quarterly Trust & Safety reporting showing a meaningful share of submitted reviews rejected for fraud or guideline violations, so an unverified or policy-violating review isn’t just unlikely to help a score, it’s unlikely to go live at all.
What actually moves each G2 number
- Star rating — a direct average of "Likelihood to Recommend" scores (1–10) across published reviews, halved and rounded to the nearest half star.
- G2 Score (Grid placement) — the average of a Satisfaction Score (product-attribute answers, review volume, review quality, recency-weighted with decay) and a Market Presence Score (15 metrics from G2 and third-party data).
- Recency — reviews lose influence on the Satisfaction Score over time, so a steady, current flow of reviews outweighs a large batch collected once and never repeated.
- Moderation — every review is verified (LinkedIn, business email, or personal email plus screenshot) and checked against G2’s community guidelines before it counts toward either number.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. G2 review packages start at $110 for up to 5 reviews, scaling to $690 for 50, with monthly billing at 15% off. Pick a package on this page, or try a free example first.
Not if it’s done through G2’s own system. G2’s Community Guidelines cap incentives at $110 USD across cash, gift cards, and non-cash rewards, require the review to be submitted through an active G2 campaign link, and require G2 to label the resulting review as incentivized. What’s prohibited is an incentive arranged outside that system, or one where eligibility depends on the reviewer saying something positive.