G2’s Best Software Awards: Analyzing the 2024 Edition

The annual G2 Best Software Awards are here again, showcasing the software solutions that bubble to the top.

These awards stand as a guide for identifying the cream of the crop in software solutions. The 2024 edition continues to shine a light on exceptional software companies and products, through the lens of G2 user reviews.

This year, artificial intelligence (AI) takes center stage, marking its territory across various categories and underscoring its growing influence in the software sector. Out of the over 130,000 products on G2, a mere 0.6% have clinched a spot on this exclusive list, highlighting the awards’ selectivity and the excellence required for recognition.

Our analysis of the G2 Best Software Awards 2024 Edition navigates through the top picks and emerging trends, offering insights into the shifting dynamics of the software world. From the surge of AI-driven applications to the fresh faces making significant impacts, this exploration is tailored to guide enthusiasts, buyers, and vendors through the “who’s who list” of software.

What is the annual G2 Best Software Awards?

The G2 Best Software Awards annually recognize the leading software companies and products, based on authentic feedback from users. The awards generate more than 30 lists using G2’s proprietary algorithm, which evaluates verified user reviews and available market presence data.

The rankings include the top 100 software companies and products, determined by their Satisfaction and Market Presence scores. Additionally, specialized lists highlight top performers in specific segments, like “EMEA Software Companies” and “Products for Small Businesses.”

Eligibility for these awards requires a software vendor to receive a minimum of 50 approved reviews for its products on G2 within the last calendar year. This method ensures that the G2 Best Software Awards reflect the highest-rated software offerings, as directly informed by user feedback and market analysis.

Only 780 of the more than 130,000 products listed on G2 have earned a spot on this year’s lists, earning a spot in the top 0.6%.

G2 Best Software Award Categories

As with any awards, there are major and minor awards.

The major awards cover all vendors and products listed on G2 and select the top 100 for each category.  The big two awards are the Best Software Products and Best Software Companies, followed by the Highest Satisfaction Products and Fastest Growing Products.

In total, the awards recognize software companies and products across these 34 lists:

1. Best Software Companies
   1. Global Software Companies
   2. APAC Software Companies
   3. India Software Companies
   4. EMEA Software Companies
   5. France Software Companies
   6. UK Software Companies
   7. Germany Software Companies
   8. Australia and New Zealand Companies
2. Best Software Products
   1. Best Software Products
   2. Highest Satisfaction Products
   3. Rookies of the Year
   4. Fastest Growing Products
   5. Products for Enterprise
   6. Products for Mid-Market
   7. Products for Small Business
3. Best Software by Function
   1. Accounting and Finance Products
   2. Analytics Products
   3. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
   4. CAD and PLM Products
   5. Collaboration and Productivity Products
   6. Commerce Products
   7. Content Management Products
   8. Customer Service Products
   9. Design Products
   10. Development Products
   11. Education Products
   12. HR Products
   13. IT Infrastructure Products
   14. IT Management Products
   15. Marketing and Digital Advertising Products
   16. Office Products
   17. Project Management Products
   18. Sales Products
   19. Security Products

Key findings from the 2024 version of the annual G2 Best Software Awards

Among the 34 categories analyzed in the 2024 G2 Best Software Awards, this section zeroes in on three key lists: “Best Software Products,” “Best Software Companies,” and the newly introduced “Best Software by Function: Artificial Intelligence (AI).”

These lists provide a focused lens through which we can observe the shifting dynamics of the software industry, the competitive landscape among companies, and the rising significance of AI as a functional category.

Analysis of Top 100 Best Software Companies and Products for 2023 vs. 2024

Best Software Products:

• An equal mix of old and new: Out of 9,735 products eligible for this award, 100 were selected by G2 as the best for the 2024 Best Software Awards, with a 49% turnover and 49 new entrants compared to last year.
• Stable Category Representation: The total number of categories represented in the top 100 best software products remained stable at 69 for both 2023 and 2024, suggesting a consistent diversity in the types of products that are being recognized.
• Shifts in Category Focus: Categories such as “Sales Intelligence,” “Core HR,” and “Help Desk” saw significant representation, with “Sales Intelligence” and “Help Desk” categories increasing to 5 products each in 2024. “Project Management” also remained a significant category, although the representation slightly decreased from 5 products in 2023 to 4 in 2024.
• Winners of the G2 Best Software product award:
  • 2024: Sprout Social
  • 2023: Zendesk Support Suite
  • 2022: Gong
  • 2021: Gong
  • 2020: QuickBooks Time
  • 2019: AWS Lambda

Best Software Companies:

• Increase in Diversity: The total number of categories represented in the top 100 best software companies increased from 71 in 2023 to 77 in 2024. This aligns with the broadening software landscape with a widening array of sectors.
• CRM titans go toe-to-toe: in 2023, HubSpot topped the Best software company lists. In 2024, Salesforce climbed from 9th to 1st, knocking HubSpot to the 2nd spot.
• Winners of the G2 Best Software company award:
  • 2024: Salesforce
  • 2023: HubSpot
  • 2022: Microsoft
  • 2021: Microsoft
  • 2020: Dropbox
  • 2019: Google

Key Findings from the analysis of the top software companies and products:

• Growing Diversity Among Companies: The increase in the number of categories for companies highlights a growing diversity in the software industry, with a broader range of solutions being acknowledged for their excellence.
• Consistent Product Diversity: The consistent number of categories for products year-over-year underscores the wide variety of tools and solutions that businesses and individuals rely on.
• Evolving Market Trends: The shifts in category representation reflect evolving market trends and user needs, such as the growing importance of sales intelligence tools and sustained interest in project management and core HR solutions.

Rises and Falls: The Biggest Year-Over-Year Moves on the Best Software Company and Product Lists

Best Software Companies:

Top 10 Rises:

1. Cisco – Not listed in 2023; Ranked 9th in 2024 (+92 positions)
2. Gusto – Not listed in 2023; Ranked 12th in 2024 (+89 positions)
3. NinjaOne – Not listed in 2023; Ranked 16th in 2024 (+85 positions)
4. BILL (previously Bill.com) – Not listed in 2023; Ranked 17th in 2024 (+84 positions)
5. Deel – Not listed in 2023; Ranked 18th in 2024 (+83 positions)
6. Grammarly – Not listed in 2023; Ranked 19th in 2024 (+82 positions)
7. Trimble – Not listed in 2023; Ranked 27th in 2024 (+74 positions)
8. Birdeye – Not listed in 2023; Ranked 30th in 2024 (+71 positions)
9. SOCi – Not listed in 2023; Ranked 31st in 2024 (+70 positions)
10. Freshworks – Not listed in 2023; Ranked 37th in 2024 (+64 positions)

Top 10 Falls:

1. Asana – Dropped from 6th in 2023 to not listed in 2024 (-95 positions)
2. Airtable – Dropped from 31st in 2023 to not listed in 2024 (-70 positions)
3. Wrike, Inc. – Dropped from 32nd in 2023 to not listed in 2024 (-69 positions)
4. Salesloft – Dropped from 35th in 2023 to not listed in 2024 (-66 positions)
5. OutSystems – Dropped from 36th in 2023 to not listed in 2024 (-65 positions)
6. Zendesk – Dropped from 4th to 69th (-65 positions)
7. Amazon Web Services (AWS) – Dropped from 37th in 2023 to not listed in 2024 (-64 positions)
8. Airbase – Dropped from 39th in 2023 to not listed in 2024 (-62 positions)
9. PayPal – Dropped from 40th in 2023 to not listed in 2024 (-61 positions)
10. Klaviyo – Dropped from 43rd in 2023 to not listed in 2024 (-58 positions)

Best Software Products:

Top 10 Rises:

1. Microsoft Defender XDR – Not listed in 2023; Ranked 3rd in 2024 (+98 positions)
2. Gusto – Not listed in 2023; Ranked 4th in 2024 (+97 positions)
3. Azure Portal – Not listed in 2023; Ranked 5th in 2024 (+96 positions)
4. Relias Learning Management System (LMS) – Not listed in 2023; Ranked 6th in 2024 (+95 positions)
5. Slido – Not listed in 2023; Ranked 8th in 2024 (+93 positions)
6. TeamMate+ – Not listed in 2023; Ranked 15th in 2024 (+86 positions)
7. LinkedIn Sales Navigator – Not listed in 2023; Ranked 16th in 2024 (+85 positions)
8. Google Analytics – Improved from 92nd to 9th (+83 positions)
9. CareerBuilder Talent Network – Not listed in 2023; Ranked 19th in 2024 (+82 positions)
10. TikTok Ads – Not listed in 2023; Ranked 21st in 2024 (+80 positions)

Top 10 Falls:

1. Freshping by Freshworks – Dropped from 2nd in 2023 to not listed in 2024 (-99 positions)
2. Attentive – Dropped from 6th in 2023 to not listed in 2024 (-95 positions)
3. Klaviyo – Dropped from 8th in 2023 to not listed in 2024 (-93 positions)
4. ServiceNow App Engine – Dropped from 10th in 2023 to not listed in 2024 (-91 positions)
5. Cvent Registration – Dropped from 13th in 2023 to not listed in 2024 (-88 positions)
6. OutSystems – Dropped from 16th in 2023 to not listed in 2024 (-85 positions)
7. Asana – Dropped from 20th in 2023 to not listed in 2024 (-81 positions)
8. IDrive Online Backup and Object Storage – Dropped from 21st in 2023 to not listed in 2024 (-80 positions)
9. Lead Forensics – Dropped from 22nd in 2023 to not listed in 2024 (-79 positions)
10. Loom – Dropped from 24th in 2023 to not listed in 2024 (-77 positions)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) makes its mark on the best software products of 2024

How big was AI in software products last year? AI features heavily in G2’s 2024 Best Software Awards lists

Fastest Growing Products list:

• The top 3 categories with the most companies on the list are all in AI: 
  • The AI Writing Assistant category has 6 companies on the list, 2x more than the next category
  • Video Editing has 3 companies, each of which describes itself as an AI video generator or editor
  • Text to Speech has 3 companies, all using AI
• AI features heavily even in the fast-growing companies on the list in well-established categories. 
  • Email marketing and sales intelligence also each have 3 companies on the list. Combined, 4 of the 6 companies in these category use AI:
    • Instantly, Mailmodo, Apollo, and Cognism

Rookies of the Year list:

• 40%, or 10 of the 25 companies, mention AI on their homepage or pricing page. Several have AI in their name, category or page titles – Midjourney, Rask.ai, ElevenLabs, Success.ai. Companies on this list got their first G2 review in 2023.

Best Software by Function: Artificial Intelligence (AI)

There’s a new Top 50 list for AI software.

418 products are listed in an AI category, with 149 of these meeting the criteria for eligibility in the 2024 Best Software Awards. 

These tools are not only for “data scientists and AI professionals” but also  tools for business users to incorporate AI into workflows and applications.”

The most represented software categories on this AI software list are:

• Bot Platforms: 5 Products. 
  • Kore.AI, IBM watsonx Assistant, Botpress, Gallabox, Haptik
• Data Science and Machine Learning Platforms: 5 Products. 
  • Vertex AI, Saturn Cloud, Azure Machine Learning, IBM Watson Studio, Amazon SageMaker. 
• Video Editing: 4 Products
  • Synthesia, VEED, Colossyan Creator, Elai.io
• Text to Speech: 3 Products
  • Pareto, AI Studios, WellSaid Studio
• AI Chatbots: 3 Products
  • ChatGPT, Google Bard, Tune AI
• Live Chat: 3 Products
  • Freshchat, Tidio, Smartsupp
• Conversational Marketing: 2 Products
  • Drift, Qualified
• Online Reputation Management: 2 Products
  • Birdeye, Podium
• Machine Translation: 2 Products
  • Rask AI, Google Cloud Translation API
• AI Writing Assistant: 2 Products
  • Anyword, Grammarly
• Help Desk: 2 Products
  • Zendesk Support Suite, Capacity

AI applications span various functions in both creative and technical domains:

• AI image generators like Midjourney
• Conversation intelligence platforms such as Fathom 
• AI writing assistants like Jasper. 
• Video editing through Synthesia 
• Cybersecurity with Microsoft Defender XDR

Eligibility Criteria

So, how do you get on the list? Here’s how it works:

Eligibility Criteria:

• To qualify for the Best Software Products and Best Software Companies lists, a vendor needs a minimum of 50 reviews on G2 in the last year.
• Only reviews from January 1st to December 31st of the previous year are considered for qualification and ranking.
• Once a vendor hits the 50-review mark, all their products listed on G2 can be nominated for the Best Software Products list.
• Reviews from business partners are counted for list eligibility but not for ranking purposes.

Ranking Method:

• G2 ranks the top 100 software companies and products using Satisfaction and Market Presence scores, adjusted for fairness across different categories.
• For companies, G2 aggregates Satisfaction scores from all products with 5+ reviews in the evaluation period and 10+ overall reviews. Market Presence is scored relative to all companies with 10+ reviews.
• Products are ranked in a similar manner, with scores calculated for each category first, then combined for an overall score, which is adjusted based on category competitiveness.

Regional Awards:

• G2 also acknowledges the top 50 software companies in specific regions, considering factors like the company’s origin, executive location, and workforce distribution.
• In Australia/New Zealand, France, and Germany, companies only need 25 reviews from the last year to qualify.

Specialty Reports:

• G2 publishes additional reports for products achieving Highest Satisfaction, Fastest Growing, and rankings by Segment and Function.
• The Rookies of the Year report features the top 25 newly listed products on G2 that received their first review in the last year.
• To be included in any specialty report, vendors must meet the general eligibility criteria. Rankings in these reports are based on adjusted and normalized scores, similar to the main Best Software Products report, except for Rookies of the Year, which lists the top 50 products.