--- description: Review of Zealous Software: system overview, features, price and cost information. Get free demos and compare to similar programs on Software Advice New Zealand. image: https://gdm-localsites-assets-gfprod.imgix.net/images/software_advice/og_logo-55146305bbe7b450bea05c18e9be9c9a.png title: Zealous | Reviews, Pricing & Demos - SoftwareAdvice NZ --- Breadcrumb: [Home](/) > [Competition Software](/directory/4689/contest/software) > [Zealous](/software/338464/zealous) # Zealous Canonical: https://www.softwareadvice.co.nz/software/338464/zealous Page: 1 / 4\ Next: [Next page](https://www.softwareadvice.co.nz/software/338464/zealous?page=2) > πŸš€ Upgrade Your Contest Management Software with Zealous: Save Time, Save Money \& Boost Entries\! As your effortless contest management platform, Zealous manage submissions and boost entry volume, all while keeping judges \& participants seamlessly informed with timely automated emails.Dive into a smooth, engaging, and hassle-free contest journey with Zealous\! 🎯 Core Functions \& Ultimate Benefits: πŸ• Massive Time Savings: Automate tasks and manage submissions seamlessly to cut down your workload by up to 80%\! πŸš€ Skyrocket Submissions: User-friendly interfaces designed to enhance participant experience and notably boost application entry numbers\! πŸ† Efficient Judging: Simplify the evaluation process with organized, transparent, and accessible judging portals\! πŸ—£ What Our Clients Say: "Using the Zealous system took away 80% of my workload." - Sue Ecclestone, Holly Bush Award "Very impressed, we increased our submissions by 50%" - Sophie Smyth, Society for the Environment πŸ’Έ Flexible, Fair Pricing with Zealous\! Enjoy the freedom of being able to cancel anytime.Unlike other brands, there are no yearly lock-ins, no hidden fees – just transparent monthly pricing tailored to your schedule and budget.Start a cost-effective, flexible journey today\! πŸ”’ πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ Secure \& Compliant for USA/ UK Organisations. Meticulously crafted to meet stringent data protection standards, including compliance with the CCPA in the USA and GDPR in the UK, ensuring your contests are secure and data-protected across all states and territories. πŸ’Ό Designed for Busy Professionals Like You: We understand your time is precious. Zealous guarantees a straightforward setup, intuitive operation, and efficient management to make every second count in orchestrating successful contests\! 🀝 Live Support: Navigate with ease through your Zealous journey. Our dedicated live chat team is here to assist you every step of the way, ensuring a seamless experience wherever you are in the world. Our dedicated team ensures your contests run smoothly, from inception to celebration\! Experience the delight of the Zealous journey: Create your project. Get started for free in minutes through a secure online portal. (We have live demo options too if you would prefer support). Accept applications. Locally or globally with optional payments. Judge entries online. Multiple evaluation rounds and optional anonymous scoring to eliminate bias. Expand your impact. Reach a wider network with a visually delightful experience. 🌎 Zealous has a creative community of over 70,000 individuals looking for new contests to enter. πŸ•‘ Zealous users save an average of 6 working days per 1,000 entries received. πŸš€ Click "Visit Website" To Get Started for Free and Embark on a Hassle-Free Journey with Zealous\! > > Verdict: Rated **4.7/5** by 60 users. Top-rated for **Likelihood to recommend**. ----- ## Quick Stats & Ratings | Metric | Rating | Detail | | **Overall** | **4.7/5** | 60 Reviews | | Ease of Use | 4.4/5 | Based on overall reviews | | Customer Support | 5.0/5 | Based on overall reviews | | Value for Money | 4.7/5 | Based on overall reviews | | Features | 4.3/5 | Based on overall reviews | | Recommendation percentage | 90% | (9/10 Likelihood to recommend) | ## About the vendor - **Company**: Zealous Solutions - **Founded**: 2011 ## Commercial Context - **Starting Price**: Β£0.00 - **Pricing model**: Other (Free version available) (Free Trial) - **Pricing Details**: Four paid tiers plus a free plan. Free plan at Β£0 includes limited entries with unlimited programs and storage. Starter at Β£26/month, Pro at Β£79/month, and Scale at Β£239/month are flat-rate monthly plans that increase submission limits and features. An Enterprise tier offers custom pricing with higher submission volumes and additional contractual and support options. Entry fee commissions apply on lower tiers and are removed on Enterprise. - **Target Audience**: Self Employed, 2–10, 11–50, 51–200, 201–500, 501–1,000, 1,001–5,000, 5,001–10,000, 10,000+ - **Deployment & Platforms**: Cloud, SaaS, Web-based, Mac (Desktop), Windows (Desktop), Linux (Desktop), Chromebook (Desktop) - **Supported Languages**: English - **Available Countries**: Australia, Canada, Gibraltar, Ireland, Isle of Man, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States ## Features - Access Controls/Permissions - Activity Dashboard - Activity Tracking - Alerts/Notifications - Applicant Tracking - Approval Process Control - Awards Management - Blind Judging - Categorisation/Grouping - Collaboration Tools - Commenting/Notes - Contact Management - Customisable Branding - Customisable Forms - Customisable Questions - Customisable Reports - Customisable Templates - Customizable Fields - Data Import/Export - Document Review ## Integrations (1 total) - Stripe ## Support Options - Email/Help Desk - FAQs/Forum - Knowledge Base - Phone Support - Chat ## Category - [Competition Software](https://www.softwareadvice.co.nz/directory/4689/contest/software) ## Related Categories - [Competition Software](https://www.softwareadvice.co.nz/directory/4689/contest/software) - [Scholarship Management Software](https://www.softwareadvice.co.nz/directory/4373/scholarship-management/software) ## Alternatives 1. [OpenWater](https://www.softwareadvice.co.nz/software/144613/openwater) β€” 4.6/5 (73 reviews) 2. [Awardify](https://www.softwareadvice.co.nz/software/504486/Awardify) β€” 4.6/5 (25 reviews) 3. [Award Force](https://www.softwareadvice.co.nz/software/125758/award-force) β€” 4.8/5 (193 reviews) 4. [Woorise](https://www.softwareadvice.co.nz/software/473758/Woorise) β€” 4.7/5 (58 reviews) 5. [ShortStack](https://www.softwareadvice.co.nz/software/166909/shortstack) β€” 4.4/5 (156 reviews) ## Reviews ### "Unexpected Experience but a Smooth Sailing in Scoring Competition with Zealous" β€” 5.0/5 > **Fikri** | *5 May 2021* | E-Learning | Recommendation rating: 10.0/10 > > **Pros**: Considering this a scoring platform, but take it as an automation software which made everything essential, from organising your judges, assigning the scoring to the judges, and even calculating your average scores with an easy UI and commandable UX. It takes some time to learn but the best thing is the customer service themselves helped by assisting me with detailed walkthrough (through Microsoft Teams), and countless email of questions to which they assist me very well. The application and the scoring data can be downloaded easily as csv files, and even all applications can be in PDF forms. Truly appreciate it especially if you have to manually assign later on. I'd like to appreciate too how the team helped me initially when we encountered problems with my card (I couldn't pay through the website), but they invoiced me the payment (through email) and everything went well. > > **Cons**: I really wish that sub-categories can be introduced because mainly categories only might not be sufficient for the data. In example, Category A and sub-category 1 (instead of separating them into categories only). Another thing is, you may need to cater your own tutorial (but it's not really difficult) for the judges considering the level of understanding and literacy. > > I had so much fun and hoping to use this in the future. Worth every single pennies I spent. ----- ### "Functional and usable but small changes could make a big difference" β€” 4.0/5 > **Katie** | *18 July 2023* | Events Services | Recommendation rating: 8.0/10 > > **Pros**: Overall, Zealous was a good platform - it was relatively straight forward to set up and use and served it's purpose (in our case, collating entries for an industry awards event). The pricing structure was a huge improvement on the platform we had used prior which compensated for some of the features we lost by changing platforms. However, the best thing about Zealous is their customer service. Their team are very warm and friendly, no query is too much trouble and they are quick to respond to any queries. They also invite feedback in a way which made me feel that they really do want to continue improving, not just as a box-ticking exercise, and I have already been informed that some of our suggestions are being actioned which is really encouraging. It makes us feel valued as customers and makes it all the more likely that we will return year on year. > > **Cons**: It would have been good to have been able to fully customise the forms - some of the language didn't really suit our audience (it is quite arts-centric) so we had to be creative in how we made the obligatory fields work for our applicants. It would also be great to have greater control over comms sent via the platform, i.e. reminders of application deadlines etc, which currently can't be sent en masse to those with applications in progress (they had to be done individually) and also can't be branded to our company. Both of these would be great features to have. > > Overall our experience with Zealous was positive - the platform is easy to use, the low pricing allowed us to forgive some of the (very small) annoyances and the excellent customer service throughout was also a strong bonus. We appreciate how welcoming they were of feedback and their desire to make improvements and changes to the functionality accordingly, so would definitely recommend Zealous and would be happy to use the platform again going forward. Our application numbers were up on the previous year. ----- ### "Excellent customer service" β€” 5.0/5 > **Stepanka** | *5 March 2021* | Arts & Crafts | Recommendation rating: 6.0/10 > > **Pros**: We really like the quick response we got from the customer service. The staff dealt with our issues very quickly, suggested several improvements and were overall very helpful. > > **Cons**: It wasn't clear that launching an unpaid opportunity within the free trial was limited by only six submissions. However, our concerns were resolved with the customer service to mutual satisfaction. > > We used Zealous for launching an open call for free exhibition. Most of other platforms do not charge for free opportunities since they gain subscribers who need to register before they enter the opportunity. This was a little disappointing to receive a warning that we have reached the free trial limit and our account was going to be frozen. Zealous should make it more obvious that the service is free to only certain extent. Their quote on the website "It costs you nothing to be part of Zealous and it never will." is missleading. ----- ### "Outstanding Judging Platform with equally outstanding Customer Service" β€” 5.0/5 > **kathryn** | *16 December 2020* | Higher Education | Recommendation rating: 10.0/10 > > **Pros**: The software was extremely flexible to use and was able to be modified to fit the needs of the Contest. The entrants are students, and some of the judges are also students, so anonymous judging was required. The contest was set up so the entrants would have minimal questions (i.e., distractions) to answer prior to entering the contest. We had a lower than expected drop out rate from initial review of contest to actual entry to contest, which is a huge win. The contest also required a large number of judges, from students, alumni of the school, and community members. This was also easily accommodated in zealous.co. The results of the contest will be posted on various local, state and ideally national museums and archives. A huge shout out to Zealous.co who has a flexible product that performs and is part of this historical process. Well done. > > **Cons**: Nothing. The product met the objectives of the essay contest with clear guidelines, and ease of use for administrators, judges and entrants, as well as the museums who will be archiving this information. > > I cannot express how delighted and thankful I am with the Zealous product and the Zealous team. The platform is extremely easy to use for the administrators, entrants and judges alike. The process saved hundreds of hours as the site organizes the project, presents options for the contest as well as provides options for judging. The team at Zealous is extremely supportive and has a sincere interest in ensuring the event is structured in a way to ensure success. The contest was an essay contest for a US High School, and ease of use was a critical need. The number of entries received were double what was expected. This success is highly correlated to the professionalism of the platform the users saw, and the ease of use for High School Students is a very big deal. This essay contest was for students to document how Covid-19 has impacted them, in 2020. It is likely the essay contest would not have taken place had it not been for Zealous. Thank you \[SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN\] - you are rock stars\! If you are deciding on a platform to use for your contest, stop here and use Zealous. ----- ### "Excellent competition portal and submission management" β€” 5.0/5 > **Matt** | *3 February 2021* | Civic & Social Organisation | Recommendation rating: 8.0/10 > > **Pros**: We've been using Zealous for our Creative Future Writers' Award competition for several annual rounds. It's fairly easy to set up, quite customisable, and provides an excellent portal for us to collect and sort submissions. Initially we were hesitant about the potential for people submitting having problems with it, having to mediate their technical problems and/or hiccups, but these have been nearly non-existent. Previously we had an in-house portal on our website and as submissions rose year on year (from 300 to 1,500) it was really clear this wasn't working at all, and the level of manual administration was totally eliminated by transferring over to Zealous. From a user-end standpoint, it's very professional looking and incorporates all of our branding. Previously we received a much higher proportion of e-mail/postal entries and these have probably gone down significantly due to the ease of entering via Zealous. > > **Cons**: We have found Zealous really flexible and easy to use. There are only a couple of minor aspects we're working with them on (scoring before the closing date and processing optional entry donations)--and Zealous is doing all they can to address these. Occasionally we've found submissions slow to load when reading them but I gather this has been fixed. > > The Zealous team has been really great at helping us manage our competitions and addressing our feedback. They are quick to respond and clearly value us even as a small customer. ----- Page: 1 / 4\ Next: [Next page](https://www.softwareadvice.co.nz/software/338464/zealous?page=2) ## Links - [View on SoftwareAdvice](https://www.softwareadvice.co.nz/software/338464/zealous) ## This page is available in the following languages | Locale | URL | | en | | | en-AU | | | en-GB | | | en-IE | | | en-NZ | | ----- ## Structured Data