Are you looking for the best WordPress plugin to run a giveaway on your site?
WordPress giveaway plugins let you create and host exciting contests on your site. This will help you boost engagement and make your site more interactive. At the same time, you can use contests to grow your email list, social media following, and drive traffic to your site.
In this guide, we’ll give you our handpicked list of the best giveaway plugins for your WordPress site that offer the best features.
How to Choose a WordPress Giveaway Plugin?
To host a contest on your site, there are plenty of tools available that you can simply install on your site and get started. You’ll never have to touch your site’s coding.
That said, not every plugin offers the same features and results. Before you pick one, especially if you’re investing in a premium plugin, here’s what you should look for:
- Ease of Use: The plugin should be user-friendly and easy to set up, especially if you’re not a technical expert.
- Entry Methods: Check if the plugin supports various entry methods such as email sign-ups, social media actions, referrals, etc.
- Customization: Look for customization options to match the giveaway’s branding and design.
- Random Winner Selection: Randomly selecting a winner helps maintain fairness.
- Integration: It’s helpful if you can integrate the contest with your email marketing software, CRM, and other tools you use.
- Tracking and Analytics: This will help you measure the success of your giveaway.
- Legal Compliance: You’ll want to be sure you comply with relevant laws and regulations, especially when it comes to giveaways, sweepstakes, and data collection.
Aside from this, make sure the plugin has good customer support and comprehensive documentation. With any WordPress plugin, you’ll likely face issues or have questions, so it’s important that you be able to connect with customer support to get help.
Remember that the right choice can significantly impact the success of your giveaway campaign.
Now let’s take a look at the best contest plugins you can choose from.
Best WordPress Giveaway Plugins
1. RafflePress
RafflePress is the best giveaway and contest plugin for WordPress. It’s designed to be an all-in-one solution to help you create and manage successful giveaways, contests, and sweepstakes on your WordPress website.
First, it comes with an intuitive drag-and-drop builder, making it easy for users of all technical levels to create giveaway campaigns without coding knowledge.
Next, it offers a wide range of entry methods to engage your audience, including:
- Email opt-in
- Social media actions (such as sharing or following)
- Refer-a-friend entries
- Custom actions (like visiting a specific page)
RafflePress also allows users to earn bonus entries by completing bonus actions items such as “Joining your Facebook page” and more.
RafflePress allows you to customize the appearance of your giveaway to match your website’s branding. There are premade templates available.
You can change colors, fonts, and add custom CSS. You can also create a dedicated landing page for the contest.
To embed the contest, you can use the readymade Gutenberg block, widget, or shortcode.
Added to this, it offers a fair and transparent random winner selection process, ensuring that your giveaway is conducted impartially.
If you want to sync the contest with other marketing campaigns, you can! RafflePress integrates with popular email marketing platforms like MailChimp, Constant Contact, and more, making it easy to grow your email list.
The plugin is designed to work seamlessly on mobile devices. This is so important given that most internet users are on their smartphones often.
Highlights
- Giveaway templates and a drag-and-drop editor
- 1-click entry
- Fraud protection
- Built-in viral sharing features
- Social sharing
- Integrations with marketing, CRM, and social media platforms
- Compliant with data protection regulations like GDPR when collecting user data
- Reliable customer support and extensive documentation
- Several add-ons to extend its functionality
- Built-in analytics and reporting features
Added to all this, RafflePress has extensive documentation and tutorials you can follow to make your contests a success.
RafflePress offers both free and premium versions. The premium plans provide access to advanced features and integrations, and pricing is based on the number of websites you want to use it on.
Get started with RafflePress »
2. OptinMonster
OptinMonster is the #1 lead generation tool in the market that comes with contest wheels.
These spin-to-win coupon wheels to engage visitors and encourage them to subscribe or take other actions on your website. This interactive feature can be a fun way to boost conversions and collect leads.
There are premade templates to get you started. Then you can use the drag and drop builder to customize the colors, fonts, and images to match your brand and make the wheel visually appealing.
OptinMonster lets you divide the wheel into slices, each representing a different coupon or discount. You can create various segments with different prizes, such as percentage discounts, free shipping, or other special offers.
You also control the probability of winning. All you have to do is assign a probability to each segment to control the likelihood of winning each prize.
There are options to add a trigger to start the spinning of the wheel. Typically, visitors need to take a specific action, such as clicking a button or subscribing to your newsletter, to access the wheel.
The most powerful part about this is you can set display rules based on visitor behavior, such as exit-intent, time spent on the site, or scroll depth. This ensures that the wheel engages visitors at the right moments.
OptinMonster also lets you connect the campaign to your email marketing platform. This allows you to automatically collect and store leads who spin the wheel and provide their email addresses.
This also lets you continue the customer’s journey even after they’ve engaged with the contest. You can display a customized notification that appears when a visitor wins a prize on the coupon wheel. You can include a congratulatory message and instructions on how to redeem the coupon.
Aside from the coupon wheels, you can also create other campaign types like popups, slide-ins, scroll boxes, floating bars, and more.
Highlights
- Stunning templates
- Drag and drop editor
- Targeting and retargeting rules
- Exit intent contests to recover abandoning visitors
- Email integrations with services like Constant Contact and Mailchimp
- Connect to Google Analytics
- Test campaigns and adjust in real time
Get started with OptinMonster »
3. Simple Giveaways
Simple Giveaways is designed to help website owners easily create and manage basic giveaways and contests directly on their WordPress websites. It’s a user-friendly tool suitable for individuals, small businesses, or bloggers who want to engage their audience and grow their online presence through giveaways.
It comes with a user-friendly dashboard where you can set up, manage, and monitor your giveaways with ease.
You can offer simple entry methods for participants, such as commenting on a post, subscribing to an email list, or following social media accounts. It’s also easy to add and manage prizes for your giveaways. You can also include prize descriptions, images, and any necessary details.
One thing that stands out is that you can specify the start and end dates and times for your giveaways, allowing you to control when they are active.
Highlights
- Customizable entry methods
- Custom styling
- Easy prize management
- Entry tracking
- Anti-fraud measures
- Email integrations
There’s a free version as well as a premium plugin.
Get started with Simple Giveaways »
4. WP Contest Creators
WP Contest Creators is a service rather than a tool to help you set up and run giveaway contests on your WordPress website.
You can let the team know what you need and they’ll set it up for you. Usually, requests are completed within 3 to 5 weeks but it can be more if the contest solution requested is more complex.
If you need to integrate the custom plugin with any other software, you can reach out to the developer and they’ll do it for you. The cost for this will depend on how complicated or simple the integration process is with the other software.
Highlights
- Your own contest solution
- No monthly or yearly fees
- Integrate it easily with a new or existing WordPress site
Get started with WP Contest Creators »
5. Gleam
Gleam is a plugin for running contests, giveaways, and interactive marketing campaigns. It offers a range of tools and features to help you engage with your audience and grow your online presence.
Gleam allows you to add and showcase prizes, along with descriptions and images, to attract participants. You can customize entry forms to collect participant information, including names and email addresses.
This giveaway tool automates the process of selecting winners fairly and transparently once the campaign ends. Plus, you get in-depth analytics and reporting tools to track campaign performance, monitor engagement metrics, and analyze conversion rates.
The platform integrates seamlessly with popular email marketing services, CRM systems, and other marketing tools to manage and utilize participant data effectively.
Highlights
- Instantly redeemable rewards
- Viral sharing options
- Email subscribers capture
- Import, curate and display content from social networks
- Run engaging photo competitions with the beautiful Gallery app
- Over 100+ integrations
6. KingSumo
KingSumo is a WordPress plugin and platform that specializes in creating viral giveaways and contests to help website owners grow their email lists and engage with their audience.
It’s designed to make it easy for users to set up and manage effective giveaway campaigns. There’s a straightforward setup process with a user-friendly dashboard.
You can showcase prizes effectively with descriptions, images, and details, making them attractive to potential participants.
KingSumo is particularly popular among bloggers, content creators, and small businesses looking to rapidly expand their email lists and boost user engagement through viral giveaways and contests.
Highlights
- Unlimited giveaways
- GDPR compliant
- Embed on any site
- Auto reminder emails
- Multiple prizes/websites
7. WPForms
WPForms is the best form builder for WordPress. You can set up a simple contest by creating a custom entry form. It can include fields for participant information, such as name, email address, and any other details you need.
WPForms has a Post Submission addon that you can use. This lets users upload files such as photos, videos, and blogs to enter your contest.
Set up confirmation messages within WPForms to thank participants for entering the contest and inform them about what to expect next.
WPForms includes security features to protect against spam entries and fraudulent submissions.
With WPForms Pro, you can manually track and manage entries submitted through WPForms.
Keep in mind that it does not provide features like automated random winner selection or tracking the number of entries per participant, which are typically found in dedicated contest plugins. So, WPForms is best suited for simple contests where you can manually manage the selection process and track entries.
Highlights
- 1000+ form templates
- Visual drag and drop builder
- Smart conditional logic
- Accept file uploads
- Built-in spam and captcha protection
- Seamless integrations with all popular email services
8. Rafflecopter
Rafflecopter is a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, meaning that to bring the giveaway widget to your WordPress site, you simply insert a code snippet.
What’s more, Rafflecopter seamlessly integrates with leading email marketing services and offers connectors to well-known social media networks. It comes with a refer-a-friend function and provides options for conducting polls and surveys as part of your campaigns.
You have the flexibility to personalize the appearance of the giveaway widget, adding your own images and backgrounds for a truly customized look.
Highlights
- 1-click random winners
- Unlimited giveaways and entries
- Embeddable entry form
- Export participant data
- Refer a friend
Rafflecopter has a free basic plan with limited features. You’ll need to upgrade to the paid plans get most of the features you need to create a successful giveaway.
The drawback here is that the pro plans are really expensive. You’ll get the same features and more with other contest plugins like RafflePress that come at a fraction of the cost.
Get started with Rafflecopter »
9. Lottery for WooCommerce
Lottery for WooCommerce is a plugin that’s designed to bring the excitement of lotteries and raffles to your WooCommerce-powered online store.
You can create and manage lottery campaigns seamlessly on your eCommerce store. These campaigns can offer various types of prizes or products to attract customer engagement.
There are various entry methods for customers, such as purchasing tickets, earning entries through actions like sharing on social media, or subscribing to newsletters.
Highlights
- Set a limited number of lottery tickets
- Add price per ticket
- Offer free tickets
- Select winners manually or automatically
- Email notifications for admin and users
Get started with Lottery for WooCommerce »
Bonus plugins:
1. Contests by Rewards Fuel: Create 6 kinds of contests with 35 entry methods and digital prizes.
2. Smash Balloon: Connect your social media contest to your WordPress site.
3. Easypromos: Create giveaways, online contests, games and digital experiences.
That’s our list of the best WordPress giveaway plugins. Below, we answer the most commonly asked questions about WordPress giveaways.
FAQs on Viral Giveaway Plugins
What are giveaway plugins in WordPress?
Giveaway plugins in WordPress are tools or extensions that allow website owners to create and manage giveaways, contests, sweepstakes, or other promotional campaigns on their WordPress websites. These plugins are designed to simplify the process of running such promotions and engage with their audience, build their email lists, or increase social media followers.
What is an entry form for a contest?
An entry form is basically where website visitors can enter the contest. These forms can include fields for name, email address, social media handles, and so on.
Should I add a countdown timer to my contest?
You definitely can! Most WordPress giveaway plugins include a countdown timer to create a sense of urgency and encourage more people to participate before the giveaway ends.
How to run a photo contest in WordPress?
If you want to run a contest where you accept photo submissions from users, we recommend using WPForms. It lets you create a form where you can accept file uploads safely from users.
How to run a quiz contest in WordPress?
You can use a plugin like Thrive Quiz Builder to run quizzes in WordPress.
Are there other giveaway plugins than the ones mentioned in this list?
Yes, there are! We only mention the top plugins that are best and most popular among WordPress users. Other tools include Wishpond, Woobox, ShortStack, and ContestFriend. You’ll find lots of other plugins in the WordPress plugin repository.
What are the benefits of hosting a contest on my WordPress site?
- Increase user engagement
- Make your site interactive
- Grow website traffic
- Get more social media followers
- Build your email list
- Collect user data and insights
- Promote products and services
- Build a community
Are there WordPress giveaway plugins with a free plan?
WordPress contest plugins with a lite or free plan include:
- RafflePress
- Simple Giveaways
- Contests by Rewards Fuels
- KingSumo
- Gleam
- Woobox
Which plugins can run polls and surveys in WordPress?
WPForms is the best form builder plugin for running surveys and polls. You can also see Formidable Forms and Woorise.
How to create a leaderboard contest or quiz in WordPress?
You can use the SweepWidget plugin to create a leaderboard competition in WordPress.
What is the best plugin for Facebook giveaway?
RafflePress is a great WordPress plugin to create Facebook-friendly contests.
Are there rules or laws to follow while hosting an online contest?
Yes, these legal regulations can vary depending on your country and jurisdiction. RafflePress includes a customizable template for terms and conditions that you can use in your giveaways. You can add specific rules, eligibility criteria, and other legal information required for your promotion. RafflePress also allows you to add checkboxes to your entry forms, asking participants for their consent to collect and use their personal information. This helps with compliance regarding data privacy regulations, such as GDPR.
Do I have to use Random Winner Selection?
You don’t have to use this feature, however, randomly selecting winners promotes fairness and transparency, addressing legal concerns related to fairness in contests and sweepstakes.
That’s all we have for you today. We hope this guide helped you find the best WordPress contest plugin. You may also want to see our other guides:
- 16 Best WordPress SEO Plugins and Tools
- 11 Best WordPress Page Builders Reviewed
- 7 Best Form Builder Plugins for WordPress
These guides reveal more of the best plugins for WordPress to boost SEO, build stunning landing pages and forms.
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