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Zealous

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Zealous

Zealous 2026: Benefits, Features & Pricing

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  • Overview
  • User Interface
  • Popular Alternatives
  • Popular Comparisons
  • Pricing and Plans
  • Features
  • Integrations
  • User Reviews

Overview

Zealous
Zealous
4.7
(53)

Pricing

Starting at £29.00 per month

Top Alternatives

About Zealous

<p><strong>🚀 Upgrade Your Contest Management Software with Zealous: </strong> Save Time, Save Money & Boost Entries!</p> <p>As your effortless contest management platform, Zealous manage submissions and boost entry volume, all while keeping judges &amp; participants seamlessly informed with timely automated emails.</p> <p>Dive into a smooth, engaging, and hassle-free contest journey with Zealous!</p> <p><strong>🎯 Core Functions &amp; Ultimate Benefits:</strong></p> <p><strong>🕐 Massive Time Savings:</strong> Automate tasks and manage submissions seamlessly to cut down your workload by up to 80%!<br> <strong>🚀 Skyrocket Submissions:</strong> User-friendly interfaces designed to enhance participant experience and notably boost application entry numbers!<br> <strong>🏆 Efficient Judging:</strong> Simplify the evaluation process with organized, transparent, and accessible judging portals!</p> <p><strong>🗣 What Our Clients Say:</strong></p> <p>"Using the Zealous system took away 80% of my workload." - Sue Ecclestone, Holly Bush Award<br> "Very impressed, we increased our submissions by 50%" - Sophie Smyth, Society for the Environment</p> <p><strong>💸 Flexible, Fair Pricing... with Zealous!</strong> Enjoy the freedom of being able to cancel anytime.</p> <p>Unlike other brands, there are no yearly lock-ins, no hidden fees – just transparent monthly pricing tailored to your schedule and budget.</p> <p>Start a cost-effective, flexible journey today!</p> <p><strong>🔒 🇺🇸 🇬🇧 Secure &amp; Compliant for USA/ UK Organisations.</strong> 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.</p> <p><strong>💼 Designed for Busy Professionals Like You:</strong> 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!</p> <p><strong>🤝 Live Support:</strong> 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!</p> <p><strong>Experience the delight of the Zealous journey:</strong></p> <ol> <li>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).</li> <li>Accept applications. Locally or globally with optional payments.</li> <li>Judge entries online. Multiple evaluation rounds and optional anonymous scoring to eliminate bias.</li> <li>Expand your impact. Reach a wider network with a visually delightful experience.</li> </ol> <p><strong>🌎</strong> Zealous has a creative community of over 70,000 individuals looking for new contests to enter.<br> <strong>🕑</strong> Zealous users save an average of 6 working days per 1,000 entries received.</p> <p><strong>🚀 Click "Visit Website" To Get Started for Free </strong> and Embark on a Hassle-Free Journey with Zealous!</p>

Zealous User Interface

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Zealous Pricing and Plans

Starting price: £29.00 per month
Free Trial
Free Version

Free

£0.00

Plan includes:

  • 1 Opportunity
  • Unlimited Drafts
  • Unlimited File Storage
  • Unlimited Judges
  • Unlimited Categories
  • 1 Round
  • Free Submissions Only
  • Branding & Vanity Domain
  • Livechat for Candidates
  • Automated Schedule & Emails
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Starter

£29.00

flat rate, per month

Plan includes:

  • Unlimited Opportunities
  • Unlimited Drafts
  • Unlimited File Storage
  • Unlimited Judges
  • Unlimited Categories
  • 1 Round
  • Free & Paid Submissions
  • Branding & Vanity Domain
  • Livechat for Candidates
  • Automated Schedule & Emails
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Pro

£89.00

flat rate, per month

Plan includes:

  • Unlimited Opportunities
  • Unlimited Drafts
  • Unlimited File Storage
  • Unlimited Judges
  • Unlimited Categories
  • Unlimited Rounds
  • Free & Paid Submissions
  • Branding & Vanity Domain
  • Livechat for Candidates
  • Automated Schedule & Emails
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Enterprise

£427.00

flat rate, per month

Plan includes:

  • Unlimited Opportunities
  • Unlimited Drafts
  • Unlimited File Storage
  • Unlimited Judges
  • Unlimited Categories
  • Unlimited Rounds
  • Free & Paid Submissions
  • Branding & Vanity Domain
  • Livechat for Candidates
  • Automated Schedule & Emails
Read More

Zealous Features

  • Popular features found in Contest
    Awards Management
    Entry Management
    For Marketers
    Landing Pages/Web Forms
    Promotions Management
  • More features of Zealous
    Access Controls/Permissions
    Activity Dashboard
    Activity Tracking
    Alerts/Notifications
    Blind Judging
    Categorization/Grouping
    Commenting/Notes
    Contact Management
    Customizable Branding
    Customizable Fields
    Customizable Forms
    Customizable Questions
    Customizable Templates
    Data Import/Export
    Document Review
    Electronic Payments
    Electronic Submission
    Email Reminders
    Entrant Management
    Entry Fee Processing
    Forms Management
    Judging Management
    Polls/Voting
    Progress Tracking
    Real-Time Analytics
    Real-Time Data
    Reporting & Statistics
    Scoring
    Skills Contests (Photo, Essay, Design, etc)
    Social Promotion
    SSL Security
    Third-Party Integrations
    Workflow Management

Zealous Integrations

Stripe
Stripe

Zealous User Reviews

Overall Rating

4.7

Ratings Breakdown

5

74%

4

25%

3

2%

2

0%

1

0%

Secondary Ratings

Ease of Use

4.4

Value for money

4.7

Customer support

5.0

Functionality

4.3

WKLyhne's profile
WKLyhne L.

Verified reviewer

Arts and Crafts

2-10 employees

Used daily for less than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed July 2022

Fabulous software for running a competition

5

see above

Ratings Breakdown

4
Ease of use
5
Value for money
5
Customer support
5
Functionality
icon
Pros:
We were a small start up during during lockdown who had never used a platform like this before. Zeaolus is easy to use, has wonderful features and flexibility and beyond belief good customer support. Heartily recommend
Cons:
The site graphics are complex and it can take a little while to load

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AH
Alasdair H.

Verified reviewer

Non-Profit Organization Management

11-50 employees

Used weekly for less than 6 months

Review source

Reviewed July 2025

A fantastic first year on the platform and we look forward to year two

4

Overall we were really pleased with the experience. Our Awards in the GCC are still new, this was year 3, but we achieved record number of entries, and tripled our budget. The platform added a layer of professionalism to them for both the entries and judging. We're really excited by the team's willingness to listen and build the platform, with constant developments and more knowledge on our end we know next year will help us to grow more.

Ratings Breakdown

4
Ease of use
5
Value for money
5
Customer support
4
Functionality
icon
Pros:
The platform made our judging incredibly easy and the user experience around the submissions, scoring and judging was great. The team at Zealous, especially [sensitive content hidden], were always there when we needed them to ask lots of questions and find the best way to build our Awards on the platform. The payments side of things with the Stripe integration made for easy payment and commerce.
Cons:
The platform is still new so they're building lots of areas and developing on the fly. Not necessarily a con, but I'm confident the platform will be greatly improved for the 2026 Awards.

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SF
Stepanka F.

Verified reviewer

Arts and Crafts

2-10 employees

Used other for free trial

Review source

Reviewed March 2021

Excellent customer service

5

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.

Ratings Breakdown

4
Ease of use
5
Customer support
4
Functionality
icon
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.

Vendor Response

Thank you for the great review Stepanka. Thank you also for the feedback, we'll be sure to take a look at our communications to make sure our pricing is clearer. (I know the pages aimed at artists using Zealous highlight us being free so that's where the ambiguity might be). All the best, Guy

Replied March 2021

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VW
Victoria W.

Verified reviewer

Cosmetics

2-10 employees

Used monthly for less than 6 months

Review source

Reviewed July 2025

Amazing site would highly recommend

5

Amazing experience, I never write reviews but this product was that good I felt I should. I would recommend them to anyone

Ratings Breakdown

4
Ease of use
5
Value for money
5
Customer support
5
Functionality
icon
Pros:
The help I received in the back end of the site was so valuable. I would have struggled with a few things without the help
Cons:
To be honest I’m not very technical, I couldn’t even make a square space website but I found this to be a very easy site to work around. And when I did get stuck help was only ever a few hours away at best.

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SC
Simon C.

Verified reviewer

Sports

2-10 employees

Used weekly for less than 12 months

Review source

Reviewed June 2022

Zealous effortlessly manages the Rugby Photographer of the Year awards

5

We had a very positive experience with Zealous. Apart from the platform just working and doing what we wanted it to do without any issues, the real bonus was the real time customer service. And not bot chat, but speaking to an actual person that had all of the answers and actioned them there and then. For me that was the real bonus to Zealous.

Ratings Breakdown

5
Ease of use
5
Value for money
5
Customer support
5
Functionality
icon
Pros:
The Zealous platform has ease of use at its heart. We used it for submissions to a photographic awards. We were easily able to set up multiple categories under one entry mechanism and make it easy for not only our own use but for applicants to use. We also saw a massive uptake in entries from our previous awards. We have to attribute that to the Zealous platform and the clear steps to making a successful submission.
Cons:
No cons to using Zealous. It did exactly what we wanted it to.

Vendor Response

Hi Simon, Thanks so very much for your glowing review! We're thrilled you enjoyed the platform and customer support. We're never far should there be anything more we can do to improve our services for your next Rugby Photographer of the Year awards All the best, Guy Founder

Replied June 2022

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LH
Lisa H.

Verified reviewer

Financial Services

5001-10000 employees

Used daily for less than 6 months

Review source

Reviewed May 2023

Great platform

5

Really pleased! The platform is great and the customer service is amazing! [sensitive content hidden] in particular were so helpful and friendly!

Ratings Breakdown

5
Ease of use
5
Customer support
5
Functionality
icon
Pros:
The platform itself is great, everything is in one place, easy to navigate and manage. However, for me, the customer service is what has really stood out. We had an unusual situation where I needed to take over the management of our account, and the team were amazing! They helped get me set up, hopped on calls to talk me through everything, were just on the end of the phone or an email away for any query I had and regularly checked in to make sure I understood everything. Really impressed!
Cons:
We had a couple of teething issues, as this is our first time using Zealous. I don't know if these are things we would have been able to do or if we'd need new functionality:A couple of our questions couldn't be formatted by the person entering the category, so they just appeared as one text block, rather than separated with line breaks.As this was a multi-stage entry process, the entrants didn't get an email notification when completing their finalist submissions.

Vendor Response

Hi Lisa, Thank you so much for the glowing review and the feedback. It's always much appreciated. The form currently gives you two options for text, one for simple blocks of text, and one for rich text (which allows for line breaks). I'll look into making sure these are closer together in the menu to make it clear to users they have a choice. I'll also look into creating an email to be sent out to candidates once they have completed editing any submissions in later rounds. Thanks again for taking the time to leave us a review! Guy

Replied May 2023

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SH
Sophie H.

Verified reviewer

Arts and Crafts

11-50 employees

Used monthly for less than 6 months

Review source

Reviewed May 2024

Great software for managing large open calls

4

Ratings Breakdown

4
Ease of use
3
Value for money
5
Customer support
4
Functionality
icon
Pros:
Zealous made the management of our art prize so much easier - the platform enabled judges to view admissions individually as well as collectively and made our administration of the entries so much easier. Would definitely use again.
Cons:
The pricing structure for paid entrants, this is very high compared to other options our there, especially as you're also paying a monthly fee.

Read More

IB
Imogen B.

Verified reviewer

Research

2-10 employees

Used daily for less than 12 months

Review source

Reviewed February 2021

Excellent submission portal and competition judging platform

5

Hosting our annual photography competition on Zealous was a revelation. The platform is incredibly easy to use at every stage of the process. Setting up the competition ‘opportunity’ was done in a matter of minutes even though we added a series of extra categories to customise the application form, and as submissions rolled in we were able to keep an eye on what we were receiving in realtime. Over the months we ran the call-out we received over 1,000 individual images, a notable increase from our previous competitions, in part due to the brilliant marketing from the Zealous team themselves. We had a complex judging process for the competition involving several rounds with different external judges, but on Zealous the organisation and management of this was relatively easy. All of the judges who took part in the process praised the platform for its sleek design, easy navigation and overall ease. We will definitely use Zealous again in the future and encourage anyone planning a competition or looking to collect submissions to try Zealous too!

Ratings Breakdown

4
Ease of use
5
Value for money
5
Customer support
4
Functionality
icon
Pros:
One of the best features of Zealous is the way that submissions are presented alongside their captions and the application form. When judging the competition, being able to easily click between views, selecting scores, and viewing scores in order, was incredibly useful. The automated messaging and rounds systems also saved us hours of administrative work and enabled us to focus our energies on the submission selections. But perhaps the biggest ‘pro’ of working with Zealous is the support that the team provides. Our internal team is not particularly tech-savvy and we had a lot of questions at the beginning, but no matter how many emails we sent, our account manager and the support team were quick to respond, friendly and just generally a pleasure to work with.
Cons:
We didn’t encounter any problems using the software, but it would be nice in the future to see more flexible scoring options and the ability to leave notes or feedback on submissions. But with all the updates Zealous offers, I’m sure it won’t be long until such features are available.

Vendor Response

Thanks for your feedback Imogen! You'll be happy to hear we've now added the ability to add categories and comments will be coming soon. These will no doubt be ready for your next competition. All the best, Guy

Replied March 2021

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Kim-lin's profile
Kim-lin H.

Verified reviewer

Environmental Services

11-50 employees

Used monthly for less than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed November 2023

Weather Photographer of the Year

5

Really good customer service and support! A useful and affordable tool for managing photography competitions.

Ratings Breakdown

4
Ease of use
4
Value for money
5
Customer support
4
Functionality
icon
Pros:
Fantastic and quick support. It was great to be able to rank the photographs during the judging process, to be able to easily pull of CSV files and access photographer quotes and information. Looking forward to using the new features next year.
Cons:
Unable to use batch commands when ranking long lists of photos but this has been fixed. Special characters in foreign language addresses not always working but this has also been fixed.

Read More

VR
Verified
Reviewer

Information Services

51-200 employees

Used weekly for less than 6 months

Review source

Reviewed April 2022

An efficient platform for awards judging

4

Overall a very good experience. A friendly team for support too.

Ratings Breakdown

4
Ease of use
5
Value for money
5
Customer support
4
Functionality
icon
Pros:
The judging process for our annual awards this year has been immensely successful thanks to the Zealous platform. Being able to assign specific categories to judges, score cards, and a robust submissions catalogue have shaved off a lot of time for all involved, and saved us days of manually faffing around in folders and spreadsheets.
Cons:
At the moment, score cards are limited to just numerical scoring. What would have made the judging process even easier for the panel would be the an open text box for comments. In general, score cards could do with a lot more components like "Yes/No" or "Listbox" segments, though I understand this is a relative new feature.

Reasons for choosing Zealous

It was the cheapest option

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