Our recent article on best giveaway tools for marketers listed 20 tools with distinct features. UpViral and Kingsumo were among them. KingSumo and UpViral are two special tools made by marketers Noah Kagan and Wilco De Kreij. These tools have different features that differentiate each other.
In this Kingsumo vs UpViral review, I will share key differences and thoughts on which tool is best based on features, cost-effectiveness, and long-term effectiveness for your business.
KingSumo is based in the United States, while UpViral is based in the Netherlands. Originally, Kingsumo was a WordPress plugin, and in this comparison between UpViral and Kingsumo, I will compare the cloud version of Kingsumo against Upviral.
Founders
One of the best ways to look at the product or a company’s direction is by looking at who controls it. KingSumo was founded by Noah Kagan founded several other online businesses like Appsumo and Sendfox.
Wilco De Kreij founded UpViral in 2015, and since its launch, UpViral has grown into a giveaway tool with tons of features. He also created SaaS apps like Connectio and sold them later to focus on UpViral.
Feature Comparison: Kingsumo vs UpViral
While Kingsumo (the cloud version, not the hosted WordPress plugin) is in beta and UpViral has developed and been on the market since 2015, both offer many features.
UpViral review
In my recent review on UpViral, I walked through the entire platform and shared the strengths and weaknesses of UpViral. Here are some:
Pros
- Unlimited giveaway campaigns, opt-in page visitors, winners, rewards, and grand prizes
- Integration with many popular email marketing tools and webinar platforms supports Zapier, Integrately, and HTML form integration.
- Drag-and-drop page builder to design all your opt-in and share pages without coding
- A/B test Opt-in page, Share Page, and email notifications
- Run giveaways on UpViral pages and your websites at the same time
- Use a custom domain name for landing pages and referral tracking
- Add custom fields
- Customize social media post images and messages
- Custom action features to incentivize campaign participants to complete tasks to get points.
- One-Click sign-up links to get people into campaigns without registering on the Opt-in page
- Analytics and Reporting
- Select winners based on two ways: Random weight drawing and the number of points accumulated
- Extend the close giveaway date as you wish
- Fraud detection
Cons
- No daily entry feature
- UpViral pricing can be challenging for a small business owner with a tight budget.
- People might need some time to get accustomed to the dashboard
For some years, UpViral has begun holding weekly co-pilot shows with UpViral experts and providing valuable training on running successful contests.
UpViral’s blog includes many case studies, and Knowledge Base is loaded with many tutorials. UpViral supports both Live Chat and email assistance (support@upviral.com).
Kingsumo review
KingSumo was originally made as a WordPress plugin. Now, it’s abandoned in development, and the cloud version is the top priority of the Kingsumo team. Although the KingSumo cloud version is still in beta, it has a fair amount of users through its sister company Appsumo.
Pros
- Official rules generator
- Lifetime price
- Translation options
- Built-in advanced spam and fraud prevention methods
- Create a newsletter referral program with SendFox
- Bonus giveaway entries for taking specific actions
- Automatic mid-giveaway and final 24-hour emails to your entrants
Cons
- No custom fields
- KingSumo branding on giveaway pages, widgets, and emails
- Limited direct integrations
- No A/B testing feature
- No referral functionalities
- No custom domains support
- No daily entry actions
- Limited post-giveaway actions
KingSumo does not have comprehensive learning materials as much as UpViral. Its support team can be reached via email (support@kingsumo.com).
Price comparison: Kingsumo vs UpViral
Two services use different pricing structures as of now.
UpViral prices
UpViral has three subscription-based packages.
- Starter – $79/mo
- Business – $119/mo
- Premium – $299/mo
While the Starter plan is the cheapest UpViral plan, it does not have key features like split testing and geo-location restriction.
At the beginning of UpViral, when they were launching, there was an UpViral Lifetime deal in which people could buy UpViral for a one-off fee. But, now you can only get a discount on Upviral.
Kingsumo prices
There are two plans for Kingsumo. Free and paid. The paid plan is currently offered in a lifetime price model and is sold on Appsumo.
For $49, you can get access to Kingsumo Pro with lifetime updates. However, even in the Pro plan, there are limitations, such as the ability to remove the Kingsumo attribution (e.g.: logo) from campaign pages and emails.
Which giveaway tool is good for you?
Kingsumo does not have a drag-and-drop page builder nor lets you add rewards to a competition. It has far fewer features than UpViral. Here’s a video that shows you how to run a giveaway using Kingsumo. Watch it to see the interface.
On the other hand, UpViral contains tons of features for giveaway creation. Templates are one of the most anticipated and loved parts.
UpViral’s Custom Actions builder makes it easy to create tasks. Here’s a short video on it.
UpViral drag-and-drop page editor allows you to embed custom HTML codes so that you and add HTML widgets such as a testimonial carousel slider with previous and next (to showcase reviews from clients and previous giveaway winners) and HTML countdown timers to display the close date and time of the campaign, etc.,
Although Kingsumo is a cheaper alternative to UpViral, when comparing the features and value for cost, UpViral gives you more capabilities.
If you are a beginner and cannot afford to spend money monthly, I recommend giving Kingsumo a try. It will give you more hands and give you more experience when you run giveaways. However, when you have the budget for a better Kingsumo alternative, Upviral would be an excellent choice for the reasons listed here.
Click here to check out UpViral.
Final words on Kingsumo vs UpViral
Choosing a good sweepstake platform will be challenging, specifically if you do not have experience with giveaway contest tools. Services like Kingsumo and UpViral make it easier for anybody to create a giveaway in a matter of hours without the coding skills needed.
In this UpViral vs Kingsumo review, you discovered key differences. I have used both platforms, and Upviral is the winner I have found based on many reasons:
- The weekly co-pilot show lets you submit your giveaway and get expert recommendations to optimize your campaign.
- Training materials on the UpViral learning center are priceless and can be accessed anytime.
- UpViral lets you import successful campaigns from others easily.
- Custom tracking links let you track best and poorly performing referral sources so you can optimize the campaign further, even though you can use a custom link click tracking software.
- Display Pop-up and Popover widgets on your websites so you can collect leads from your site, run evergreen rewards campaigns, and automate the lead-generation process.
- UpViral’s drag-and-drop page builder is easier to deal with, giving more possibilities than Kingsumo’s giveaway builder.
Overall, Kingsumo is still years behind UpViral in terms of functionalities. While Kingsumo is cheaper than Upviral, UpViral is the choice for marketers looking for limitless capabilities.
So, what is your verdict on Kingsumo versus UpViral?