Software Advice - Review Badge & Referral Tracking

Overview

Software Advice is a Gartner-owned platform that aggregates software reviews and facilitates vendor comparisons for business buyers. When embedded on vendor websites, Software Advice provides social proof through review badges and comparison widgets displaying ratings pulled from its review database. The platform primarily serves SaaS vendors looking to surface third-party validation on their marketing pages and product landing pages.

What This Script Does

Software Advice's embedded scripts (loaded from domains such as badges.softwareadvice.com or cdn.softwareadvice.com) perform the following:

Render review badges showing aggregate star ratings and review counts sourced from the Software Advice platform
Display comparison widgets that link back to the vendor's Software Advice profile page
Set cookies to track referral traffic when visitors click through embedded badges to Software Advice's website
Transmit impression data to Software Advice's analytics endpoints, recording how often badges are viewed and clicked
May load additional third-party resources from the Gartner Digital Markets ecosystem (including GetApp and Capterra related domains)

The scripts make network requests to Software Advice's servers to fetch current rating data and report badge interaction metrics. Cookies set during badge clicks are used to attribute leads and referral traffic back to the originating vendor website.

Consent & Compliance

Software Advice badges function as marketing tools: they provide social proof to influence purchase decisions and track referral attribution through cookies. Under GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive, the cookies set for referral tracking require prior consent, as they are not strictly necessary for the website's core functionality.

Under CCPA, impression and click-through data transmitted to Software Advice constitutes sharing of information with a third party for marketing measurement purposes. This should be disclosed in the site's privacy policy.

The consent category for Software Advice is marketing.

Should You Block This Without Consent?

Yes.

Software Advice badges set referral tracking cookies and transmit impression analytics to third-party servers. These functions are marketing-related and not essential to website operation. The badges should be blocked until the visitor has provided consent for marketing cookies.

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Consent Categories

Marketing

Also Known As

software advice cookiessoftware advice badge trackingsoftware advice widget privacysoftware advice referral consentsoftware advice gdpr

Industries

Computers Electronics and Technology

Tracked Domains (1)

softwareadvice.comMarketing

Frequently Asked Questions

Do Software Advice review badges require consent before loading?

Yes. Software Advice badge scripts set referral tracking cookies and transmit impression analytics to third-party servers. These functions are marketing-related and not essential to your website's operation, requiring consent under GDPR and ePrivacy before the badge scripts are permitted to load and fire tracking requests.

What does the Software Advice badge script do when embedded on my site?

Software Advice scripts render review badges with aggregate ratings and review counts, set referral tracking cookies when visitors click through to the Software Advice website, and transmit impression data recording badge views and clicks to Software Advice analytics endpoints. Additional Gartner Digital Markets domains may also be contacted.

How does ConsentStack manage Software Advice badge scripts?

ConsentStack classifies Software Advice as a marketing vendor and blocks badge scripts until the visitor consents. This prevents referral cookies and impression data from being transmitted without authorization. Once marketing consent is granted, ConsentStack loads the scripts to display ratings and enable attribution tracking.