You've got a great review on G2. Your customer said something perfect about your product that would work beautifully in an ad or on your homepage. But can you actually use it? The answer is more nuanced than most marketing teams realize. Using review quotes in marketing materials legally requires understanding the specific rules each platform enforces, and those rules vary enough that what works on Capterra might get you flagged on Trustpilot.
The risk feels abstract until it isn't. Platform teams send cease-and-desist notices. Review content gets removed. Worse, you might inadvertently train your sales team on a practice that violates terms of service, spreading the compliance problem across your entire organization. But there's a safe path forward, and it doesn't require abandoning social proof entirely. It just requires knowing the mechanics of what's allowed.
The core rule: ownership and linking
Here's the uncomfortable truth that separates legal from illegal: G2, Capterra, and Trustpilot own the review text that customers write on their platforms. When you copy and paste a review quote directly into your website or collateral, you're republishing their content without permission. Technically, this violates their intellectual property rights, regardless of whether the reviewer is your own customer.
The legally safe alternative is embedding official widgets or HTML code that links back to the original review on the platform. When you use an embedded widget, you're not copying the text. You're creating a link that displays the review while the platform retains control over how it's presented and ensures proper attribution. This is compliant because the content stays on their platform, and they maintain editorial control.
If you want to extract and repurpose text, you need explicit permission. For G2, that means contacting legal@g2.com. For Capterra, the process is similar but the restrictions are tighter. Capterra's content policy requires vendors to quote video reviews verbatim with full context, and paraphrasing isn't allowed. Any use of Capterra reviews outside their stated policy requires prior written approval, which adds friction but is the only fully defensible route.
What each platform actually allows
G2 offers the most flexibility. You can use their official embed code on your website, which appears as a widget linking back to G2. This is their preferred method because it drives traffic back to their platform. If you want to quote text directly in a case study or email, you should request permission first, but many vendors do this without formal approval and face minimal consequences because G2 prioritizes ecosystem growth. That said, relying on tolerance is different from being compliant.
Capterra is stricter. Their terms explicitly state that you cannot use review quotes in marketing materials without permission, with one exception: you can embed their official review widgets. If you quote a Capterra review in an email campaign or ad, you're violating their terms. The policy exists partly because Capterra wants to control the context in which reviews appear and partly because they want vendors to drive traffic back to their platform to expand their user base.
Trustpilot falls somewhere in the middle. They allow vendors to display reviews through their official embed widgets and iFrame solutions. Like the others, they prefer that you link back rather than copy text. Their enforcement is less aggressive than Capterra's, but that doesn't make direct copying compliant. The safest assumption across all three platforms is that embedding their official code is always safe, while copying text is always a risk.
The practical path: widgets, links, and context
For your website homepage or product pages, use the official embed widgets from G2, Capterra, or Trustpilot. These widgets pull live reviews directly from the platform, so they automatically stay current and compliant. Your developer can drop in the HTML snippet in under five minutes. The reviews appear with proper attribution, platform branding, and a link to the full review. Buyers see authentic social proof, and you're not reproducing content.
For sales collateral like one-pagers or pitch decks, the same logic applies. Instead of pasting text into a PDF, include a screenshot of the review widget, a QR code linking to the review, or a link to the review on the platform itself. Sales teams often resist this because it requires the buyer to click away to read the full review. The tradeoff is worth the compliance safety. A compliant approach that requires a click beats a non-compliant approach that might trigger platform enforcement.
For paid ads on LinkedIn, Google, or Facebook, you have even less room to maneuver. You cannot use direct quotes from G2, Capterra, or Trustpilot without permission, and most platforms don't grant it for ads because ads generate revenue that flows to you, not to them. Instead, use testimonials from direct customer conversations, which you can quote freely. If you want to reference a review rating or quote a specific platform, do it in a way that links back to the original review, or use aggregated stats like 'Rated 4.8 stars on G2 by 1,200+ customers' with a link to your profile.
When to request written permission
There are scenarios where the widget approach doesn't work. You're writing a detailed case study and want to include a specific customer quote from their review on Capterra. You're publishing a white paper and need to cite review data. You're creating a sales deck for a specific vertical and want to highlight reviews from that industry. In these cases, formal permission makes sense.
Contact G2's legal team at legal@g2.com or reach out to Capterra's vendor support and ask explicitly. Be specific about how and where you plan to use the content. Most platforms will say yes if you're honest, particularly if you're a paying vendor or if the use is limited in scope. Getting written approval takes a week or two but eliminates legal exposure entirely. That's the right move when the stakes are high or when the use case is outside their standard terms.
The bigger picture: leverage what you control
Here's a perspective shift worth considering. You have unlimited permission to use testimonials and quotes from customers who speak to you directly. Email, interviews, surveys, case study conversations. This is content you own, and it's often more valuable than platform reviews anyway because it's typically longer, more detailed, and more specific to your product's strengths. B2B buyers are influenced heavily by social proof, with reviews being the most influential source when they're creating shortlists. That doesn't mean all social proof has to come from third-party platforms.
Build a process to capture rich testimonials directly from your customers, and you reduce your dependency on platform quotes entirely. You'll have quotes you can use freely in ads, emails, case studies, and sales materials. You'll have context and texture that generic platform reviews often lack. And you'll stay compliant without friction. This isn't a workaround. It's actually a stronger strategy because the testimonials are deeper and you control the narrative.