Facebook Random Winner Generator: How to Pick Giveaway Winners

You've posted a giveaway on your Facebook Page, the comments are piling up, and now you need one name. Fast, fair, and easy to explain if someone asks how you picked it.

The way people entered decides how you draw. A page like, a post like and a comment each leave a different trail, so match the picker to the entry.

Facebook's rules shape this too. Its Pages terms (section III.E, checked October 2026) ban using personal Timelines and friend connections to run a promotion. So "share to your Timeline to enter" and "tag your friends to enter" are out. Asking people to like or comment on your post, or like your Page, is fine. We cover the rest in our Facebook promotion guidelines.

Running a giveaway somewhere other than Facebook? Our random winner generator guide covers every platform.

Rewarding people for liking your Page used to be off limits for apps. Meta banned it in 2014, and that rule is no longer in its developer policies (last updated 3 February 2026). Gleam's Like a Facebook Page Action is back as a result.

Meta's Pages terms still say you run the promotion, not Facebook, so the draw is your job.

The catch is the draw.

Facebook doesn't hand you a tidy list of who liked your Page during the giveaway, so a "like our Page to win" post leaves you with nothing to draw from.

The fix is to collect the entries somewhere you control. Add the Like a Facebook Page Action to a Gleam Competition and every entrant is recorded as they go. Entrants sign in with Facebook, but Gleam can't confirm the like itself. So draw your winner, then check your Page's followers list for their name before you announce anything.

"Like this post to enter" is the simplest giveaway there is. It's also the hardest to draw fairly by hand.

Here's how to do it:

1. Close entries at the time you said you would
2. Open the list of people who reacted to the post
3. Count them, or copy the names into a spreadsheet so each one has a row number
4. Generate a number between 1 and that total with Random.org or Google's number generator
5. Count down to that number. That's your winner

If you've pasted the names into a list, skip the counting. Drop them into Gleam's free Random Name Picker and it picks one on screen.

Two limits to know. You can only draw from people Facebook shows you, and a post with a few thousand reactions turns step three into an afternoon. Past a few hundred entries, a comment import or an opt-in giveaway (both below) saves you the copying.

Comment giveaways are easier to draw because every entry is a piece of text you can collect.

They also let you ask a question ("What would you cook first?"), which gives you better comments than "Done!" over and over.

Meta does push back on posts that beg for engagement. Its engagement bait guidelines say posts that explicitly ask for comments, likes or shares get less reach, and giveaways aren't on its list of exceptions. A real question is the better ask anyway.

For a small giveaway, copy the comments into a spreadsheet, remove duplicates so each person has one row, and draw with a number generator or the Random Name Picker. Free comment picker tools that connect to your Facebook account do the copying for you. Most of them only pick, though. They won't check a comment followed your rules, and they don't keep a record of the draw.

Gleam's Competitions app imports the comments for you. Add a Facebook Comments import to your Competition, point it at a public post or photo on your Page, and every comment becomes an entry.

You decide what counts:

• Only comments with a specific hashtag or word
• Text comments, comments with photos or videos, or both
• One entry per person (the default), or hourly, daily or unlimited

When entries close, Gleam draws a random winner from the valid ones, and the draw sits in your campaign if anyone asks how you picked. Facebook comment imports are on the Business and Premium plans.

Entrants never leave Facebook. They comment on your post and that's their entry.

A post-only giveaway gets you likes or comments and nothing else. If you also want email subscribers, website visits or followers on other channels, run the giveaway on a Gleam Competition and post the link on Facebook.

Each Action earns entries.

Entrants can like your Facebook Page, visit your Instagram profile, follow or repost you on X, join your newsletter or check out your website.

Gleam records every entry as it happens, so the draw takes one click. Here's a live example:

You can embed the Competition on your own website or use one of our hosted landing pages, then share it on Facebook, Instagram, X and your email list.

The Facebook post itself still follows Facebook's rules. Ask people to click through and enter, not to share it to their Timeline or tag friends. Here's a post that sends people to a Gleam giveaway:

Whichever method you used, run the same checks:

• The winner entered during the dates you published
• They're eligible (age, country, not staff)
• Their entry follows your rules, and they didn't enter from several accounts
• If you rewarded Page likes, they've actually liked your Page
• You've saved a screenshot or export of the draw

Then message them, give them a deadline to reply, and draw again if they miss it. Our guide to announcing contest winners covers the wording.

Ready To Run Your Own Facebook Contest?

Read more about Running a Perfect Facebook Contest or check out the Gleam app and get started right away!