What Is Gleam.io? How Gleam Giveaways Work and Who Runs Them

Just entered a giveaway and noticed "Gleam" at the bottom of the entry form? You're in the right place.

Gleam is software for running online giveaways and competitions. We're an independent Australian company based in Melbourne, and we build the entry form, the entry tracking and the tools for drawing winners.

The brand, creator or business that shared the giveaway with you is the one actually running it. They choose the prize, write the rules, pick the winners and send the prizes out.

So the giveaway you entered belongs to them. Gleam is the tool they used to build it, the same way a shop might take payments through a card terminal it didn't make.

Is it legit?

Gleam is a real company that's been running giveaways since 2013. Our about page says we've helped over 1 million businesses, which counts the businesses behind campaigns, not the people entering them. Whether a particular giveaway is legit comes down to the brand behind it, and we've written a full answer to whether Gleam is legit and safe to enter.

Every Gleam giveaway shows a prize, an end date and a list of Actions. An Action is one way to enter: subscribe to a newsletter, visit a profile, watch a video, answer a question, refer a friend. Each one you complete earns entries, and the widget keeps count for you.

That's a live example. Here's what's going on when you use one:

• You sign in once, with your email or a social account, so your entries are tied to you
• Some Actions are checked automatically with the social network, and others the brand checks by hand when it draws winners
• Gleam flags entries that look like fraud, and the brand can mark entries invalid if they break the rules (you won't see that status, only the brand does)
• If an Action won't work for you, the giveaway may be limited to certain countries

You don't have to buy anything to enter a giveaway. Where a brand offers a paid entry and No Purchase Necessary laws apply, there has to be a free way to enter too, and the giveaway's terms explain how.

When the giveaway ends, the brand draws winners. For most giveaways that's a random draw from the valid entries, so every entry you earned is another ticket in the draw.

Photo and video contests can be judged instead, and the terms will say so.

Gleam doesn't email winners or announce them. The brand does that.

So check these places if you're waiting to hear:

• The inbox of the email you entered with, spam folder included
• The giveaway widget itself, where some brands list their winners
• The brand's social accounts and your DMs, including message requests
• The terms and conditions, which should say how and when winners are contacted

Be wary of anyone who says you've won and asks for a payment, your card details or your password to release a prize. Check with the brand through its official website or social accounts before you reply.

The brand running the giveaway is the one that collects your details, and we handle that data on its behalf. That's why the brand's terms and privacy details sit on the giveaway itself. Gleam has passed a SOC 2 Type II audit (an independent check of our security controls), and our security page and privacy policy cover how we look after the data.

If you've entered a few giveaways and want out, you can delete your contestant account by emailing us.

Prize hasn't arrived, the brand has gone quiet, or the giveaway looks fake? Contact the brand first, since it's responsible for the prize. If that goes nowhere, report the campaign to us at support@gleam.io with the giveaway link. We'll look into it and pass it to the host, and a host that keeps breaking our terms loses the ability to run campaigns on Gleam.

More questions about entering are answered in our FAQs for entrants, and you can find more to enter on our live giveaways page.

If you'd rather run a giveaway than enter one, the widget above was built in Gleam Competitions. You pick the prize and the Actions, embed it on your site or share the landing page we host, then draw winners at random when it ends. Gleam writes Terms & Conditions for every Competition, and you can add your own on the Hobby Plan and above.

We also make Rewards (instant prizes with no draw), Capture (signup popups) and Galleries (photo and video walls), and you can use any of them alongside a Competition.