Running a competition on Facebook is a great way to increase your reach, likes and the engagement people have with your page. We’ve spoken about making your competition successful, but how about getting a third party app to do the work? They can add functionality such as gaining email addresses and other information, as well as keeping you on the right side of Facebook’s Terms and Conditions.

Unsurprisingly, there are loads of apps out there that want to run competitions on your page for you. Some are better than others, and we know you don’t want to waste time with a useless app that doesn’t get results, so we’ve made a list of five of the best third party apps on the market.

Woobox

Campaign types: sweepstakes, coupons, photo contests, quizzes, polls, video contests, print to win, instant win, leaderboards

Cost: free (no Facebook ad tools included) or $30 a month

The good bits: With around 4 million customers, and loads of customisation features, it’s no surprise that Woobox is one of the most popular on the market. The simple interface makes it easy to set up campaigns, and a clear dashboard allows for easy tracking so you know exactly how many people are entering your competitions and how much traffic you’re getting.

The bad bits: The free plan is quite restricted, so you’ll be having to fork out around £25 a month. You’ll also need to create your own forms as there aren’t any built in templates.

Wishpond

Campaign types: sweepstakes, photo contests, video contests, vote contests, essay contests, photo caption contests, group offers, coupons, referral promotions

Cost: from $45 a month

The good bits: Contests and promotions are just a small part of Wishpond, so that $45 a month opens up much more for you. There are several templates for you to use, and they can easily be integrated onto your Facebook page without any fuss. Some of the contests available incorporate market research, giving you a lot of valuable information such as email address.

The bad bits: If you’re just after competitions, then this might get a little pricey for you. However, if you are after email marketing and landing pages then it could be great.

Shortstack

Campaign types: sweepstakes, photo and video contests, voting contests, polls

Cost: Free for up to 25 entries, $29 a month for 5,000 entries

The good bits: To be blunt, Shortstack is great because it is simple. There’s no software to download, no coding to do, and you can literally drag and drop to create campaigns. There are over 90 pre-built campaign templates to choose from, and over 30 pre-designed themes. You can also schedule your content!

The bad bits: To be honest, there isn’t much wrong with Shortstack. Both the free plan and the $29 plan only allow tracking with Google Analytics, so some more in-depth reports coule be useful.

Agorapulse Contest

Campaign types: sweepstakes, quizzes, photo contests

Cost: free

The good bits: First and foremost, this app is completely and utterly free! Users can run any type of contest as many times as they want, on any number of pages they manage. It is very simple and easy to use, so great for those just starting out in Facebook competitions.

The bad bits: It is quite basic, as you would expect. Agorapulse allows for social media management, but that costs. Agorapulse Contest is basically the little sibling.

Heyo

Campaign types: photo contests, video contests, hashtag campaigns, essay contests, sweepstakes

Cost: $25 a month

The good bits: This drag-and-drop platform makes it super easy for user to launch competitions. The pre-built templates are fully editable, allowing you to customise the competition to suit your brand…and there’s no coding involved! Pick a winner features make things simple, and there’s free live training available.

The bad bits: The $25 a month is billed annually, meaning you’ll have to pay out $300 from the word go and the 7-day trial only gives a peep into what you’ll get.