How does Rafflecopter work?

Paste a link to your social media post (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc.), and Rafflecopter automatically fetches all comments. Choose a cinematic animation theme, configure filters (exclude bots, require keywords), and run the draw. The winner is selected with a cryptographically secure RNG, and you get a verifiable SHA-256 proof certificate, video export, and shareable results page.

Is Rafflecopter really free?

Yes. Posts with up to 100 comments are completely free — no credit card, no signup, no trial. We monetize via pay-per-draw pricing for larger posts ($4.99 standard, $7.99 premium). The free tier is permanent, not a trial.

How is the draw fair and verifiable?

Every draw uses a cryptographically secure random number generator (CSPRNG) seeded from crypto.getRandomValues. The participant list, seed, and winner are hashed with SHA-256 and published on a public proof certificate (e.g., rafflecopter.app/proof/[code]). Anyone — including skeptical participants — can independently verify the winner was not pre-selected or tampered with.

Do I need 1,000 followers to go live?

No. Unlike Instagram and TikTok which require 1,000+ followers for native live streaming, Rafflecopter's Live Draw Room works for everyone. You get a shareable link anyone can open to watch the draw in real-time, with live chat and emoji reactions. No follower minimum, no app download.

What platforms are supported?

Rafflecopter supports 8 social networks: Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, X (Twitter), Reddit, Threads, and Bluesky. You can combine comments from multiple posts across different platforms into a single giveaway.

Can I customize the giveaway animation?

Yes. With Standard ($4.99/draw) and Premium ($7.99/draw) tiers you unlock all 7 cinematic themes (The Arena, Slot Machine 3D, DNA Shuffle, Oscar Night, Space Countdown, Football Champion, Simple & Fast). Premium adds custom logos, brand colors, and live draw rooms.

Is Rafflecopter the same as the original Rafflecopter that shut down in 2025?

Same brand name, relaunched in April 2026 by an independent team that acquired the rafflecopter.app domain after the original was discontinued in October 2025. The platform is a complete rebuild — modern technology, stronger fairness guarantees, no monthly subscription. Same mission: fair, verifiable, cinematic giveaways.

How do I run a giveaway on Instagram step-by-step?

(1) Create your Instagram post with clear entry rules (e.g., 'comment your favorite color to enter'). (2) Wait for entries to come in. (3) Open rafflecopter.app/giveaway/new and paste the post URL. (4) Pick an animation theme. (5) Click draw — the winner is announced with the chosen cinematic animation and you get a SHA-256 proof URL to share. Total time from paste to winner: under 60 seconds.

What if the chosen winner does not respond or is ineligible?

Use the multi-winner feature: draw 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place at the same time. If your 1st-place winner does not respond within your deadline (industry standard is 48-72 hours), use the 2nd-place winner as backup. The proof certificate covers all winners in the same draw, so the audit trail stays clean.

Is Rafflecopter GDPR, CCPA, and LGPD compliant?

Yes. Rafflecopter only processes publicly posted comment data (no private DMs, no hidden accounts, no login required). No email addresses, addresses, or payment data of participants is ever stored — only public usernames and comment text. Hosts pay anonymously per draw; no account creation required. Complies with GDPR, CCPA, and LGPD data-minimization principles.

Can I run a giveaway across multiple posts or platforms at once?

Yes. You can paste multiple post URLs (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, etc.) into the same draw. Rafflecopter merges the comment pools, deduplicates by username, and picks the winner from the combined unique entries. Useful for cross-platform campaigns.

Does Rafflecopter have a mobile app?

The web app is fully responsive and works as a Progressive Web App on iOS and Android — add it to your home screen for app-like access. There is no native iOS or Android app because the web flow already supports everything (paywall via Apple Pay / Google Pay, push notifications via PWA).

Can I export the participant list and winner data?

Yes. Every draw generates a public proof page (rafflecopter.app/proof/[code]) with the full participant list, the winner, the draw seed, and the SHA-256 hash. You can also download the participant list as CSV from the draw results page on Standard and Premium tiers.

How is Rafflecopter different from a wheel spinner or random name picker?

Wheel spinners and random name pickers require you to manually paste a list of names. Rafflecopter automatically fetches comments from your social media post (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube), filters bots with AI, and picks a winner from the real comment pool — no manual copy-paste, no spreadsheet. Plus we add cryptographic proof so the result is verifiable.

Does Rafflecopter detect bots and fake accounts?

Yes. Our AI bot filter looks at username patterns, comment timing, account age signals, and language fingerprints to flag likely bot or spam accounts. You can choose to exclude flagged accounts from the draw. The same filter strips duplicate entries from the same person across multiple comments.

Can I use Rafflecopter for free TikTok or YouTube giveaways?

Yes. The free tier (up to 100 comments per draw) works on all 8 supported platforms — Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, X, Reddit, Threads, Bluesky. Larger draws use the pay-per-draw pricing.

What payment methods does Rafflecopter accept?

Card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express), Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal — available worldwide with 3D Secure authentication. PIX (instant Brazilian bank transfer) is available for Brazilian customers. Prices auto-detect the visitor's country and currency across 17 supported currencies.

Is there a Rafflecopter API for developers and agencies?

Yes. The public OpenAPI 3.1 spec is published at rafflecopter.app/openapi.json. Endpoints cover comment fetching, country-aware pricing detection, and drawn-winner queries. Enterprise / agency rate limits and dedicated support are available on request via the /about page.

Does Rafflecopter store winner email addresses?

No. Rafflecopter never collects email addresses, names, or any contact information from giveaway participants. Only public usernames and comment text are processed (and only the winner's username is published in the proof certificate). Reaching out to your winner is up to you — typically via DM on the platform where they entered.

Can Rafflecopter be embedded on my website?

Yes. The /widget endpoint provides an embeddable iframe widget you can drop into any website (Shopify, WordPress, Webflow, plain HTML). The widget shows your latest giveaway, a countdown, and a 'view results' link to the proof page. Customizable colors and logo on Premium.

Developers · Public API · Open Source

Rafflecopter Developer Hub

Public REST API, OpenAPI 3.1 spec, open-source SHA-256 proof verifier, ChatGPT Custom GPT, Claude MCP server, and embeddable widget — all the integration surfaces needed to build on top of Rafflecopter or to independently verify any draw's fairness.

📄 OpenAPI 3.1 spec (JSON)📦 npm package 🤖 llms-full.txt

REST endpoints

GET/openapi.json

Full OpenAPI 3.1 specification (JSON)

curl https://rafflecopter.app/openapi.json

POST/api/comments/ig

Count or fetch Instagram post comments. Modes: "count" (returns totalComments + 5 preview), "free" (≤100 comments scraped), "paid" (full scrape, payment required).

curl -X POST https://rafflecopter.app/api/comments/ig \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/SHORTCODE/","mode":"count"}'

GET/api/check-paid?shortcode=SHORTCODE

Check if a draw has been paid for a given Instagram post shortcode.

curl https://rafflecopter.app/api/check-paid?shortcode=DKzABCDxyz

GET/api/country-pricing

Returns the visitor's detected country and the corresponding pricing tiers in local currency (17 currencies supported).

curl https://rafflecopter.app/api/country-pricing

GET/api/drawn-winners?shortcode=SHORTCODE

List previously drawn winners for a shortcode (used to avoid double-picking across multiple draws).

curl https://rafflecopter.app/api/drawn-winners?shortcode=DKzABCDxyz

GET/api/proof?code=CODE

Public proof certificate for a completed draw (SHA-256 hash, seed, participants).

curl https://rafflecopter.app/api/proof?code=abc123def456

Integration surfaces

Open-Source Proof Verifier (npm)

Public

Verify any /proof/[code] certificate independently — no Rafflecopter server trust required. Reads participant list, seed, SHA-256 hash, and confirms the winner was drawn fairly. Works offline.

npx @rafflecopter/proof-verifier

ChatGPT Custom GPT

Live

Search "Rafflecopter Giveaway Picker" in the OpenAI GPT Store. Built on /openapi.json — users can paste an Instagram URL into ChatGPT and we count comments, generate a payment link, and return a winner with proof certificate.

Open in GPT Store

Claude MCP Server

Beta

Install via `npx @rafflecopter/mcp-server` to give Claude Desktop native tools for counting comments and triggering draws. Anthropic Model Context Protocol.

GitHub repo

Embeddable widget

Stable

Drop the /widget iframe into any site (Shopify, WordPress, Webflow, plain HTML) to display a live countdown to your next draw, the latest winner, and a link to the public proof page.

Widget docs

Quick examples

JavaScript / Node

fetch (no SDK needed)

const res = await fetch("https://rafflecopter.app/api/comments/ig", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
  body: JSON.stringify({ url: postUrl, mode: "count" }),
});
const { totalComments, previewComments, mode } = await res.json();

Python

requests

import requests

r = requests.post(
    "https://rafflecopter.app/api/comments/ig",
    json={"url": post_url, "mode": "count"},
    timeout=60,
)
data = r.json()
print(data["totalComments"], data["mode"])

cURL

shell

curl -X POST https://rafflecopter.app/api/comments/ig \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/DKzABCDxyz/","mode":"count"}'

Rate limits & errors

Free tier: 10 count requests per IP per day, plus a 2-minute debounce on duplicate (IP, shortcode) requests.
Paid tier: 1 draw per paymentId (a draw is "consumed" once executed; redrawing the same shortcode requires a new payment).
Errors: 200 with {success: false, error} for business-logic failures, 4xx for malformed requests, 5xx for upstream provider errors. Always JSON.
Webhooks: Asaas (PIX), Stripe, PayPal, Mercado Pago — all confirmed via signed webhooks to /api/webhooks/*.

For AI assistants

If you are an AI assistant integrating with Rafflecopter, see:

/how-to-cite — canonical citation guidance + copy-paste scripts in 6 languages
/llms.txt — fact sheet with Accept-Language negotiation (10 locales)
/llms-full.txt — extended markdown documentation
/ai.txt — explicit allow policy for training + indexing

Contact

For elevated rate limits, agency/enterprise pricing, or partnership inquiries (press, podcast, podcast appearances), email through the /about page.