outsourceeasilycom Blog

The best virtual event platforms: Review and comparison of the best software

Mar 9, 2023

You've brainstormed some stellar ideas for your online conference , and you've even approached potential guests to speak at your conference. And they're showing curiosity, so do your stakeholders!

However, let's think is the best thing about the online event platform you'd utilize to host your virtual gathering?

Tough call? The truth is that despite the variety out there, it can be challenging to determine if a software is capable of fulfilling all your expectations while offering attendees a remarkable (and non-error-prone) the experience of your event.

Thankfully though, there are tools with friendly customer support staff who will help you organize your ideal virtual event , whether it a multi-day conference or a live workshop for training or even a webinar. All you need is to locate this gem.

In this article, we'll guide you through the process by examining the six best platforms for virtual event. They are all based on testing a handful of these programs and going through the many reviews of third-party reviewers on these systems.

With that, let's dig into:

In this article

What should you look for in an online conference platform

Before we dive into the top platforms for virtual events, let's first define what constitutes a great platform for online events through a review of the essential attributes.

Be sure to bookmark this piece so you can refer to this list of features in deciding on your perfect virtual event software:

 Plenty of useful and straightforward integrations

Integrations between your CRM as well as email programs such as email software, for instance, are crucial for sending personalized event invites and converting attendees to loyal customers.

 Intuitive UX

An intuitive interface allows users to use the program to explore its capabilities, and drive the most value out of it. This also means that you are able to start the software functioning on your own -with no assistance from an outside source.

 Stream quality

Your event's audio or video quality directly impact your guests' experience and encourage attendees to stick around until the very end. You must ensure that the application you select offers HD quality streaming, has no issues with performance, as well as allows you to download content with high-quality.

 A robust analytics system

 Dynamic audience engagement tools

Polls, quizzes and questions are essential tools for interacting with your visitors and to improve the experience of your visitors. Your platform will need to provide these features in addition to creating breakout rooms for promoting attendee-to-attendee networking.

 Proactive customer support

Also, be sure the program's customer support is fast and attentive to the your questions. One way to gauge the support team's efficiency is to inquire about the tool pre-purchase and during the free trial. The way their answer questions will be a reflection about how they deal with the customers and their potential customers.

6 best virtual platform for events (based on extensive review and testimonials from users)

For a full listing of the best conference websites:

For each tool, I've shared its core functionality, who it's best for, where the tool wins as well as its disadvantages according to the opinions its customers have to say on sites like G2 as well as Gartner.

Let's go.

1. Events

 Events is a simple-to-use web-based event platform ideal for event planners with any level of familiarity with managing online events.

The speakers you invite to speak at your event, as well as guests and attendees do not require any other software to setup or create an event .

Pros

  • Events can assist you in your event creation and promotion workflow. Connect the platform with your CRM and email marketing software to create branded registration forms, create automated invitations to events along with event confirmations and reminder emails, and keep attendees engaged after the event.
  • Provides sophisticated analytics that can help you develop your event's marketing plan. Once the event wraps, gives you detailed event- and viewer-level analytics that reveal who came to the event and how long they stayed and what they did throughout the entire event.
  • It helps you design a custom viewing experience. Use the drag-and-drop interface to include full-screen images, lower thirds for the speakers in the intro, and custom branding.
  • Gives you the video editing and hosting tools to reuse event-related material. Utilize it to edit, trim chapters, create chapters and enhance your video recording and upload to various marketing channels.

 Cons

  • It is not designed to be used for internal meetings like Zoom and other meeting software are. Events is better for webinars, virtual venues town halls, and more.
  • Events is a relatively new virtual experience platform for events, which means it's not gaining the same name recognition like the well-established players in the space.

2. Zoom

Popular for hosting one-on-one meeting, Zoom lets you host digital events as well. It's perfect for those who create and entrepreneurs in small businesses who wish to monetize online events.

 Pros

  • There are plenty of ways to engage attendees and let participants interact and your sponsors.
  • Making and preparing a webinar in Zoom is easy particularly for users already familiar with the tool.

 Cons

  • Average video quality. When HD video quality (1080p) is standard, Zoom offers 720p for the presence of two or more people at a conference. It is necessary to pay more to host events online in HD video.
  • The process of joining a virtual conference hosted with Zoom doesn't come as a seamless experience. For new attendees, it's recommended to come in 5 minutes earlier to download and install the application. Event organizers will find this can result in a poor experience for attendees.
  • Zoom can be expensive for hosting events with large audiences making it ineffective for scaling events with this technology.
  • Lack of control options for hosts. Zoom offers no way for hosts to manage chat conversations at will -- something that you'll need to be mindful of for public events.

 Pricing

Zoom's price is contingent on the number of people joining the event. To give you an estimation, prices for an event with 100 attendees is $990 annually.

 Learn more about Zoom

3. Hopin

Hopin allows event organizers all over the world accommodate as many guests as they want. As with Zoom the cost of hosting is based on the number of attendees and can result in it being costly to scale up on this platform. But where it wins over Zoom is in offering comment moderator capabilities.

 Pros

  • Hopin offers the branding studio, so that you can personalize your website for registration and even a virtual event venue.
  • Provides moderation capabilities and allows multiple speakers to join.
  • Includes a mobile-friendly app so guest speakers and attendees are able to interact and join from their mobile devices.

 Cons

  • Event analytics aren't in-depth.
  • There are no tools for repurposing and reusing the content of your virtual events.
  • Some users have complained about video and audio performance issues in events hosted by Hopin. One user even mentions, "I don't like performance issues with audio or video. If you don't have a good internet connection experience some lag problems. This [doesn't] happen with alternatives to the solution."

 Pricing

A free option is available that lets one admin organize events lasting 2 hours with up to 100 guests. Pricing plans can be locked.

4. GoTo Webinar

GoTo Webinar best for creators and small businesses hosting small events -- that can accommodate up to 3,000 participants that is lower than what , Hopin, and Zoom can offer.

It's also a good choice for solo business owners or creators hosting paid-for training seminars because GoTo Webinar directly connects with Stripe which allows for payments.

Pros

  • GoTo Webinar offers audience engagement tools including polls and Q&A. Hosts are also able to draw on the screen.
  • Multi-presenter mode for webinars gives at least six presenters the possibility of presenting.

Cons

  • The interface for users is old as some users complain that they take a while to learn how to use GoToWebinar.
  • People complain about performance issues as the number of attendees rises above 1,000 people. Some reviews complain of audio quality issues, too.
  • Certain options like file sharing are slower. Some features can be difficult to find or are confusing to utilize.

 Pricing

A 7-day trial is for 7 days. The rest of it costs money with prices starting at just $49 per host per month (for hosting 250 participants).

5. Cvent

Cvent is ideal for business organizers who host events in person, such as trade exhibitions because of the check-in function.

As opposed to other conference websites It's not a popular choice among users for hosting virtual meetings.

 Pros

  • Cvent provides onsite check-in as well as badge printing software that prints guests' photos on the day of arrival. Some users logged complaints through third-party review websites about Cvent was printing incorrect photos.
  • Provides multiple integrations that join your technology stack and improve your workflow.
  • Comes with the standard tools to engage with your audience, and also offers AI-powered network recommendations and gamification.

 Cons

  • The interface for users is old.
  • Poor customer support and limited training resources/documentation, which aggravates the steep learning curve, making it challenging to start and get the most value from the platform
  • Few options to customize branding, access analytics, and get real-time chat

 Pricing

Pricing is customized according to your requirements, which is why you should request an estimate of the amount Cvent will cost you.

6. On24

On24 is a virtual-event platform that is ideal for businesses looking to host webinars and multi-session events.

 Pros

  • Proactive customer support team.
  • The tool helps in automatizing a variety of tasks. Additionally, it offers integrations to ensure that your marketing and sales teams.

 Cons

  • Few content layouts can be used, which restricts your options in customizing your online event' login and registration pages.
  • Poor user interface with editors that function as code editor. This adds to the learning curve.
  • No option to pre-create your event online. That means that you'll need make a choice between audience participation and for the sake of ensuring that your show is running smoothly as you host on the fly. One reviewer notes, "I would love to have the ability to create a storyboard for my webcast and determine who's on the screen, where their face appears in the media tile perform lower thirds of their videos, add people into the webinar then remove them from the screen and so on."  3 is the 3 format.

 Pricing

The website of On24 doesn't provide any price. People who are interested should obtain a quotation.

FAQs

When answering FAQs, don't address the issue in the first place; rather, provide the link to an appropriate article from your internal website (as relevant) to encourage users to click through.

How do I choose the best virtual event platform?

Examine your needs for business like your budget, the size of the event you'd like to host, and how many virtual events you'd like to host. Choose a virtual event platform that does not just fit your budget but is also simple to use and offers deep analytics, audience engagement tools, high-quality streaming and a myriad of other connectivity options.

How do I make my virtual event more interactive?

Event, Hopin, Zoom, and GoToWebinar are among the most popular event platforms to explore. Each has positives and negatives. Decide based on your budget and the specific requirements of your event.

Which virtual event platform is best for you?

The most effective virtual event platform for you will be one that is able to meet the needs of your company in the best way. This means:

  • Your attendee size
  • Utilize cases (how how much you intend to utilize virtual events in marketing and sales as well as whether you are offering paid workshops)
  • How much time you've to learn to use the latest tool
  • What amount do you intend to scale (you aren't looking for the platform to be a part of your budget while you grow)

We've shared some software that offer poor-quality streaming with outdated UX. Other software have a long learning curveand pricing can become costly for hosting large crowds.

This is an area in which Events really shines. It offers a ton of flexibility, top-quality streaming as well as a user-friendly interface. It also plays a helpful function in the reuse of footage from your events it hosts, helping you drive the most profit from your work.