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Best virtual event platforms: Review and comparison of the top-rated applications

Mar 9, 2023

You've come up with some brilliant ideas for your virtual conference , and you've even contacted prospective guests who might be interested in speaking at your event. The guests are showing interest, as are the people who are involved!

What do you think is the best thing about the online platforms you'd choose to choose to use for hosting your online gathering?

It's a tough decision? The truth is that despite the variety out there, it can be challenging to trust a tool for meeting all your requirements with the promise of a fantastic (and free of errors) event experience.

However, there are platforms with helpful support staff who will help you host your dream virtual event , whether it a multi-day conference as well as a live-streamed training session or even a webinar. It's all you have to do is find that gem.

In this article, we'll assist you in doing just that by examining the top six platforms to host virtual events. These pros and cons rare from testing just a few of these programs and going through a myriad of reviews from third parties on these systems.

Now, let's dig deep:

In this article

What are the things to look out for when choosing a virtual conference platform

Before diving into the top platforms for online events, let's define what constitutes a great software for hosting events online by examining the most important capabilities.

Make sure you bookmark this piece so you can look up this checklist of options in deciding on your perfect virtual event platform:

 Plenty of useful and easy integrations

Integrations with CRMs and email software, for example, is essential for sending personalized event invites and converting attendees to loyal customers.

 Intuitive UX

An intuitive interface allows you to navigate through the software to explore its capabilities, and gain the greatest benefit out of it. Also, it lets you start the software up and running yourself -without any assistance from outside.

 Stream quality

The audio and video quality directly impact guests' experiences, causing people to remain until the conclusion. Make sure the software that you pick has HD quality streaming, comes with no issues with performance, and allows you to download the content in high-quality.

 Analytics robust and reliable

 Tools for engaging with the audience dynamically

The ability to host polls, games, and questions are essential instruments for engaging your visitors and to improve the experience of your visitors. Your platform should offer these tools alongside the ability to create breakout spaces to promote attendee-to-attendee networking.

 Proactive customer support

Lastly, ensure the software's service team is prompt and attentive to the queries you may have. One method to assess the quality of support offered by the team is to inquire regarding the software prior to purchase and during the free trial. How they respond to questions will be a reflection about the way they treat their customers and prospects.

6 best virtual platform for events (based on extensive reviews and customer testimonials)

Here is a complete an overview of the most popular online conference platforms:

With every tool, I've shared its core functionality as well as who the tool is best for, where the tool wins as well as its disadvantages in relation to what users have shared on other sites such as G2 and Gartner.

Let's go.

1. Events

 Events is an easy to use, browser-based virtual event platform that is suitable for event organizers who have any level of familiarity with hosting virtual events.

The speakers you invite to speak at your event, as well as guests and attendees do not need to download any additional software to set up, create, and join the event .

Pros

  • Events assists you throughout the planning and event promotion process. Connect the platform with your CRM or email marketing software, to build customized registration forms, and email invitations for events that are automated along with event confirmations as well as reminder emails. It also helps nurture engaged attendees post the event.
  • Advanced analytics can assist you develop your event's marketing plan. When the event has concluded it provides you with detailed event- and viewer-level analytics that tell you who attended, how much they watched and engaged during the event.
  • It helps you design a custom visual experience. Drag-and-drop the interface for adding full-screen graphics lower thirds for the speakers in the intro, and custom branding.
  • It gives you the video editing and hosting toolkit for repurposing event video media. Use to trim, edit chapters, edit, or enhance your video recording and distribute it to various advertising channels.

 Cons

  • The software isn't designed specifically for meetings in internal settings the way Zoom and other meeting software are. Events is better suited for webinars, virtual venues, town halls, and so on.
  • Events is a brand new and innovative virtual event platform so it doesn't have the same brand recognition that the more established companies in this space.

2. Zoom

Popular for hosting one-on-one meeting, Zoom lets you host online events too. It's perfect for those who create and small-scale business marketers looking to monetize online occasions.

 Pros

  • It gives you a variety of tools for engaging attendees, and letting participants interact and your sponsors.
  • Setting up and creating a webinar in Zoom is easy -- especially for those who have experience with the tool.

 Cons

  • Average video quality. When HD video resolution (1080p) is standard, Zoom offers 720p for two or more attendees at an event. It is necessary to pay more for hosting virtual events in HD video.
  • Participating in a virtual meeting held with Zoom isn't exactly seamless. For new attendees, it's recommended to arrive 5 minutes early to download and set up the application. This for event planners can result in a poor experience for attendees.
  • Zoom is costly for hosting conferences with a large audience, rendering it unsuitable for scaling events with the platform.
  • Lack of control options for hosts. Zoom offers no way for hosts to moderate chat comments on the fly -- something you need to be mindful of when hosting public events.

 Pricing

The pricing of Zoom is based on the number of people joining your event. For a rough idea, pricing for an event with 100 attendees is $990 annually.

 Read more about Zoom

3. Hopin

Hopin lets event marketers across the board organize as many attendees as they want. Like Zoom it's pricing is contingent on the amount of guests, which can make it difficult to grow with this platform. The one area where it can beat Zoom is the ability to provide comment moderator capabilities.

 Pros

  • Hopin offers a branding studio so you can customize your event registration page and virtual space for the event.
  • Provides moderation capabilities and makes it simple for multiple speakers to join.
  • It comes with a mobile application to allow guests speakers and participants can join and engage from their mobile devices.

 Cons

  • The event analytics don't go into depth.
  • There are no tools that allow you to reuse and recycle material from virtual events.
  • There are a few users who complain regarding audio and video quality issues at events organized by Hopin. One of them writes, "I don't like the performance issues that arise with audio or video. People who don't have the best internet connections experience some lag problems. The same thing doesn't happen when using other alternative solution[s]."

 Pricing

The free plan is offered which allows one administrator to host 2-hour long events with up to 100 guests. For more, pricing plans can be locked.

4. GoTo Webinar

GoTo Webinar works best for creators and smaller businesses that host small-scale events with up to 3,000 attendees that is lower than the offerings that Hopin, and Zoom provide.

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

Pros

  • GoTo Webinar offers audience engagement tools , including polls and Q&A. Hosts are also able to draw on the display.
  • Multi-presenter mode in webinars allows up to six organizers the capability to deliver.

Cons

  • The user interface is outdated and some users have reported that it takes some time to master GoToWebinar.
  • Some users complain of issues with performance when the attendee count goes over 1,000 attendees. Reviews have been written about audio quality issues as well.
  • Certain options like file sharing are slow. Certain features are difficult to locate or difficult to use.

 Pricing

A 7-day trial is for 7 days. All the rest costs money with prices starting at $49 per organizer per month (for hosting up to 250 participants).

5. Cvent

Cvent is best suited for corporate marketing companies that host in-person events, such as exhibitions and trade exhibitions, thanks to the check-in function.

In contrast with other online conference platforms however, this platform is not well-liked among users for hosting virtual events.

 Pros

  • Cvent offers onsite check-in and the software for badging that prints participants photographs upon their the day of arrival. A few users have posted complaints via third-party review sites about Cvent was printing incorrect images.
  • Gives you multiple integrations to join your technology stack and streamline the process.
  • The software comes with the usual tools for engagement with the audience and also offers AI-powered recommendations for networking, as well as the ability to play games.

 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
  • There are a few ways to personalize branding, access analytics, and get live chat

 Pricing

Pricing is customized according to the needs of your business, therefore you need to get an estimate of how much Cvent costs.

6. On24

On24 is a virtual-event platform for marketing professionals looking to host webinars and multi-session events.

 Pros

  • A proactive customer service team.
  • The software helps to automate a lot of things. It also offers integrations that align your sales and marketing teams.

 Cons

  • Few content layouts, which limits your options for customizing your online events Registration and login pages.
  • Poor user interface with editors that function as editor for code, which adds the steep learning curve.
  • It's not possible to prepare your event online. It means you'll need to trade off audience engagement in order to ensure that the event is running smoothly as you host at the speed of light. The reviewer writes, "I would love to have the ability to create a storyboard for my webinar , and be able to control who's on the screen as well as where their faces appear on the tile of media, do lower thirds over their videos, add individuals in the live stream and take them off-screen and so on."  8  ________________

 Pricing

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

FAQs

Within the FAQs, don't address the issue immediately; instead, include the link to an appropriate article from your internal website (as applicable) in order to increase click-through.

How do I choose a virtual event platform?

Review your business needs including your budget, how large the event you'd like to hold, as well as how many virtual events you'd like to hold. Choose a virtual event platform that does not just fit your budget but is also easy to use, offers detailed analytics, engagement tools, high-quality streaming, and lots of connectivity options.

How can I enhance my online event? engaging?

Event, Hopin, Zoom, and GoToWebinar are some of the most popular platforms for events to try. Each comes with its pros and cons. Pick based on your budget as well as your specific needs for the event.

So which virtual event platform is the best one for you?

The best virtual events platform you can choose from will be one that is able to meet your business needs the most. It includes:

  • The size of your attendee
  • Utilize cases (how will you make use of virtual events to boost your sales and marketing and whether you offer paid workshops)
  • How long do you have spent learning to utilize a new tool
  • What amount do you intend to scale (you aren't looking for the platform to be a part of your budget while you scale)

We've provided a list of software which have poor-quality streaming and a dated UX. Other software have a long process of learning, and their costs can get expensive for hosting large audiences.

This is the area where Events really shines. The platform offers plenty of flexibility, top-quality streaming and a simple user interface. Additionally, it plays an important part in recycling footage from your events you organize, helping you drive the most return on your investment.