10 Best Virtual Conference Platforms

Virtual conferencing is the most cost-effective and interactive way to network and connect with  your target audience. In a vFairs survey, 77.2% of the respondents said they prefer hosting virtual events because of ease of attendance while 64.9% of the respondents chose global reach opportunities. Gladly, with the ever-increasing demand for virtual and hybrid events in 2024 and beyond, many virtual event platforms offer solution-specific features for hosting amazing conferences.

However, choosing the best virtual conference platform among hundreds of options can be a behemoth task. This comprehensive guide is all you need to get started. Read on as we list down our top 10 picks of the best virtual conferences and discuss their pros and cons. 

Best Virtual Conference Platforms To Look Out For in 2024

Following are a few of the best online meeting platforms. These platforms offer a mesmerizing online environment for your audience, help with knowledge sharing, and bring innovative networking opportunities. 

1. vFairs

vFairs is an award-winning event management platform with clients from around the globe.

It’s one of the leading choices if you’re looking for the best virtual conference software. The company offers a wide range of event management solutions. The platform has maintained a 4.7/5 star rating with over 1500 reviews from its satisfied customers. vFairs is one of the most successful virtual conference platforms out there. Virtual conferences with vFairs allow attendees from around the globe to connect and maximize knowledge-sharing and networking opportunities.

Advanced Virtual Conference Features by vFairs

To help you further understand how vFairs works, here are a few of the virtual event platform’s key features. 

Dynamic Virtual Environment

The more attractive and interactive your virtual environment is the higher the attendee engagement will be at your event. You can design a completely customized virtual venue design with vFairs. An immersive virtual environment can help your attendees feel like they’re a part of a real event and boost their interest in the conference. 

• Choose 2D and 3D designs of your choice or pick a preset template. 
• You can keep your attendees super engaged by replicating real-life venues in the digital world. 
• Choose your preferred exhibit halls, booth design, and auditorium.
• Choose from various animated or static avatar designs and bring diversity to your designs.

Chat & Networking

After educational purposes, networking is one of the biggest reasons why attendees participate in a virtual conference. Therefore, to boost your virtual event success you have to invest in chat and networking features. 

To help your attendees and exhibitors develop strong relationships in their industry, vFairs offers a plethora of networking features. You can pick and choose the networking features you want to add to your event. 

•  Attendees can connect through video, audio, and text chat. 
• Attendees can also use smart matchmaking tools to build a better a stronger connection with people of similar interests.
• Help attendees feel more at ease with digital communication by adding specialized features like Spatial Connect.
• Furthermore, you can also add breakout rooms, profile search capabilities, meeting schedulers, chat transcript, networking lounges, and more. 

There is so much more to explore with vFairs networking features and you can get more information here.

Advanced Engagement Features

As an event organizer, you must ensure your virtual event has everything to keep your audience engaged. vFairs offers a large list of engagement features that help in making even the most tedious webinar an interesting virtual event. 

Keeping an audience active in a virtual event can be challenging. 

• Boost participation through Q&As and polls during the live event. 
• Gamify your conference by adding features like scavenger hunts and leaderboards. 
• Set up push notifications and in-event alerts. 
• Create realistic 3D designs for polls, trivia, and quizzes. 
• Add multiple presentation options and allow researchers to showcase their work through posters. 
• Allow easy streaming through various video platform integrations like YouTube, Vimeo, Restream, social media channels, etc.

Event Reporting

Once you have detailed metrics and event statistics in hand for your event you can evaluate success and gauge the behavior of your attendees. vFairs allows you to get real-time updates on how your virtual event is performing through various dashboards for event organizers and booth reps.

Keep a pulse onhow many people have joined the conference, webinar reviews, and booth visits. The real-time reporting of your event not only helps you determine the ROI of the event but also helps with future marketing practices. 

You can also download chat logs and transcripts of your event with reporting features. The reporting tools are hands-on with tracking audience behavior and delivering insights from post-event reports. 

Moreover, the AI reporting chatbot allows you to completely skip the need to sift through tons of reports manually. Simply ask the chatbot a question in conversational language and it will get you an accurate answer.

5-Star Customer Support

A virtual event equipped with all the best virtual conference platform features is amazing but only if it’s supported with top-notch customer service. When hosting a virtual event, being left high and dry is the last thing you want.

Apart from 24/7 global support, vFairs offers a dedicated project manager for your event. The virtual event platform provides live technical support and experienced end-to-end project support to ensure your events take off and finish smoothly.

Smooth Integrations

One of the best parts about joining hands with vFairs is the seamless integrations that it offers. You can integrate a large number of popular apps into your virtual conference. 

You can integrate CRM, marketing, and sales automation apps like HubSpot, Marketo, Salesforce, Oracle, and Zapier with vFairs for smooth data transfers and automatic synchronization. Integrations enhance the event experience for you, your sponsors, and your exhibitors.

Abstract Management Solution

One of the major purposes of hosting a virtual conference is to share the latest research and open up the conversation amongst SMEs. Therefore, the call-for-papers process is one of the first things you’d do as a conference organizer. An innovative abstract management solution like vFairs can help you collect, review, and accept research papers for your conference. Then, you can easily showcase the accepted papers as presentations, posters, or live sessions at your vFairs conference.

Webinars

vFairs allows you to create dynamic and immersive webinars through its embedded webinar solution. You can host webinars with distinctive features such as a Q&A session, live chat, translation and transcription, polls, speaker and content management, speaker green rooms, etc. Moreover, the platform is W3C compliant allowing you to create inclusive experiences for all your attendees.

vFairs Pricing

vFairs’ transparent pricing policies allow customers to get a customized quote for their event. It means that you can adjust the pricing of your event depending on the features you want. 

You can also get a free personalized demo of all vFairs features and choose the best ones for your event. With vFairs, you can gain access to shareable product presentations, industry-specific testimonials, and references. 

To get a custom quote from vFairs, you can contact the vFairs team now!

User Reviews

Here is what customers have to say about vFairs:

• “Design options at vFairs compared to other virtual event platforms were quite impressive! We looked at multiple options for our conference and when we got to vFairs, we knew that was the platform we wanted to use.” – Christine M., Grant Coordinator 
• “Our organization hosted a Virtual User Conference with the vfairs team and it received some great feedback. The look, feel and navigation of the platform were top-notch and easy to understand.
• The team assigned to us for content uploading and event details was very flexible and responsive to our needs. Both Ammemah and Hibba were pleasant to work with.” – Bryail B,. 
• “There were no major downsides to using vFairs. The price was very fair, the support was good, and my few recommendations after the event were noted and already in their queue for improvement based on other customers’ feedback.” – Corbin S., Chief Administrative Officer 
• “Honestly, I don’t feel like there is much I don’t like…I have chosen to work with vfairs the past 3 years because of how easy it is!” – Nikki S., Executive Director

2. WebinarJam

WebinarJam is a cloud-based solution that creates and conducts webinar sessions for businesses and is one of the best platforms for online meetings. The software also helps with live streaming on Youtube and Facebook. However, with the world leading towards engaging in high-quality virtual events, WebinarJam is still an ‘only-webinar solution’.

WebinarJam lets you reach 5000 people in one presentation. The platform also helps with advanced webinar solutions such as automated webinars, scheduling replays, streaming, and more. However, unlike other best virtual meeting platforms, WebinarJam has a slight learning curve.  

WebinarJam Features 

WebinarJam carries a 3.7 out of 5-star rating on G2, but does offer a few features that can amplify attendee engagement. The following are the features: 

WebinarJam carries a 3.6 out of 5-star rating on G2, but does offer a few features that can amplify attendee engagement at your virtual conference. The following are the features: 

HD Video Streaming

With WebinarJam you can stream a PowerPoint presentation in high-definition and high-quality video. WebinarJam HD video and audio features are applicable to all devices including desktops, laptops, tablets, or phones. 

WebinarJam allows you to broadcast events through private webinar rooms as well. WebinarJam also offers live features like the panic button, attendee spotlight, and always-on space available for users. 

Even though the platform offers high-tech precision at a good price the experience of this feature still heavily depends upon a strong internet connection. So,  if your internet connection goes down, the server can get slow and disrupt the feed. 

Automated Webinar

The automated webinar feature lets you set up a webinar in advance. You can create a webinar from the beginning until the end without any intervention. However, you can not showcase your hosting skills in an automated webinar solution as it is pre-uploaded to the server. It may be difficult to keep the audience engaged or even gauge audience interest and attention without a live host.

Live Chat

WebinarJam empowers flexible networking options as an online conference platform. Live chat, questions, and answers, private comments, highlighted comments, and sticky announcements are some of the features to keep your attendees fully hooked.

Attendee Spotlight

Even though WebinarJam does not offer wide-ranging networking opportunities to its attendees, its attendee spotlight feature helps participants accomplish a sense of purpose in the event. Through this feature, hosts can invite attendees to join the live presentation..

Maximum Attendee Count

One of the main features that WebinarJam promotes is its ability to host 4-hour meetings, live tracking, and webinar hosting capabilities with over 5,000 attendees and six presenters. However, other virtual conference platforms like vFairs offer similar features with unlimited attendee count. 

Customization

Unlike vFairs, which offers fully immersive and customizable virtual venues, WebinarJam software restricts customizations to the event landing page only and mainly focuses on the registration button. The platform allows businesses to customize their landing pages with promotional marketing content, call-to-action buttons, and links.

Downsides of WebinarJam

Here are some customer concerns: 

Streaming Delays 

Many customers on GetApp, an independent third-party business app and software discovery platform, believe WebinarJam causes streaming delays. 

High Pricing

Webinar Jam is often subjected to high pricing, which does not sit well with customers.

Ineffective Chat Options

Some customers have also complained about the ineffective chat options for the attendees, along with installation issues. 

Unfriendly Customer Service

Customers have also complained about unfriendly customer support from its reps.

WebinarJam Pricing 

Following are some of the plans and pricing packages by WebinarJam: 

• Starter Package: This package includes 1 host, only a 1-hour maximum duration for the virtual conference, and a limit set for $39/mo.

• Basic Package: This package includes 2 hosts, 2 hours maximum duration, and a limit of 500 attendees for $79/mo. 

• Professional Package: This package includes 4 hosts, 3 hours maximum duration, and a limit of 2000 attendees for $299/mo. 

• Enterprise Package: This package includes 6 hosts, 4 hours maximum duration, and a limit set for 5000 attendees for $379/mo. 

User Reviews

• “Ease of use when cloning a webinar. What often takes hours with other systems can be done with a couple of clicks in WebinarJam, and that includes the deep integrations between tools.” Brady P.
• “They have more problems than they’re worth.
  1) The integrations with 3rd party software such as Mailchimp are inconsistent on both the pushing the registrants over and the custom form field population.
  2) Their email service is clunky, hard to edit, doesn’t have HTML options, and their own form fields don’t populate correctly.
  3) Their email service doesn’t consistently send to registrants, or report emails that have been sent.
  4) The interface is not user-friendly. The presenter has to toggle between videos, slides, files, etc.” – Tara G., President

3. GoToWebinar

GoToWebinar is a whole suite of webinar software products. The platform enables you and your team to connect with clients around the globe. 

Although the solution offers crystal clear webinars, it is still far behind in being a complete virtual conference provider/event solution to its customers. 

Furthermore, the platform supports integrations but lacks a smooth user interface or affordable pricing.

Features of GoToWebinar

GoToWebinar offers a bunch of virtual event features you can choose from.

Webcast Mode

Its flexible webcast mode, powerful data encryption, privacy features, customized dashboards, and easy payment processing are some of GoToWebinar’s flexible features. However, even after advertising these features, customers find the interface hard to learn. 

Custom Registration Forms

With GoToWebinar you can create custom registration forms or quizzes to capture registrant info and understand who is coming to your event. However, the platform does not offer additional security features for the protection of participants’ data. This might not sit well with the attendees who are more keen on data protection certifications and laws. 

Interactive Features

The software also offers interactive features that help in conducting a smooth webinar session. Attendees can participate in the session through the hand raise option, but the networking opportunities will be limited with the platform. The platform lacks in providing extensive networking features for audiences that want to make the most out of the virtual event opportunity.

Downsides of GoToWebinar

Lack of Chat Options

Many users on TrustRadius, a trusted software review platform, believe that the app lacks a public chat area for effective networking and does not offer a medium where a team can assist with their queries.

Stability Issues

Many customers have reported server connectivity and stability issues with the platform. 

GoTo Webinar Pricing

Following are the plans and pricing offered by GoToWebinar Jam: 

Lite Package

The package is $59 and is limited to 250 participants. 

Standard Package

This package is for $129 and is limited to 500 participants.

Pro Package

This package is for $249 and is limited to 1,000 participants. 

Enterprise Package

This package is for $499 and is limited to 3,000 participants. 

User Reviews

Here is what customers have to say about the platform on G2: 

• “Gotowebinar is a very stable platform, which provides a good delegate experience, and is great for organising educational webinars. It provides excellent statistics after an event, and the bulk upload of delegates is a useful feature.” – Verified User in Education Management
• “One thing I dislike that is the chat window user interface is not user-friendly. chat window interface can be more interactive.” – Sukumar S.

4. Livestorm

Similar to WebinarJam and GoToWebinar, Livestorm offers solutions limited to webinars and online meetings.  

Livestorm can help you run a smooth event if you are looking for ways to run a simple online meeting or a full-fledged webinar session. With Livestorm, you can access the solution on multiple devices without affecting your brand design or event layout. Although application features can not be compared to a platform that offers only a browser-based solution, your target audience can access webinars using their mobile and desktop regardless of location. 

The solution is not suitable for events of all sizes as Livestorm imposes a limit on the attendee count. 

Features of Livestorm

The top features of Livestorm include on-demand, live, and pre-recorded sessions, end-to-end engagement, dashboard analytics features, and real-time events updates. Here are some more key features of the platform: 

Event Automation

You can automate the start and end of the event. You can automatically play a video to offer a live video experience. 

Multi-Language Support

Livestorm offers multi-language support. The platform offers support in 24 languages. 

Recording Control

You can start, pause, and stop recording to focus on what is relevant and what is confidential. 

Dial-in Phone

This feature helps limit the dependency on an internet connection. Participants without the internet can dial in through phone in the event.

Attendee Count

With Livestorm you can host virtual events with up to 3000 attendees on the enterprise plan. While this might sound fascinating at first, a number of the best virtual conference platforms like vFairs offer unlimited attendee count applicable to all plans. 

Downsides of Livestorm

Low Replay Quality

Webinar replay quality is extremely low with LiveStorm. 

Lacking Slideshow Option

The solution does not have a slideshow upload feature in the webinar. 

Internet Dependent

You must stay connected to the internet to use the platform. If your internet connection goes down or is unreliable, the entire server can go down and the webinar stream will be disrupted.  

Lacking Advanced Webinar Features

It lacks advanced webinar features which makes it a less than ideal platform for webinar hosting and management. As per Influno, a business software review site, the platform can not schedule polls which can affect attendee engagement.

Pricing

Following are the plans and pricing offered by the platform:

Free

The package offers up to 30 active contacts and up to 20-minute limited webinar sessions.

Pro

This package includes 100 to 500 active contacts and a 4-hour session duration limit. The package is $79/mo.

Business and Enterprise

The pricing details are not open to the public and you’ll need to contact their team for more information. 

User Reviews

Here is what customers have to say about the platform:

• “Livestorm is very powerful at managing webinars. Great for presenters to control the event, and take over if other have issues. Focused on webinars rather than day to day meeting needs which zoom, teams, meet etc are really focused for.” Grant K.
• “I wish it way much much easier to find access links to provide for the guest speakers. The HubSpot integration definitely could get way better too. As of now we cannot use Livestorm’s custom object fields in reporting natively. It’s also a bit tough to create workflows that catch on-demand / reply views and ensure each session is unique when there’s many webinars on the go at once.” – Dylan Y

5. Eventzilla

Eventzilla made it to our list of best virtual meeting software as it markets itself as an all-in-one event management platform. However, almost all of their key features focus on registration and ticketing and they aren’t as holistic as one would expect from an event management software. The software allows mobile check-in, email invitations, and other features to assist event organizers. 

Surprisingly, even with a single job in hand, which is to cater to the ticketing and registration needs of event organizers, Eventzilla lacks accuracy in ticket sales information.

Eventzilla Features

Following are some of the key features of the platform:

Scheduling

The feature allows you to schedule multiple speaker sessions. For instance, you can manage an event where the registrants can choose from a range of sessions. Registrants will have a choice to choose the sessions they want to attend. 

Check-in

The feature allows hosts to have seamless check-ins. It also offers no coding requirement for registration work which simplifies the entire process. The platform allows three check-in options;  manual check-in, scan mode check-in, and check-in through a mobile app. However, the platform lacks in providing robust or additional security features. For example, the platform allows attendees to log into the event through their Google account. On the other hand, some of the best virtual conference platforms like vFairs offer 2FA, SSO, and other additional security features that are compliant with local and international laws. These security features ensure only relevant registrants make it to the event. 

Event Management

The platform is best suited for agencies and event planners who run multiple events but struggle to find a single platform for event management. Therefore, if you are in any way dealing with varied events and the struggles that come with them, Eventzilla can help you with monthly fees or the registration fee process.

Downsides of Eventzilla

Following are the factors that are heavily contributing to impeding the popularity of the platform.

High Pricing

Unlike vFairs, which offers one-time payment solutions, Eventzilla is not ideal for customers looking for attractive pricing. As per customers on GetApp, the platform transaction charges are too high, making it hard to choose the medium for virtual events.

Inaccurate Ticket Sales Data

Setting ticket sales dates does not work accurately in the software.  

Pricing

Based on the details on G2, Eventzilla has segregated its plans and pricing based on the single attendees. Here are the packages: 

Plus Plan for Paid Events

The package costs 2.9% + $1.50 per ticket. 

Basic Plan for Paid Events

The package stands at $1.50 per attendee.

PRO Plan for Paid Events

The package costs 1.9% + $1.50 per registration.

User Reviews

Here is what customers have to say about Eventzilla on G2:

• “The most interesting thing about this software in my opinion is: having the detailed tracking of sales you can have at an event, having everything in order makes me feel so happy.” – Katty P.
• “Some lack of customization tools, extra charges for using any other payment processor besides internal.” – Chris P. 

6. Demio

Demio is a webinar solution that makes it easier for businesses to host, attend, and revisit a webinar. Limiting the event purpose to a webinar, Demio lets you join the live webinar without downloading any software. If you are only looking for a platform to conduct a webinar, then this feature will ease the burden on the part of your audience. 

Unlike the best virtual conference platforms in the list, Demio separates its customer service based on the plan a customer chooses. Ideally, Demio should be treating all customers equally, regardless of the plans and pricing they choose. 

Features of Demio

Following are some of the key features offered by Demio: 

Distraction-free Webinar

If you are looking for ways to host a distraction-free webinar, Demio may be a good option to consider. Demio offers a solid structure of registration, marketing, and promotion features to conduct a practical webinar. However, it does lack in providing customization options. Many event organizers look towards virtual conference platforms and event management solutions that offer high customization and flexibility options. 

Although Demio focuses on eliminating distraction in its signup form to increase the attendee’s registration, some of its non-flexible features contribute to the opposite. For example, you can’t change the registration page and live room layout for attendees. The almost non-existent customization leads to an unsatisfactory attendee experience.

Attendance Management

Attendance management has become smooth with Demio. It maintains a member database, exporting them to CSV files and checking their registration status. 

Networking and Engagement Feature

Networking opportunities from Demio can help in building a better connection with attendees. The platform offers a vibrant event platform to boost audience engagement and helps you upload presentations directly from Demio. However, the disappointing part is that the replay options of the webinar do not allow questions and answers. 

User-friendly Interface

Demio is well-regarded for its critical features like a user-friendly interface, customization option, webinar appearance, and excellent data tracking.

Downsides of Demio

Following are the downsides of Demio according to customer reviews left on independent third-party websites:

Disappointing Integration

On GetApp, many customers have shown disappointment in Demio’s integration features. Seamless integration options are important for running a smooth conference or other virtual event types. 

Lack of Support Hotline

The platform does not have a phone support hotline. 

Low Storage Capacity

The storage capacity is limited to a ten-hour maximum only. 

Lack of Advanced Features

One of the most significant downsides to the platform is that it uses Adobe Flash which is outdated. Therefore, if you want a virtual conference that can grab higher attendee registration, you need a platform with advanced and innovative features. 

Pricing

Here is how Demio has divided its plans and pricing: 

Starter Package

The package is limited to 1 host a limit of 50 attendees per session and a 3-hour session limit. The package costs $42/mo. 

Growth Package

The package is limited to 5 hosts per account, an 8-hour session limit, and has three different price points depending on the total number of attendees. The price is:

• $75/mo for 150 attendees,
• $184/mo for 500 attendees, and
• $284/mo for 1000 attendees.

Premium Package

The premium package is ideal for enterprise-level customers looking to host larger events requiring dedicated account support. The different price points are again divided based on the total number of attendees and it has a 10-hour session limit. They are;

• $184/mo for 150 attendees,
• $275/mo for 500 attendees,
• $367/mo for 1000 attendees, and
• $734/mo for 3000 attendees.

User Reviews

Here is what customers have to say about the platform: 

• “This is a great platform to host video content on-demand if you need some really good analytics about time watched on video, etc. It’s easy to use and a great experience for the end user.” Lauren N.
• “The only downside to demio, which I understand they are working on, is allowing us to get more detailed analytics on who watched our webinar recordings. Our company is very big on analytics and demio already provides a lot of data from our past webinars, but we are just looking for a little bit more.” – Michael H. 

7. ClickMeeting  

ClickMeeting is a feature-rich webinar and online meeting platform best suited for freelancers and micro-businesses. The virtual platform for conferences is hands-on and accommodates a large audience. With its booth, marketing, registration, and networking features, you can host a significant event without any hurdles.

ClickMeeting is another browser-based online meeting platform that only offers a webinar app. The app lacks innovative and engaging features, and can mostly only support live and automated webinar streaming through it. Other virtual conference platforms like vFairs offer an all-in-one mobile app that can replicate the web event on a phone for all attendees. If you’re looking to engage attendees on the go, the ClickMeeting Webinar app can leave a lot to desire.  

Features of ClickMeeting

Following are some of the key features of the platform: 

Tool variety

The platform offers basic virtual meeting tools such as creating polls, surveys, and screen sharing. While these tools are beneficial for an online meeting, they are not as extensive to reach more attendance for a virtual conference. 

Customization

Even though the platform lacks features for an immersive customized user experience,it helps with pre-loaded templates and customized call-to-action buttons. 

Translation

The feature offers real-time translation into fifty-two different languages.

Networking Features

Apart from screen sharing, whiteboard, polls & surveys, the platform is not equipped with advanced networking or engaging features for the audience. Even in a large webinar you have to depend upon basic engagement features within the platform i.e. a private chat option. You won’t find anything like a roundtable, video calling, smart matchmaking, etc.

Integration

The platform offers the option to run a live stream on YouTube and Facebook.

Downsides of ClickMeeting

The platform is not entirely trouble-free. Here is what customers faced when using the platform:

Lack of Customization

According to its customers’ reviews on Capterra, the significant drawback of using ClickMeeting is a lack of customization.

Audio/Video Problems

Customers have faced audio problems and ineffective recording options.

Pricing

Customers have often complained about the high pricing, especially considering the lackluster features ClikMeeting offers. Following are the pricing details: 

Live Package

The package is limited to 1 host and costs $26. 

Automated Package

The package is limited to 1 host and costs $42/mo.

Custom Package

This package is too limited to a single host but the pricing details are customized as per the requirements. The custom plan allows you to host sessions for up to 10,000 attendees and might be best for enterprise-level customers. 

The platform also offers a free trial with a limit of 25 attendees.

User Reviews

Here is what customers of the event software have to say about ClickMeeting on G2: 

• “Clickmeeting is an almost ideal platform for online education and webinars. If you are a teacher you would love it. There is a dashboard where you can draw, a good process for prior upload of presentations, recordings, and control over your audience. Very nice and supersonic support.” – Verified User
• “Meetings were limited to 25 people (including presenters). Presentations uploaded to ClickMeeting server’s memory sometimes lose their quality. Participants can’t turn on a camera during the webinar – only presenters can do that.” – Jakub W.

8. Accelevents

Accelevents claims to be an all-in-one virtual and hybrid events platform. The platform aims to empower event organizers and marketing professionals to drive sustainable growth to their events and businesses. Unlike competitors like ClickMeeting, Cvent, etc., Accelevents is best suited for small and medium-sized events. 

The software offers a browser-based interface and a mobile event app. However, surprisingly, most customers opt for  the desktop version over the mobile version. This is primarily because the mobile version does not have all the interactive features that the desktop version offers. 

Features by Accelevents

Ticketing and Registrations

With the platform customization options, you can tailor the event ticketing and registration for each conference. 

Integrations

You can integrate event management tools, marketing and automation tools, and CRMs like HubSpot and Salesforce into your event.

Custom Events

The platform lets hosts create custom events. You can design the entire event experience with a customized look and feel for each section.

Live Session

The live session feature is easy to monitor, activating your event hub, segmenting the audience according to demographic, and more.

Downsides of Accelevents

Following are some of the things customers seem to dislike about the platform: 

Lag Time

Some customers on G2 showed disappointment with the platform’s lag time, leading to ineffective communication and sessions.

Lack of Phone Support

The platform does not have phone support. When you are fully immersed in conducting your virtual conference, there will come times when you need quick assistance. However, if it’s Accelevents, you can only expect customer support through website chat. 

Paid Customer Support Hours

The platform charges $250/hour for single event day customer support with a minimum two-hour commitment. Here is when you need to make a clever decision. Plenty of well-known event planners like vFairs offer 24/hours customer support through a helpline and do not expect you to pay heavy amounts for limited-hour help. 

Lack of Customization Options

Along with not providing quick and human connection to its customers looking for 24/7 customer support, the platform does not offer assistance with its customization options which are already few as compared to other competitors. 

Pricing

Here are the pricing details on the website: 

Professional Plan

The plan offers a single event license with up to 500 attendees and pricing starts from $5000.

Business Plan

The business plan is for unlimited event licenses and 2000 registrants included. The price starts from $12000.

Enterprise Plan

If you have more than 10,000 attendees, you will need to get the Enterprise plan. Pricing isn’t available on the website for this package.

White Label

This is for customers looking for completely customized plans with unlimited events and a custom feature list. You can contact Accelevents sales for pricing information.

User Reviews

Here is what customers have to say about the platform: 

• “While the platform was very easy to navigate, the live chat support and everyone we worked with from the Accelevents team were so helpful and quick with responses.” – Amber S.
• “I may have just missed this somewhere, but I didn’t like how there was no formal tutorial on how to set up the platform for our event. There are so many useful tools on the platform that I know we probably missed out on due to simply not being aware that it exists. So a brief tutorial would’ve been helpful. I also wish there was an easier way to give a “test run” of the event without having to go through the process of duplicating it.” – Verified User in Medical Practice           

9. Zoom

Zoom is one of the most versatile virtual platforms for conferences. It is a cloud-based video conferencing platform that can also be used for audio conferencing, webinars, meeting recordings, and live chat. 

Zoom is not the best option if you want to conduct a large-scale webinar or virtual event. The platform can be great to host live for a conference but the attendees won’t be able to enjoy the immersive feel of a virtual event venue that many other competitors offer.  

Features of Zoom

The key features of Zoom include the following:

Build Your Event

Zoom lets you customize your event through a step-by-step event builder guide and that is all you will likely get in terms of free customer service. Other competitors offer complete white glove services and 24/7 dedicated project managers to take care of everything for you.

Even though Zoom does not disclose the customer support pricing on its website, the platform requires you to pay an additional cost for customer support for Access, Premier, and Premier+..

Networking

With Zoom your attendees can build network profiles to foster their personal and professional connections..

Multiple Reality and Breakout Rooms 

Multiple reality rooms help participants share content on the platform more easily. Moreover, the platform also supports breakout rooms for added attendee collaboration and team-building activities.

A Raise Hand Button

This feature lets participants participate in online meetings or ask questions without verbally interrupting an ongoing live session.    

Downsides of Zoom

 Pricey Licenses

Although a Zoom subscription starts at a reasonable price, one subscription is not enough if you want to host a virtual conference on Zoom. For instance, if you are trying to host a webinar for over 10,000 attendees, you must pay several thousand dollars a month to run your webinars on a paid Zoom license. 

No Comment Moderation

Besides too many subscriptions, the platform is not that reasonable with comment control and content moderation. The most significant part of any online event is the ability to restrict any foul play in the live event. It includes stopping people from commenting on anything inappropriate in the live chat option. 

While Zoom does take inappropriate behavior seriously, it often takes too long for the platform to take action. The lack of comment control can lead to disaster for an event manager. Therefore, if you are looking for Zoom as a conference solution for your business, you might need to consider the lack of moderation. 

Zoombombing

Zoombombing is the presence of unwanted individuals crashing a conference call. As the security features for the conference platform aren’t as extensive as others, there are not enough ways to prevent unwanted attendees at your sessions. 

Inconsistent File Size

Inconsistent cloud file sizes can also cause a disaster for virtual conferences. There are many times when video displays on Zoom can be many times bigger than the original video.               

Pricing

Following are how Zoom pricing plans are divided: 

Basic Package

The package is free but with a limit of 100 attendees and a 40-minute conference duration. 

PRO Package

This package is for $149.90 per year per user and is limited to 100 attendees. 

Business Package

This package is for $199.90/year per user and is limited to 300 attendees. 

Business Plus

This is the Business package with additional features piled on for an even better experience. Pricing information isn’t readily available on the website and you’ll need to connect with Zoom sales reps.

Enterprise

The pricing of this package is not disclosed by Zoom and this is ideal for sessions with up to 1000 attendees.  

User Reviews

Here is what customers have to say about Zoom on G2: 

• “It’s an easy to use platform. They’ve taken all the fear of using technology away.Especially for those who didn’t grow up using technology.” – Ruben LC.
• “It requires strong wifi and internet connectivity. If your internet speed goes down, video and sound quality go down, and video freezes sometimes. It is a little disappointing while you are in the middle of presenting or meeting.”-  Verified User in Entertainment

10. Cisco Webex/Webex Meetings

Webex is a cloud-based platform that offers various ways to make your event productive and interactive. 

The platform lets you host webinars and virtual conferences with over three thousand participants. 

Features of Cisco Webex/Webex Meetings

You can access multiple interactive features such as a sponsor exhibition hall, many break-out sessions, and robust data encryption standards. Here are some more features: 

End-end Management

With Cisco Webex, you can customize your event for a more personalized virtual event experience. 

Live stream

Hosts can create a professional TV-like experience with live-stream options. 

HD Video and Audio

The feature lets you stream video and audio in HD quality. However, many customers have also complained about experiencing audio issues with the platform. 

Easy Content and Screen Sharing

Hosts can easily share content and their screens in an online meeting.

Animated Virtual Backgrounds

Animated virtual backgrounds can keep the audience interested in an online meeting for a longer period of time.

Downsides of Cisco Webex/Webex Meeting

Incompatible User Interface

The user interface and system menu are not as easy to comprehend for non-tech savvy attendees and event organizers. . Moreover, there are no training sessions pre-event or learning resources that can help you get your attendees and speakers ready in advance. If you experience technical glitches, you will likely need to sort them out on your own as there is no 24/7 tech support as well.

Incompatible Web Version

Cisco Webex offers its features through mobile app, desktop, and web versions. However, the web version does not have all the features other versions offer.

High Pricing

Another drawback of the Cisco Webex solution is that it is costlier than some competitors. 

Pricing 

Webex by Cisco offers two different pricing plans. They are:

Webex Webinars

The plan supports unlimited sessions with up to 1000 attendees in each. The pricing $68.75 per license per month.

Webex Events

For a more immersive virtual conference with a mobile app, registration and ticketing, and other important add-ons, you’ll have to opt for the Webex Events plan. However, the only way to find pricing information for this is by contacting their sales team.

User Reviews

Here is what customers have to say about the platform on G2:

• “The best thing about Webex Meetings is that it allows you to hold high-definition video conferences with others. The clarity of the videos is excellent, and you can customize the video’s layout to suit your needs better. Whether you need to share a presentation or want to communicate with others in real time, Webex Meetings is an ideal solution.” – Marianne C.
• “The things that I dislike about Webex are as follows: Firstly, it’s not user-friendly for me it is hard to use.
  I don’t like its paid plans because it is costly and offers fewer features.
  Webex’s android app is so bad that I would never use it again.” – Vishvjit S

FAQs