In times of a pandemic, technological advances have made work easier for many companies and professionals. For example, the inevitable cancellation of physical events in the worst stage of the pandemic caused virtual event tools to gain strength and popularity by leaps and bounds as an excellent alternative to face-to-face meetings. That’s why it is important to know what the best virtual event platforms are and how they can help you to create an engaged audience and an unforgettable event in general.
What are virtual event platforms?
Virtual event platforms or software tools are used to organize events or meetings in a virtual or 3D environment. They allow connecting hundreds of people, who can interact – with voice and movements – in a virtual environment that simulates a physical one, but that adopts a certain appearance similar to that of a video game.
A virtual event is often highly interactive and can connect hundreds of people at the same time from multiple devices in the same place. They can even complement physical meetings to improve the impact among attendees and boost engagement, making the experience as immersive as possible for users.
Virtual events are compatible with any type of meeting: trade fairs, conferences, sales meetings, conventions, open days at universities, etc., and are a really interesting opportunity to make presentations or internal sessions in companies.
25 of the best virtual event software platforms
Let’s take a look at some examples. We present you some of the platforms that allow you to organize very professional virtual events with great results. We have divided the list in two: on the one hand, we highlight the tools most recommended by our team, and on the other hand, some tools that you should take into account and also have a look at if you require some special functions for your virtual event like gamification since this is not offered by all virtual event platforms..
Remember that this is a list that is constantly updated, so please let us know if you don’t see any tool that you think we should include. This is our selection of the best virtual event platforms:
The best online event platforms
- expertshare
- BigMarker
- Hopin
- MeetMaps
- Brella
- Virtway
- Accelevents
- And others that you may also find very useful
- BlueJeans (new)
- Tu fabrica deventos
- ClickMeeting (new)
- Cvent (new)
- Eventact (new)
- Eventscase (new)
- Eventswallet (new)
- Eventtia
- Hubilo (new)
- Inwink (new)
- INXPO
- iVent
- Lets Get Digital (new)
- MeetYoo
- Remo
- Run the world
- vFairs
- Vimeet
Let’s get into the details of each platform.
1. expertshare – best virtual events platform
expertshare allows you to host whole events in 3D and you can even use your own background (it is the only company that has this). It also has scalable live streaming capabilities with unlimited attendees and it is very easy to customize this virtual environment.
This will turn your virtual event into an experience that will be remembered. The whole physical experience can be replicated in a 3D environment. Moreover, you can have group calls or one-to-one calls while still being linked to the main video event. People can also vote live during the event to make them more engaged. expertshare offers multi language support which means the event can be held in a custom language. Other great features they offer are:
Analytics & Reporting, Two Factor Authentication, Sponsors & Exhibitors, Video Library, Comments & Discussions, Ask The Speaker (Create a question board, moderate questions and improve user engagement), Automatic Certification, Screen Sharing, Hybrid Meeting Relationship Management, Custom Branding, Onsite Support, Cloud and cogwheel, SaaS and On-Prem, Certificate E-Learning, Document Library and more.
2. BigMarker
BigMarker’s goal is to empower interactive conversation with audiences of any size through webinars, virtual and hybrid events. They offer more than 15 virtual event modules that can be mixed and matched depending on your use case to create a unique experience.
In addition, it allows you to create targeted landing pages and customize the entire interface, from the look and feel of discussion boards to interactive Q&A sessions and calls to action. It also features integrated conversion-optimized sales and payment pages. You have the option to process transactions through Stripe (earnings go directly to your Stripe account) or Authorize.Net (earnings are deposited into your PayPal account, with a flat fee of $0.88).
It integrates with Salesforce, Hubspot, Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign and a dozen other applications. You can request a sample of how the tool works and then get a quote tailored to your needs.
3. Hopin
Hopin is an all-in-one tool that aims to replicate the experience and benefits of attending a conference without the expense and other obstacles such as travel, logistics and environmental impact. It is also adapted to run hybrid events.
The platform allows meeting participants to connect online in new ways, exchange virtual business cards and get a summary of their connections after an event. During the event, it allows sharing presentations, chatting, creating individual rooms for private meetings, tracking attendee behavior to obtain metrics and performance reports, among other options. It also has an app to improve accessibility, offers the possibility of customizing the interface of presentations and sharing an event with up to 100,000 people, and has support in 10 languages.
It has a free plan for up to 100 registrants (it charges 15% commission for each paid registration) and then offers subscription plans that start at €87.03/month.
4. Brella
Brella allows you to host all your event information: from speakers and multi-track agendas, to sponsors. Like other platforms on this list, it also features live chat, 1to1 meetings between attendees and sponsors (with ROI measurement), and a specific space for exhibitors, guaranteeing a cost-effective experience. It integrates with Hubspot, Eventbrite and Salesforce, and offers attendee engagement and behavioral metrics.
Pricing starts at €3,000/event.
5. MeetMaps
MeetMaps has been organizing virtual events since 2013. From Barcelona they have created an all-in-one software to create digital events for all sectors. Among the functions it includes is to connect your streaming for the presentations with a fully customized and personalized platform; group chat and live voting so that participants can freely ask questions and make votes to the expert through their cell phones; private agenda with parallel sessions to streaming and 1 to 1 meetings by video to promote networking. In fact, this is the technology we have chosen to organize our NEXT Epayments event.
In addition to traditional virtual events, it also offers 3D meetings in a customized space and virtual booths for exhibitions.
6. Virtway
With this tool you can organize any type of hybrid or virtual event, from small corporate meetings to massive trade shows. For Virtway, gamification is one of the most effective methods to attract people, so it considers entertainment to be an important element when organizing virtual events. Its platform allows interaction in a fun way with 3D avatars that can be configured and customized to the taste of each visitor. It even allows you to create a sponsored virtual world in line with your event. The platform’s priority is to improve the user experience, with interaction and a good level of engagement.
You can pay per event or per monthly subscription (from 10€/month, recommended for startups, SMEs and universities).
7. Accelevents
Accelevents takes the stress out of virtual and hybrid event management by offering event organizers an easy-to-use enterprise-grade event management platform coupled with the best support in the industry. Its highly customizable virtual engagement tools enable event organizers to effortlessly maintain high attendee engagement levels, while also empowering them to aggressively expand their virtual event footprint to national and global audiences.
With registration, live streaming, 1:1 networking, gamification, and in-depth analytics all in one place, hosting events has never been easier. Accelevents offers a mobile app, 24/7 customer support, and it integrates with CRMs and several applications.
You can pay per event or subscribe for unlimited events. Visit the Accelevents website for a free trial and to schedule a demo.
8. BlueJeans
With this tool you can organize and manage live interactive webinars, virtual town halls and events for large audiences (up to 50,000 participants and 150 presenters) around the world through immersive videos, Q&A, polls and rich moderator controls.
It has a very easy to use interface, from where you can manage all the activity and is accessed from a browser, without the need to download any application. You can also access it from the mobile applications available for iOS and Android. It offers annual plans from 36,67€/month (up to 100 attendees).
9. Tu fabrica deventos
With the all-in-one software of Tu fábrica de eventos you can organize conferences, lectures, trainings, fairs and even “one to one” business meetings from home or your workplace. Among the options offered by the Spanish platform, you can create the event’s informative website, automate tasks, manage the registration of participants, give access to your private area, visualize the contents issued online, generate automatic invoices for paid registrations and obtain advanced statistics. There is no limit to the number of guests and it has its own TV set that offers 360° sessions.
You can hire the tool per event or pay an annual subscription.
10. ClickMeeting
With ClickMeeting you can hold conferences and large online events with multiple presenters and thousands of participants in the same virtual conference room. Among the tool’s functionalities, we highlight the possibility of creating polls and surveys, sharing screens and desktop, tracking seminar statistics, recording the event or activating a chat, among many others.
It integrates with applications such as Paypal, Zapier, Pipedrive, Hubspot and many others. It offers a 30-day free trial and then has different plans starting at 22€/month.
11. Cvent
Cvent offers comprehensive solutions for face-to-face, hybrid and virtual events, prioritizing the interaction of attendees with organizers, sponsors and exhibitors.
With the platform you can create a personalized registration website, manage all content from one place, perform email marketing, combine live content with participation tools such as scheduling, questions, answers and networking, keep attendees connected through their browser or mobile device with the native event application before, during and after the event, make simultaneous and video-on-demand sessions with interactive tools, create a community with virtual appointments and collaborative sessions, and many more options.
12. Eventact
Eventact is an integrated solution for online and hybrid events with website, registration, ticketing, live streaming and networking. It offers you the possibility to create a customized website from templates and automatically generated basic content, which you can easily edit with drag and drop functionality. From there you can manage event registration, create forms and sell tickets.
Allows participants to ask questions and share their ideas with presenters and other participants during and after conferences. You can also create meeting rooms for small groups and round tables, and share material directly from your video studio, VMIX, OBS, Zoom, YouTube, Facebook Live or Vimeo.
Another option of this tool is to send push notifications, annotations and pop-up information to participants in real time, move them from room to room, conduct surveys, display offers from exhibitors and sponsors, measure audience participation and behavior, among many other options.
You can pay per event (from 110,53€) or subscribe to the platform with unlimited events (from 87,54€/month).
13. Eventscase
It is a customizable all-in-one event management software that synchronizes different technologies needed to develop and promote virtual, hybrid and face-to-face events. No programming skills are required; the platform is easy to use and has a dedicated customer suppoet team.
Eventscase is modular and supports any language. It offers more than 11 products that will help you manage, enhance the active participation of your attendees and improve networking. Among them, we highlight the check in and event apps, the badge generator, the customizable website creator, the 1 to 1 meetings, the possibility of broadcasting through your providers (YouTube, Vimeo and Zoom) or through its streaming platform with no session limit, live chat, direct private messages, surveys, among others.
You can access one of their 4 packages (from 99€/month), or request a customized quote. It offers a 7-day free trial and free demos.
14. Events Wallet
This Israeli tool also offers solutions for online, offline and hybrid events. It allows an unlimited number of broadcasts, rooms and sessions, speakers and their documents, integrated chats and questions for speakers. There is also no limit to the number of participants or the duration of the event. In the case of exhibitors or sponsors, booths include company equipment, photo and video material, product catalog, documents with presentations and price lists. For each visitor and exhibitor, individual statistics are generated to evaluate the effectiveness of the event.
The tool is available to users in the web version, as well as mobile applications for iOS, Android and the Wechat mini-program for Chinese audiences. Participants will be able to log in via a click or a QR code that is automatically generated for each activity.
The cost of the platform depends on the number of exhibitors, sponsors and business program sessions.
15. Eventtia
Eventtia is a virtual, hybrid or physical event management platform that easily integrates with the vast majority of streaming tools. The platform centrally provides you with all the necessary modules for any type of event covering the entire process
the Pre: customized registration forms, mass-mailing, customized web page, payment integrations with PayPal, PayU and Stripe, discount coupons, online interaction space before the event with the participants.
the During: presentations, parallel rooms, participant interaction systems, attendee list management, automatic determination of appointment spaces (tables or booths) for face-to-face meetings, surveys.
and the Post: access to all types of metrics and surveys.
16. Hubilo
Hubilo is a cloud-based event management platform that helps automate the entire process, from registrations, tickets, networking to promotions with detailed analytics. All this from customizable workflows and various integrations with tools such as Hubspot, Mailchimp, Salesforce and Zapier, among others.
It allows you to create multiple meeting rooms and lounges to engage attendees, run contests, live polls, chats, Q&A, use a matching algorithm to connect attendees based on their wants and needs, generate customizable event web pages, send personalized URLs, measure performance, monetize the event by integrating popular payment systems like Stripe and Chargebee, -which accept over 120 currencies-, and then perform billing and accounting on the same platform, among many other functionalities.
17. Inwink
Inwink is an event marketing solution that allows you to organize physical and digital events from an all-in-one platform offering a 100% branded online experience and collecting all participation data in real time.
It allows you to create a responsive website with no coding or graphic design skills required; stream live, concurrent and repeat sessions; include chat, Q&A, live polls and online networking tables; customize forms and manage free registration or ticket purchases; create and automate personalized emails; automatically generate personalized badges for each participant, partner or speaker; scan QR codes; suggest a qualified list of leads to your partners and give them autonomy to meet and contact people; match participants according to common interests; integrate the platform with your CRM or marketing automation tools to synchronize event data, and many more options.
18. INXPO (Notified)
Among its multiple functionalities, the INXPO virtual event platform, acquired by Intrado, allows you to choose the type of space or venue that best suits the objectives of the event in question. Whether it is a lounge, a classroom, a foyer, a meeting room, an auditorium, etc. The spaces also adapt their dynamics to the events and can be configured for games or feedback surveys.
Event organizers have at their disposal a universal space where they can configure everything in their own way or use a predefined configuration. They can integrate logos in the branding image area or ads in the advertising space. These ads can be linked to sponsors or other virtual spaces.
19. iVent
In addition to organizing virtual events, iVent specializes in hybrid events, which tend to work very well for product launches, large conferences or presentation-based meetings
The process is fairly straightforward. The event promoter first organizes the physical event in the usual way. Then, on the day of the event, iVent technicians configure the online platform as necessary to allow remote attendees seamless access. All live event content can be recorded and stored for viewing after the event is over.
In this type of hybrid event, iVent handles the filming and virtual integration. The video is streamed online and virtual attendees can participate in any discussion as they would if they were physically attending. In addition, both audiences can interact with each other as they would at a traditional event. They can view each other’s CVs, send messages to each other, chat via audio or video, and participate in discussions.
As for virtual events, attendees can log in via any device, the interface is fully customizable, delegates can interact, network and collaborate via live chat, direct messaging or video calling features built into the platform, interactive games can be played, exhibitor booths can be included, private meeting rooms can be created and real-time data can be collected.
Prices per event start at €7,698.
20. Let’s Get Digital
With this tool you can organize virtual and hybrid events starting with a landing page, mobile app and platform ready for you to customize and use. It also allows you to create websites or set up a custom branded app for iOS and Android to suit your needs.
Among its many features, we highlight the ability to schedule individual or group meetings, connect participants with the smart pairing feature, send push notifications through the online platform or mobile app, use popular live streaming options and services such as YouTube, Twitch, Jetstream, Vimeo or through an iframe to showcase customized services, among others.
You can also give your business partners the freedom to set up virtual booths with live streams, videos, online chat, meetings with availability calendar, downloads, social media links and much more
You can pay per event (from £900), or subscribe for unlimited events (from £300/month).
21. MeetYoo
MeetYoo is a German company that organizes customizable virtual events of any size (up to 50,000 participants). For those meetings where there are several stands, each one will be designed according to the corporate image of the company.
Among the features offered, we highlight the possibility of conducting individual or group chats, video chats, surveys or rounds of questions and answers, metrics analysis to evaluate results -either grouping visitors into groups or scoring each visitor individually-, breakout sessions, digital networks, interactive games, among several others.
It offers 3 specific products for different purposes: MeetYoo Pro (fully managed premium service for virtual events, starting at £20,000/event), MeetYoo Go (self-service tool for virtual events, starting at £1,000/month) and MeetYoo Show (premium quality webcast with professional technical support, starting at £800/hour).
22. Remo
The peculiarity of Remo is that it is built by a team working remotely. With this tool it is very easy to create an immersive virtual space that allows people to communicate, connect and collaborate with each other as they would in real life.
When the user enters a space in Remo, they will see a 2D top-down map of an event venue, virtual office, conference or school, filled with interactive “rooms”. Each room hosts an always-on video chat for a room’s occupants, making it easy for collaborators to jump in and out of conversations with ease.
The application uses video, audio and chat to allow people within each room to interact in real time, from anywhere in the world. Each user has his or her own avatar, which can be moved from room to room by simply clicking on a space and interacting with people in the room.
It offers a no-cost subscription with events of up to 30 minutes with up to 15 participants. Payment plans can be monthly (from €237.57) or per event (from €352).
23. Run the world
Run the World has executives and veterans from Facebook, Instagram and Amazon, and is backed by Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, an early investor in companies such as Skype and Airbnb, among others. It is an online event platform designed for organizers, attendees, speakers and sponsors from around the world.
It is an all-in-one platform (registration, streaming and analytics) with tools for live chats, debates and panels. It allows one-click access to each event without registration, 1:1 playback, live Q&A, and a branded interface. Ensures that the social aspect of your virtual event is not lost, with a virtual “cocktail party” option and an algorithm that matches attendees with other like-minded people based on questionnaires they complete before the event.
It offers a free-to-use plan with unlimited events for up to 50 attendees. Paid plans start at €68.29/month.
24. vFairs
vFairs is a virtual and hybrid event platform that helps organizations reach global audiences. It offers extensive customization with features and integrations (Stripe, Salesforce, Zapier, among many others), 3D layouts, event performance reporting, access to exclusive lobbies, halls and virtual lounges, auto-matching profiles and various other options.
It offers a free demo and then pricing is customized.
25. Vimeet
Vimeet is the platform of the Proximum365 group, a French leader in the organization of scheduled meetings. With this tool you can organize and monetize virtual and hybrid events.
It offers HD live streaming, interactivity, attendee support, the ability to interact and upload presentations of all kinds, record the session, create unique registration paths for each attendee, scan business cards, add appointment rooms with full HD encrypted video, monitor the development of the event to generate performance reports, do B2B lead capture through premium events, and many other features.
The competitive advantages of holding virtual events
They are cheaper
Virtual events represent a considerable cost reduction for both organizers and attendees. On the one hand, there are savings on travel and hotels, and the organization itself does not have to worry about setting up a stand or looking for a physical space to hold the event. This also results in higher profit margins.
They increase the geographical area and the number of attendees.
They have no geographical limitations, so the events can be better spread around the globe and also have a more international character. In addition, their low costs mean that they can be held several times a year, which can increase audience loyalty.
Strengthen the network of contacts
It should be borne in mind that virtual events are more than just videos or online conferences aimed at a group of people. They are designed primarily to enhance networking, so that brands can strengthen their network of contacts to help them generate business opportunities.
Measurable in very precise results
Another of the great benefits of virtual events is that you can obtain very precise data on the attendance or the specific characteristics of the audience attending the event. Metrics that can be analyzed to improve, for example, future conventions. The best virtual event platforms are essential for this.
