How we make this list: we compare pricing pages, product documentation and public user reviews. Rankite is independent; if a vendor ever pays for a featured spot, that listing is clearly labeled Partner.
Key takeaways
- RingCentral Events (formerly Hopin) publishes its pricing: Events Pro starts at $99 per organizer per month with unlimited events and registrations, plus a 30-day free trial.
- Bizzabo publishes its pricing too: $499 per user per month billed annually with a 3-user minimum, starting at $17,999 per year, and most integrations are paid add-ons.
- Airmeet has a genuinely free plan for up to 100 registrants per event, with paid Premium Webinars starting at $167 per month billed annually, per its own site.
- Accelevents lists transparent per-event pricing: Professional starts at $7,500 for one event and Business at $13,500 for unlimited events, per its pricing page.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Best for | Starting price | Free plan |
|---|
 Zoom Events | Teams already running on Zoom that want multi-session virtual and hybrid events without learning a new platform | See website | No |
 RingCentral Events | Organizers who run frequent webinars and virtual events and want predictable per-organizer pricing | $99/organizer/month | Free trial (30 days) |
 Whova | Conferences, trade shows, and association events where the attendee mobile app is the centerpiece | See website | Yes (free ticketing for free events) |
 vFairs | Trade shows, career fairs, and expos that want an immersive 3D virtual venue with exhibitor booths | See website | No |
 Airmeet | Community events, meetups, and networking-heavy virtual gatherings on a budget | $167/month (billed annually) | Yes (100 registrants per event) |
 Accelevents | Nonprofits, associations, and agencies running in-person, hybrid, and fundraising events | From $7,500/event | Free trial |
 BigMarker | Marketers running live, automated, and evergreen webinars that attendees join from a browser | From $99/month | Free trial |
 ON24 | Enterprise B2B marketing teams running webinars as a pipeline and demand generation engine | See website | No |
 Webex Events | Organizations standardized on Cisco Webex that need event registration, mobile apps, and onsite tools | See website | See website |
 Bizzabo | Large marketing teams that want one platform for in-person, virtual, and hybrid events with deep integrations | From $17,999/year | No |
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
The best online event software
Imagine you run a 400-person user conference every fall. The venue costs keep climbing, half your customers are on other continents, and your CEO just asked why the event is not hybrid yet. That is the exact moment most companies start shopping for online event software, and the market does not make it easy: some tools charge per organizer, others per event, others per attendee, and a few just say "talk to sales." The ten platforms below cover the full range, from free tools to enterprise suites.
#1
Zoom Events
Best for: Teams already running on Zoom that want multi-session virtual and hybrid events without learning a new platform
Visit zoom.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
Zoom Events is the path of least resistance if your company already lives in Zoom. Attendees join through the same client they use for meetings. The platform handles registration, ticketing, multi-track agendas, and hybrid sessions, and plans scale up to 10,000 attendees for large broadcasts.
The pricing is where you need to pay attention. Zoom sells Webinars and Events as separate add-ons, and third-party pricing trackers put Zoom Events around $149 per month per organizer, with annual billing discounts available. A pay-per-attendee option exists for occasional events. For virtual lobbies, expo halls, and sponsor booths, purpose-built platforms like RingCentral Events or vFairs are stronger.
What we like- Built on the Zoom Meetings and Webinars your attendees already know
- Supports multi-session, multi-track conferences with ticketing
- Pay-per-attendee option available for occasional events
Watch out for- No free plan or free trial for the Events tier, per third-party buyer data
- Webinar features are add-ons to a paid Zoom Workplace subscription
#2
RingCentral Events
Best for: Organizers who run frequent webinars and virtual events and want predictable per-organizer pricing
Visit ringcentral.com
Starting price$99/organizer/month
Free planFree trial (30 days)
RingCentral Events is the former Hopin, acquired by RingCentral in 2023, and it remains the closest thing to a full virtual conference venue in this lineup. You get a lobby, stages, sessions, an expo hall for sponsors, and networking areas where attendees can mingle, all under one roof. It also handles ticketing and registration natively, so you are not stitching together three tools.
The pricing page is refreshingly direct. Events Pro costs $99 per organizer per month, and every plan includes unlimited events and registrations, which means a surprise hit event never triggers an overage bill. The 30-day free trial covers most core functionality with limited registrations, so you can run a real test event before paying. The honest catch is the per-organizer model: at $99 a seat, giving five marketers organizer access costs nearly $500 a month before you host anything.
What we like- Events Pro starts at $99 per organizer per month with unlimited events and registrations, per RingCentral's pricing page
- Free trial includes most core functionality for 30 days
- Full virtual venue with lobby, expo hall, and networking areas
Watch out for- Per-organizer pricing gets expensive if many team members need organizer seats
- Advanced enterprise features sit on higher tiers
#3
Whova
Best for: Conferences, trade shows, and association events where the attendee mobile app is the centerpiece
Visit whova.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planYes (free ticketing for free events)
Whova built its reputation on the attendee experience. The mobile app carries the agenda, speaker profiles, networking, live polls, session Q&A, and even name badges, which is why it shows up at so many academic and association conferences. Organizers get registration, ticketing, exhibitor tools, and abstract management in the same platform, and it connects to Zoom and YouTube for hybrid sessions.
Pricing is quote-based and calculated per event from your size, format, and duration, so two similar events can pay different amounts. The genuinely useful free tier is ticketing for free events: if you do not charge admission, Whova does not charge you ticketing fees. For paid events, expect a per-ticket fee model on top of the platform quote. It fits organizers who prioritize the attendee app over deep branding control.
What we like- Award-winning mobile event app with agenda, networking, live polls, and Q&A
- Free ticketing plan for events that do not charge admission
- Strong reviews from conference organizers
Watch out for- No published pricing, quotes are per event
- Limited customization for branding and workflows, per third-party reviews
#4
vFairs
Best for: Trade shows, career fairs, and expos that want an immersive 3D virtual venue with exhibitor booths
Visit vfairs.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
vFairs is the most visually distinctive platform here. Instead of a flat webinar screen, attendees walk a 3D virtual lobby, visit exhibitor booths, and join one-to-one meetings through the mobile app. For trade shows, career fairs, and expos where sponsors pay for visibility, that environment is the product: exhibitors get branded booths with live chat, downloadable content, and lead capture.
The platform carries serious enterprise credentials, with SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, PCI DSS, and Microsoft SSPA compliance, which matters for regulated industries and large corporate buyers. There is no public pricing and no free tier, so expect a sales consultation, and reviewers warn the setup is complex. vFairs is built for organizers running large, high-stakes events with sponsor revenue; for a simple webinar series, it is far more platform than you need.
What we like- Interactive 3D virtual lobbies and customizable exhibitor booths
- Enterprise security certifications including SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001
- Easy-to-navigate mobile app, per buyer reviews
Watch out for- No published pricing and no free plan, everything goes through sales
- Reviewers cite a steep learning curve and complex setup
#5
Airmeet
Best for: Community events, meetups, and networking-heavy virtual gatherings on a budget
Visit airmeet.com
Starting price$167/month (billed annually)
Free planYes (100 registrants per event)
Airmeet is the friendliest entry point on this list. The free plan lets you run real events for up to 100 registrants with chat, polls, Q&A, ticketing, and the social lounge, which is enough for most community meetups and workshops. The platform's signature is networking: virtual tables in the social lounge and speed networking sessions recreate the hallway conversations that flat webinars miss.
Paid plans start with Premium Webinars at $167 per month billed annually, opening unlimited events and up to 10,000 attendees with priority support, per Airmeet's own comparison page. Multi-track agendas, exhibitor booths, custom email domains, and SSO sit on the higher tiers. The free tier is genuinely useful, but check where your must-have features live before you commit to a paid plan, since small teams sometimes find key capabilities locked above their budget.
What we like- Free plan supports up to 100 registrants per event with core engagement tools, per Airmeet
- Social lounges with virtual tables and speed networking
- Premium Webinars from $167/month billed annually, per Airmeet
Watch out for- Multi-track events, exhibitor booths, and SSO are gated behind higher tiers
- Annual commitments required on paid plans
#6
Accelevents
Best for: Nonprofits, associations, and agencies running in-person, hybrid, and fundraising events
Visit accelevents.com
Starting priceFrom $7,500/event
Free planFree trial
Accelevents is one of the few platforms here that treats in-person events as first-class citizens. You get registration and ticketing, onsite check-in with badge printing, a mobile event app, exhibitor tools, and continuing education credit tracking, plus a virtual event hub for hybrid setups. The fundraising module is a real differentiator: auctions and raffles run $499 per event plus $1 per bidder, and text-to-give campaigns cost $49 per month plus 1% of donations, per Accelevents' own fundraising page.
The published pricing is the selling point for budget-conscious planners. Professional starts at $7,500 for a single event with unlimited admin seats and registration types, while Business starts at $13,500 for unlimited events with cross-event reporting. The mobile app, virtual event hub, and dedicated event support can cost extra depending on the plan. It fits galas, fundraisers, and conferences; pure-virtual webinar marketers will find cheaper options.
What we like- Transparent published pricing: Professional from $7,500 for one event, Business from $13,500 for unlimited events, per Accelevents
- Built-in fundraising tools including auctions and text-to-give
- 24/7 support on all plans
Watch out for- Per-event pricing adds up fast for organizations running many events
- Virtual event hub and mobile app are add-ons on some plans
#7
BigMarker
Best for: Marketers running live, automated, and evergreen webinars that attendees join from a browser
Visit bigmarker.com
Starting priceFrom $99/month
Free planFree trial
BigMarker is a webinar specialist rather than a full event venue. Its strength is the range of webinar formats: live, on-demand, recurring, automated, and evergreen webinars that start at set intervals, plus webinar series with built-in monetization and lead generation. Everything runs in the browser, which removes the download friction that kills webinar attendance, and it streams to Facebook and YouTube Live natively.
Published pricing starts at $99 per month for the Basic tier, with higher tiers adding attendees, host licenses, and marketing automation features. It scales to 10,000 attendees on Enterprise plans and up to 500,000 on Enterprise+, per buyer guides. Watch the attendee overage fees on lower tiers and the annual contract terms. It is ideal for steady webinar programs; for expo halls and sponsor booths, look at RingCentral Events or vFairs.
What we like- Fully browser-based, no downloads for hosts or attendees
- Supports live, on-demand, automated, and evergreen webinars
- Published pricing starting at $99/month for the Basic tier
Watch out for- Attendee limits and overage fees on lower tiers
- Annual contracts typical, and advanced features require higher plans
#8
ON24
Best for: Enterprise B2B marketing teams running webinars as a pipeline and demand generation engine
Visit on24.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planNo
ON24 is the enterprise webinar platform for companies that treat webinars as a revenue channel. The differentiator is analytics: it tracks engagement signals like questions asked, polls answered, and content downloaded, then feeds that intelligence to sales and marketing automation. Webinars become on-demand content hubs that keep generating leads long after the live date, with integrations into Salesforce, Marketo, HubSpot, and Eloqua.
The big 2026 news is ownership: Cvent completed its acquisition of ON24 on April 1, 2026, in an all-cash deal valued at about $400 million, per industry reporting. ON24 now operates inside Cvent's event technology portfolio. There is no public pricing and no trial; third-party estimates put contracts in the $25,000 to $100,000-plus per year range. It is for serious demand-gen operations.
What we like- Deep engagement analytics that score attendee behavior for sales follow-up
- Content hub that turns webinars into on-demand assets
- Now part of Cvent's event technology portfolio
Watch out for- No published pricing and no self-serve tier, everything is a custom quote
- Buyers report five-figure annual contracts with overage charges
#9
Webex Events
Best for: Organizations standardized on Cisco Webex that need event registration, mobile apps, and onsite tools
Visit webex.com
Starting priceSee website
Free planSee website
Webex Events is the artist formerly known as Socio, folded into Cisco's Webex portfolio. It gives event professionals registration and ticketing, a mobile event app with networking and gamification, and onsite tools like badge printing and lead retrieval, with Webex Webinars available for the virtual sessions. For a company already paying for Webex, keeping events in the same ecosystem simplifies procurement, security reviews, and support.
The integration list is enterprise-grade: Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo, Microsoft Teams, Cvent, and Zapier are all supported. The downside is opacity: there is no published pricing and no public trial, so you will talk to Cisco sales. It makes the most sense for Cisco shops; for transparent pricing, look at RingCentral Events or Accelevents.
What we like- Formerly Socio, now part of the Cisco Webex suite
- Covers registration, ticketing, mobile event app, and onsite check-in
- Integrates with Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo, and Microsoft Teams
Watch out for- No published pricing available
- The product has been repositioned inside the Webex suite, so the roadmap follows Cisco's priorities
#10
Bizzabo
Best for: Large marketing teams that want one platform for in-person, virtual, and hybrid events with deep integrations
Visit bizzabo.com
Starting priceFrom $17,999/year
Free planNo
Bizzabo calls itself an Event Experience OS, and the base plan is genuinely broad: unlimited events and registrations, contact management, ticketing, email campaigns, an event website builder, advanced registration flows, a mobile app, and analytics, starting at $17,999 per year for three users, per its own pricing page. For a team running a packed event calendar, the unlimited model removes per-event budgeting anxiety entirely.
The catch is the add-on architecture. Virtual event production, advanced onsite tools, martech and CRM integrations, the sponsor portal, the speaker portal, 1:1 networking with smart matchmaking, the custom-branded app, API access, and SSO are all premium add-ons with undisclosed pricing. Industry analyses warn that a realistic enterprise deployment costs substantially more than the base. It fits large teams with complex portfolios and matching budgets.
What we like- Published base pricing: $499 per user per month billed annually with a 3-user minimum, per Bizzabo
- Unlimited events and registrations on the base plan
- 24/7/365 support with curated onboarding
Watch out for- Most integrations, the sponsor portal, networking, and branding are paid add-ons
- The real cost of a fully featured setup runs well above the base price
Start by sorting tools into two buckets: webinar tools and event venues. Webinar tools like BigMarker, Zoom Events, and ON24 are built for presentations to an audience, with registration, polls, Q&A, and analytics. Event venues like RingCentral Events, vFairs, Whova, and Bizzabo add lobbies, expo halls, sponsor booths, networking areas, and mobile apps. A 60-minute product demo needs a webinar tool; a two-day conference with sponsors needs a venue.
Then match the pricing model to your calendar. Per-organizer pricing like RingCentral Events at $99 per organizer per month rewards teams that run many events with few organizers. Per-event pricing like Accelevents from $7,500 per event suits organizations with occasional flagship events. Per-attendee models punish success, so check overage terms carefully. And always ask what is not included: Bizzabo's base plan excludes most integrations, and several vendors charge extra for the mobile app, SSO, or the virtual event hub. A short trial event on the free tier, where one exists, will surface these gaps faster than any demo.
The per-event vs per-organizer pricing trap
The pricing model matters more than the headline number. Per-organizer plans look cheap until you count seats: five organizers on RingCentral Events costs $495 per month whether you run one event or twenty. Per-event plans look expensive until you realize Accelevents' $7,500 single-event plan can be cheaper than a year of monthly subscriptions for one annual conference. And per-attendee pricing, common in webinar tools, quietly taxes your growth: every extra hundred attendees raises the bill.
The trap is mixing models in your head. Compare total annual cost for your actual calendar, not monthly stickers. A team running two webinars a month for 300 attendees each will pay very different totals on Zoom Events, BigMarker, and Airmeet, and the cheapest option flips depending on attendee counts. Ask every vendor for three numbers before you sign: the all-in cost for your biggest event, the cost for your smallest, and what happens when you exceed a limit mid-event.
How we chose
We researched this category through vendor pricing pages, product documentation, official press releases, and vendor-published comparison pages. We cross-checked feature claims and pricing against public buyer reviews on G2, TrustRadius, Capterra, SourceForge, and Slashdot. We favored tools with verifiable pricing and clear plan structures, and we included both self-serve platforms and enterprise suites so organizers of different sizes can find a fit. Prices shown come only from the vendor's own published pages; where a vendor does not publish pricing, we say so instead of guessing.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between webinar software and online event software?
Webinar software is built for one-to-many presentations: a host presents, the audience watches, asks questions, and answers polls. Online event software adds the venue around the presentation: virtual lobbies, multi-track agendas, expo halls, sponsor booths, networking areas, and mobile apps. Tools like BigMarker and Zoom Events lean webinar; RingCentral Events, vFairs, Whova, and Bizzabo lean full event venue.
How much does online event software cost?
It ranges from free to six figures a year. Airmeet's free plan covers 100 registrants per event, BigMarker starts at $99 per month, RingCentral Events costs $99 per organizer per month, and Airmeet's paid webinars start at $167 per month billed annually. Accelevents charges from $7,500 per event, Bizzabo starts at $17,999 per year, and ON24, vFairs, and Whova are quote-based, typically tens of thousands per year.
Can I run hybrid events with these tools?
Yes, most platforms on this list support hybrid events, but the depth varies. RingCentral Events, vFairs, Whova, Accelevents, and Bizzabo all have onsite components like check-in, badge printing, and mobile apps alongside their virtual venues. Zoom Events supports hybrid sessions through the Zoom client.
Do attendees need to download anything?
It depends on the platform. BigMarker, ON24, Airmeet, and most webinar tools are fully browser-based, so attendees join with one click. Zoom Events and RingCentral Events work best with their desktop or mobile apps, though browser join is usually available. Whova's experience centers on its mobile app, which attendees should install before the event. If your audience is non-technical, browser-based platforms will generate fewer support tickets on event day.
How do free trials work for event platforms?
Free trials vary widely. RingCentral Events offers a 30-day trial with most core features and limited registrations, and Airmeet's free plan is permanent for up to 100 registrants per event. Whova offers free ticketing for events that do not charge admission. Enterprise platforms like ON24, vFairs, and Bizzabo typically offer guided demos instead of self-serve trials. Always run a real test event during the trial, including registration, reminders, and the live session, before committing.
What should I ask about before signing an annual contract?
Ask for the all-in cost of your biggest and smallest events, what happens when you exceed an attendee or registration limit, and which features are paid add-ons. Confirm contract length, renewal terms, and whether unused organizer seats can be dropped mid-term. Check data export options, since switching later means rebuilding registration flows and integrations. A vendor that answers these clearly is usually easier to work with after the sale too.
Sources we checked (10)
- https://www.zoom.com/
- https://www.ringcentral.com/pricing/events.html
- https://whova.com/
- https://www.vfairs.com/
- https://www.airmeet.com/
- https://www.accelevents.com/pricing
- https://www.bigmarker.com/
- https://www.on24.com/
- https://www.webex.com/suite/events.html
- https://www.bizzabo.com/pricing
Is your product missing or out of date?
We review this list regularly. Vendors can request a listing, send updated pricing or ask about featured placement.
Shihab Mia · Founder, Rankite
Shihab has spent more than a decade helping SaaS and e-commerce brands grow through search. He writes Rankite's software buying guides from pricing pages, documentation and public user reviews. More about Shihab.