Rachel Andrea Go Fractional CMO for B2B eCommerce Companies

49 Webinar Software Options: The Tools You Need to Execute Webinars and Drive Leads

Rachel Andrea Go /

The technology behind your event can make or break it. No one wants to stick around for a webinar with poor sound quality or a blank screen. That’s why the webinar software you choose has to align with your overall webinar strategy and goals.

Webinar software requirements

Hosting software is the backbone of your webinar. When researching solutions, the main features to look for are:

  • Registration – What is the maximum number of live attendees allowed per webinar?
  • Ease of use for attendees – Can people join from their desktop computers and phones? Do they need to download software?
  • Ease of use for speakers – How easy is it for guest speakers to join? Can everyone control their own slides?
  • Webinar room features – Can you toggle Q&A, chat, surveys, and polls off and on? Can you set Q&A to private?
  • Broadcasting features – Is there built-in live streaming? Can you share a video or recording for part or all of the webinar?
  • Content sharing – Can you upload slides, videos, and share screens? Can attendees download slides?
  • Post-webinar elements – Will there be a recording you can download? Will the recording be emailed to registrants? Can you download your registrant list?

Here’s the exact list of criteria I looked at when researching each tool in this article. It can serve as a key to the feature lists I’ve compiled for each tool below.

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Can attendees and speakers enter the webinar room without having to download and install additional software?
  • Slide upload – Can presenters and moderators upload slides to present during the event?
  • Video upload – Can hosts upload and play videos for attendees during the event?
  • Share screen – Can presenters, moderators, and hosts share their screens?
  • Speaker control of presentation – Can speakers control the presentation, like moving their own slides forward and playing videos, or does the moderator have to control slides? (The latter results in an awkward “next slide please” after every slide.)
  • Automated recording – Does the webinar software have an option to record every event?
  • Automated email share of recording – Is the software able to email recordings to every registrant automatically?
  • Ability to hide chat – Can moderators turn off the chat function?
  • Link blocking in chat – Can the hosts opt to block all links in chat, to cut down on spam?

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – How many live attendees can the platform support?
  • Pre-recorded events – Are users able to upload a pre-recorded webinar to play during the event?
  • On-demand events – Can users switch their live webinars to on-demand events?
  • Multi-session with single registration – Can users file multiple sessions under a single login, such as in a conference?
  • Multi-track events –  Can users group sessions by theme and set up different tracks for attendees?
  • Q&A – Is there a live Q&A feature?
  • Poll – Can users send out polls during the event?
  • Direct/Private chat – Is there an option to set chats to private or direct to speakers?
  • Breakout rooms – Are there breakout rooms attendees can hop into to speak with the event’s internal team?
  • External link pop-ups in session – Can users show clickable links on screen during the event?

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Can users adjust the landing page to reflect their logo, brand colors, and desired layout?
  • Registration form embed option – Can users embed the registration form on their websites?
  • Customized email notifications – Can users adjust the automated email notification copy and graphics?
  • Post-registration redirect – After someone registers, can users redirect them automatically to a thank you page on their websites?

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – Can users see a breakdown of who registered, attended, asked a question, and other metrics?
  • Registrant export – Can users export all registrant info?
  • Attendee export – Can users export attendee info based on session?
  • Q&A export – Can users export the questions attendees asked?
  • Poll answer export – Can users export answers to the polls asked during the event?

49 Webinar software options

This is an evolving list of virtual event software, conference software, and webinar software that I’ve collected during my search for the perfect tool. I may eventually add descriptions and reviews to all of them, but I decided to publish fast and fix it later in case anyone desperately needs this list.

8×8

8x8

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Yes
  • Slide upload – No
  • Video upload – Yes, via YouTube
  • Share screen – Yes
  • Speaker control of presentation – Yes
  • Automated recording – Yes
  • Automated email share of recording – No, but you can share recordings manually
  • Ability to hide chat – No
  • Link blocking in chat – No

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – Unlimited
  • Pre-recorded events – No
  • On-demand events – No
  • Multi-session with single registration – No
  • Multi-track events –  No
  • Q&A – Yes
  • Poll – Yes
  • Direct/private chat – Yes
  • Breakout rooms – Yes
  • External link pop-ups in session – No

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes
  • Registration form embed option – Yes, via API
  • Customized email notifications – No, but you can integrate it with a Google and Microsoft Calendar to manage invitations
  • Post-registration redirect – No

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – Yes
  • Registrant export – Yes
  • Attendee export – Yes
  • Q&A export – Yes
  • Poll answer export – Yes

Adobe Connect

Adobe Connect

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Yes, if browser access is enabled
  • Slide upload – Yes
  • Video upload – Yes
  • Share screen – Yes
  • Speaker control of presentation – Yes
  • Automated recording – Yes
  • Automated email share of recording – No, but you can share recordings manually
  • Ability to hide chat – Yes
  • Link blocking in chat – No

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – Up to 300 depending on chosen tier (plus option to upgrade to a larger capacity license of up to 1,500 attendees)
  • Pre-recorded events – Yes
  • On-demand events – Yes
  • Multi-session with single registration – No
  • Multi-track events –  No
  • Q&A – Yes
  • Poll – Yes
  • Direct/private chat – Yes
  • Breakout rooms – Yes
  • External link pop-ups in session – No

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes, on the Premium or Enterprise plan
  • Registration form embed option – No
  • Customized email notifications – Yes, on the Premium or Enterprise plan
  • Post-registration redirect – No

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – Yes
  • Registrant export – Yes
  • Attendee export – Yes
  • Q&A export – Yes
  • Poll answer export – Yes

Airmeet

Airmeet

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Yes
  • Slide upload – No
  • Video upload – Yes
  • Share screen – Yes
  • Speaker control of presentation – Yes, if they share their screen
  • Automated recording – Yes
  • Automated email share of recording – No, find it within your event dashboard
  • Ability to hide chat – Yes
  • Link blocking in chat – No, but can block attendees
  • Day-of support – Yes

Event logistics

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes
  • Registration form embed option – Yes
  • Customized email notifications – Via integrations
  • Post-registration redirect – No

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – Yes
  • Registrant export – Yes
  • Attendee export – No, but can be found in analytics report after the event
  • Q&A export – No, but can be found in analytics report after the event
  • Poll answer export – No, but can be found in analytics report after the event

All In The Loop

All in the Loop

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Yes
  • Slide upload – Yes
  • Video upload – Yes
  • Share screen – Yes
  • Speaker control of presentation – Yes
  • Automated recording – Yes
  • Automated email share of recording – They will provide the replay link, but you’ll need to create the email with third-party email marketing software
  • Ability to hide chat – Yes
  • Link blocking in chat – Yes

Event logistics

Branding

  • Branded landing page – No
  • Registration form embed option – No
  • Customized email notifications – No
  • Post-registration redirect – No
  • External link pop-ups in session – No

Internal and partner use

Banzai

Banzai

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

Bevy

bevy

Bevy excels at powering multi-day virtual summits with different tracks. Attendees can join whichever sessions they’re most interested in, connect with other participants, view an overall agenda, organize events by different stages (tracks), and meet with various brands in virtual “booths.”

Ease of use

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – No stated limitations (at least 45,000 according to customer support)
  • Pre-recorded events – Yes
  • On-demand events – Yes, you can upload your recording to a video hosting site and embed it in a Bevy booth
  • Multi-session with single registration – No
  • Multi-track events – Yes
  • Q&A – Yes
  • Poll – No
  • Direct/private chat – Yes
  • Breakout rooms – Yes
  • External link pop-ups in session – Links can be added to the chat and pinned

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes
  • Registration form embed option – Yes
  • Customized email notifications – Yes

Internal and partner use

BigMarker

BigMarker webinar software

Note: I used BigMarker when I ran the second annual Discoverr conference for Deliverr, which you can read about in the Discoverr case study. I selected this platform for its robust features (everything I was looking for) and responsive customer support.

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

Bizzabo

Bizzabo

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Yes
  • Slide upload – Yes
  • Video upload – Yes
  • Share screen – Yes
  • Speaker control of presentation – Yes
  • Automated recording – Yes
  • Automated email share of recording – Yes
  • Ability to hide chat – Yes
  • Link blocking in chat – No

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – Largest event had more than 1 million live attendees
  • Pre-recorded events – Yes
  • On-demand events – Yes
  • Multi-session with single registration – Yes
  • Multi-track events –  Yes
  • Q&A – Yes
  • Poll – Yes
  • Direct/private chat – Yes
  • Breakout rooms – Yes
  • External link pop-ups in session – No

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes
  • Registration form embed option – Yes
  • Customized email notifications – Yes
  • Post-registration redirect – No

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – Yes
  • Registrant export – Yes
  • Attendee export – Yes
  • Q&A export – Yes
  • Poll answer export – Yes

Brandlive

BrandLive

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes
  • Registration form embed option – Yes
  • Customized email notifications – Yes
  • Post-registration redirect – Yes

Internal and partner use

ClickMeeting

ClickMeeting

ClickMeeting is an easy-to-use webinar platform that comes with tools for organizing, running, and analyzing events. Its three plans are customizable to different needs. However, it lacks phone support and allows only a limited number of presenters.

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

Contrast

Contrast

Ease of use

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – Unlimited
  • Pre-recorded events – Yes
  • On-demand events – Yes
  • Multi-session with single registration – Yes
  • Multi-track events –  No
  • Q&A – Yes
  • Poll – Yes
  • Direct/private chat – Yes
  • Breakout rooms – No
  • External link pop-ups in session – No

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes
  • Registration form embed option – No
  • Customized email notifications – Yes
  • Post-registration redirect – No

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – Yes
  • Registrant export – Yes
  • Attendee export – Yes
  • Q&A export – Yes
  • Poll answer export – Yes

Crowdcast

Crowdcast

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Yes
  • Slide upload – Yes
  • Video upload – Yes, via YouTube, Wistia, or Vimeo
  • Share screen – Yes
  • Speaker control of presentation – Yes
  • Automated recording – Yes
  • Automated email share of recording – Yes
  • Ability to hide chat – No, but they can ban people from engaging in the chat
  • Link blocking in chat –No, but they can ban people from engaging in the chat

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – Ranges from 100 to 1000+ depending on your chosen plan
  • Pre-recorded events – Yes, but you will need to go live to share pre-recorded content
  • On-demand events – No
  • Multi-session with single registration – Yes
  • Multi-track events – Yes
  • Q&A – Yes
  • Poll – Yes
  • Direct/private chat – No, but speakers have a “backstage chat” that is hidden from attendees
  • Breakout rooms – Yes
  • External link pop-ups in session – Yes

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes
  • Registration form embed option – Yes
  • Customized email notifications – Yes
  • Post-registration redirect – No

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – Yes
  • Registrant export – Yes
  • Attendee export – Yes
  • Q&A export – Yes
  • Poll answer export – Yes

Cvent

Cvent

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

  • Branded landing page – No
  • Registration form embed option – Yes
  • Customized email notifications – Yes
  • Post-registration redirect – Yes

Internal and partner use

Demio

Demio

Demio is a hassle-free webinar tool that allows you to host multi-session events, on-demand webinars, customize email notifications, brand your registration pages, and more. It comes with easy onboarding and features built on the foresight of their marketing-focused founders.

I’ve used Demio and Livestorm previously and found them easy to use. Both are browser-based with robust features, so I recommend either of them if you’re looking to incorporate webinars into your overall growth strategy and make it easy for registrants to attend.

Note: Demio is a former client.

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Yes
  • Slide upload – Yes
  • Video upload – Yes
  • Share screen – Yes
  • Speaker control of presentation – Yes
  • Automated recording – Yes
  • Automated email share of recording – Yes
  • Ability to hide chat – No, but can set to private
  • Link blocking in chat – No

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – 3000
  • Pre-recorded events – Yes
  • On-demand events – Yes
  • Multi-session with single registration – Through event series
  • Multi-track events – Only through event series
  • Q&A – Yes
  • Poll – Yes
  • Direct/private chat – Yes
  • Breakout rooms – No
  • External link pop-ups in session – Yes

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes
  • Registration form embed option – Yes
  • Customized email notifications – Yes
  • Post-registration redirect – Yes

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – Yes
  • Registrant export – Yes
  • Attendee export – Yes
  • Q&A export – Yes
  • Poll answer export – Yes

Easywebinar

EasyWebinar

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Yes
  • Slide upload – Yes
  • Video upload – Yes
  • Share screen – Yes
  • Speaker control of presentation – Yes
  • Automated recording – Yes
  • Automated email share of recording – Yes
  • Ability to hide chat – Yes
  • Link blocking in chat – No

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – Unlimited
  • Pre-recorded events – Yes
  • On-demand events – Yes
  • Multi-session with single registration – Yes
  • Multi-track events –  No
  • Q&A – Yes
  • Poll – Yes
  • Direct/private chat – Yes
  • Breakout rooms – No
  • External link pop-ups in session – Yes

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes
  • Registration form embed option – Yes
  • Customized email notifications – Yes
  • Post-registration redirect – Yes

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – Yes
  • Registrant export – Yes
  • Attendee export – Yes
  • Q&A export – Yes
  • Poll answer export – Yes

EventBuilder

EventBuilder

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

eWebinar

eWebinar

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Yes
  • Slide / video upload – The webinars are pre-recorded, so you won’t need to upload anything
  • Share screen – Yes
  • Speaker control of presentation – Yes—but there are no live speakers.
  • Automated recording – All events are pre-recorded
  • Automated email share of recording – Yes
  • Ability to hide chat – No
  • Link blocking in chat – No

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

Goldcast

Goldcast

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

GoTo Webinar (Formerly GoToWebinar)

GoTo Webinar

GoTo Webinar is an all-in-one webinar tool with features like invitations, videos, polls, sharing, data, and automatic invites and follow-up emails. Note that GoTo Webinar is not as customizable as other platforms, which may make it unsuitable for larger brands.

Tip: If you track your leads and deal stages in HubSpot, GoTo Webinar has an excellent HubSpot integration.

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

InEvent

InEvent webinar software

Ease of use

Event logistics

  • Pre-recorded events – Yes
  • On-demand events – Yes
  • Multi-session with single registration – Yes
  • Multi-track events –  Yes
  • Q&A – Yes
  • Poll – Yes
  • Direct/private chat – Yes
  • Breakout rooms – Yes (networking)
  • External link pop-ups in session – Can we show clickable links on screen during the event?

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes
  • Registration form embed option – Yes
  • Customized email notifications – Yes
  • Post-registration redirect – No

Internal and partner use

Livestorm

Livestorm

Livestorm is a browser-based webinar tool with a great UI and easy registration page setup. This is the software I chose for Discoverr 2020, as it allowed for a thousand live attendees with unlimited registrants. I’ve used them for hundreds of eCommerce webinars thanks to how easy it is for speakers and attendees to join.

Note: The only time I’ve ever had an issue was when we first started using it and a webinar room became so full it kicked out one of the speakers.

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Yes
  • Slide upload – Yes, as PDFs
  • Video upload – Yes
  • Share screen – Yes
  • Speaker control of presentation – Yes
  • Automated recording – Yes
  • Automated email share of recording – Yes
  • Ability to hide chat – Yes
  • Link blocking in chat – No

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – 1,000
  • Pre-recorded events – Yes
  • On-demand events – Yes
  • Multi-session with single registration – No
  • Multi-track events –  No
  • Q&A – Yes
  • Poll – Yes
  • Direct/private chat – No
  • Breakout rooms – No
  • External link pop-ups in session – No

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes, but not layout
  • Registration form embed option – Yes
  • Customized email notifications – Yes, but no graphics
  • Post-registration redirect – Yes with custom code

<script>
livestorm.on(‘registration-success’, function () {
window.location = ‘URL’
})
</script>

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – Yes
  • Registrant export – Yes
  • Attendee export – Yes
  • Q&A export – Yes
  • Poll answer export – No

LiveWebinar

LiveWebinar

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes
  • Registration form embed option – No
  • Customized email notifications – No
  • Post-registration redirect – Yes

Internal and partner use

Maestro

Maestro webinar software options

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Yes
  • Slide upload – No
  • Video upload – Yes
  • Share screen – No
  • Speaker control of presentation – No
  • Automated recording – Yes, only for use within Maestro and not when using third party video player
  • Automated email share of recording – No
  • Ability to hide chat – Yes
  • Link blocking in chat – Yes

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – No published maximum, 8 hour time limit on livestreams
  • Pre-recorded events – Yes
  • On-demand events – Yes, as replays
  • Multi-session with single registration – Yes
  • Multi-track events –  Yes
  • Q&A – No
  • Poll – Yes
  • Direct/private chat – No
  • Breakout rooms – No
  • External link pop-ups in session – Yes

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes
  • Registration form embed option – Yes
  • Customized email notifications – No
  • Post-registration redirect – No

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – Yes
  • Registrant export – Yes
  • Attendee export – Yes
  • Q&A export – No
  • Poll answer export – No

MyOwnConference

My Own Conference

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – Yes
  • Registrant export – Yes
  • Attendee export – Yes
  • Q&A export – Yes
  • Poll answer export – No

On24

On24

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – Yes
  • Registrant export – Yes
  • Attendee export – Yes
  • Q&A export – Yes
  • Poll answer export – Yes

RingCentral Webinar

RingCentral

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

Riverside

Riverside homepage

Riverside is a bit unique in that their base plan only includes livestreaming within their platform and recording. Initially, we used this to record podcasts, which I suspect was their original use case.

The way we made this tool work on their entry-level plan is we built the webinar landing page on our website, embedded a HubSpot registration form, and automatically sent the audience link to anyone who signed up via email.

Please note my experience was from their standard plan.

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Yes
  • Slide upload – No, you’d have to share your screen
  • Video upload – No
  • Share screen – Yes
  • Speaker control of presentation – Yes
  • Automated recording – Yes
  • Automated email share of recording – No
  • Ability to hide chat – No
  • Link blocking in chat – No

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – Up to 8 guests, unspecified audience members
  • Pre-recorded events –No
  • On-demand events – No
  • Multi-session with single registration – No
  • Multi-track events –  No, but they allow simultaneous streams in the same studio grouping
  • Q&A – No
  • Poll – No
  • Direct/private chat – Yes
  • Breakout rooms – No
  • External link pop-ups in session – No

Branding

  • Branded landing page – No
  • Registration form embed option – No
  • Customized email notifications – NA
  • Post-registration redirect – NA

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – NA
  • Registrant export – NA
  • Attendee export – NA
  • Q&A export – Yes (for chat)
  • Poll answer export – NA

Sequel.io

Sequel.io

Ease of use

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – Two million
  • Pre-recorded events – Yes
  • On-demand events – Yes
  • Multi-session with single registration – Yes
  • Multi-track events –  No
  • Q&A – Yes
  • Poll – Yes
  • Direct/private chat – Yes
  • Breakout rooms – Yes
  • External link pop-ups in session – No

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes
  • Registration form embed option – Yes
  • Customized email notifications – Yes
  • Post-registration redirect – Yes

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – Yes
  • Registrant export – Yes
  • Attendee export – Yes
  • Q&A export – Yes
  • Poll answer export – Yes

Sessions

sessions

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Yes
  • Slide upload – Yes
  • Video upload – Yes
  • Share screen – Yes
  • Speaker control of presentation – Yes
  • Automated recording – Yes
  • Automated email share of recording – No, but they will have automatic access via their Sessions account
  • Ability to hide chat – Yes
  • Link blocking in chat – No

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – Up to 3,000 depending on chosen plan
  • Pre-recorded events – No, but they’re planning to release this feature
  • On-demand events – No, but they’re planning to release this feature
  • Multi-session with single registration – No
  • Multi-track events –  No
  • Q&A – Yes
  • Poll – Yes
  • Direct/private chat – Yes
  • Breakout rooms – Yes
  • External link pop-ups in session – Yes

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes
  • Registration form embed option – No
  • Customized email notifications – Yes
  • Post-registration redirect – Yes

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – Yes
  • Registrant export – Yes
  • Attendee export – Yes
  • Q&A export – Yes
  • Poll answer export – Yes

Socio

Socio webinar software

*Note: Socio was recently acquired and is now part of Webex by Cisco.

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

SpotMe

SpotMe

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

Stova

Stova

Formerly Aventri, Stova comes with 24/7 live support and a robust training portal.

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

streamGo

streamGO webinar software

Ease of use

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – 5000+
  • Pre-recorded events – Yes
  • On-demand events – Yes
  • Multi-session with single registration – Yes
  • Multi-track events – Yes, attendees can choose which sessions they want to go to and add it to their agenda tab
  • Q&A – Yes
  • Poll – Yes
  • Direct/private chat – Yes
  • External link pop-ups in session – No, but they have banners within the virtual event environment and add links to the chat

Branding

Internal and partner use

StreamYard

StreamYard

Ease of use

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – Up to 100,000 viewers depending on your chosen plan
  • Pre-recorded events – Yes
  • On-demand events – Yes, if you enable the “available on-demand” setting
  • Multi-session with single registration – No
  • Multi-track events –  No
  • Q&A – No
  • Poll – No, but you can use a third-party app, like Kahoot, to do this
  • Direct/private chat – Yes
  • Breakout rooms – No
  • External link pop-ups in session – No, but you can pin chat messages with links

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes
  • Registration form embed option – Yes
  • Customized email notifications – No
  • Post-registration redirect – No

Internal and partner use

TwentyThree

TwentyThree webinar software

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Yes
  • Slide upload – No
  • Video upload – Yes
  • Share screen – Yes
  • Speaker control of presentation – Yes
  • Automated recording – Yes
  • Automated email share of recording – Yes
  • Ability to hide chat – Yes
  • Link blocking in chat – No, but links are not clickable in chat

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – 3000 on the highest plan, “Unlimited” mentioned on their pricing page
  • Pre-recorded events – Yes
  • On-demand events – Yes
  • Multi-session with single registration – No (on roadmap)
  • Multi-track events – No
  • Q&A – Yes
  • Poll – Yes
  • Direct/private chat – No
  • Breakout rooms – No
  • External link pop-ups in session – No

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes
  • Registration form embed option – No
  • Customized email notifications – Yes
  • Post-registration redirect – No

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – Yes
  • Registrant export – Yes
  • Attendee export – Yes
  • Q&A export – Yes
  • Poll answer export – Yes

Univid

Univid

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Yes
  • Slide upload – No
  • Video upload – Yes
  • Share screen – Yes
  • Speaker control of presentation – Yes
  • Automated recording – Yes
  • Automated email share of recording – Yes
  • Ability to hide chat – Yes
  • Link blocking in chat – No

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – Unlimited
  • Pre-recorded events – Yes
  • On-demand events – Yes
  • Multi-session with single registration – No
  • Multi-track events –  No
  • Q&A – Yes
  • Poll – Yes
  • Direct/private chat – Yes, but there isn’t a private chat feature
  • Breakout rooms – Yes, but only on a Custom plan
  • External link pop-ups in session – Yes

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes
  • Registration form embed option – No
  • Customized email notifications – No, but it will feature your brand images and colors
  • Post-registration redirect – No

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – Yes
  • Registrant export – Yes
  • Attendee export – Yes
  • Q&A export – Yes
  • Poll answer export – Yes

vFairs

vFairs webinar software

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

Vimeo

Vimeo Webinar software

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes, but only for Vimeo Enterprise accounts
  • Registration form embed option – Yes, but only for Vimeo Enterprise accounts
  • Customized email notifications – No
  • Post-registration redirect – Yes, but only for Vimeo Enterprise accounts

Internal and partner use

Webex by Cisco

Webex by Cisco

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes for Webex Events (New) Webinar Mode, No for Webex Events (Classic) and Webex Events (New) Webcast Mode
  • Registration form embed option – Yes but you need to have some coding knowledge
  • Customized email notifications – Yes for Webex Events (Classic), No for Webex Events (New) Webinar Mode and Webcast Mode
  • Post-registration redirect – No, you would have to configure this on your own

Internal and partner use

WebinarGeek

WebinarGeek

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

WebinarNinja

WebinarNinja

WebinarNinja is useful because you can hold multi-session webinars. They’re an excellent option if you’d like to put on a series of webinars with different speakers, but only require one registration from attendees. They’ll send out a welcome email with unique links to each webinar in that series upon registration, which attendees can click on to access each session.

They also have excellent customer support, so you don’t have to worry about their team going dark if something goes wrong during your event.

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

WebinarJam

WebinarJam

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

WebinarKit

WebinarKit

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Yes
  • Slide upload – Yes
  • Video upload – Yes
  • Share screen – Yes
  • Speaker control of presentation – Yes
  • Automated recording – Yes
  • Automated email share of recording – No, but you can share recordings manually
  • Ability to hide chat – Yes
  • Link blocking in chat – Yes, by using the chat blocklist to prevent certain words (e.g., “.com”) being used

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – Unlimited
  • Pre-recorded events – Yes
  • On-demand events – Yes
  • Multi-session with single registration – Yes
  • Multi-track events – No
  • Q&A – Yes
  • Poll – Yes
  • Direct/private chat – Yes
  • Breakout rooms – No
  • External link pop-ups in session – Yes

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes
  • Registration form embed option – Yes
  • Customized email notifications – Yes
  • Post-registration redirect – Yes

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – Yes
  • Registrant export – Yes
  • Attendee export – Yes
  • Q&A export – Yes
  • Poll answer export – Yes

Welcome

Welcom

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Yes
  • Slide upload – No, you’d have to share screen
  • Video upload – Yes
  • Share screen – Yes
  • Speaker control of presentation – Yes
  • Automated recording – Yes
  • Automated email share of recording – Yes
  • Ability to hide chat – Yes
  • Link blocking in chat – No

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – Number of attendees depends on your chosen plan
  • Pre-recorded events – Yes, but you’ll need to go live to share pre-recorded content
  • On-demand events – Yes
  • Multi-session with single registration – Yes
  • Multi-track events –  Yes
  • Q&A – Yes
  • Poll – Yes
  • Direct/private chat – Yes
  • Breakout rooms – Yes
  • External link pop-ups in session – Yes

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes
  • Registration form embed option – No
  • Customized email notifications – Yes
  • Post-registration redirect – No

Internal and partner use

Wistia

Wistia

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Yes
  • Slide upload – No
  • Video upload – Yes
  • Share screen – Yes
  • Speaker control of presentation – No
  • Automated recording – Yes
  • Automated email share of recording – No, but you can share recordings manually
  • Ability to hide chat – Yes
  • Link blocking in chat – No, but you can silence participants

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – Up to 2,500 depending on chosen tier
  • Pre-recorded events – Yes
  • On-demand events – Yes
  • Multi-session with single registration – No
  • Multi-track events –  No
  • Q&A – Yes
  • Poll – Yes
  • Direct/private chat – Yes
  • Breakout rooms – No
  • External link pop-ups in session – Yes

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes
  • Registration form embed option – Yes
  • Customized email notifications – Yes
  • Post-registration redirect – No

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – Yes
  • Registrant export – Yes
  • Attendee export – Yes
  • Q&A export – Yes
  • Poll answer export – Yes

WorkCast

WorkCast webinar software

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

Zoho Meeting

Zoho Meeting

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Yes
  • Slide upload – Yes
  • Video upload – Yes
  • Share screen – Yes
  • Speaker control of presentation – Yes
  • Automated recording – Yes
  • Automated email share of recording – No, but you can share recordings manually
  • Ability to hide chat – No
  • Link blocking in chat – No

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – 5,000
  • Pre-recorded events – No
  • On-demand events – No
  • Multi-session with single registration – No
  • Multi-track events –  No
  • Q&A – Yes
  • Poll – Yes
  • Direct/private chat – Yes
  • Breakout rooms – Yes
  • External link pop-ups in session – Yes

Branding

Internal and partner use

Zoom

Zoom webinar software

This webinar tool has become a household name over the past few months, but its capabilities extend beyond the virtual family quiz night. Zoom Video Webinar provides HD webinars with on-demand viewing, analytics, host controls, interactivity features, and event assistance. However, be aware that it requires a strong bandwidth to perform adequately.

If you’re just starting out, Zoom has a fairly generous free plan that includes up to 100 participants and a 40-minute limit (as of this writing).

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

Zuddl

Zuddl

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

7 Community and experience management tools

If you want to take your webinars and virtual events even further, incorporate them into an overall community-building strategy. This is a great way to repurpose your content in a way that continues to generate value and leads for your company. Plenty of tools out there are designed around the event community, and the online brand-building experience of conferences and summits, rather than the actual webinar hosting. Here are a few of those options that stand out.

Heartbeat

Hearbeat

Heartbeat is an online community and course platform that lets you host virtual events and encourage discussion to bring people together. Although it isn’t a conferencing tool, you can use Heartbeat to run events by integrating with a webinar tool like Zoom.

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Yes
  • Slide upload – No, but you can upload slides to the platform
  • Video upload – No, but you can upload videos to the platform
  • Share screen – Yes
  • Speaker control of presentation – Yes, if you’re a host
  • Automated recording – Yes
  • Automated email share of recording – Yes
  • Ability to hide chat – Yes, if using Zoom
  • Link blocking in chat – No

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – Unlimited
  • Pre-recorded events – Yes, if using Zoom
  • On-demand events – Yes
  • Multi-session with single registration – Yes
  • Multi-track events –  No
  • Q&A – Yes, if using Zoom
  • Poll – Yes, if using Zoom
  • Direct/private chat – Yes
  • Breakout rooms – Yes, if using Zoom
  • External link pop-ups in session – No

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes
  • Registration form embed option – No
  • Customized email notifications – Yes
  • Post-registration redirect – Yes, if you use a custom event link for a conferencing tool that lets you redirect

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – Yes
  • Registrant export – Yes
  • Attendee export – Yes
  • Q&A export – Yes, if using Zoom
  • Poll answer export – Yes, if using Zoom

HeySummit

HeySummit

I’m a big fan of the registration flows you can build on HeySummit. I collected some in my landing page lookbook.

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

Hubilo

Hubilo

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Yes
  • Slide upload – Yes
  • Video upload – Can hosts upload and play videos for attendees during the event?
  • Share screen – Since Hubilo is a hub, this will depend on your webinar app integration
  • Speaker control of presentation – Yes
  • Automated recording – Yes
  • Automated email share of recording – Yes
  • Ability to hide chat – Yes
  • Link blocking in chat – Yes

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – Yes

WebinarNinja

Webinar Ninja

WebinarNinja is designed for easy setup, multi-session events, customizable registration, and automated reminders. It offers a modern UI, interactive tools, and reliable performance for marketing-focused webinars.

Ease of use

  • Browser-based access – Yes
  • Slide upload – Yes
  • Video upload – Yes
  • Share screen – Yes
  • Speaker control of presentation – Yes
  • Automated recording – Yes
  • Automated email share of recording – Yes
  • Ability to hide chat – Yes
  • Link blocking in chat – No

Event logistics

  • Max live attendees – 1,000
  • Pre-recorded events – Yes
  • On-demand events – Yes
  • Multi-session with single registration – Yes
  • Multi-track events – No
  • Q&A – Yes
  • Poll – Yes
  • Direct/private chat – Yes
  • Breakout rooms – No
  • External link pop-ups in session – No

Branding

  • Branded landing page – Yes
  • Registration form embed option – Yes
  • Customized email notifications – Yes
  • Post-registration redirect – No (but customizable thank you page)

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – Yes
  • Registrant export – Yes
  • Attendee export – Yes
  • Q&A export – Yes
  • Poll answer export – Yes

Slido

Slido webinar software

Slido is not a conferencing tool—it’s an add-on to your existing conferencing tool for more features.

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

  • Branded landing page – No
  • Registration form embed option – No
  • Customized email notifications – No
  • Post-registration redirect – No

Internal and partner use

Virtual Summits Software

VirtualSummits

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

  • Audience reports – No
  • Registrant export – Yes
  • Attendee export – Yes
  • Q&A export – No
  • Poll answer export – No

Whova

Whova

Ease of use

Event logistics

Branding

Internal and partner use

Wrapping up – Top webinar software solutions

Your webinar software is the enabler of your events. Getting the right technology in place and selecting the best fit for your goals is key to putting on a successful event. Choose wisely, and don’t be afraid to test out different options.

Published: May 10, 2021
Updated: April 29, 2024
Updated: November 11, 2024

Filed Under: Content