The event management industry is expected to grow by more than 50% over the next few years. To capitalize on this opportunity, you’ll need the right tools.
Whether you host one or 100 events a year, you need a reliable and easy-to-use platform that enables you to manage them efficiently. Fortunately, there are a number of great options available for effective event creation and promotion.
In this blog post, we compare the top five event management platforms based on their features, usability, cost-effectiveness, customer service, and more. We’ll discuss each platform in detail so you can find out which solution is right for your specific needs and will enable you to create memorable experiences for your attendees!
Top Event Management Platforms
1. Eventbrite
2. Cvent
3. Hubilo
4. Hopin
5. Swapcard
Most important event management platform features
As an event organizer, you’re spinning a lot of plates: you could be securing a venue, performers, and vendors, executing event promotion and ticket sales, or seeing to every last detail to ensure your attendees have a memorable experience.
Point being: You need all the help you can get.
An event management platform can help streamline some of these tasks and give you one dashboard where you can monitor your marketing, ticket sales, and other important data.
But which platform is right for you? Consider these common features when choosing your event management solution.
Attendee tracking and engagement: A robust attendee tracking feature enables you to monitor ticket sales, attendance, and engagement so you can adjust your marketing strategies in real time. And tools such as polling, Q&A, and in-app messaging help you communicate with attendees before and after the event.
Payment processing: A seamless ticketing process enhances the overall event experience for your attendees and helps boost your revenue. The easier you make it for people to buy tickets, the more tickets you’re likely to sell. That means offering secure checkout, accepting multiple forms of payment, and making the ticket-buying experience hassle-free.
Virtual and in-person event management: Given the popularity of hybrid events, you need a platform that’s versatile enough to manage both virtual and in-person events. When you’re already basically organizing two events, the last thing you want is to be jumping between platforms to manage each one.
Event website creation: You’ll need an event website where attendees can get all the information they need and buy tickets. It should also integrate with your marketing platforms so you can easily track analytics and adjust your site or your marketing strategy as needed.
Event discovery: Essential for promoting your event, this feature increases the visibility of your future events to potential attendees. An event management platform with a search function makes it easy for people who are looking for events like yours to find you.
By considering these features, you can choose an event management solution that caters to your logistical needs and enhances the overall attendee experience. Here’s a quick table showing how each of the platforms stack up:
Top event management platforms
Using the above criteria, we can directly compare the top event management tools to one another. Let’s dive into each platform individually.
1. Eventbrite
Eventbrite is the industry-leading platform for event management. It’s used by more than 90 million attendees and 800,000 creators around the world, from experienced event professionals to beginner event managers. Its event management software offers a wide range of features, including attendee tracking and engagement, payment processing, virtual and in-person event management, event website creation, and discovery tools.
Events search engine and events pages
Eventbrite’s search engine is a powerful tool for event discovery. It enables potential attendees to search for events not only based on the event name but also by location, date, category, and price. This granular search functionality helps your ideal audience find your event page.
The platform offers a user-friendly template for creating aesthetically pleasing and informative custom event pages. These pages allow you to share event details, sell tickets, promote sponsors, provide location maps, and integrate with social media for easy sharing.
This comprehensive and customizable event website creation feature enables you to present a professional image, providing a strong first impression to potential attendees and making event promotion easier.
Invitation and RSVP tracking
Eventbrite’s invitation and RSVP tracking tools allow you to manage your guest list effectively and respond to changing event dynamics in real-time. These tools enable you to send customized email invitations to your target audience and monitor the response rate and the overall attendee count.
They also let you track attendee engagement by monitoring how many recipients open the invite, click on the link, and ultimately purchase a ticket. This data can be used to refine your event marketing strategy, ensuring you’re effectively reaching your target audience and encouraging active participation.
In addition, the RSVP tracking feature gives you real-time insight into who has confirmed their attendance, allowing you to manage capacity and plan for seating, food, and other logistical needs. This empowers event organizers to deliver a smooth and enjoyable experience for all attendees.
Hybrid and virtual event integrations
Recognizing the surge in popularity of hybrid and virtual events, Eventbrite provides comprehensive event management tools for both online and in-person elements. This versatile feature is a game-changer for event managers.
The platform is perfectly equipped to support online ticketing for both virtual and physical event attendees, giving creators the flexibility to cater to a wider audience. For virtual events, Eventbrite integrates seamlessly with popular video conferencing tools like Zoom, ensuring a smooth viewing experience for attendees.
Eventbrite’s holistic approach toward hybrid and virtual events simplifies the event management process. It helps maximize your reach and offer a unified experience to all event attendees, regardless of their mode of participation.
Ticketing and payments
Eventbrite users enjoy significant time savings thanks to the platform’s robust ticketing and payment-processing tools that streamline the financial aspect of event management. The ticketing tool enables promotional offers and different ticket types, such as early bird discounts and group packages, helping you maximize your ticket sales.
Eventbrite’s secure online payment processing system supports all major credit cards, PayPal, and even mobile payment methods, providing a seamless experience for attendees. This intuitive system simplifies ticket sales and facilitates financial transparency with real-time reporting, providing insights into your event’s financial performance.
Usability
Eventbrite’s thoughtful integration of essential features into a single platform amplifies the effectiveness of each one. The events search engine, invitation and RSVP tracking, versatile hybrid event tools, and robust ticketing and payment systems all work together to create a streamlined event management process. This helps you consolidate your efforts, maximize efficiency, and ultimately create successful and engaging events.
Leverage the power of Eventbrite’s comprehensive event management system today!
2. Cvent
Cvent is another major player in the event management space, known for its robust feature set.
Features
The core strength of Cvent lies in the breadth of its functionality. Its key features include:
- Attendee engagement. Cvent’s event management solution includes attendee management features, providing tools for registration, check-in, and attendee tracking.
- Hybrid and virtual event management. Cvent supports both virtual and hybrid events.
- Website creation. Cvent provides customizable event website templates and an event website-building tool.
Drawbacks
Despite its offerings, Cvent does have a few drawbacks:
- User-friendliness. Although Cvent offers a variety of features, its interface can be complex for first-time users. Getting the most value from the platform may require a steep learning curve.
- Opaque pricing. Cvent doesn’t disclose its pricing on its website, which means you have to interact with the sales team before you can get a quote.
- Customer support. Some users have reported that Cvent’s customer support can be unresponsive or unhelpful, which can be a drawback if issues arise during the event-planning process.
Overall, Cvent is a robust platform, but it might be best suited for larger companies with the resources to fully utilize its comprehensive functionality.
3. Hubilo
Hubilo is an emerging name in the event management industry, gaining recognition for its virtual event features.
Features
Hubilo offers several notable features that make it a worthy contender in the event management space:
- Virtual event space. Perhaps the most distinguishing feature of Hubilo’s platform is its comprehensive virtual event space. It offers a virtual lobby, networking lounges, and even a virtual exhibitor area.
- Engagement tools. Hubilo features attendee engagement tools like live polls, Q&A sessions, and chat options.
- Attendee insights. Hubilo provides data on attendee engagement, ticket sales, and session attendance.
Drawbacks
Hubilo has a few limitations that event creators should be aware of:
- No event discovery. Hubilo offers no search engine for interested attendees to discover your event. That means you’ll need to rely on external promotion tools.
- Pricing structure. Hubilo offers no option to host events for free, and charges a flat monthly amount. This can be difficult for smaller-scale or nonprofit event organizers.
- In-person limitations. Although Hubilo offers great virtual tools, its features aren’t as helpful for in-person events. For example, you can’t sell tickets assigned to specific seats, which makes the platform incompatible with many events.
While Hubilo stands out for its virtual event space and other useful features, event creators may need to weigh these advantages against the potential drawbacks of limited options for in-person events and few marketing tools.
4. Hopin Events
Hopin Events is a virtual events platform designed to host interactive and immersive online events.
Features
If you’re hosting a virtual event, Hopin offers a robust feature set:
- Virtual venues. Hopin offers a virtual venue experience with multiple interactive areas such as stages, networking spaces, and exhibitor booths.
- Networking tools. The platform creates opportunities for networking among attendees with features like speed networking, one-on-one video chats, and topic-based networking rooms.
- Event analytics. Hopin provides real-time analytics, giving event organizers access to key metrics like attendee engagement, ticket sales, and session participation.
Drawbacks
Hopin might not be the best fit for all event creators for a few reasons:
- Virtual-only platform. Hopin doesn’t support in-person events. That means for in-person or hybrid events, you’ll need to use a second platform for ticketing, attendee communications, and other key event management tasks. With 70% of event planners saying they’ll only create in-person events in 2023, this narrows their audience significantly.
- Opaque pricing. Hopin’s most advanced features are gated behind its Business Plan, which starts at $6,000 — they don’t specify whether that’s an annual or monthly fee.
- No event discovery. Hopin doesn’t offer any search engine features or event directory services, so you’ll need to promote your events through other channels.
Overall, Hopin Events is a great platform if you’re willing to spend serious cash on an immersive and interactive virtual event. However, it may not be the best fit if you’re looking to host hybrid or in-person events.
5. Swapcard
Swapcard is an innovative player in the event management field, gaining recognition for its AI-powered platform that focuses on attendee networking and engagement.
Features
The Swapcard platform for event management offers a few helpful advanced features:
- AI-powered networking. Swapcard uses machine learning algorithms to match attendees based on their interests and preferences, facilitating meaningful connections.
- Exhibitor management. The platform offers comprehensive exhibitor management tools, allowing event organizers to manage and coordinate with exhibitors effectively.
- Event analytics. Swapcard provides comprehensive post-event analytics, giving insights into attendee behavior, engagement metrics, and exhibitor performance.
Drawbacks
Swapcard does have some limitations that may affect its suitability for certain event creators:
- Pricing. Swapcard’s pricing options disadvantage smaller creators, charging a 12% fee on tickets sold for creators on their “free” plan. It can get costly if you want to take advantage of the exhibitor management features.
- Limited integrations. Some users have reported that Swapcard doesn’t integrate with other platforms they’d expect them to.
- No event websites. Swapcard doesn’t allow you to create a unique event website, so getting the word out about your event will take some extra work.
Swapcard offers powerful networking capabilities that can enhance the attendee experience. But the lack of event websites and limited integrations could seriously hinder event planners from reaching their goals.
How to pick the right event management platform for you
When choosing a platform for event management, there are a few important features to consider. Some platforms offer powerful capabilities, but none have the event discovery features Eventbrite offers.
Eventbrite offers customizable event landing pages and easy-to-use integrations, on top of attendee insights, virtual and in-person capabilities, and the most popular events search engine in the world. With its free version, you can test out all the features without making a big financial commitment. Why not give Eventbrite a try?
Try Eventbrite’s marketing tools to reach more people with your event!
