Visibility in this ranking can be paid for. Payment moves a vendor's position within the
shortlist; it never adds a vendor, and it never changes a word of the review. The largest vendors in event management software
cannot hold places 1 to 3. Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category,
wherever the category has them; the established names follow from place 4 in their ranked order. How it works: placement disclosure ·
editorial process.
The 18 tools, reviewed
#1 Swoogo
Registration and event website platform for conferences and field events · United States · swoogo.events
Flexible registration Multi-event CRM sync
Swoogo does the unglamorous part of event work better than anyone else in the mid-market: registration forms with conditional questions, attendee types with different prices and approval steps, hotel room blocks, and confirmation emails that pull the right fields.
- Pricing: Per user / year. Professional plan published at $11,800 a year with one full user and one reporting user, unlimited events and registrations. Free plan: none.
- Best for: B2B marketing teams running many events
- Strengths: Conditional registration paths; Event website builder; Session and agenda management.
Where it falls short
The attendee app and networking features are adequate rather than impressive, the Go Attend app is a paid add-on, and teams that want a slick virtual stage usually bolt on a streaming provider.
Wrong for
A community organizer selling cheap tickets to a handful of meetups, who will pay for logic they never use.
Visit Swoogo →
#2 Whova
Event app and management tools for conferences and trade shows · United States · whova.com
Attendee app Per-event pricing Hands-on support
Whova's app gets attendees talking before the event starts: community boards for ride shares and meetups, direct messaging, a personal agenda and session Q&A. That activity is why associations, universities and industry groups keep renewing.
- Pricing: Quote only. Priced per event or on multi-event packages by attendee count, quoted after a demo. Free plan: none.
- Best for: Associations and academic conferences
- Strengths: Mobile event app; Online registration and ticketing; Agenda and speaker management.
Where it falls short
Registration is simpler than Swoogo's, and complex pricing rules, group bookings and approval workflows can hit limits.
Wrong for
A B2B marketing team that needs every session scan to update Salesforce campaign records.
Visit Whova →
#3 Luma
Event pages, RSVPs and calendars for community events · United States · luma.com
Community events Free tier Minimal setup
Luma has become the default for tech, startup and creator communities because an event page takes two minutes and looks good without effort.
- Pricing: Freemium + subscription. Free with unlimited events and guests and a 5% platform fee on paid tickets. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Community and startup meetups
- Strengths: Event pages and RSVPs; Paid tickets via Stripe; Subscribable calendars.
Where it falls short
There is no real agenda, speaker, sponsor or exhibitor management, and no badge printing workflow.
Wrong for
Organizers of a multi-track paid conference with sponsors and exhibitors.
Visit Luma →
#4 Bizzabo
Event experience platform for in-person, virtual and hybrid conferences · United States · bizzabo.com
Attendee experience Hybrid events Premium pricing
Bizzabo is what a marketing team buys when the flagship conference is the company's biggest brand moment of the year.
- Pricing: Per user / month. Published at $499 per user per month, billed annually with a three-user minimum (from $17,999 a year), with unlimited events and registrations. Free plan: none.
- Best for: Flagship B2B conferences
- Strengths: Registration and ticketing; Branded event website; Mobile event app.
Where it falls short
It is priced as a premium product and contracts are typically annual or multi-year, so teams running a few small events rarely get their money's worth.
Wrong for
Associations or nonprofits that mainly need paid registration and membership discounts at a tight budget.
Visit Bizzabo →
#5 Cvent
Enterprise event management and venue sourcing suite · United States · cvent.com
Enterprise depth Venue sourcing Long contracts
Cvent has the deepest feature set in the category: registration, venue sourcing through its hotel marketplace, budgeting, meeting request approvals, lead capture, on-site hardware and a virtual attendee hub.
- Pricing: Quote only. Quote-only modular licensing, usually on multi-year contracts, with separate charges per module. Free plan: none.
- Best for: Enterprise and corporate meeting programs
- Strengths: Event registration and websites; Venue sourcing marketplace; Attendee hub for virtual and hybrid.
Where it falls short
Implementation is heavy and usually relies on trained administrators or Cvent services. The interface spans many modules that feel like separate products because several arrived through acquisitions.
Wrong for
A marketing team of five running a yearly user conference and some webinars.
Visit Cvent →
#6 Eventbrite
Self-service ticketing marketplace for public events · United States · eventbrite.com
Marketplace discovery Self-service Fee per ticket
For a public event that needs to sell tickets to strangers, Eventbrite's marketplace still brings buyers that a standalone registration page will not, and its checkout is one many attendees already trust. Setting up an event takes minutes, the check-in app works on any phone, and free events cost nothing.
- Pricing: Per ticket fee. Free for free events. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Public ticketed events seeking discovery
- Strengths: Event pages and ticketing; Marketplace listing and search; Email and social promotion tools.
Where it falls short
Per-ticket fees become expensive on high-priced conference passes. Agenda, speaker, sponsor and CRM tooling is thin compared with conference platforms.
Wrong for
A B2B team whose events exist to generate pipeline and who needs session data in the CRM.
Visit Eventbrite →
#7 Accelevents
All-in-one platform for in-person, virtual and hybrid events · United States · accelevents.com
Hybrid Lead retrieval Mid-market
Accelevents covers more of an event in one product than most mid-market competitors: registration, a virtual stage, a mobile app, self-service check-in kiosks, badge printing and a lead retrieval app for exhibitors.
- Pricing: Published tiers. Professional starts at $7,500 for a single event and Business at $13,500 for unlimited events. Free plan: none.
- Best for: Mid-market hybrid and exhibitor events
- Strengths: Registration and ticketing; Virtual and hybrid event stage; Mobile event app.
Where it falls short
Breadth comes with rough edges: some modules are more polished than others, and complex registration rules are harder to build than in Swoogo.
Wrong for
Teams that only need ticketing for simple events.
Visit Accelevents →
#8 EventMobi
Event app and registration platform for conferences · Canada · eventmobi.com
Event app No ticket fees Association focus
EventMobi has built conference apps for well over a decade and it shows in the attendee app: fast, easy to navigate, with gamification, live polls and a personal schedule that associations and pharma or medical conferences rely on.
- Pricing: Quote only. Per-event pricing from $3,000 or annual packages from $8,900 with unlimited events, scaled by attendees and products. Free plan: none.
- Best for: Associations with app-heavy conferences
- Strengths: Branded mobile event app; Registration and ticketing; Agenda and speaker management.
Where it falls short
Registration logic and event websites are less flexible than those of Swoogo or Bizzabo, and CRM integrations are limited compared with platforms aimed at B2B marketers.
Wrong for
Marketing teams measuring event ROI in their CRM across many field events.
Visit EventMobi →
#9 Airmeet
Virtual and hybrid event platform with social networking · United States · airmeet.com
Virtual-first Networking lounges Webinar series
Airmeet's virtual venue is still one of the more engaging ways to run an online conference: social lounge tables let attendees drop into small video conversations, speed networking pairs people automatically, and the backstage workflow gives speakers a clear green-room experience.
- Pricing: Per attendee tier. Premium Webinars starts at $167 a month billed yearly. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Webinar and virtual summit programs
- Strengths: Virtual stage and backstage; Social lounge tables; Speed networking.
Where it falls short
Badge printing, on-site check-in and hotel handling are limited next to conference platforms.
Wrong for
Organizers whose events are mostly in person with a livestream bolted on.
Visit Airmeet →
#10 Ticket Tailor
Independent ticketing with flat, low per-ticket fees · United Kingdom · tickettailor.com
Flat fees Own payment processor Ticketing only
Ticket Tailor charges a flat fee per paid ticket rather than a percentage, which makes it much cheaper than marketplace ticketing as ticket prices rise.
- Pricing: Per ticket fee. Free for up to 5,000 free tickets a year. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Independent organizers selling paid tickets
- Strengths: Ticket sales pages and widgets; Stripe, PayPal and Square payouts; Seating charts.
Where it falls short
It has no agenda, speaker, sponsor or mobile event app features, and nothing for a virtual stage. Reporting is transactional.
Wrong for
Anyone organizing a business conference with sessions and exhibitors, where Whova or Swoogo covers the whole event rather than only admission.
Visit Ticket Tailor →
#11 Tito
Straightforward ticketing favored by tech conferences · Ireland · ti.to
Developer-friendly EU-based Ticketing only
Tito has a loyal following among developer conferences because the checkout is clean, ticket releases and discount rules are easy to model, and the API and webhooks make it simple to push attendee data into whatever else the organizer uses.
- Pricing: Per ticket fee. Free tickets are free. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Developer and tech conferences
- Strengths: Ticket sales and checkout; Embeddable widget; Discount codes and releases.
Where it falls short
It is a ticketing tool with check-in, not an event platform, so agendas, speakers, sponsors and apps must come from elsewhere.
Wrong for
Organizers wanting one system for the whole event including the attendee app.
Visit Tito →
#12 Zoom Events
Zoom's platform for virtual, hybrid and in-person events · United States · zoom.com
Zoom ecosystem Virtual strength Big-tech vendor
Zoom Events builds registration pages, multi-session agendas, sponsor booths and a branded event hub on top of the video infrastructure most attendees already have installed.
- Pricing: Per license / month. The Events plan is published at $149 per month, or $124.17 a month billed annually, priced by attendee capacity. Free plan: none.
- Best for: Zoom-standardized companies running virtual events
- Strengths: Event hub and registration; Multi-session virtual events; Webinar and sessions formats.
Where it falls short
In-person capabilities such as badge printing, hotel blocks and complex on-site check-in are less developed than at conference specialists. Registration logic is basic next to Swoogo.
Wrong for
Organizations whose events are mainly in person or ticketed to the public.
Visit Zoom Events →
#13 vFairs
Managed platform for virtual, hybrid and in-person fairs · United States · vfairs.com
Virtual fairs Vendor-built Exhibitor-heavy
vFairs made its name hosting virtual career fairs, where hundreds of employers each need a booth, a queue of candidate chats and a pile of collected resumes, and that exhibitor-heavy DNA still defines it.
- Pricing: Quote only. Quoted per event or on annual packages, scaled by attendee numbers, booths and on-site services such as badge printing. Free plan: none.
- Best for: Universities, recruiters and expo organizers
- Strengths: Registration and ticketing; Virtual exhibit halls and booths; Job fair resume collection.
Where it falls short
Much of the setup runs through the vendor's team, so late changes wait on someone else's calendar and lead times are longer than on self-serve tools.
Wrong for
A marketing team that wants to launch registration pages itself the same afternoon, or a small meetup organizer.
Visit vFairs →
#14 Brella
Matchmaking and meeting booking for conferences · Finland · brella.io
Networking-first Sponsor meetings Nordic vendor
Brella, from Helsinki, solves the part of a conference most platforms treat as an afterthought: arranging meetings between the right people.
- Pricing: Quote only. Quoted per event or on annual contracts, usually scaled by attendee count and the sponsor features included. Free plan: none.
- Best for: B2B conferences selling networking to attendees
- Strengths: Intent-based matchmaking; One-to-one meeting booking; Meeting tables and time slots.
Where it falls short
Brella now sells its own ticketing and registration, yet many organizers still run it on top of an established registration or badging system, and hotel blocks and complex pricing rules are out of scope, so paying for two platforms is common.
Wrong for
An organizer who wants one mature system for everything from hotel blocks to printed badges, or a free community meetup.
Visit Brella →
#15 Humanitix
Charity-backed ticketing for public and community events · Australia · humanitix.com
Not-for-profit Ticketing-first Fees fund charity
Humanitix runs as a not-for-profit: the profit from its booking fees goes to education programs, which is a selling point to a school fundraiser or a charity gala whose audience notices where the fee ends up.
- Pricing: Per ticket fee. Free for free events. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Schools, charities and community organizers
- Strengths: Event pages and ticket types; Reserved seating; Check-in app.
Where it falls short
It is a ticketing product, not a conference platform: no session capacity rules, sponsor tooling or lead retrieval, and CRM links stop at Salesforce and Mailchimp integrations.
Wrong for
A B2B marketing team running a multi-track conference with sponsors and Salesforce reporting.
Visit Humanitix →
#16 RSVPify
RSVP, guest list and check-in for invite-only events · United States · rsvpify.com
Invite-only events Guest lists Published pricing
Much corporate event work is not a conference at all but a controlled guest list: a client dinner for 80, a partner reception at a trade show, a foundation gala with sponsored tables. RSVPify is built for that.
- Pricing: Tiered by registrations / month. A free tier for personal events, then published business and nonprofit plans capped by monthly registrations and active events, cheaper on annual billing, with a per-ticket fee on paid tickets. Free plan: free plan.
- Best for: Invite-only corporate and nonprofit events
- Strengths: Private invitations and RSVP pages; Guest list and plus-one rules; Table and seating assignments.
Where it falls short
Multi-session agendas, speaker management, exhibitor booths and lead retrieval are either missing or light, so it does not stretch to a conference.
Wrong for
An association running a multi-day conference with exhibitors, or a field-marketing team needing booth scans written to Salesforce.
Visit RSVPify →
#17 RingCentral Events
Virtual and hybrid events platform, formerly Hopin · United States · ringcentral.com
Virtual-first Unlimited attendees RingCentral suite
RingCentral bought Hopin's events and sessions products in 2023, and what survives is a mature virtual event platform sold per organizer with unlimited events and attendees on paid plans.
- Pricing: Per organizer / month. Events Pro starts at $99 per organizer per month with unlimited events and registrations and a discount for annual payment. Free plan: free trial.
- Best for: Teams running frequent virtual summits
- Strengths: Registration pages; Virtual stage and sessions; Expo booths.
Where it falls short
Check-in, badge printing and lead retrieval exist, but the richer on-site features sit on upper tiers, and complex registration paths and hotel blocks trail conference-first platforms.
Wrong for
An organizer whose flagship event is in person with exhibitors and printed badges.
Visit RingCentral Events →
#18 Webex Events
Cisco's event app and management platform, formerly Socio · United States · socio.events
Event app Big-tech vendor Onsite tools
Cisco bought Socio in 2021, and Webex Events keeps what Socio did well: a polished event app with personal agendas, gamification and live polls, paired with registration, on-demand badge printing and lead retrieval for exhibitors.
- Pricing: Quote only. Quoted by Cisco and its partners, typically as annual licenses sized by events and attendees, sometimes bundled with Webex Webinars. Free plan: none.
- Best for: Webex customers running in-person conferences
- Strengths: Branded event app; Registration and ticketing; Check-in and on-demand badge printing.
Where it falls short
Buying through Cisco or a reseller is slow for a small team, and the product sits inside a sprawling portfolio whose naming and bundling change often.
Wrong for
A small organization that wants to buy online and launch this week, or a ticketing-led public event.
Visit Webex Events →
Questions and answers
What is the best event management software in 2026?
Swoogo ranks first of 18, best for b2B marketing teams running many events. Whova is second (associations and academic conferences) and Luma third (community and startup meetups). Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands, wherever the category has them.
What is the difference between event management software and ticketing software?
Ticketing software sells admission: it builds an event page, collects payment and issues tickets or QR codes. Event management software covers the whole event, including agendas, speakers, sessions, sponsors, on-site check-in, a mobile app and post-event reporting.
How much does event management software cost for a mid-sized conference?
For a conference of a few hundred to a couple of thousand attendees, quote-based platforms usually land somewhere in the low-to-mid five figures per year once the mobile app and on-site tools are included, and quotes vary widely.
Who pays the ticket fees, the organizer or the attendee?
On most ticketing platforms the organizer chooses. Eventbrite, Ticket Tailor and Tito all let you pass fees to the buyer at checkout or absorb them into the ticket price.
Do I need a separate mobile event app?
For events under roughly 150 people, usually not; a mobile-friendly agenda page and email reminders cover it. For multi-track conferences, an app earns its cost through personal schedules, session changes pushed in real time, attendee messaging and sponsor visibility.
Can one platform handle both in-person and virtual events?
Several can, but the quality of the two halves differs. Airmeet, Zoom Events, RingCentral Events and Accelevents started virtual and are strongest at streaming stages and online networking. Cvent, Swoogo and Bizzabo started with in-person registration and logistics.
How do event platforms connect to Salesforce or HubSpot?
The better platforms have native connectors that create or update contacts and add them to campaigns with a status such as registered, attended or no-show. Bizzabo, Swoogo, Cvent and Accelevents offer this for Salesforce and HubSpot.
What happens to my attendee data if the event platform is acquired?
Your contract governs it, not the new owner's intentions. Read the data ownership clause and export rights before signing, and export attendee and order history after every major event as a matter of routine.
Is Eventbrite still a good choice after the Bending Spoons acquisition?
For public, ticketed events that benefit from marketplace discovery, it still works and its checkout is familiar to buyers.
What is lead retrieval and do I need it?
Lead retrieval lets exhibitors and sponsors scan attendee badges on a phone or device and receive the contact details, often with qualifying notes.
Can I use free tools for a small recurring meetup?
Yes. Luma lets you run free events at no cost with a clean RSVP page, calendar subscriptions and email reminders, and it is widely used by tech and startup communities.
