The past few years have seen a Cambrian explosion of innovation in webinars and virtual events. If you’re reading this, you probably use an older tool like On24. While they are undoubtedly pioneers in the space, several On24 alternatives are worth exploring. This article will look specifically at other players in the interactive webinar space. Note that we are not going to be looking at video conferencing software. We will specifically evaluate tools that are purpose-made for interactive one-to-many webinars.
CVENT
While it started as an event management platform, CVENT quickly pivoted during the beginning of the pandemic and went all-in on virtual. Event organizers know CVENT as one of the pioneers of event management software. If you need a highly customizable event management solution that spans in-person, hybrid, and virtual events, CVENT is worth a look. They also integrate with CRMs and marketing automation platforms like Salesforce, Adobe Marketo, and Hubspot.
If On24 is known for its webinar software, CVENT’s sweet spot is trade shows. With features like real-time attendee tracking, ticketing, and event planning tools, many large industry trade shows run on CVENT. It is incredibly scalable if you’re looking to host something more complex than On24 can handle.
Hopin
A fast-growing virtual event platform, Hopin exploded during the early days of the pandemic. They pioneered a lot of functionality that eventually became standard for virtual events, such as virtual expo booths and cloud-based deployment. They now have a suite of products, such as Sessions for webinars and StreamYard for video production. However, they are still optimized mainly for virtual events. They are slowly adding support for hybrid events through some of their acquisitions, but they aren’t as complete of a solution as CVENT.
If you want to host a complex event and optimize for the virtual experience, Hopin can be a good choice. One downside is that they charge per attendee, which makes the pricing slightly higher than On24. They also don’t have as many event marketing features as CVENT. However, it's hard to go wrong with Hopin if you’re looking to host solid event experiences.
Welcome
Like On24, Welcome focuses on being a great webinar platform. It’s known primarily for its engagement features and ease of use. Welcome can help you create a higher-caliber event with fewer people. Some built-in content creation and engagement tools can also help you get more mileage from each event. One of the critical features of Welcome that makes it stand out is its support for on-demand content. With a built-in content generator that can create video clips and other evergreen content, Welcome is bridging the gap between a live webcast and a content generator. See here for a more detailed comparison between Welcome and On24.
Zoom Webinar
If you already use Zoom for videoconferencing, their webinar product is an easy upgrade. Unlike Zoom, their webinar product is designed primarily as an online events platform and specializes in one-to-many broadcasts. While Zoom Webinar (and their associated events product) isn’t as complete of a virtual and hybrid event platform as some of the others here, it’s straightforward for attendees to use since most of them should already have Zoom.
Honorable mentions
There are a lot of other On24 alternatives we don’t have time to get to in-depth. Bizzabo is similar to CVENT, an event management platform turned virtual event platform. BrightTALK is known for being a content repository for on-demand webinars but is starting to develop its live-streaming capability. Cisco Webex also has a webinar platform that is similar to Zoom Webinar. GotoWebinar is also an established player in the space worth examining. Finally, Livestorm is a new player in the area that bears some similarities to Hopin and Welcome.
