Ranking the top 5 events platforms for a successful event 

Let’s say you want to put on a highly successful virtual event and are still a bit new to the game. You’re likely searching for some of the top-rated events platforms and probably want to evaluate one or two for yourself.  On the Kaltura blog, we also frequently evaluate, and even re-evaluate strong platforms, both to keep informed and stay competitive and so our readers can have some of the best, up-to-date information. In other words, if you’re looking for opinions on top-rated platforms, you’re in the right place. Read on below to see our current top picks!

What is an events platform?

An events platform is the means enabling you to hold a virtual event. It includes apps/software and foundational technology for specific features and capabilities and is often built on cloud computing and packaged as “SaaS” (software as a service) or “PaaS” (platform as a service). Events platforms first and foremost provide video communication between the event host and attendees.

With that said, any old video conferencing tool (or even a more robust one) is not sufficient to power an entire virtual event. What sets events “platforms” apart is their ability to scale and that they contain a strong set of features that have been purpose-built for virtual event use.

Criteria for evaluating events platforms

To qualify as a true virtual events platform a product needs to offer some key capabilities:

• • Organizers can host live or on-demand video content.
  • The interface showcases the organizer’s brand 100%, by being white-label and offering extensive branding options
  • Event registration and payment tools, or can be integrated with them.
  • Features for attendee engagement including (but not limited to) polls, Q&A, and 1:1 networking.
  • Ability to scale to different types of online events: size, type, quantity, complexity, etc.
  • Ample data collection capabilities for lead generation and performance analytics.
  • Can support all stages of the event cycle from planning through marketing and registration to post-event feedback.
  • Simplifies work and saves time for the organizer, through the use of templates, automation features, and AI capabilities

If all of these capabilities are covered, then we can compare and evaluate the events platform against others on such key points as strengths, unique features, and pricing.

How to choose the right platform for your next event

The best features to look for in an events platform are scalability, customizability, and user-friendliness. That said, the needs of every business or organization, and the needs of every individual event, are going to differ. Providing a complete and exhaustive checklist of events platform features, types of events, and relevant use cases is outside the scope of this article.

However, virtual events will typically fall into a few major categories: meetings, livestreams, webinars, and conferences. If you’re most likely to be recurrently putting on one type of event, your platform should be tailored to the needs of that particular style of virtual event. It’s best to do a bit of your research, testing, and preparation.

It could make more sense for you to go with a platform that is specifically designed to support the single type of event your business or organization is planning to put on–or, you might be better off investing in a more robust events platform that can do it all.

Speaking of which…

Top 5 Events Platforms

Kaltura

We feel strongly about our mission and stand behind Kaltura Events as the best all-around solution for enterprise-grade virtual or hybrid events. Kaltura Events has full-featured communication, education, marketing, and branding capabilities built on best-in-class streaming video (live, real-time, and on-demand).

We make it possible, and easy, to create any type of event at any size and make it uniquely memorable, on-brand, and prepared for success. We offer five fully customizable event templates that can easily scale up or down and Flagship Events services for once-a-year, one-of-a-kind virtual experiences.

Kaltura also provides native integrations for all your additional software needs, as well as comprehensive event management and a seamless overall process for attendees, sponsors, and organizers. All of this is complemented by real-time data and analytics, so you can engage, follow up, and create actionable insights for your business and future events.

Kaltura Events’ brand-new AI assistant is an absolute game-changer that helps you whip up session descriptions, and agendas, and even repurpose content fast. It also keeps an eye on attendee participation and suggests ways to boost engagement in real-time.

But don’t just take our word for it. Book a demo and see for yourself!

vFairs

vFairs is an events platform designed to accommodate both virtual and hybrid events. As the name suggests it’s weighted heavily towards “fair” styled content: career and education fairs, trade shows, etc. On the other hand, vFairs can lack customization options, and similarly, the attendee experience may not adapt as well to non- “trade show” events.

Hybrid and live event support is good for multiple channels. vFairs offers virtual venues with a wide variety of attendee-networking features and detailed data reports on your spaces.

Within the relatively narrow focus of trade show and “fair”-styled events, the platform receives positive reviews for enabling highly interactive, user-friendly, and immersive events from small to large scale.

Prices can be customized to your event needs and can be charged single-event, multi-event, or annual. This could honestly work out as either a “pro” or “con” depending on the frequency of your event plans.

Hopin/RingCentral

RingCentral, formerly known as Hopin, is a solid choice of events platform for smaller, connection-focused conferences, however, it’s nonetheless able to scale to virtual events of up to 100,000 guests. It offers a comprehensive set of features for managing and hosting events: guests can network over live video, exchange virtual business cards, and join breakouts, as well as participate in speed networking through a feature designed for larger trade shows and conferences. Video tools additionally allow attendees to watch stage-based keynote presentations and explore interactive expo areas.

A quality tool for conferences, particularly where person-to-person connection is a point of focus.

Hopin is particularly well catered to passive guests, giving them the ability to watch talks and sessions anonymously if they wish, but also make themselves visible for group interactions when they choose.

Along with the rebranding RingCentral/Hopin appears to have lowered its subscription fees, switched to primarily monthly billing, and offered more “free trial” options. However potential users should be advised that there are now numerous “add-on” services with separate pricing. Also, recent changes in branding and price structure may indicate changes to other aspects of the service. While this product was previously fairly highly recommended, we’ll need to keep an eye on whether it’s still offering the same (or a better) value proposition.

Airmeet

Airmeet is an events platform that bills itself as catering to “virtual exhibitions.” Most of all, Airmeet focuses on user-friendliness and ease of use and is set up to work without downloading or installing software. On the downside, Airmeet appears to lack dynamic adaptive streaming creating possible video quality problems. Users have also reported some compatibility problems (browsers, integrations) and/or technical issues with dropped calls.

Airmeet provides a user-friendly experience, download-free software, and a high degree of attention to attendee networking and connection features.

Offers a highly customizable “virtual ballroom” that can adjust the appearance, “seating” arrangements, and size to fit your events.

There is a small-scale free tier (50 attendees/1 organizer) but professional grade plans start at $500 per month and climb upward.

Webex Events

Webex is a virtual, online meeting software that can be used via web browsers, mobile apps, or even compatible phones and monitors. It’s an events platform that offers extensive options for planning and hosting virtual events from small to large and supports multiple use cases. On the downside, Webex can be less user-friendly than other options on this list and a bit limited in personalization.

A long-time player in video conferencing software, now backed by industry leader Cisco. As such it has extensive integration with Cisco’s, and other, technologies, and provides many ways to connect.

Offers a free/trial tier, however, subscription options provide limited capacity and at enterprise level, it’s known to be relatively expensive.

Summary

We hope that our picks here have given you a better grasp of what features and expectations make a high-quality events platform, as well as some options to start narrowing down your choices. As mentioned, we also definitely encourage doing exploration on your own–remember, the “best” virtual events platform is not a universal quality, but reflects the events platform that is going to work best for your purposes. Hopefully, we’ve provided a few facts and some food for thought to send you on your virtual event journey!