As rewarding as event planning is, it can also be exhausting. In fact, Event Coordinator was listed as one of the top 5 most stressful jobs, with some organizers working up to 20 hour days. This means you probably know what it’s like to miss sleep making sure everything comes together!
While navigating the vast Internet, you will undoubtably come upon many tools, services, and plugins for assisting your website or web marketing campaign. Some of these tools include Google Analytics, Google Webmaster Tools, Social Monitoring services such as HootSuite and BufferApp along with social media tools such as TweetDeck or SproutSocial. One tool that is often overlooked, yet offers a wealth of valuable information is Event Tracking.
However, having the right event planning software under your belt can make a world of difference. Like a superhero needs their trusty sidekick, you need a set of event management tools to save you time taking care of logistics, so you can streamline your event to stay more productive and create the best experiences.
In this article, we’ll review the 9 best event management software, each one useful for different stages of the event planning process. As you may still be unsure whether your next event will be virtual, in-person or hybrid, we’ve found tools that can work for all options so you can be sure to choose the best tool for your unique event.
How to Choose the Best Event Management Software
Start by prioritizing your needs. Do you want to save time handling tedious event management tasks such as creating and updating conference schedules over and over? Would you like to increase attendee participation and help your exhibitors create more businesses? How about saving money with a better event registration / ticketing system?
Next, make sure each tool provides what you need. While you read through the “Organizers’ Favorite Event Management Software” listed below, ask yourself these questions:
- What do you need for your event? A ticketing system, a web or mobile brochure, event website, attendee engagement solutions, attendee check-in tool, lead retrieval tools for exhibitors? Write down everything you can think of.
- Is your event in-person, virtual, or hybrid? Can this software support your event type?
- Is the event planning software mobile-friendly? Do they offer an app for your attendees too?
- What are its reviews like on app stores and software review sites?
- How easily can you adopt the software? Check if you can schedule a live demo or do a test drive advance.
See How to Choose the Best Event Management Tools
Choosing the right event management system can take a long time. Which is why guides like these are helpful when narrowing down your selection. But when you have to make your final decision, keep these tips for how to buy software in mind:
- Case studies and peer reviews are your best friend during this process. The info found in these resources adds credibility to the product, just make sure you use sources that hold reviewers accountable (like how G2 Crowd requires every new review to link with the reviewer’s LinkedIn page).
- Look for prices that are clearly stated or easy to obtain. Although many SaaS companies are moving away from showcasing dollar signs on their websites (according to this pricing transparency study), pricing that is at least in line with market averages and reflects the power of its relative features is still one of the top ways to choose software, experts say.
- The tool is easy to use. User interface design is important because it makes navigating and implementing the tool much easier. Regardless of how cool its features are, if the event management tool is easy to use you’ll have a better chance at immediate adoption across your entire team if it’s functional and intuitive.
And now, here are some online event management systems with reliable rave reviews, free or defined pricing structures, and user-friendly features to kick start your event planning process. Event management software increases attendance by 20%, productivity by 27%, and profit margin by 20-30%.Click To Tweet
Organizers’ Favorite Event Management Software
1. Eventbrite
This is a popular ticketing solution for events ranging from small meetups to large concerts. The system is customizable and can also be used to send email confirmations and reminders. It also allows people to register from both their phones and computers.
They charge an extra 3.5% of the ticket price plus $1.59 per ticket. While Eventbrite is well-known, some organizers think the fee is a bit high.
Summary: Popular for smaller or entertainment events, however a bit pricey compared to other registration tools and all-in-one event planning software. For example, Whova only charges 2% + $0.99 per paid ticket, which can save you several thousands of dollars.
2. Whova (All-in-One Event Management Software)
Whova is an award-winning all-in-one event management platform. It received the People’s Choice Award and the Best Event App Award at the Event Technology Awards (the ‘Oscars’ of event technology) and is also the only event management software on G2’s Global Top 100 Software Companies.
Rather than juggling multiple specialized event software platforms, Whova is built to help you manage your virtual, in-person, or hybrid event from beginning to end with one system. Specifically, you can use Whova’s event planning software for:
- Online event registration, event website creation, and event marketing
- Live streaming and video recordings with its virtual conference platform and hybrid event platform
- Attendee engagement and networking with an event app for both in-person and remote audiences
- Attendee check-in, name badge generation, and more.
Updates: Whova recently released a COVID-19 liability waiver to help you transition back to in-person events, as well as a speed networking feature.
Summary: An affordable, mobile-friendly, all-in-one event management platform. Whova is widely used by 20,000+ in-person, 5,000+ virtual, and 1,000+ hybrid events in the US/Canada, UK/Europe, Australia, Asia, and more. With the highest ratings in app stores and software review sites among all event apps, Whova offers customers a variety of time-saving tools.
The Whova event planning software was a great organizational and communication tool for our meeting participants. The app allowed us to engage each other throughout the event, kept our event paperless and provided us with great memories through the photo sharing. We look forward to using Whova for future conference management.
— Jay Harf, Vice President, L’Oreal
3. ConfTool
ConfTool helps you manage the submission and review process of academic abstracts and papers. It features advanced import and export options, facilitates communication between authors and participants, and uses customizable submission and review forms for contributions.
Organizers can choose between two different plans depending on their requirements: one for smaller events of up to 150 participants with basic features, and one for larger events with a wider range of features. In addition to managing abstracts, organizers also use the Pro package’s conference management software for scheduling, registration, administration, and invoicing, among other features.
Summary:If you’re holding a research heavy academic conference and want a reliable tool for abstract management, ConfTool is worth looking into. However, it isn’t currently accessible on mobile, and is designed to support only limited aspects of the event, rather than function as a comprehensive event management software.
4. Boomset
Boomset is an event attendance tracking tool that provides check-in, on-demand badge printing and guest list management system. In addition to allowing facial recognition check-in, organizers can also track attendees with RFID-enabled wristbands. Using badges and wristbands, attendees can even purchase merchandise, meals, drinks during events.
If you’d like to add a fast check-in tool to your current event planning software, Boomset is a good option to consider. However, if you are hesitating to adopt a special device only for attendee check-in, first check whether your event management app provides a check-in feature with QR scanning.
Summary: While suitable for a big festival or a crowded event that needs a fast check-in, you might not want to adopt a special device just for check-in. If so, consider event management apps like Whova, which supports day-to-day check-in, session check-in, session capacity, and attendance management on smartphones.
5. Slack
This popular resource for team communication has also been used for session interaction within events. Slack allows you to create different channels for various topics within one workspace; so you can have private channels for your team to communicate, or public ones for attendees to use as discussion topics throughout the event.
In addition to group conversation, users can also message each other one-on-one, make video and voice calls, and share files through the app.
Summary: A great way to get in touch in the moment, though it will be hard to keep any back-end planning organized. While the easy communication is a great benefit, it can also be annoying for attendees to switch between platforms. You may want to consider a platform like Whova that can integrate communication features with the rest of the event.
6. Trello
If you’re into the ‘to-do’, ‘doing’ and ‘done’ task management approach for your event, you’ll love Trello a project management software with a strong visual interface, simple usability, and easy-to-use collaboration features.
While communication within Trello is strong, it’s not very powerful when it comes to allowing users the ability to take a step back and get a big picture of the entire event management process. It’s also not specifically designed as an event management tool, and there is no master calendar view for a bird’s eye picture, only a task-by-task view.
Summary: A good tool to track the progress of each task throughout your event planning. While it can be used for some aspects of event planning, it’s hard to see the entire project status for event or conference management.
7. Wix
Wix is a popular website-building tool used by organizers to create event webpages. It offers pre-made themes and templates, some designed specifically for event websites, and is fully customizable.
However, while it definitely simplifies website building, you still may experience a bit of a learning curve using Wix for the first time. What’s more, you’ll have to manually update event content such as conference agenda and speaker information each time something changes, which is tedious and error-prone.
Summary: Wix is a general website builder, not an event planning software, but there are a few built-in themes for event websites. Still, its content management isn’t integrated with any other event management tools. As an alternative, you may want to look into all-in-one event management systems, such as Whova, that will auto-update your web content (e.g., agenda, speaker lists) based on the information in the conference management software. Whova also provides an easy-to-use event website builder with many templates.
8. Slido
A well-known Q&A and live polling tool, Slido enables users to crowdsource top questions in order to drive meaningful conversations. A live poll increases attendee engagement and participation, so many event apps and conference management tools also provide live poll features.
If you are hesitant to adopt another app only for QA/live polls, first check whether your event app already offers these features. For example, some event management platforms will display results on a big screen, provide numerous live poll question templates for easy setup, or support question ranking, auto-reminders, embedding Q&A into speakers’ slides, etc.
Summary: Slido is a specialized mobile app that can collect attendees’ questions or get feedback through live polling. So if you’d like to have one versatile app providing other features as well (personalized agenda, announcement, networking, gamification, document/photo sharing), check out other tools like Whova.
9. Zoom Events
Chances are you’re already familiar with Zoom and how to use it, making their upcoming event tool, Zoom Events, an intriguing option. The platform is meant to help organizers handle several aspects of event management, such as hosting sessions via streaming, helping share events and manage ticketing, and more.
However Zoom Event has mostly been focused on smaller courses and webinar series. It also lacks some of the more advanced features other platforms might have, like digital booths for sponsors and exhibitors, so if you’re planning a bigger conference or event, this may not be the right fit.
Summary: Zoom Events combines a few different steps of the event planning process, and is worth considering if you’re planning a small-scale event that won’t need all the features that all-in-one event planning software can provide. However, you may still want to consider these platforms if they allow you to opt in and out of which features you’ll need.
10. Momice
Momice is an all-in-one event software that handles everything from registration to website building to event statistics. Although the pricing is based on Euros, the solution is available to anyone with an internet connection, regardless of where they’re located. Starter packages include access to the event planning tools for a total of 3 events and you can add up to 5 users at a time.
11. DoubleDutch
DoubleDutch is all about community building. Their four-pronged strategy consists of designing delightful attendee experiences, future-proofing events themselves, facilitating high-volume event planning, and leveraging a network of partners. Among its glowing reviews, the most common phrases used include “user-friendly” and “great app.” Bring better events to life, no stress Get Started Now
12. Everwall
Looking to incorporate social media for events into your event design? Everwall has got you covered with the tools needed to create a customized and social media wall with real up-to-the-minute social media activity from all your attendees. Brands like CNN, Forbes, and Microsoft are among their elite clientele.
13. Monday
You may have seen their cheerful and creative ads on YouTube lately, as this team and project management software has become a staple in most planners’ event toolkits. Whether you’re overseeing a team of in-house planners or you’re working to get all your event vendors on the same page, Monday offers a highly visual tracking system with simplified status updates.
While they aren’t specifically tailored to events, you can easily customize this tool for any collaborative project, including conferences, seminars, and road shows.
14. Boomset
Powerful on-site event tools are the name of the game at Boomset. Manage on-site check-ins, print badges, redeem vouchers, and a whole lot more with this event management tool. The marketing platform will also help you collect event data and promote an event. It’s a great addition to any other event management software suite.
15. Akkroo
Akkroo captures qualified leads at events through digital marketing automation and CRM features. They get bonus points for being easy to integrate with other popular business tools, including Salesforce, HubSpot, and Marketo.
16. Attendify
This mobile event app and online registration tool offer flexible pricing based on the size of your next event. Some of Attendify’s standout features include linking to attendees’ social media pages, an event agenda that is easy on the eyes, event sponsor tools.
If you’re wondering how to get event sponsors, this is one good way to do it.
17. Oveit
Oveit calls itself the “last mile of payments” because it provides a closed-loop payment solution for events and event venues. They’re mostly used for festivals and conventions where there is a high volume of individual vendors or expected overall sales.
The free version of Oveit allows up to 1,000 customers, so if you have a small product activation or elite VIP event coming up, you might want to consider giving this a tool a test run there.
18. rsvpBOOK
This customizable tool streamlines the whole invitation and event registration process. Well-suited for classes and multi-track workshops, rsvpBOOK helps users share ticket links on social media, manage on-site event check-ins, and quickly create event reports from automatically captured data.
It’s also worth noting that their past client samples include large art education conferences and data protection summits, so they’re no stranger to the B2B world either.
19. Brushfire
Brushfire is an industry-specific tool for online event registration and ticketing. They mostly cater to churches and ministries, which is why their unique features serve as a standout example of the power of niche software.
Overall, the tool is still very versatile — offering the highest quality data compliance, participation software, and customization options in the events industry. Even if you’re not planning a faith-based event, Brushfire is still worth giving a second look.
20. Gather
Restaurants, event venues, and caterers will love this event management tool built with them in mind. Gather’s main goal is to streamline venue booking processes, but users also note how much they enjoy the email communication tool and how easy the platform layout is to navigate.
21. GiveSmart
GiveSmart is a mobile fundraising software perfect for your next gala or silent auction. Whether you’re a non-profit or a tech startup, fundraising tools like event ticketing, mobile bidding, and event reporting help brands make the most of their in-person affairs. Discover diagramming so easy it basically does it for you Get Started Now
22. Guidebook
This app-building tool specializes in servicing everything from small events and large enterprise affairs. Guidebook event provides helpful templates, integrations with platforms like Mailchimp and Salesforce, as well as useful resources for further developing through their open API system.
Their customer service teams also won multiple awards for their expertise this year.
23. Allcal
Allcal is a community-driven calendar app (that would pair nicely with other community-based tools like the aforementioned DoubleDutch). Their clients vary from monthly game night amateurs to seasoned multi-day tech conference organizers.
So no matter what type of event you’re planning, you might want to check out Allcal’s registration, scheduling, and mobile app calendar tools.
24. Avochato
Avochato is a CRM that makes texting your attendees updates, reminders, or real-time event schedule changes simple and straightforward. Your customer service and events team control the messages coming and going through a collaborative platform.
All in all, Avochato is a useful tool for before, during, and after events for both the sales and marketing departments.
25. Topi
Hosting our favorite tagline on this list of event management tools (“engineered serendipity”), Topi boasts a quick and affordable event planning solution.
The platform’s strengths include an app for your attendees to network on via their mobile devices, event registration and check-in tools, and simple lead retrieval capabilities.
26. GruupMeet
GruupMeet strives to be the super-simplified version of all the other tools on this list. Their tools cover most event planning tasks and offer unique features like two-way team texting, flight searches, and event analytics in their most streamlined formats.
Attendees who want to use the tool don’t have to download any apps or create new accounts, which might be a plus for your event target market.
27. Trello
Trello is another great list-making and project management tool that plays nice with event planners. Their board and card system offers visual tools that keep collaborators on the same page. And their intuitive at-a-glance project update interface helps planners feel sane at any given moment of the event process.
How It Works – Whova Event Planning Software
Curious how event planning software like Whova works? The video below shows how Whova helps busy event organizers save time and money and enhances the overall attendee experience. https://www.youtube.com/embed/tE0nmYqgCCU?enablejsapi=1
Free Live Demo – Whova Event Management Software
Now that we’ve given you this breakdown of popular event planning software, you can confidently decide which options to further explore. Keep in mind that it’s not necessarily about which software we say is best. As events move from virtual to in-person or hybrid, no two events look exactly the same. It’s about finding the solutions that work best for your event that will help turn you into a rockstar event organizer.
Click here to request a free live demo from Whova, or here to get a breakdown of which features work best for in-person, virtual, and hybrid events.
CONCLUSION
There are probably a few event tracking tools that you use on your website already. The big players out there, such as Google Analytics, KISSmetrics, and Hotjar offer some excellent features and have easy to implement code. They also offer plans for businesses and usually have a free option for personal sites too. But if you are starting out or working on a budget, those solutions might not be feasible. I’ve compiled a list of free event tracking tools that I think are worth checking out.
Free event tracking tools provide the backbone of many businesses. Event tracking helps you track customers as they browse your website and focus on the most popular online areas of your business. It also allows you to identify key conversion points.