Did you attend or host a webinar in 2020? Of course you did. 2020 made webinars a vital part of everyday business for many organizations. They not only help you develop and share your brand, but webinars also allow you to build trust among customers and virtually nurture leads.
With the right webinar platform, you can cultivate the relationships you want with customers through highly-relevant virtual events. But with so many options out there to choose from, which one will help you deliver exactly what you’re hoping to accomplish? Read on to find out.
What Is The Best Webinar Platform?
There’s a lot of variety when it comes to webinar platforms and their features, capacity, and suitability.
Spend just a few minutes exploring providers, and you’ll find webinar platforms focused on education or training, while others center on sales, or emphasize audience and attendee engagement.
Let’s look at the most popular choices for hosting webinars to help you decide which one could work for you.
Webinar Platform #1) Demio
Demio is a stylish, powerful webinar platform boasting a “hassle-free webinar” experience for marketers. They offer a number of comprehensive automation tools that streamline operation and save time for event organizers.
It delivers a seamless interface and excellent customer service solutions. Demio is browser-based and has live and on-demand webinar options.
Demio is suitable for a broad range of industries, from SaaS to education.
If you’re a marketer looking for a single tool to incorporate both live and on-demand webinars into your outreach strategy, Demio might be the choice for you.
Webinar Platform #2) GoToWebinar
GoToWebinar’s event room can accommodate up to 5,000 attendees. However, you’ll have to pay a hefty price for it, as it’s largest audience option carries a steep price tag ($900 is the cheapest option).
While it delivers on quality for the substantial expense, smaller or cash-strapped organizations might find it to be one of the more cost-prohibitive webinar platforms.
In addition to pre-set templates and reliable video and audio quality, popular GoToWebinar features include custom email reminders, confirmations, and invitations. They also have a mobile app, breakout rooms, and stats accessible to organizers in real-time.
GoToWebinar is popular in a number of industries ranging from the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and computer software, to hospital and health care, and education management.
If cost isn’t an issue, GoToWebinar might be a practical choice for a webinar provider
Webinar Platform #3) Livestorm
Livestorm helps organizers hit the ground running with a setup tool to do most of the heavy lifting.
Suitable for organizations at any growth stage, Livestorm is highly customizable and offers time-saving automation options. It’s a platform of choice for many SaaS and educational organizations.
Favorite Livestorm features include in-depth analytics and integrations with CRMs and tools like Hubspot and Salesforce. It is a popular choice for demos and other collaborative projects.
If you’re looking for a functional webinar platform with reliable features, Livestorm could be just what you’re looking for.
Webinar Platform #4) SpotMe
SpotMe gives event organizers powerful event engagement tools to stage compelling webinars.
It’s suited to on-demand, live, and hybrid events. SpotMe also provides full event apps with EventSpace and allows for building robust virtual events with its platform SpotMe VX.
With top-level event management features — including fully customizable registration and agendas — event organizers can custom build webinars or more complex virtual events by choosing the particular elements they want.
Other key features include:
- Audience engagement
- Networking
- Community building
- Optimization
- Integrations
- 24/7 customer support
SpotMe is in wide use within a variety of industries, including venture capital and private equity, computer hardware manufacturers, information collection and delivery services, software development and technical consulting, finance and accounting, retail management, and education.
If your webinar demands above-average personalization, branding, customer support, and security, SpotMe is your best choice.
Webinar Platform #5) ClickMeeting
Browser-based ClickMeeting is a popular webinar platform offering a user-friendly interface.
In addition to its event duplication feature that allows for easy set up of multiple events, ClickMeeting offers various time-saving options for event organizers.
Favorite ClickMeeting options include both automated and on-demand webinars, preloaded audio and video options, polls and surveys, chat, translation, and brand customization.
You’ll find ClickMeeting in use in a variety of industries including travel and hospitality, manufacturing, finance, technology, telecommunications, and education.
If you’re hosting multiple versions of your webinars, ClickMeeting could be a great match.
Webinar Platform #6) WebinarJam
WebinarJam excels at two things: selling products or services during your webinar and live chat.
WebinarJam is one of the more reasonably priced webinar platforms on the market. Their live-webinar pop-up CTAs make it easy for customers to purchase products during webinars.
Popular WebinarJam features include easy setup, moderator private messaging, and a comprehensive analytics dashboard. Compatible for all browsers, you can also push your WebinarJam event to Facebook Live or YouTube.
WebinarJam is found in a range of industries and business sectors including food and beverage, telecommunications, engineering, publishing, and sales.
If you want to sell products or services during your webinar, WebinarJam is worth looking into.
Webinar Platform #7) BigMarker
Browser-based BigMarker is well-suited for large virtual events since there’s no limit to how many presenters can participate.
They offer customized invitations, email reminders, and landing pages. Organizers can also take advantage of BigMarker’s suite of in-house marketing tools to help their webinar make an impact.
Audience engagement is seamless with Q&As, polls, and digital handouts. And because it’s browser-based, there’s no software to download for hosts or attendees.
BigMarker has broad market appeal and can be found in many business sectors including management and consulting, finance and accounting, SaaS and enterprise softwares, service industries, hospitality, and healthcare.
If you’re planning a webinar with a long list of presenters, BigMarker might hit your virtual event platform sweet spot.
Recommended Reading: 10 Best BigMarker Alternatives and Competitors
Webinar Platform #8) EverWebinar
If EverWebinar looks familiar, that’s because it’s part of the WebinarJam family of webinar tools.
EverWebinar allows hosts to create on-demand webinars with minimal ramp-up. Record your webinar using WebinarJam, or any pre-recorded video, and then use EverWebinar to automate it for on-demand use. It excels at delivering a live webinar experience from a pre-recorded event.
EverWebinar also handles audience engagement, including email reminders, calls-to-action, pop-up reminders, and real-time chat simulation.
EverWebinar is everywhere. Find it in healthcare, service, financial, education industries, and more.
If you want to host automated live webinars while you sleep, EverWebinar could be a great choice.
Webinar Platform #9) Get Response
With Get Response, event organizers can share desktops, engage audiences with surveys and polls, and leverage YouTube integration to share videos.
It offers concrete marketing tools, including autoresponders, emails, and automated thank you notes for event registrants.
The platform also has a CRM feature that makes it easy to manage customers at scale.
GetResponse is popular with businesses in a variety of industries including management and consulting, technology, sales and marketing, services industries, and service technology.
If you’re looking for a practical, effective webinar tool, GetResponse is worth exploring.
Webinar Platform #10) Webex
Best-suited for team collaboration events, Webex can handle up to 3,000 participants and offers a popular mobile app for staying connected on-the-go.
Additional Webex features include branded invitations, polling, screen-sharing, Q&A, and live chat. You can also record your event and add it to your library as an evergreen webinar.
Webex is a go to choice for many businesses targeting larger audiences including education, sales and marketing, research and development, management and consulting, and technology.
If you need the added capacity, check out Webex.
Webinar Platform #11) Zoho Meeting
Offering both webinars and video conferencing options, Zoho Meeting’s easy setup and straightforward functionality is suitable for large and small organizations. The browser-based webinar platform can handle webinars and application-based demonstrations.
Popular Zoho Meeting features include screen sharing, polling, Q&A, hand raising, and broadcast messages.
Organizers can also take advantage of one-click registration by embedding an event registration form directly onto your primary website.
ZohoMeeting is a webinar of choice for businesses in a number of industries including child care, agriculture and food market industries, management and consulting, technology, personal, and healthcare services.
If you’re looking for a straightforward webinar platform, Zoho Meeting might be worth a second look.
Webinar Platform #12) WebinarNinja
WebinarNinja is a webinar platform offering the tools you need to make your webinar shine. The highly user-friendly interface makes it a smart choice for new webinar organizers as well as seasoned professionals.
Browser-based WebinarNinja is suitable for live, recorded, and hybrid events. Popular features include a resource library of pre-set templates and marketing tools for tracking attendance rates and conversions, along with in-depth analytics.
WebinarNinja is used across many industries including management and consulting, SaaS, sales and marketing, education, consumer wellness and coaching services, and financial services.
If you’re new to webinars, WebinarNinja could be the platform you’re looking for.
Webinar Platform #13) BlueJeans
BlueJeans Events is great for webinars and live events such as town halls, lectures and webcasts with large global audiences.
Popular features include a robust moderator dashboard, and Dolby Voice and HD video for the best possible participant experience.
The webinar platform also boasts engagement options including chat, Q&A, polling, on-camera speakers, screen and app share, chat, and marketing integrations.
BlueJeans is a webinar provider of choice for businesses in any number of industries, including energy and engineering, software and technology services, hardware manufacturing, publishing, and education.
If you’re hosting a lecture or planning a municipal meeting, BlueJeans Events could be a great option.
Webinar Platform #14) DaCast
Unlike many other webinar platforms out there, DaCast doesn’t require a subscription. They offer a Pay-Per-Event (PPE) structure instead.
This makes DaCast a strong choice for anyone interested in attempting their first webinar, or is unsure consistent webinars will help them reach their target goals.
DaCast live streaming works with your website, Facebook, and other social media streaming platforms. There’s also no limit to the number of audience members that can attend your event.
DaCast has appeal in a variety of industries including automotive, consumer health and wellness, food, hospitality and entertainment, sales and marketing.
If you’re curious about hosting a webinar but aren’t ready to commit to a subscription, DaCast could be a good webinar platform to get your feet wet.
Webinar Platform #15) Google Hangouts
Yes of course, Google does webinars too. Google Hangouts works with YouTube to deliver a completely free webinar platform. (Although, you will need to have a Google email address and a YoutTube account.)
Your webinar will be automatically recorded and uploaded to your YouTube channel, where organizers can choose to keep the recording public or restrict viewing by marking the video as private.
Google Hangouts is popular across a number of industries and can be found in just about any sector, ranging from research and development, to publishing and media, and startups everywhere.
Google Hangouts offers a straightforward setup. If you want to host a webinar but financing is tight, Google Hangouts could be the free option you need.
Pick A Webinar Platform That Serves All Of Your Needs
So which platform has the strongest capability to work for your most expansive needs?
SpotMe’s virtual event platform offers a moderate price point, unmatched customer support, and a wide variety of features, options and integrations. Request a free demo to try it out and decide whether SpotMe is the right solution for you.
Feel confident about which webinar platform you want to run with? Make sure the right people show up with these 12 Event Promotion Strategies To Attract The Right Audience And Grow Your Business.
