Event management platforms are used to manage events, conferences, trade shows, and meetings of professional organizations. These software products help event planners and organizers streamline the process of hosting an event with tools that manage venue selection, marketing, payment processing, attendee registration, and more.
Event management platforms are suite products that incorporate many tools to streamline the event planning process.
Products appearing on the Event Management Platforms Grid℠ for the first time are Gather and Dryfta.
Products with fewer than 10 reviews are not included on the Grid℠. Some notable products not yet included are Grenadine Event Planner, A2Z, and Aisle Planner. Users of these products are encouraged to visit the Event Management Platforms category and write a review.
Dean Evans and Associates Event Management Software, now EMS Software, is no longer on the Event Management Platforms Grid, as it was in Fall 2016. It does not fit the updated Event Management Platforms category definition, and has been moved to the Calendar category.
# of Reviews | Satisfaction (normalized) | Market Presence | G2 Score | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Cvent | 128 | 78 | 67 | 72 |
RegOnline | 69 | 64 | 55 | 59 |
# of Reviews | Satisfaction (normalized) | Market Presence | G2 Score | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Gather | 241 | 95 | 49 | 72 |
etouches | 50 | 69 | 46 | 57 |
Bizzabo | 26 | 69 | 38 | 53 |
Dryfta | 11 | 63 | 22 | 42 |
# of Reviews | Satisfaction (normalized) | Market Presence | G2 Score | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Attendee Interactive | 17 | 25 | 29 | 27 |
Certain Event Automation | 14 | 5 | 35 | 20 |
The Grid℠ represents the democratic voice of real software users, rather than the subjective opinion of one analyst. G2 Crowd rates event management platforms algorithmically based on data sourced from product reviews shared by G2 Crowd users and data aggregated from online sources and social networks.
Technology buyers can use the Grid℠ to help them quickly select the best event management platforms for their businesses and to find peers with similar experiences. For vendors, media, investors, and analysts, the Grid℠ provides benchmarks for product comparison and market trend analysis.
G2 Crowd rates products and vendors based on reviews gathered from our user community, as well as data aggregated from online sources and social networks. We apply a unique, patent-pending algorithm to this data to calculate the product strength and scores in real time. The Spring 2017 Event Management Platforms Grid℠ Report is based off of scores calculated using the G2 Crowd algorithm v2.0 from reviews collected through March 6, 2017. To view the Event Management Platforms Grid℠ with the most recent data, please visit the Event Management Platforms page.
The Satisfaction rating is affected by the following (in order of importance):
The Market Presence score is affected by the following (in order of importance):
Making G2 Crowd research relevant and easy for people to use as they evaluate and select business software products is one of our most important goals. In support of that goal, organizing products and software companies in a well-defined structure that makes capturing, evaluating, and displaying reviews and other research in an orderly manner is a critical part of the research process.
To manage the process of categorizing the software products and the related reviews in the G2 community, G2 Crowd follows a publicly available categorization methodology. All event management platforms appearing on the Grid℠ have passed through G2 Crowd's categorization methodology and meet G2 Crowd's category standards.
Many terms that appear regularly across G2 Crowd and are used to aid in product categorization warrant a definition to facilitate buyer understanding. These terms may be included within reviews from the G2 community or in executive summaries for products included on the Grid℠. A list of standard definitions is available to G2 Crowd users to eliminate confusion and ease the buying process.
The ratings in this report are based on a snapshot of the user reviews and social data collected by G2 Crowd up through March 6, 2017. The ratings may change as the products are further developed, the vendors grow, and as additional opinions are shared by users. G2 Crowd updates the ratings on its website in real time as additional data is received, and this report will be updated as significant data is received. By improving their products and support and/or by having more satisfied customer voices heard, Contenders may become Leaders and Niche vendors may become High Performers.
Keeping our ratings unbiased is our top priority. We require the use of a LinkedIn account to validate a G2 Crowd user’s identity and employer. Additionally, we verify all reviews manually. We do not allow users to rate their employers’ products or those of their employers’ competitors. Though we share reviews from business partners (they often contain valuable content), we filter out business partner ratings in our aggregate ratings to avoid bias.
Our G2 Crowd staff does not add any subjective input to the ratings, which are determined algorithmically based on data aggregated from publicly available online sources and social networks. Vendors cannot influence their ratings by spending time or money with us. Only the opinion of real users and data from public sources factor into the ratings.
All products in a G2 Crowd category that have at least 10 reviews from real users of the product are included on the Grid℠. Inviting other users, such as colleagues and peers, to join G2 Crowd and share authentic product reviews will accelerate this process.
If an event management platforms product is not yet listed on G2 Crowd and it fits the market definition above, then users are encouraged to suggest its addition to our Event Management Platforms category.
*Net Promoter, Net Promoter System, Net Promoter Score, NPS and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.
Cvent has been named a Leader based on receiving a high customer Satisfaction score and having a large Market Presence. Cvent has the largest Market Presence among Event Management Platforms products. 91% of users rated it 4 or 5 stars, 87% of users believe it is headed in the right direction, and users said they would be likely to recommend Cvent at a rate of 83%.
RegOnline has been named a Leader based on receiving a high customer Satisfaction score and having a large Market Presence. 87% of users rated it 4 or 5 stars, 71% of users believe it is headed in the right direction, and users said they would be likely to recommend RegOnline at a rate of 82%.
Gather has been named a High Performer based on receiving a high customer Satisfaction score and having a small Market Presence. Gather received the highest Satisfaction score among Event Management Platforms products. 93% of users rated it 4 or 5 stars, 94% of users believe it is headed in the right direction, and users said they would be likely to recommend Gather at a rate of 88%. Gather is also in the Catering and Hospitality categories.
etouches has been named a High Performer based on receiving a high customer Satisfaction score and having a small Market Presence. 98% of users rated it 4 or 5 stars, 84% of users believe it is headed in the right direction, and users said they would be likely to recommend etouches at a rate of 90%.
Bizzabo has been named a High Performer based on receiving a high customer Satisfaction score and having a small Market Presence. 92% of users rated it 4 or 5 stars, 96% of users believe it is headed in the right direction, and users said they would be likely to recommend Bizzabo at a rate of 93%.
Dryfta has been named a High Performer based on receiving a high customer Satisfaction score and having a small Market Presence. 100% of users rated it 4 or 5 stars, 100% of users believe it is headed in the right direction, and users said they would be likely to recommend Dryfta at a rate of 97%.
Attendee Interactive has been named a Niche vendor based on receiving a relatively low customer Satisfaction score and having a small Market Presence. 94% of users rated it 4 or 5 stars, 82% of users believe it is headed in the right direction, and users said they would be likely to recommend Attendee at a rate of 87%.
Certain Event Automation has been named a Niche vendor based on receiving a relatively low customer Satisfaction score and having a small Market Presence. 86% of users rated it 4 or 5 stars, 50% of users believe it is headed in the right direction, and users said they would be likely to recommend Certain at a rate of 77%.
Cvent | RegOnline | Gather | etouches | Bizzabo | Dryfta | Attendee | Certain | Average | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Satisfaction | |||||||||
Purchase to View | |||||||||
Likely to Recommend | 83% | 82% | 88% | 90% | 93% | 97% | 87% | 77% | ██ |
Product Going in Right Direction? | ██ | ||||||||
Satisfaction by Category | |||||||||
Meets Requirements | ██ | ||||||||
Ease of Admin | ██ | ||||||||
Ease of Doing Business | ██ | ||||||||
Quality of Support | ██ | ||||||||
Ease of Setup | ██ | ||||||||
Ease of Use | ██ |
Cvent | RegOnline | Gather | etouches | Bizzabo | Dryfta | Attendee | Certain | Average | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Net Promoter Score (NPS) | |||||||||
Net Promoter Score (NPS) (Range from -100 to +100) | 48 | 41 | 60 | 62 | 73 | 91 | 53 | 14 | 55 |
Cvent | RegOnline | Gather | etouches | Bizzabo | Dryfta | Attendee | Certain | Average | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Registration | |||||||||
Purchase to View | |||||||||
Event creation | 87% | 86% | 93% | 91% | 94% | 100% | 90% | 83% | ██ |
User registration process | ██ | ||||||||
Payment processing | n/a | n/a | ██ | ||||||
Mobile check-in | n/a | n/a | n/a | ██ | |||||
On-site tickets and registration | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | ██ |
Cvent | RegOnline | Gather | etouches | Bizzabo | Dryfta | Attendee | Certain | Average | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Marketing and Communications | |||||||||
Purchase to View | |||||||||
Event website creation | 84% | 83% | 85% | 94% | 96% | 81% | 76% | ██ | |
Email automation | n/a | ██ | |||||||
Email customization | ██ | ||||||||
Contact list management | ██ | ||||||||
Social media promotion | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | ██ | ||||
Lead generation and retrieval | n/a | n/a | n/a | ██ |
Cvent | RegOnline | Gather | etouches | Bizzabo | Dryfta | Attendee | Certain | Average | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Event Operations | |||||||||
Purchase to View | |||||||||
Site selection | 90% | 86% | 92% | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | ██ | |
Supplier procurement | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | ██ | ||
Hotel and transportation planning | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | ██ | ||||
Staff management | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | ██ | ||||
Budget management | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | ██ | |||
Session scheduling | ██ | ||||||||
Speaker submissions | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | ██ | ||||
Exhibition management | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | ██ |
Cvent | RegOnline | Gather | etouches | Bizzabo | Dryfta | Attendee | Certain | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Attendee Engagement | ||||||||
Event agendas and schedules | 89% | 85% | 89% | 88% | 88% | 97% | 86% | 81% |
Floor plans / maps | 85% | 86% | 82% | 81% | 80% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Social media integrations | 86% | 80% | 90% | 91% | n/a | n/a | n/a | |
Mobile applications | 88% | 75% | 74% | 74% | 88% | n/a | n/a | 90% |
Attendee networking | 86% | 77% | 81% | 88% | n/a | 77% | ||
Attendee surveys | 88% | 75% | 89% | 83% | n/a | 91% | 83% |
Cvent | RegOnline | Gather | etouches | Bizzabo | Dryfta | Attendee | Certain | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Platform | ||||||||
Performance and reliability | 89% | 85% | 92% | 94% | 87% | 93% | 90% | 84% |
Reporting and dashboards | 87% | 90% | 86% | 92% | 86% | 98% | 82% | 88% |
API / integrations | 82% | 81% | 86% | 84% | 90% | n/a | 91% | 90% |
Multiple event management | 91% | 89% | 91% | 94% | 95% | n/a | n/a | 90% |
**A gray box indicates that a vendor has selected that they do not offer that feature.
Additional product data on customer segments, deployment and implementation, user adoption and ROI, and market presence is displayed below.
Cvent | RegOnline | Gather | etouches | Bizzabo | Dryfta | Attendee | Certain | Average | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Customers by Size | |||||||||
Purchase to View | |||||||||
Small Business (50 or fewer emp.) | ██ | ||||||||
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) | ██ | ||||||||
Enterprise ( >1000 emp.) | ██ |
Cvent | RegOnline | Gather | etouches | Bizzabo | Dryfta | Attendee | Certain | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Deployment Method | ||||||||
Purchase to View | ||||||||
Cloud | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 88% |
On-Premise | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | ||
Implementation Time | ||||||||
Avg. Months to Go Live | ||||||||
Implementation Method | ||||||||
Led by In-House Team | ||||||||
Led by Vendor PS | ||||||||
Led by 3rd Party | ||||||||
Number of Users Purchased | ||||||||
Median Number of Users Bought | n/a | |||||||
Contract Term | ||||||||
Avg. Contract Term (Months) | n/a |
Cvent | RegOnline | Gather | etouches | Bizzabo | Dryfta | Attendee | Certain | Average | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
User Adoption | |||||||||
Purchase to View | |||||||||
Average User Adoption | 73% | 80% | 79% | 78% | 66% | 92% | 90% | 100% | ██ |
Cvent | RegOnline | Gather | etouches | Bizzabo | Dryfta | Attendee | Certain | Average | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Payback Period | |||||||||
Purchase to View | |||||||||
Avg. Payback Period (Months) | 16 | 8 | 6 | 11 | 10 | n/a | n/a | n/a | ██ |
Cvent | RegOnline | Gather | etouches | Bizzabo | Dryfta | Attendee | Certain | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vendor Information | ||||||||
Purchase to View | ||||||||
Vendor Name | Cvent | Lanyon | Gather | etouches | Bizzabo | Dryfta | Attendee Interactive, LLC | Certain |
Year Founded | ||||||||
Revenue ($MM) | ||||||||
Employees on LinkedIn (Vendor) | ||||||||
LinkedIn Followers | ||||||||
Twitter Followers (Vendor) | ||||||||
Twitter Followers (Product) | ||||||||
Klout Score (Vendor) | ||||||||
Klout Score (Product) | ||||||||
Glassdoor Rating | ||||||||
Alexa Web Traffic Rank |
*n/a is displayed when fewer than five responses were received for the question or when data is not publicly available.
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