10 Best Virtual Conference Pla …
Back in the early days of remote work, hosting a virtual event meant firing up Zoom, sending out a calendar invite, and hoping everyone showed up. But by 2025, that’s ancient history. Virtual events have become a core part of how we work, teach, promote, and connect. From small workshops with niche audiences to international symposiums featuring hundreds of speakers, the demand for professional, reliable, and feature-rich solutions has exploded.
We’re not just talking about video streams anymore. Modern virtual conference platforms offer a full ecosystem: interactive stages, live chat, networking lounges, sponsor booths, analytics dashboards, and even AI-powered recommendations. Hosting a standout online event now means delivering real engagement and value—not just replicating a meeting in digital form.
Virtual conferences aren’t just a temporary trend from the lockdown era anymore. PR and communications teams now treat online events as one of their main ways to reach audiences. As Reena Aggarwal notes in Agility PR Solutions:
Virtual events deliver faster reach, greater flexibility, and deeper impact—all this with lower costs and in minimal time.
When you’re choosing a virtual conference platform, you’re effectively choosing the infrastructure for that reach, flexibility, and impact. That’s why this comparison focuses so much on reliability, engagement tools, and how well each solution scales with your plans.
Here’s the challenge: the number of tools available has grown just as fast as the events themselves. Some are sleek and easy to use but lack customization. Others offer deep features but require technical skills or large budgets. That’s why this virtual conference platform comparison exists—to help you figure out which platforms are worth your time (and your budget), depending on the type of event you’re planning.
In this guide, we’ll walk through the 10 best virtual conference platform comparison in 2025, highlight their unique strengths, and help you narrow down what works best for your audience, goals, and team size. Whether you’re hosting a virtual summit, an educational forum, or a full-blown branded expo, the right platform can transform your event from functional to unforgettable.
What Makes a Platform Best for Hosting a Conference?
Let’s be honest: you’re not just looking for a place to throw up a Zoom link and pray for engagement. In 2025, expectations for online events are high—and attendees can spot a lazy setup from a mile away. So, what separates decent conference hosting platforms from the ones that actually make people stick around, interact, and remember your event?
First and foremost: reliability. If your keynote speaker freezes mid-sentence or the stream dies during the Q&A, it’s game over. The best platforms for virtual conferences are built to handle high traffic, international time zones, and real-time interactions—without buckling under pressure.
Then there’s flexibility. You might be planning a tight, single-track symposium with a few dozen attendees—or a sprawling virtual expo with breakout rooms, sponsor booths, and overlapping sessions. The top platforms let you scale up or down, add modules, and switch formats without rebuilding the whole thing from scratch.
Let’s talk engagement. Chat boxes are great, but they’re just the start. You want tools that mimic the spontaneous hallway conversation: live polls, virtual networking tables, direct messaging, even speed-meeting functions. If people don’t interact, they don’t stay.
Don’t forget branding. Slapping your logo on a landing page doesn’t count. You want to build an experience that reflects your identity—from the lobby design to button colors. A good platform should make your event feel like yours, not a template.
And finally: analytics. It’s not just about who showed up—it’s about how they moved through your event. What they clicked, how long they watched, where they dropped off. Smart tracking helps you understand what worked and what didn’t—and do better next time.
In short: virtual conferences platforms need more than just video. They need structure, personality, and room to grow.
Quick Comparison of the 10 Best Virtual Conference Platforms (2025)
| Platform | Best For | Key Strengths | Limitations | Pricing (est.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zoom Events | Large-scale, hybrid events | Reliability, enterprise trust, multi-track support | Limited customization, corporate feel | From $1,500/yr |
| Hopin (RingCentral Events) | Sponsor-heavy, interactive summits | Networking, expo zones, Q&A, booths | Complex dashboard, steep pricing | $800–$1,000/event |
| SpotMe | Corporate & medical conferences | Compliance, multilingual, mobile apps | Best for enterprise, less for casual events | Custom pricing |
| Webex Events (Socio) | Enterprises, global teams | Branding, scalability, gamification | Costly, enterprise-focused | Custom pricing |
| Airmeet | Community-driven workshops | Virtual tables, networking, ease of use | Less formal, fewer sponsor features | From $200/mo |
| BigMarker | Marketers & B2B lead gen | CRM/email integration, automation | Less “flashy,” more functional | $99–$500/mo |
| vFairs | Virtual expos & trade shows | 3D lobbies, booths, sponsor showcase | Steep setup, long learning curve | Custom pricing |
| HeySummit | Small, niche events | Easy to launch, simple ticketing | Not scalable for large expos | From $29/mo |
| ON24 | Enterprise marketing & demand gen | Deep analytics, CRM integrations | Expensive, steep learning | From $500/mo |
| Run The World | Casual, interactive gatherings | Mobile-first, fun, speed networking | Light on customization | From $99/mo |
1. Zoom Events
Zoom’s event platform is built for scale. It takes what people already trust from regular Zoom and expands it into a system for large, organized virtual gatherings. It’s designed to handle everything from webinars and town halls to full-scale conferences.
With support for tens of thousands of attendees, Zoom Events offers multi-track agendas, ticketing, sponsor integration, and backstage access for presenters. It’s a strong option among conference hosting platforms, especially for enterprises that already use Zoom in-house.
Where it really works is hybrid events. If you’re combining a physical venue with a remote audience, this platform offers a reliable bridge between the two.
That positioning isn’t just marketing copy. In its hybrid events research, Zoom highlights how much event teams now rely on hybrid formats to extend reach and prove ROI:
Hybrid events offer event marketers a variety of benefits that include expanding their reach to a larger audience, lower costs, and greater access to data
For organizers, that reinforces why hybrid-ready infrastructure in Zoom Events matters so much: registration flows, backstage tools, analytics, and networking all feed into a single event story. If your roadmap includes more complex hybrid conferences, that data layer becomes just as important as video quality.
Downsides? Limited customization and a UI that still feels very “corporate.” Also, it’s not cheap—plans often start around $1,500/year and scale up based on your needs.
If you’re comparing tools in a serious virtual conference platform comparison, Zoom Events deserves a spot on the shortlist—for scale and reliability alone.
2. Hopin (Now RingCentral Events)
Hopin was built for events first—making it one of the more advanced virtual conferences platforms on the market. After merging into RingCentral Events, it’s still focused on recreating the energy of in-person events, but online.
Its key strength is interactivity: live stages, virtual booths, sponsor zones, 1:1 networking tools, and audience Q&A. It’s an especially good fit for marketing summits, product launches, and fast-paced events where interaction matters.
However, all that power comes with complexity. Hopin can feel bloated if you’re running something small or simple. The dashboard takes time to learn, and pricing can quickly escalate—reports suggest it starts around $800–$1,000 per event.
If you’re shopping around for a virtual summit platforms solution with room for sponsors and audience engagement, Hopin holds up. But it’s best suited for teams that have the time (and people) to manage its advanced features.
3. SpotMe
SpotMe isn’t trying to be everything for everyone. Instead, it doubles down on what it does best: high-touch, professional events—especially in corporate, pharmaceutical, and B2B spaces. It’s trusted by Fortune 500 companies and global medical brands, and for good reason.
The platform delivers real-time audience engagement features like polls, quizzes, personalized agendas, and breakout rooms—all wrapped in a clean, brandable interface. One standout is its support for fully customizable mobile apps, letting attendees carry the full event in their pocket.
SpotMe really shines in settings that require compliance, privacy, and content control—like medical conferences and investor summits. It also supports multilingual delivery, which is essential for global audiences.
If you’re comparing tools specifically for virtual symposium platforms, SpotMe makes a strong case. It’s serious, secure, and designed to support events where the smallest detail can’t be left to chance.
4. Webex Events (formerly Socio)
Webex Events comes from Cisco’s enterprise-grade ecosystem, and it brings that same polished feel to the event space. This is a platform built for scalability, professional branding, and complex agendas—perfect for when reliability matters more than flash.
What sets Webex Events apart in 2025 is how well it blends flexibility with structure. You can design multi-track events with detailed sponsor sections, in-depth analytics, and even gamification features—all without needing a dev team.
Custom branding is central. From pre-event pages to post-event surveys, you can shape the experience to reflect your organization’s tone and style. Sponsor booths, attendee networking, and live engagement tools round out the package.
Among the many virtual summit platforms, Webex Events holds its ground as a top-tier option—especially for enterprise organizations and global teams with complex needs. It’s not the cheapest, but it delivers on professionalism and scale.
5. Airmeet
If your event thrives on conversation, not just content, Airmeet is one to watch. Built for community-driven experiences, it emphasizes interaction over presentation. It’s ideal for workshops, education sessions, bootcamps, and any event where attendees want to meet, not just watch.
Airmeet’s virtual “tables” create space for networking, casual chats, or breakout workgroups. Speed networking, emoji reactions, and host controls make the experience feel less like a broadcast and more like a real event.
For organizers, setup is relatively easy. You can brand the event space, configure sessions, and even run ticketing without outside tools.
Among today’s virtual conference hosting services, Airmeet stands out for making events feel human—even through a screen. It’s less suited for rigid, formal conferences but shines when your audience wants to connect and collaborate.
6. BigMarker
BigMarker walks the line between webinar software and full-blown event platform. It’s ideal for marketers who want to turn webinars, demos, and online conferences into lead-generating machines.
At its core, BigMarker combines video hosting with marketing automation. You get features like built-in landing pages, email funnels, CRM integrations, and branded registration flows. That makes it a smart pick for companies running multiple small-to-medium events throughout the year.
Use cases range from training sessions to product launches and customer education events. Unlike some platforms that focus only on the attendee experience, BigMarker gives equal attention to the behind-the-scenes workflows—so your team can promote, manage, and follow up without jumping between tools.
While it may not be the flashiest on the market, it’s reliable and purpose-built for B2B marketers who need results, not just viewers. It’s a solid option in any serious virtual conference platform comparison, especially for lead-focused teams.
7. vFairs
vFairs is built for virtual trade shows, expos, and career fairs—any event that relies heavily on booths, branding, and lots of concurrent conversations. It’s highly visual, with 3D lobbies, interactive exhibit halls, and customizable avatars that make the experience feel more like a digital venue than a basic webinar tool.
What sets it apart is the flexibility in design. You can replicate a branded convention center, organize content by theme, and give sponsors plenty of space to shine. Attendees can browse booths, download resources, chat with reps, and schedule follow-ups—all in one interface.
That said, it comes with complexity. Setup time is longer, and there’s a learning curve for new organizers. But if visual impact matters and your audience expects a “wow” factor, vFairs delivers.
Among conference hosting platforms, vFairs is an excellent fit for large, content-heavy events where first impressions—and sponsor impressions—really count.
8. HeySummit
HeySummit doesn’t try to be the biggest. Instead, it’s built for creators, coaches, and solo professionals running small, highly targeted online summits. If you’re running a niche event with a few guest speakers, gated content, and live or pre-recorded sessions, this platform gets the job done—without the bulk.
Its strength lies in simplicity. The interface is clean, the speaker onboarding is smooth, and it handles things like ticketing, registration pages, and session scheduling out of the box. You won’t need to patch together multiple services just to go live.
The platform is best for lightweight operations—people who care more about launching quickly and managing a focused audience than building an elaborate expo. Among virtual conferences platforms, it’s one of the easiest to start with, especially if you’re a team of one.
It won’t scale to massive multi-track summits, but for small events with clear messaging and a loyal following, HeySummit is more than enough.
9. ON24
ON24 is one of the few platforms on this list that was built with enterprise marketing in mind. It’s not just about hosting events—it’s about converting attendees into customers and nurturing those leads long after the webinar ends.
The platform excels in analytics and content lifecycle tools. It tracks how users interact with every part of your event—clicks, downloads, questions, poll responses—and rolls that data into your CRM or marketing automation system. For companies focused on demand generation, ON24 is a powerhouse.
It’s best suited for enterprises running multiple campaigns and needing clear ROI. With its branded experiences, always-on content hubs, and multi-session events, it works well for both live and on-demand events.
In virtual conference platform comparison, ON24 stands out for large organizations that need rich data, integration with existing tech stacks, and serious lead-gen capabilities.
10. Run The World
If most platforms feel like enterprise software, Run The World feels like a social app that hosts events. It’s light, fast to launch, and geared toward casual, high-energy gatherings like interactive panels, community chats, or expert roundtables.
The interface is fun, mobile-first, and made for audience participation. Features like cocktail-style speed networking, reactions, and co-hosted sessions help make virtual events feel less lonely—and more alive.
It’s especially popular among creators, thought leaders, and startups looking to run polished events without a huge learning curve. You won’t get complex sponsor zones or deep customization, but that’s not the point. Run The World delivers simplicity and interaction, not enterprise depth.
If your priority is speed, ease, and energy—and your event leans more toward conversation than keynote lectures—Run The World makes sense. It’s not for every use case, but in the right hands, it turns virtual conferences platforms into something genuinely engaging.
Need Something More Tailored? A Custom-Built Alternative from Scrile Meet
Even with all the polished platforms on the market, not every use case fits neatly into a pre-built box. For some businesses—especially those in consulting, coaching, healthcare, education, and wellness—the off-the-shelf tools feel either too bloated or too limited. They need something else: ownership, control, and the ability to build exactly what fits their audience.
That pressure to “get it exactly right” exists because virtual events are no longer side projects. As event specialists at EventBuilder put it:
In summary: They’re now a staple in the event planner’s toolkit, offering a unique blend of accessibility, engagement, and measurable results.
If virtual conferences are becoming a staple in your own toolkit, it often makes sense to own the underlying platform. That’s where a solution like Scrile Meet stands out: instead of renting generic event software, you’re investing in a branded system that can evolve with your format and business model.
That’s where Scrile Meet steps in. Unlike most SaaS options, this is a turnkey software solution that lets you launch your own fully branded virtual consultation platform—no coding needed, and no platform commissions cutting into your revenue. You get the infrastructure, the features, and the design flexibility—all under your control.
Here’s what it includes:
- Private video calls, both one-on-one and group sessions
- Appointment booking with calendar integration
- Paid access to sessions or messaging
- A built-in admin dashboard to manage users, payments, and analytics
- Fully customizable UI/UX so your platform matches your brand from day one
There’s no need for downloads or native apps—it runs right in the browser and works across all devices. And crucially, your data stays yours. That’s a big deal in industries where privacy and control really matter.
Whether you’re a coach running premium sessions, a legal consultant managing client calls, or a niche educator looking to monetize expertise, Scrile Meet offers a way to own the platform instead of renting space on someone else’s.
It’s not another app—it’s the framework to build your own. If you’re thinking long-term, this isn’t just a smarter move—it’s a future-proof one.
Off-the-Shelf Platforms vs. Scrile Meet
| Option | Ownership | Branding | Features | Pricing Model | Weak Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zoom, Hopin, vFairs, etc. | Vendor-owned | Limited customization | Multi-track, sponsor zones | Subscription / per-event fee | Commission cuts, vendor lock-in |
| Lightweight Tools (HeySummit, Run The World) | Vendor-owned | Basic branding | Ticketing, live sessions | Low monthly fee | Limited scale, no deep customization |
| Scrile Meet (Custom Platform) | Full client ownership | 100% custom UI/UX | Video calls, booking, payments, analytics | One-time license + optional support | None — turnkey handled by Scrile |
How to Choose the Right Virtual Conference Platform
There’s no universal “best” tool—only the one that fits your goals. Before you commit to anything, ask yourself:
- Are you hosting a free event, or selling tickets?
- Will you need expo booths, sponsor zones, or just a few speakers and Q&As?
- Is branding a priority, or are you fine with a generic look?
- How tech-savvy is your team—and your audience?
This guide’s virtual conference platform comparison should help you match your needs to the right tools. Platforms like HeySummit work for lean solo events, while Hopin or vFairs cater to big-budget, multi-track expos. Meanwhile, if none of them give you full ownership or flexibility, building your own platform (like with Scrile Meet) might be the right path forward.
Conclusion
Choosing the right tool sets the tone for your entire event. With virtual conference platforms evolving fast, it’s smart to think ahead—not just about your next event, but the next five.
Test a few, ask for demos, explore what’s out there—and if nothing fits, consider building your own. A fully branded platform like Scrile Meet gives you long-term control, monetization options, and freedom from third-party limits.
Use this virtual conference platform comparison as your starting point, and create something that actually reflects your vision.
Polina Yan is a Technical Writer and Product Marketing Manager, specializing in helping creators launch personalized content monetization platforms. With over five years of experience writing and promoting content, Polina covers topics such as content monetization, social media strategies, digital marketing, and online business in adult industry. Her work empowers online entrepreneurs and creators to navigate the digital world with confidence and achieve their goals.
