![Your Guide to the Best Webinar Platforms [2024]](https://www.dgicommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/dgi-best-webinar-platforms-2021.jpg)
Webinar platforms are an effective way to engage potential customers and convert them into buyers, as well as to conduct live product demos, sales presentations, customer training sessions and more. And because they are flexible and relatively simple to create, webinars are a powerful tool in your unified communications strategy.
Webinars specifically target an online audience that’s already curious about your product or service; low costs for you equal low (if any) costs for them, which builds trust and loyalty to your brand. But choosing the right platform is critical to make sure you keep attendees coming back in the future.
What Exactly Is a Webinar Platform?
Named for its core functions (web plus seminar), a webinar is an entirely online lecture, live presentation, meeting or event attended by an exclusive audience. Webinar platforms allow you to host these events live in real time or store them to deploy as part of a marketing, training or educational strategy.
With so many webinar platforms to choose from, producing a webinar is an option for almost anyone, but producing live webinars is not without its challenges.
Webinars offer many professional benefits. A successful webinar one can connect you with new followers and boost your knowledge base. Being recognized as a thought leader in your industry may ultimately boost long-term sales and brand recognition. As your webinar library grows, you gain a deeper understanding of hosting and presenting events.
However, simply creating and promoting a webinar doesn’t immediately guarantee high conversion rates. Like mileage, your success may vary. Webinars are a great additions to your marketing automation, leveraging video conferencing technology to forge connections, but the same inherent issues you face with video conferencing apply, such as a poor internet connection or hardware failure, losing your viewers because of software glitches or even forgetting to click record or turn on your mic.
Potential customers expect the same high-quality treatment they’d want from a live meeting in a webinar — an easy-to-use interface and a waiting room that doesn’t feel like being lost in the void and engaging content presented by knowledgeable people, all packaged in high-quality audio and video. This is where choosing the right webinar platform becomes critical.
A webinar generates interest in your business by offering exclusive access to your products and services, which can boost your credibility and build trust with your audience. Inviting knowledgeable co-presenters and hosting expert roundtables gives you a professional edge in your marketplace. Hosting influential industry leaders strengthens your credibility and allow you to tap into their contact list.
The logistical cost of a global, in-person conference is beyond the reach of most small to mid-range businesses, but a webinar targets prospective viewers around the world with virtually no logistical cost. Unlike in-person seminars or conferences, there’s no physical location requirement to participate or host. You’re not paying rental fees for space and sound or broadcast equipment.
All you need is a solid internet connection, a webcam, a decent microphone, your engaging content and thought-leader expertise. That’s a fraction of the cost of an in-person event. You’re only missing one thing: the ideal webinar platform.
Many video conferencing solutions are also webinar platforms and already include features such as surveys and polls, email marketing tools, automation sequences, live-chat and streaming capabilities.
Your webinar platform should be affordable and easy for you and your team to learn. You want to record, share and follow up with prospects without technical issues — and stay on budget. A robust webinar platform mitigates potential problems with social media integrations and billing.
So which webinar platform is the right one for your organization? To help you narrow the field and choose the webinar platform that fits your business, we’ve assembled this helpful review of our top webinar platforms for 2024.
Zoom
Intuitive, user-friendly and cloud-based, Zoom is a household name for a reason. Zoom allows you to host events with exceptional HD video and audio. Zoom allows private and public chats so the audience doesn’t interrupt the speaker and saves a cloud backup of every session for later access. While Zoom lacks strong marketing or automation features, its out-of-the-box features make it a great intro webinar platform.
- Free access, up to 100 participants, for up to 40 minutes for group meetings
- Streamlined host controls
- Virtual whiteboards
- User-friendly interface
In addition to the free plan, Zoom’s Basic paid plan offers every free feature plus 1 GB of cloud recording at $14.99 per month, per user. Both the Business package, better-suited for small- to medium-sized businesses, and the Enterprise package, targeting large organizations with robust security and support needs, are $19.99 per month, per user.
Demio
In their own words, Demio is “hassle-free webinar software for marketers.” This visually appealing, browser-based webinar platform lets you shine while presenting.
Live, hybrid, automated or on-demand webinars give you flexibility. You can even turn existing live webinar recordings into automated webinars in a sales or education funnel. Analytics and integrations with Drip, ActiveCampaign, MailChimp, ConvertKit and more give you insight into your viewer base. Polls, CTAs, and chat are all built in, and you can upload slides or share videos to enrich the webinar experience.
A free trial includes all features and doesn’t require a credit card. Pricing starts at $49 per month for 50 attendees and rises to $234 per month for up to 500 attendees. For access to automation features, you’ll need to start at the $99 a month tier.
You can save 30% by paying annually, bringing down the monthly price to $34, $69 and $163 respectively.
GoToWebinar
LogMeIn’s webinar software is a great choice for larger organizations seeking to reach more people and grow their business. GoToWebinar’s flexible scheduling, event management process and out-of-the-box webinar templates create an ideal business webinar environment. With useful features like automated email reminders, customizable webinar invitations and a registration page, you can promote, drive traffic and capture conversions using a single webinar software.
GoToWebinar’s features reflect parent company LogMeIn’s video-conference industry expertise:
- Automatic webinar recording means easily-offered pre-recorded events
- Robust analytics
- HD video quality
- 24/7 customer support
- Integrations with GoToMeeting
- Built-in polls and surveys
- Seamless integration with Zapier, Salesforce, Unbounce, and more
- Source tracking to reveal high-performing channels
GoToWebinar’s Starter plan is available via an annual subscription, beginning at $89 a month for 100 participants. The Starter plan costs $199 a month for 500 participants, and $429 a month for 1,000, all annually, and a free trial for up to 100 people available without a credit card. A la carte tool integrations are available to further customize the experience.
WebinarJam
WebinarJam is an all-purpose webinar platform that focuses on sales. Reach up to 5,000 people on any device — desktop, phone or tablet — and take advantage of Drawing Board, a whiteboard feature allows you to create screen annotations, draw or highlight things with a pen tool and write on top of your presentation.
WebinarJam offers multiple customizable scheduling and registration options and analytics for actionable data on registration numbers, attendance rates, replay views and more.
Key features include:
- HD audio and video
- PowerPoint and Keynote integrations
- One-click registration (no forms)
- Optional downloadables
- Polls and surveys
- Guest speaker capabilities
- Registration page templates with A/B testing
- Email and SMS text reminders and follow ups
- Integrated billing options
- Option to display clickable offers; countdown timers and limited unit amounts to boost sales
WebinarJam offers a $1 free trial. Pricing is billed annually starting at $499 for up to 500 attendees, but for only $16.66/month extra you can have up to 2,000 attendees and several other upgrades.
Livestorm
The Livestorm webinar platform is especially well-suited for product demos and sales. Livestorm offers on-demand and automated webinars to take online courses, employ onboarding series and sales funnels to the next level. It can be one-click accessed from any device, on any browser, including PCs, laptops, tablets and mobile phones, without attendance restrictions. Stand-out email logistics allow you to automate promotional emails and add a personal touch; customer engagement activities like polling, Q&A sessions, and Reddit-style up-votes keep webinars feeling fresh. Livestorm is 100% GDPR-compliant, giving it an edge in the international market.
A few key features:
- Adaptable webinar themes
- Easy set-up process
- Interactive chats with polls and questions for a quality user experience
- High-level automation, including webinar sequences
- Multi-language customer support
- Embedded registration forms
- Detailed attendance and replay analytics, source tracking, and participation reports
- Unlimited recording storage
- Export data as CSV or XLS
- Integrates with more than 1,000 apps
- Display in-webinar CTAs to influence viewers
Livestorm offers three pricing plans:
- Webinar & Meet Basic: A free plan with the essential features.
- Meet Premium: $31 per host, per month, allowing up to 8 participants.
- Webinar Premium: $99 per host, per month with a 4-hour limit per webinar.
- Enterprise: Offering multiple workspaces with unified billing one premium training. Personalized quotes are available based on your requirements.
EverWebinar
EverWebinar is WebinarJam’s sibling webinar platform, focused on pre-recorded, automated, evergreen webinars. Chat can be enabled while your webinars run for Q&A, but the service itself is automated. You can choose a specific registration date and time or offer recurring sessions. If you use WebinarJam for recording, you can turn those webinars evergreen with EverWebinar, and everything live from your webinar — polls, chat, offers, and Q&As — will continue to appear as if it were live. You do have the ability to be in the chat while it runs so you can answer questions, but otherwise, everything is automatic.
EverWebinar shares the landing page builder, registration reminders, detailed analytics and other features with its sibling. Pricing for EverWebinar is $499/year but a 14-day trial is available for just $1.
ClickMeeting
ClickMeeting is a popular webinar software platform with an impressive and user-friendly interface and education-friendly features. ClickMeeting is a well-integrated, intuitive platform with options for automated webinars and customized invites. ClickMeeting provides clear even setup instructions, and offers analytical insights on past webinars and upcoming audiences.
Key features:
- Feedback polls and surveys
- Chat and interactive sessions
- Facebook and YouTube connections for enhanced engagement
- The ability to record entire live sessions and store them in the cloud for downloaded easily
- Multiple presenters
- HD video
ClickMeeting’s pricing starts at $25 per month, billed annually for up to 25 attendees, or $35, billed annually, per month for up to 50 viewers. Custom pricing for enterprise customers is available.
EasyWebinar
The EasyWebinar platforms offers both live and automated webinars and easily allows you to transition live recordings into evergreen automations. Its new EasyCast feature looks modern and fresh. EasyWebinar’s advanced analytics give you insights into attendance, how long your viewers stayed engaged and whether they clicked on any offers you presented. This webinar platform integrates with Mailchimp and ConvertKit, among others, and offers SMS and Skype integrations to keep your webinar at the top of your viewer’s agenda.
Pricing starts at $78/month for 100 live attendees and goes up to $129/month for 500 live attendees. Both plans offer baked-in savings for an annual subscription, and a 14-day free trial is available.
How DGI Can Help
To identify the ideal webinar platform for your organization, you’ll need to consider the scope and scale of your organization, your goals and budget and the essential features you need to bring your webinar to the right audience. DGI prides itself on being at the forefront of audio visual services. With a broad range of expertise across a wide spectrum of industries, we are excited to help you make decisions about the best webinar platform for your business’s unified communications strategy and how to best utilize your space and infrastructure to get the most from your products. Contact us today to find out more.
