Best webinar software open up a scaleable platform that enables you to directly share your expertise with new clients and actively engage those who already bought from you. However, webinars are more than the content, and you should also attend to registrations, manage attendees, host the online event, facilitate live interaction, and ultimately evaluate the performance.
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The magic is here in webinar software. You can easily handle all the logistics items in your webinar with the best webinar platforms. So, you should save your time and efforts to share your knowledge with your audience—whether you are providing a demo for potential customers, offering a paid workshop, or presenting best practices to generate leads.
I have been compiling this directory for quite a while. I re-tested all the top webinar tools again to help you in managing your webinars more effectively. In the end, I narrowed it down to the eight best tools.
What makes the best webinar software?
Marketers are on the lookout for different aspects of a webinar platform. Some just need a basic streaming tool to deliver a lecture. While some want to use a variety of tools and features, others want to record the webinar once and release the recording as a separate event.
The wishlist for a webinar app can be quite diverse though.
- Easy and fast webinar registration
- Chances to meet and socialize with attendees
- The feature of holding both live and recorded webinars.
- The possibility of monitoring webinar KPIs (like attendance and engagement)
I spent a whole week researching over 40 webinar tools and trying about two dozen. Generally, I considered only apps which were mainly focused on webinars and not those that offered the webinar features as a part of much bigger marketing suite.
In the end, I registered for each app, tested the user interface, scheduled both live and on-demand webinars, experimented with different engagement features such as polls and product offers during the webinars and generated reports to analyze the webinars’ performance. I was the webinar host, but I also did a separate login to “join” the webinar. I put all my notes into a spreadsheet for reference, and whenever I encountered any problems, I read the help docs, watched tutorials, or contacted support.
One last thing: If you need a solution that does webinars and a few more, an enterprise virtual event tool like Adobe Connect, BlueJeans, Webex, or ON24 would be a better option. And if you need a more solid events platform robust enough to help you make powerful webinars that are engaging and interactive, Brandlive is worth a look.
Choose your webinar software well below
Name | Best for | Standout feature | Pricing |
BigMarker | Built-in webinar automation | Customizable automation to remove tedious tasks | Request a quote for pricing |
Crowdcast | Streaming to multiple services simultaneously | Extensive event analytics | From $34/month for 100 attendees and 10 hours/month of streaming |
Demio | A no-frills webinar experience | Simple user experience | From $42/month for 50 attendees per webinar |
eWebinar | Automated pre-recorded webinars | “Just-in-time” sessions | From $84/month |
Livestorm | Running multiple webinars | Quick event creation | Free plan available for up to 30 active contacts/month; paid plans from $79/month |
Sessions | AI features | Strong audience engagement features | Free plan available for one 1-hour session/month; paid plans from $19/month |
Vimeo | Professional features | Great templates and robust post-event editing | Advanced plan (from $65/month)required for webinar features |
Zoom | A familiar user experience | Everything you need, plus the brand recognition of Zoom | From $690/year/license for up to 500 attendees and unlimited webinars |
The Best Webcast S/W for the Effortless Webcasting Experience
Demio (Web)
Demio pros:
- Simple user experience
- Extensive audience engagement features
Demio cons:
- Less customizable than some
If you’re looking to direct more of your effort at the audience and the content rather than getting to grips with the platform’s complex features, then Demio is a good no frills but easy-to-use interface alternative.
With Demio you can conduct live, scheduled webinar as well as a series of scheduled sessions, or pre-recorded webinar on demand. It is submitted that creating a live, scheduled webinar takes less than two minutes, and you just add the title and then select the date and time.
However, you can always use some included features in order to customize the webinar if you want. The registration page can be customized with your branding; create a thank-you page, polls, handouts or provide calls-to-action; and send automated email alerts at 24 hours, 1 hr, and 15 mins before the webinar starts.
When the live event is ready to start, the hosting experience becomes just as easy as the landing of the page. In comparison to some webinar apps whose presenter screen is stuffed some others are not like Demio conferencing platform webinar is clean and tidy. There is a toolbar on the bottom depending on the operation of the mic and a clip on the right for chats, polls, and handouts.
Demio pricing: From $42/month (billed annually) to Starter plan with 50 attendees per webinar.
One of the best webinar software in terms of built-in webinar automation
BigMarker (Web, iOS, Android)
BigMarker pros:
- Great options for automation
- The unique engagement attributes is a set of few
BigMarker cons:
- You should ask for a bid regarding price (historically pricier).
Small, manual tasks like checking in the waiting room, pressing ‘play’ to begin the webinar, posting in the chat, and ending the webinar, add up that extra pressure for the moderators of these webinars. You can offload this work with BigMarker: it is an automated webinar software that has automated build-in features.
Under the Automation tab, there is a timeline of tasks which you can modify and launch for your webinar. You can bring waiting room to life and make it nothing but a thing of the past as soon as the content begins. Draft messages and polls in advance as well as set the delivery time Otherwise, create downloadable handouts, giveaways, or pop-up call-to-actions to move the attendees to the next level.
Besides the automation functions of BigMarker I have not encountered similar ones in other webinar apps. Another way to keep the learners engaged is to implement a pop-up inside the webinar that attendees should click to show that they are paying attention or conduct a lucky draw inside the webinar to award prizes.
BigMarker pricing: Traditionally, BigMarker cost a lot more than other apps here but now you’ll have to send a quote to the BigMarker team.
The best webinar software which supports multi broadcasts to several platforms at a time.
Crowdcast (Web)
Crowdcast pros:
- Livestream to multiple service providers simultaneously.
- Extensive event analytics
- The option for created paid webinars .
Crowdcast cons:
- Limited feature set
In addition to the fact that Crowdcast provides users with an option to broadcast to multiple platforms at the same time, which other webinar hosting platforms don’t have. It broadcasts live directly to Facebook Live and YouTube, and streaming to the RTMP servers such as TwitchTV and LinkedIn Live is no problem either. If you have followers on all of the platforms – lucky you! Then it is just right to connect with everybody within all these different networks, instead of dragging them to another platform.
The live webinar features per se are a bit scarce, at least for the moment. What some apps do is Chat and support for polls, Q&A, and hand raising, this is also there. Another feature is that you are able to embed clickable buttons, perfect for when you want to take users to a different web page, for example, to sell a product or have them register to an event. Starting from the pre-webinar period up to the live webinar, you can select or choose any of these features.
Crowdcast also provides extensive reporting which enables you to break down from the basic number of attendees, traffic, and conversion rates to complex referral statistics, UTM tracking, and so on.
Scant as the webinar features are, on the other hand, Crowdcast is only one web-tool more powerful—if you’re ready to put the work. The RTMP Studio would be perfectly suited to the users who need a custom configured setup and can connect to their live broadcast software like OBS, Wirecast, and Ecamm Live as needed rather than using the provided webinar features.
These advanced tools, while not easy to set up, allow for all kinds of advanced configurations: the ability to use custom on-screen graphics, switching between cameras with quick-camera features, and others. In terms of broadcasting, it’s as close to a pro broadcast as possible.
Crowdcast pricing: From $34/ annually which is charged for the Lite plan which supports a maximum of 100 attendees and ten hours of streaming per month.
The best webinar software would be for the automated pre-recorded webinars.
eWebinar (Web)
eWebinar pros:
- Simple to add in automated conversations
- Includes 12 templates to choose from
- In-depth webinar analytics
eWebinar cons:
- Costs scale quickly
- There are no live webinar supports.
The capability of scheduling pre-recorded webinars is offered by almost every best webinar tool in this roundup, but eWebinar is a level higher. eWebinar concentrates on automating the live webinars to be broadcasted on schedule, having them delivered in real-time, including chat live to ensure engagement.
With the click of a button, upload any video, webinar, presentation, or training from Zoom, or simply paste a link to either YouTube, Vimeo, S3, and other providers. Next, specify the webinar’s date and time. Pick a starting and ending date, the days of the week your webinar will be running and the time, and any blackout dates (like country holidays) you don’t want your webinar being played. You can also permit ” just-in-time sessions” allowing users to register and join the webinar within the next 5 minutes.
What makes them different is that on-demand and pre-recorded webinars are not interactive. The advantage of eWebinar is that it allows you to engage live audience without the hassle of setting up a webinar. Visitors will have a standard welcome message sent to the chat immediately. If they reply you’ll get notification so you can chat, live. If you are not reachable or busy, they’ll get a away message and will be able to chat later via email.
You will also have the possibility to insert Interactions wherever you want in your webinar. The interface is great! You will see the timeline on the bottom of your video, where you will be able to drag & drop interactions, such as pre-populated questions, polls, downloads, tips, and offers.
The Best webinar software for a familiar user experience
Zoom (Web, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android)
Zoom pros:
- Familiar look and feel
- Templated events
Zoom cons:
- Participants should install the Zoom app.
- Basic analytics
Zoom is most popularly associated with being a video conferencing tool, but the same strong, reliable, and user-friendly interface used to run meetings also makes it excellent for webinars, especially ones that are video-heavy or have many panelists.
Zoom provides up to 1,000 panelists and up to 50,000 attendees. Customize your presentation to match your content with a mix of video, screen sharing, and streaming video of your hosts. You can show two views side-by-side: e.g. keep the presenter video up while running a demonstration on a shared screen. The presenters can also view audience questions in the pop-out window, so you can run panel-style webinars smoothly with little friction.
Zoom also streams to Facebook, Workplace from Meta, YouTube, and Twitch. On Facebook, you can give your webinar a custom name and choose whether you want to live stream from your personal account or from a page or group which you manage. Choose from your options and Zoom will take over from there, broadcasting the webinar on Facebook with the content slightly delayed by 20-25 seconds from the original webinar.
The feature does the same on YouTube. If you have already enabled your YouTube channel for live streaming, just name your video, choose your preferred privacy setting, and you are ready to go. Zoom will notify you at the left corner of your webinar screen that you’re live, then you would be able to toggle, view or share your live stream on either Facebook or YouTube.
Zoom pricing: For $690/year/license the first 500 attendees and an unlimited number of webinars. (You need the paid Zoom One subscription. It starts at $15.99/user/month.)
The best simple webinar software for hosting multitudes of webinars
Livestorm (Web)
Livestorm pros:
- Simple, focused calendar view
- Quick event creation flow
- Pre-built email campaigns
Livestorm cons:
- Not as customizable in terms of visual appeal as some
If you’re holding webinars on a regular basis, then you need a webinar tool which allows you to stay focused on the content while at the same time ensuring that your overall webinar calendar remains manageable. And after all the testing is done, I think, Livestorm is the best fit for this.
This app provides a user-friendly interface and workflows, which are well-integrated with its rich features. The registration form you will see is completely customizable. You may send it via email, share it with a link or even embed it on your website. Each new event has the ability to use pre created, automated email flows that you can tweak or send out as is. Meanwhile, you can set up automated event start and end times, video plays, and direct to a certain website.
As part of the webinar, you can add the free Brand Kit app to add your brand logo and colors, change the background image, and more. In case you do not like the default Livestorm player, you can keep the custom version. Get a personalized call-to-action at any time during the event, and a comprehensive report on all performance aspects with in-depth cumulative reports.
The calendar that can be found on the left-hand menu of Livestorm is one of my favorite features. While it may sound simple but when you are running multiple webinars each week, getting a clear and up-to-date overview of your schedule is essential. There is even a one-click option to create a new event when one of your open times occurs while you are in the calendar view.
Livestorm pricing: Free plan available for up to 30 active contacts per month and limited features; upgrade to the Pro plan(79 dollars per month if you pay annually) to get up to 100 active contacts per month, 100 live attendees per event, 4 hours per session, and unlimited team members.
AI webinar software designed for marketers is the best
Sessions (Web)
Sessions pros:
- Top-notch AI features
- Clean, familiar calendar
- Strong audience engagement features
Sessions cons:
- Plans scale quickly
- Limited reporting
Generative AI, so far, hasn’t really hit the webinar space but Sessions is the app that’s ahead of the curve. The AI Copilot built into the app can craft your agenda, transcribe webinars, and gather session outlines and notes. Definitely not the flashiest AI features, but they are helpful and work equally as well in terms of efficiency.
The AI is not the end of Sessions. This tool will give the ability to manage both live and recorded webinars and will have tons of methods, like chat, polls, Q&A, takeaways, notes, reactions, product offers, and an interactive agenda to engage and interact with your audience. All of them are available by just putting a switch ‘ON’ or ‘OFF’ at the creation of a new Webinar or within.
The app interface does not have a lot of customizing options, but it is eye-catchy and easy to navigate and scroll through on the go, with the option to add your agenda to the left side.
Contrary to most of the ones on this list, Sessions isn’t merely a webinar-first tool; it can also function as an online meeting, booking, and virtual event platform. This is mainly based on the absence of information. After a live session is over, you can click ‘Memory’ from the left-side menu and the event will be displayed so that you can see basic stats such as RSVPs, participants, and interactions like messages, polls, and questions. But that’s all the analytics geat.
And you can get even more out of Sessions with Zapier as you connect the app with other applications in your software technology stack, automating lead tracking, adding webinar registrants to your email list, and other things.
Sessions pricing: Free plan for 1 hour session per month with maximum 25 attendees; move to Solo plan (from $19/month, billed annually) for 50 participants per session, custom branding, and AI Copilot feature.
Most advanced webinar tools are for the experts’ use.
Vimeo (Web)
Vimeo pros:
- 10 professional templates
- Robust post-event editing
- In-depth analytics
Vimeo cons:
- High cost to get webinar features during the initial installation.
Vimeo is not only webinar software, Vimeo video editing and post-production capabilities are equally strong and can strongly cover yours needs. What I mean is, if you are searching for tons of customization options as well as powerful editing features for your recordings, I suggest you go with Vimeo instead.
First things first. There are 10 great templates that you can select from and add any of 9 different “scenes”. The templates help in quickly customizing the feel and look of event room while yet giving it a professional outlook.
The form has unlimited customization—the design and the data it captures are both variable. What’s more, once you are ready, you can just click the top-right “Go live” button. And you can vote, or ask questions during the event via chat or in-event polls from left menu. You can also get the live analytics 360 * as you present on active watchers, peak viewers, total views, and average time watched.
After the webinar is over, Vimeo comes through with all the high quality editing you would expect, such as trimming (from trimming even text-based editing to stitching videos), adding music, graphics, text, and so on—you can even turn any clip into an embeddable GIF. Personalize the video player and end screen, include captions, and include interactive elements like chapters, forms, cards for user engagement.
Vimeo pricing: You can enable webinars with the Advanced plan ($65/month, annually billed) that gives you unlimited events with attendance up to 100, audience interactivity, and analytics.
Which is the best webinar software for marketing?
The success of your webinar depends on how creative you are and how effectively you involve your audience even before the webinar, during, and after. So as you’re browsing these platforms and choosing a tool for your webinar, ask yourself: which webinar app will be most beneficial in enabling you and your company to reach your unique audiences?