The best webinar platforms compared

Webinars are a low-cost option for talks and seminars, and can be set up in­de­pen­dent of time and location. To create a webinar, all you need is a computer and webinar software. Learn what your options are and what’s important when choosing the best webinar tool for your needs.

How do I choose the right webinar software?

If you’re just starting out with your search for the perfect webinar software, you’ll find an over­whelm­ing as­sort­ment of webinar platforms available online. These typically differ both in price and range of functions. Before you jump at the first one, ask yourself the following questions to determine your basic re­quire­ments for a program:

• Will you be trans­mit­ting webinars live?
• How many par­tic­i­pants do you plan on hosting?
• How long will your webinars be?
• Which functions are a re­quire­ment for you? Common examples include white­boards, screen­casts, chat func­tion­al­i­ty, or virtual back­grounds.
• Do you value branding func­tion­al­i­ties that let you in­di­vid­u­al­ly tailor your webinars?
• Will you need analysis and feedback tools?
• Will you be offering your webinars for free or is an in­te­grat­ed payment system a re­quire­ment for you?
• What’s your budget for webinar software?

Generally, you can implement webinars using video con­fer­enc­ing software. However, with these solutions, the number of par­tic­i­pants is usually severely limited and important functions that make a webinar suc­cess­ful tend to be missing.

The most popular webinar platforms

First off, no single webinar software works for everyone. Every tool has its strengths and weak­ness­es. Finding the best webinar platform depends on your in­di­vid­ual re­quire­ments and needs. Below, we introduce seven of the most popular webinar providers and compare them. The in­for­ma­tion contained in our com­par­i­son is from February 2023.

Click­Meet­ing: Flexible pricing plans depending on number of par­tic­i­pants

Click­Meet­ing is a browser-based webinar software that doesn’t require in­stal­la­tion. Starting from $30 a month, you can get access to a range of functions, like desktop sharing, a white­board, survey tools, voting, as well as a real-time chat trans­la­tor. The actual price is based on the number of webinar par­tic­i­pants. This means, you only pay for the plan that you actually use. The option for on-demand webinars is included in the Automated plan (starting at $40).

The expansive branding functions will be of interest to companies, allowing them to integrate their logo and corporate identity as part of the webinar back­ground. You can also offer your webinar for a fee. For this purpose, the software provides links to payment service providers such as PayPal. Google Analytics and other webinar and par­tic­i­pant sta­tis­tics can also be in­te­grat­ed to evaluate and optimize webinars.

A dis­ad­van­tage of Click­Meet­ing is that it strongly limits the storage space of recorded webinars. This means you can only save between 6 and 10 hours of recorded material, depending on your pricing plan.

Go­ToWe­bi­nar: The webinar software for busi­ness­es

With the webinar software Go­ToWe­bi­nar, the makers behind Go­ToMeet­ing have directed their attention specif­i­cal­ly at busi­ness­es. Prices start at $46 per month for up to 250 webinar par­tic­i­pants. However, only the basic features are included in the lite version. To record or brand your session, you’ll need the standard version.

Thanks to its in­te­grat­ed payment system, you can conduct paid webinars without ad­di­tion­al software. GoToStage access lets users watch on-demand webinars at any time and share their live content. The webinar software provides excellent features such as in­ter­ac­tive quick surveys, user-defined answers to questions, and automatic playbacks to simulate live events using pre­re­cord­ed video.

Demio: All-in-one webinar provider for busi­ness­es

Starting at $59 a month, the all-in-one webinar solution from Demio is perfect for small busi­ness­es and en­tre­pre­neurs who are just starting out with webinars. With features like live webinars, scheduled series events, and hybrids of live-streaming webinars and pre-recorded videos, Demio ticks a lot of boxes. Or­ga­niz­ers can host events on autopilot with pre-recorded pre­sen­ta­tions and improve their lead gen­er­a­tion. Beyond this, the browser-based webinar software is easily ac­ces­si­ble with just one click and features a min­i­mal­ist look and an intuitive user ex­pe­ri­ence.

What makes Demio stand out is not only its high-de­f­i­n­i­tion live-streaming quality, but also its in-depth analytics, which allow you to check when attendees join or leave a webinar.

Webinaris: Automated webinar software

The webinar provider Webinaris spe­cial­izes in automated webinars. While live webinars aren’t possible with this software, its range of extensive functions, which include automated chat and fic­ti­tious par­tic­i­pant lists, make it possible to simulate a broadcast in real-time. This au­tom­a­ti­za­tion means that you can offer recorded webinars on any number of dates and scale revenues.

With its Rent my Webinar feature, you can make your webinars available to other providers, either at a cost or for free. You also have the option to publish suc­cess­ful webinars on your account. The only package available, however, is the Pro­fes­sion­al package, which will set you back $99 each month. In return, you’ll have access to unlimited automated webinars and all functions included.

Zoom Webinars: Highly ex­pand­able and with many functions

Zoom Webinars has es­tab­lished itself as one of the most popular tools for online con­fer­ences. The clear and versatile meeting solution also offers a special add-on for webinars.

Since this is an ad­di­tion­al service to the actual software, you need a Zoom One license. This costs $149.90 per year and user. The monthly licensing fee for the webinar extension is $79. But then you also have access to extensive functions such as chats, surveys or quizzes. At the same time, 100 people can in­ter­ac­tive­ly par­tic­i­pate in a webinar via Zoom. 49 of them are even displayed on a single screen.

Branding options and analytics are available with Zoom. Ad­di­tion­al­ly, you can integrate the webinars with other software such as a CRM Tool. Mon­e­ti­za­tion options are also available, making it easy to offer fee-based online courses and pro­fes­sion­al training programs.

We­bi­na­r­Jam: Create custom and in­ter­ac­tive webinars

With the webinar software We­bi­na­r­Jam, you can create in­di­vid­u­al­ized and branded in­vi­ta­tions and webinars thanks to an in­te­grat­ed page builder. Countless templates make building pro­fes­sion­al and mobile-friendly pages a breeze.

This webinar provider is the right choice for you if you want to involve many par­tic­i­pants in an in­ter­ac­tive way. Up to 5,000 active par­tic­i­pants can be added—five times as many as with similar webinar software tools. To keep this many par­tic­i­pants engaged, the software lets you add up to six mod­er­a­tors. Depending on which plan you select, every webinar is limited to either two, three or four hours.

LiveWe­bi­nar: Online courses on your website

LiveWe­bi­nar convinces due to the numerous cus­tomiza­tion options. Simply adapt your webinars to your design. What’s par­tic­u­lar­ly in­ter­est­ing is that the tool is designed to offer webinars using your own domain, which boosts your brand presence. However, this option is only included with the En­ter­prise plan.

In addition to branding options, the software includes most of the features other webinar tools offer, such as breakout rooms, a white­board and screen sharing. In addition to streaming via your own domain, you can also stream on social media. LiveWe­bi­nar also gives you the option to monetize online trainings.

Depending on the plan you choose, between 5 and 1,000 people can par­tic­i­pate in your webinars si­mul­ta­ne­ous­ly. With a paid add-on, the size of your audience can be expanded.

All webinar software in com­par­i­son

To make your decision a little easier, we’ve prepared the table below to provide an overview of the top webinar platforms.

Updated: February 2023