Remote work, pandemic, lockdown, loneliness, numerous online events, boredom - all of these things changed the face of the webinar platforms industry. People thirsty for contact with others started to expect more - highly interactive and collaborative features to replace in-person meetings.

You have certainly experienced a poor quality connection or a lack of essential features like 'Share screen' more than once. It's a challenge to find a webinar platform that won't limit you in any way.

You can finally forget about all of these problems. We've tested some of the currently available tools to come up with a list of the best webinar platforms in 2021 that will work for any business. We hope it will make your choice easier.

Let's dive deeper into the best webinar solutions.

What is a webinar platform?

A webinar platform is a tool that allows you to host webinars, video conferences, online meetings, and many more digital events. Such a tool is helpful at every stage: of the process, before, during, and after webinars. 

A webinar platform is an all-in-one solution that, in addition to conducting an event, offers many advanced add-ons. 

It helps you to host webinars, engage audiences and, what’s more, analyze their performance and draw appropriate conclusions to improve them in the future.

Why should you use one?

A webinar platform can give you a lot.

• It provides a high-quality experience - your brand will evoke positive emotions and be associated with a professional approach.
• It helps you to engage attendees and encourage your potential customers to take concrete actions.
• Safety is assured - invitations and security measures protect both your company and attendees, e.g. via two-factor authentication. 
• Integrations with your current tools for a smoothly operating, cohesive system.

How to choose one?

What to look for when choosing the best webinar platform? Your business needs should be your priority, so use them as your guide.

Ultimately, you'll need to make the best decision for your unique expectations based on the following criteria:

• Features - you'll probably want a solution with a simple interface and easy-to-use features. It all depends on your primary purpose for using such a tool. For example, if you're going to conduct an event for dozens of people, you'll need a more robust solution than for daily meetings with your team.

• Level of customization - it makes sense to choose a webinar platform that will allow you to apply some branding and customize the appearance to make it easier for attendees to remember your company.

• Technical support - remember that customer service is vital, and you need to have a backup if something goes wrong during an event. Make sure that your chosen tool provides assistance, e.g., a dedicated consultant.

• Limits - check what the limits are, i.e. how many attendees and presenters can participate in one event. Choose a tool that allows you to change the limits upwards, but for which you don't have to pay for unused space.

• Price - set a budget. If you want ROI from your webinars, you need to choose an affordable solution for your business.

The best webinar platforms to boost your online events

LiveWebinar - our #1

Whether you're holding daily meetings or hosting a big conference, LiveWebinar is an excellent tool for both. It gives many options to tailor the tool to the individual needs of your business. You can easily personalize your LiveWebinar room to fit your brand’s visual identity and create a cohesive, professional online image.

Most importantly, it’s a cloud-based solution that will give you a solid technical background. It also works great as a provider during international events - offering features like automatic chat and real-time translation using language interpreters.

This tool makes creating attractive webinars a breeze. You can use the whiteboard to share your ideas directly, polls to gather feedback, play videos from YouTube or Vimeo, and share your screen quickly. And that’s not even half of its capabilities.

Getting started with this webinar platform is pretty simple - you can easily find manuals, tutorials, and video walk-throughs on YouTube. Despite this, their support team is always prepared to assist and resolve any issues quickly.

⭐️  Key features

LiveWebinar provides unlimited customization options as well as clear HD quality. This tool can be integrated directly into your domain. It has many advanced collaboration features and offers easy access without any additional plug-ins or software (it works on any browser and device, from smartphones to Smart TVs).

📊  Pros and cons

• Well-organized Control Panel for hosts
• Unlimited number of presenters
• Free version available
• Advanced reports, analyses, and tracking
• More than 1,500 customization settings
• Wide range of integrations, e.g., HubSpot, Zapier, FreshMail, Slack, GetResponse 
• Full HD recordings
• White label solution
• Helpful customer support

• No screen sharing on mobile devices

💵  Pricing

LiveWebinar offers a free version (up to 5 attendees and 2 hours of recordings). It provides ready-made plans starting from $12.36. There is an option to select a customized plan and choose features and capacity tailored to your business needs. We give you the possibility to test our platform, as you can create a free account in LiveWebinar which is for a lifetime. But remember, it has some limits too.

SpotMe

SpotMe calls itself a B2B marketing platform, and that’s correct. It has grown rapidly over the years from a webinar platform into a complex marketing solution.

At first glance, the tool makes a very good impression. Its friendly user platform, intuitive interface, and wide range of features make SpotMe a robust webinar platform.

source: SpotMe.com

SpotMe is dedicated to hosting highly interactive events, from videos to polling and Q&As. It allows audience members to connect with one another, even before the actual event starts. It helps them match with app users based on similarities or personality types.

However, even though it provides many advanced features, the price is high. As a result, it’s not a perfect tool for smaller businesses.

⭐️  Key features

SpotMe’s highest priority is engagement and interaction with attendees as well as branding and customization options. The tool helps to build an end-to-end quality digital experience. 

📊  Pros and cons

• Appealing and modern UI
• Advanced branding
• Flexibility and possibility to buy some add-ons
• Templates (with pre-configured navigation, designs, and content) allow users to set up virtual events without breaking a sweat
• Mobile event app
• Support team available 24/7

• With such a popular tool, you are just one of many customers and so you cannot expect individual attention
• Hard to coordinate between different time zones
• High price, not affordable for individuals and smaller businesses

💵  Pricing

SpotMe offers four plans whose prices start from $2,000 per month. There is a free trial available (no credit card required). Users also can choose add-ons like live production, live coordination, and campaign build (prices vary from $1,700 to $7,000).

Microsoft Teams

This tool probably doesn't need to be introduced to anyone. Companies, schools, and universities widely use Microsoft Teams. It's a platform for coworking that helps teams stay organized, like Slack and Asana in one. The question is, how does it work as a webinar platform?

Microsoft Teams provides a rather simple solution for conducting webinars. Its features aren't particularly surprising. However, it should be noted that it is not a tool designed primarily for conducting online meetings. That feature is basically an add-on, and you may quickly notice it.

When it comes to conducting online meetings, it is less interactive than other tools that are dedicated to webinars. There are still some lags and overloads, which are especially felt during country-wide remote education. 

⭐️  Key features

Microsoft Teams provide real-time collaboration, which works great in a school environment where teachers and students exchange thoughts and ideas. 

📊  Pros and cons

• Simple solution that is great for conducting small team meetings
• Low price and no additional cost for Microsoft 365 users

• Lack of advanced collaboration features 
• Limited flexibility and customization options
• Poor audio and video quality
• Not too many integrations

💵  Pricing

There are two categories of Microsoft Teams related to business, namely the Business plan and Enterprise plan. The prices start from $5.00 per user, per month. The tool also provides a free version, but meetings and calls aren’t available on it.

Webex

Webex is a cloud-based solution for calling, meetings, messaging, and events. They emphasize that the tool provides an equal experience for everyone, no matter where they are.

Associated with Cisco, it meets the expectations of a good quality tool. Along with speed, it also ensures superior security. In addition, it provides beneficial features that can help to boost brainstorming and engage audiences. 

Even though the tool is perceived to be highly interactive and user-friendly, many people complain about tricky navigation that new users in particular may find tricky.

⭐️  Key features

This solution is focused on collaboration between audience members. It provides many advanced collaboration features like a pop quiz with a timer and leaderboard, or displaying a word cloud of attendees’ answers.

📊  Pros and cons

• A high degree of customization (especially host panel)
• Easy interactive audience tools for polling and Q&As
• Queries with labels to categorize and address questions by topic
• Built-in messaging

• The free version has a time limit on meetings

• Hard to navigate through
• Lack of an option to share an entire screen

💵  Pricing

Webex offers a free trial and a free version of the tool (up to 50 minute meetings). Prices for paid plans start from $13.50 per user per month. Additionally, there is an option to customize the plan for large events or meetings (over 200 participants).

Hopin

Hopin is a tool primarily designed to host large events and conferences. It's a multi-module event platform with interactive elements that maximize engagement and connectivity.

source: hopin.com

Hopin wants to provide an end-to-end experience "from engagement to revenue." That is why it offers advanced features for running events for dozens of people. 

Powerful collaboration features as well as landing pages for ticket sales and registration, integrations with CRM systems, and customizable content areas make it a complex tool for hosting vast digital events.

⭐️  Key features

The core establishment of Hopin is to create a tool that will streamline interaction between attendees, sponsors, speakers, and vendors. Due to this, Hopin's most popular features are Reception, Networking, and the Expo area.

📊  Pros and cons

• A built-in ticketing system
• Wide range of integrations
• Advanced analytics

• Too complex for smaller webinars
• Focused more on overall event creation and management than on webinars features

💵  Pricing

Hopin offers a wide range of plans, with prices starting from $41.58 per month. A free version of the tool is available, as well as a demo. There is also an option to choose a customized plan. The price includes some unusual additional costs like $999 per year for extra admin.

Demio

Demio is a new tool that has quickly taken its place among the best webinar platforms because of its modern interface and appealing appearance. Throughout the pandemic, they have expanded their marketing and automation capabilities so that they can keep up growing.

This tool has many useful features for interacting with the audience during an event, such as interactive polls with stats or Featured Actions to direct attendees to an offer or sign-up page (which marketing teams will appreciate most).

The tool is relatively new, so there is still a lot of room for improvement. Some bugs may appear, and so it could be pretty risky to rely entirely on this tool during significant events.

⭐️  Key features

Demio emphasizes its great flexibility and ability to customize, which is one of its distinguishing features. In addition, Demio's modern, intuitive user interface is one of its biggest selling points.

📊  Pros and cons

• Branded registration pages
• Like Live Replays 
• Automated email reminders before z webinar begins

• No possibility to run paid webinars
• Not exactly mobile-friendly
• Basic analytics

💵  Pricing

Demio offers four different plans varying in the maximum number of attendees (from 50 to 500). You can also get a custom plan if you need space for more than 500 attendees. The prices start from $34 per month, with the highest plan costing $163. Every custom plan is priced individually.

BigMarker

BigMarker is a video platform for webinars, virtual conferences, and summits. Their live streaming capabilities are impressive. It's possible to create an event for 10,000 people at once and still provide an interactive experience.

BigMarker provides all of the core webinar features like public & private chats, whiteboard, custom invitations, lead forms, polls, and Q&As.

However, it has some flaws. It might be too robust for small businesses. Moreover, it has challenging analytics. What does that mean exactly? The data are presented on spreadsheets, while the competition provide reports with much more easily understandable graphs and infographics. 

⭐️  Key features

BigMarker's integrations with CRM are a major feature for enterprise users. It can be integrated with Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo, Zapier, and many other well-known tools.

📊  Pros and cons

• Complex solution for larger events
• Display clickable call-to-action pop-ups and offers
• Ability to monetize webinars

• A limited number of people can share the microphone and camera at once
• Not visually appealing
• Not enough branding options

💵  Pricing

Prices for BigMarker range from $79 to $299 per month. The fee does not apply to virtual event software and solutions for enterprises. Custom plans are also available. A 7-day free trial is included.

WebinarNinja

WebinarNinja allows you to host webinars that can cover a wide range of topics. This software is not restricted to a specific type of webinar. It supports them all.

Using WebinarNinja is simple and takes just a few minutes to get up and to run. This platform includes a wide range of features such as custom landing pages, handouts, multi-function chat, and thank-you pages.

Unfortunately, as a result of the latest update, they have received a lot of unflattering feedback. However, once addressed, it will once again be a tool worth considering.

⭐️  Key features

WebinarNinja supports a wide range of webinar types: live, recorded, evergreen, series and hybrid - a combination of recorded and live.

📊  Pros and cons

• Built-in emails and landing pages
• Ability to run paid webinars

• Credit card details are required for the free trial
• Bad users reviews on G2
• Many people complain about poor customer support
• Analyses are missing basic information

💵  Pricing

The WebinarNinja starter pack costs $39 per month (paid annually), while the highest plan costs $199. The plans differ in terms of the maximum number of attendees, presenters, and the length of webinars. A free trial is available.

Zoho Meeting

Meeting from Zoho is part of a large family of products designed to simplify the daily work meetings of remote teams. It's a great solution for small businesses, mainly because of its affordable price.

Meeting supports integration with other Zoho apps, thanks to which users can create a coherent, seamless tool system.

Even though it's one of the cheapest webinar platforms available on the market, it still provides a wide range of valuable features. However, this tool might not work for you if you care about high audio and video quality.

⭐️  Key features

Due to Zoho Meeting's focus on webinars among remote teams, its key features streamline workflow and meetings between teams. This software helps people find new ways to collaborate and work efficiently. Among its key features are hand raising, screen sharing, instant polls, Q&As, and broadcast messaging.

📊  Pros and cons

• Simple to use and easily scalable
• An equal level of experience for all subscribers regardless of their plans
• Deep integration with Zoho's ecosystem and other popular third-party tools
• 24/7 support

• No support for HD video quality
• Sharing whiteboards isn't possible
• Some people complain about delays

💵  Pricing

There are two types of Zoho Meeting plans: Meetings - for more individual purposes - from $3.57 for 10 people to $14.26 for 100 people, and Webinar - designed for business and with more collaboration options - from $22.59 to $237 (from 25 to 1,000 attendees). Users can try the service for 14 days, with no credit card required.

Google Meet

Google Meet is a video-chat tool that is primarily designed for business and office purposes. Previously known as Google Hangouts, it provides a basic set of features for hosting webinars.

A considerable advantage of Google Meet is its ease of use. There will be no problem navigating through the tool, even when seeing it for the first time in your life.

Though it has all of the necessary video conferencing features, its technical capabilities are nowhere near as powerful as its rivals. The Google Meet service is pretty basic, so you may need to consider other webinar platforms if you are looking for more robust options.

⭐️  Key features

As a part of Google Workspace, it forms a seamless whole  system with other Google products. It was designed mainly for teams and daily meetings that don't require many advanced entertainment features.

📊  Pros and cons

• Security
• Easy access for businesses that use Google Workspace
• Real-time captions during video conferences

• Limited feature set
• Limited to 250 participants
• A Google account is required to participate in meetings (some attendees might not have one, which can cause problems)

💵  Pricing

Anyone with a Google Account can host a video meeting, invite up to 100 participants, and meet for as long as 60 minutes each time for free. Paid plans, with unlimited meeting length, range from $6 to $18 per user, per month.

Zoom

The pandemic and the resulting enormous increase in demand for webinar platforms almost overnight put Zoom to the test in the harshest conditions. Now, Zoom is one of the most popular webinar platforms, but is it the best?

This tool provides a wide range of solutions - it works for both small webinars and big events. There is also no problem creating webinars that will engage audiences. However, there are very few webinar marketing features, and it's not flexible enough to create cohesive events with your brand.

Moreover, as a result of its popularity, it can sometimes be overloaded. Many people also complain about some repetitive bugs.

⭐️  Key features

Enables participants to ask and answer questions during a webinar in public, or, if required, to interact 1:1. It offers a list of crucial features for both the education sector and businesses, including whiteboards, breakout rooms, and waiting rooms, etc.

📊  Pros and cons

• Its popularity means many people are familiar with this platform
• Built-in collaboration tools
• Integration with calendars: Outlook, Gmail, or iCal

• People complain about poor audio quality
• Non-intuitive interface

💵  Pricing

Users have many options to choose from depending on their primary purpose. It offers a freemium package (up to 40 minutes and 100 participants). Prices vary between $14.99 and $24 per month. Optional add-ons are available.

Now it's your turn

It's time to make a decision.

Do you need to choose just one tool? Not necessarily. Remember that you always have the option to use a free trial or free version of a tool, if they are available. Test them out and decide for yourself which one suits your business needs best.

And if you want to try one out, why not give LiveWebinar a go? For up to 5 attendees and 2 hours of recordings, the tool is free. It's a webinar platform that you can tailor to your needs and enjoy a solution that doesn't limit you.