CrowdCompass vs. Eventbrite vs. Whova

CrowdCompass was the best part of Cvent each time I used it, from the ease of use to the customer service and handholding. I would recommend it for anyone using Cvent Event Management for an in-person event. I know Cvent just rolled out their virtual event hub though, so for virtual and hybrid events that are employing the Cvent family of tools, I would probably say CrowdCompass is unnecessary.

Incentivized

We're a nonprofit organization so we have a very lean time, labor, and money so the super easy self-explanatory nature makes it easy for our team to admin an event. The simple UI [of Eventbrite] keeps our focus on the event and avoids any headache-inducing tech hurdles. There're just enough user roles to handle multi-staffer admin. A less appropriate situation is an event that is huge in complexity with a custom workflow and processing which Eventbrite's not built to handle in-house such as multi-step registration, multiple item and category all-select options during registration, multi-event type (not just physical or ticket but virtual goods tracking), more HootSuite-like social media refinery, etc.

Incentivized

I think it works really well as a way to organize yourself while at a conference. As well, to network with said attendees I found it very valuable to remember names. Having an automatic rolodex with everyone I met and ensure I had their info to connect later

• Provides attendees with their personalized schedules at their fingertips.
• Facilitates networking through the ability to set appointments and send messages with other attendees, and inspires competition with The Game and Click challenges.
• Gives attendees the ability to view handouts, take notes and download the information to their personal computers when they get back to their offices.

Incentivized

• Event management--providing a detailed description of the event (date, time, place) plus details of the event (speakers, topic, sponsors, etc.)
• Registrations--provides enough details about people who register, and tools to manage those registrations (add people manually who didn't pre-register, cancel orders, check-in of attendees)
• Event promotion--events created using Eventbrite can be found by searching Eventbrite for local events

Incentivized

• facilitated the sharing of research, perspectives, and resources on topics of interest
• enabled easier connection to new and existing relationships with conference delegates and speakers
• allowed me to catch up on content I missed due to time conflicts for concurrent sessions

• Last year, the gamification did not allow much customization, which was a shame. I hope that by the time I am ready to build my 2020 app, this function has been expanded
• The app to upload/edit push notifications was only available on iPhone so I had to have another team member handle that seems I have an android phone.
• Emails (invites, etc.) often go to junk.

Incentivized

• I'd like to see Eventbrite add more customization to the event page layout. It would be nice to be able to differentiate our event through more specific design.
• I've had occasional problems with email formatting in the Eventbrite email builder. It would be nice to have a slightly more trustworthy builder.
• Other than those two things, I think Eventbrite does exactly what it needs to do.

Incentivized

• Literature and pictures uploaded but no easy way to download the collection.
• No easy way to access information after the period after the conference ended.
• No easy way to access the list of participants and contact information - could be pdf'd.
• There was a little connectivity issues but not much.
• Some of the meetings were scheduled while we slept.
• The cost of using Whova for small meetings.

Incentivized

We have been using CrowdCompass for 3 years and it has all of the capabilities and functionality that we need, it's easy to use, and Cvent is always implementing new features and enhancements to keep up with the latest trends and technology.

Incentivized

Excellent platform and easy to use to create events. Eventbrite sets the standard for simple, effective and safe ticketing platforms. Our customers trust Eventbrite and we've always done well when we use this platform for ticketing. They have recently updated some of the virtual connectivity tools which make it even easier to set up and promote virtual events.

Incentivized

We already registered with Whova for our 2024 event and we will continue to use Whova for the foreseeable future as long as the price doesn't rise too high. It was a bit of a shock to see the difference between last year's price and this year's price - nearly 2k increase! We were able to negotiate, thankfully, to lower the price.

It is very easy to use as everything is very intuitive. Configurating an app does not take too much time at the end, especially as soon as you already have done one as you can dupplicate the entire content. This is very practical when you use the app for annual events. Also few elements are not updatable once the app is published. Of course you can't change the entire design and the security settings which is a good thing anyway, but the entire content can be updated which allows you to publish your app quite early in advance to boost the engagement without having to wait to have everything in your hands (for instance the speakers bios or abstracts). Plus by adding more content regularly it encourage your audience to come back also regularly to check what is going on before the event.

Incentivized

Great platform with so many incredible features. It streamlines workflow, communication, messaging, and analyzing data. I know of no other platform that can do what Eventbrite can do for the price or user-friendliness. They also offer great support for new users and integrate well with other platforms (i.e., social media and Sched).

Incentivized

Most of Whova's functions are intuitive and you can self-teach about 80% of it with ease. I really was impressive with the messaging, follow up meet-up capabilities and sharing of contact information. My only few concerns were about the lack of an archive or back up, [perhaps cloud-based?] of the meeting room and round-table's presentations

Have not had any issues with availability

Incentivized

We had no availability issues!

Have had no issues

Incentivized

We had no performance issues with our event delivery. We did have some meet-ups that had some glitches for some attendees, but I believe they were quickly resolved and were more on the part of user error than anything. Once they got the hang of it, their meet-ups went more smoothly.

Once we paid for our apps, I felt like I was left to learn on my own. There are plenty of Help articles available, but no training sessions. I'm a visual learner and having to poke around and use trial and error to build the apps took way too much valuable time away from other parts of my job. It was frustrating and I brought it up with my CrowdCompass contact, but was told that they don't provide any training sessions and if I had questions I should refer to the Help articles or call support.

Incentivized

I haven't yet needed to contact customer support, but the information provided next to the various features has been exceptionally helpful. This info is located just to the right of most options, and it provides answers to frequently asked questions. At this point, that information has been enough to keep me from having to contact anyone.

Incentivized

I only had a single issue regarding a photograph that was handled immediately and a colleague somehow ended up with two profiles which was also handled right away. Those two instances are all I have to go by. Other than that it was smooth but I did have ample information regarding who to contact if I experienced an issue

Our training team walked us through the first set up which really helped me to learn where everything is located as well as all of the features available

Incentivized

Don't wait to register with Apple and Google. You can do a lot of prep work prior to setting up CrowdCompass for integration.

Incentivized

Just jump in, don't over thinking it, doing it will net the very few basic questions you'll have. There's not much complexity so one doesn't need to plan as if moving a canal. It's as simple as can be.

Incentivized

I found Whova to be similar to many social media apps that I already use. It was easy to navigate. This was my second experience using Whova in my presenter role. I liked the icebreaker section to connect with other participants before the event started. I look forward to next year’s event.

Easier to use interface that directly links with our Cvent registration system. We switched due to this integration, the gamification improvements, the benefits for on-site check-in and session selections, and ease of design/use for our builder team. We have especially enjoyed the New Attendee experience over the look/interface of our previous apps

Incentivized

My "go to" for event registration has always been Constant Contact because they don't charge additional processing fees above the standard transaction. If it's a more basic event where I just need to capture name, email, and payment, I'll continue to use Constant Contact over Eventbrite. However, if it's more complex and requires marketing, I would choose Eventbrite.

Incentivized

We selected Whova for price, and ease of use. We would have chosen GoToWebinar but they did not have as many options for sponsor recognition. We will most likely use Event Rebels in the future for our needs. Tracking time and sessions viewed is a must for our industry as attendees rely on us to earn CEs to renew their licensing.

I especially liked the ease of communication, the ability to ask hard questions easily, and afterward the ability to survey all participants to see what we (and/or Whova) could do better going forward.

works great no matter what type of program or how many people attending

Incentivized

Everyone on our team had their assigned tasks to complete in Whova on a weekly basis and did so with ease and confidence.

• Positive - CrowdCompass has allowed us to eliminate paper programs thus saving thousands of dollars in printing and labor
• Positive - the ability to send push notifications when there is a change to the schedule is something a paper program could never do
• Positive - adoption rates have been so high we are looking into using the program for more and more events

• A dedicated URL for each event has been easy to use for tying events to editorial content, promotion and marketing.
• For ticketed events, it has been an easy -to-use system without requiring a lot of training on a complicated technology. It is also competitively priced for transaction management.
• Whether we have discovered any Eventbrite users via the Eventbrite site promotion, we appreciate it as a recommendation of our event for like-minded event attendees.

Incentivized

• Whova made our virtual and hybrid events possible! Our virtual attendees loved the ability to interact and engage with each other, the exhibitors, the speakers and organizers of the event. It also allowed our in-person attendees to do the same, and navigate the conference on-site.
• Whova made organizing the conference possible for our small staffed organization! We only have 1.25 FTEs and were able to pull off a hybrid conference in 2022. It wouldn’t have been possible without Whova!

Incentivized