There are several event management tools that are currently available, but choosing the right one is important. Many organizers get confused about what to use so that they can increase their team’s productivity, enhance attendees’ experience, streamline the event registrations, ease the abstract submission process, and provides in detail post-event analytics.
An event management platform helps the organizing committee to plan and run the academic conferences well. Some of the most prominent platforms in this space are Dryfta, Eventbrite, and Cvent. These are designed for various kinds of users and event types.
In this guide, let’s get a detailed comparison of Dryfta vs Eventbrite vs Cvent. This is useful for the decision makers to get details on which solution is best for their event’s specific preferences.
Overview of the Platforms
Before diving deep into the comparison, here are the basic details about the three platforms.
Dryfta was founded with a mission to enhance the overall experience of academic conferences. This is an all-in-one event management software that is specially designed for universities, research institutions, associations, and scholarly meetings that manage content-heavy events. It holds great potential to handle registrations, abstract submissions, peer review, speaker management, networking, ticketing, and more. It follows a conference-centric workflow, and structured processes make it the perfect choice for academic conferences.
Eventbrite was founded in the year 2006. It is quite a popular platform for small to mid-sized public events. This is primarily designed for individuals and small teams. It offers a straightforward event registration and ticketing system. Its product and feature suite has grown, mainly focusing on ease of use and better market accessibility.
Cvent was formed in the year 1999. It has largely grown through many acquisitions. The platform is popular for its complex workflows and is best suited for large enterprises, associations, and professional agencies that manage multi-layered events. This tool is a preferred choice for events that mostly depend on structured operations.
Registration and Ticketing
Registration and ticketing are core functions in any event management software. Each solution in this comparison gives a unique approach.
Dryfta offers unique registration with its custom checkout fields, group registrations, and waitlist management. It delivers highly customizable conference registration and ticketing options. Where each ticket type can be customized with certain details such as price, availability, and restrictions. Its ticketing feature enables it to track ticket sales in real time. It provides an easy-to-understand dashboard that gives detailed analytics. The details of the tickets that have been sold, which ticket types are performing best, and the total revenue that has been generated are clearly visible.
Eventbrite’s simple tools consist of features like selling tickets and actively collecting attendees’ data. Based on frequent user reviews, many event organizers have reported occasional confusion or irritation with limited customization options and a lack of conditional logic in the registration process. Although there is an option for group registration, it is basic level with less functionality.
Cvent has good features that support multiple ticket types and complex pricing structures. It consists of attributes like bundled sessions and group discounts. This platform’s registration forms provide conditional logic, but the setup is often confusing for new users. Only with proper training can it be used efficiently.
Call for Papers and Abstract Management
Call for papers and abstract submission management forms the root for several scholarly events and academic conferences.
Dryfta follows a flexible approach for submission handling. It easily accommodates multiple submission types, including call for papers, abstracts, posters, and workshop proposals. It has custom submission forms that support unlimited fields. There are many different file formats and size requirements that are supported. There are also features like an automatic plagiarism detection option, which provides quality control without the need for manual screening. Its submission options get integrated directly with the review workflows, registration systems, and program scheduling.
Eventbrite doesn’t offer a native call for papers and abstract management feature. This makes the tool ineffective for academic conferences and research-focused events that mainly rely on structured abstract submissions and review workflows.
Cvent provides a call for papers as an add-on module, with some users reporting a steep learning curve. And it is less seamless.
In-Person, Hybrid, and Online Event Capabilities
When your event supports in-person, hybrid, and online formats. They become easily accessible, their reach increases and more people get attracted due to their increased interests.
Dryfta provides a seamless virtual event experience, which elevates online conferences. It offers end-to-end event management features like live streaming, and robust attendee engagement for both hybrid and in-person event types. It is a perfect tool for virtual meetings because it can host up to 50 concurrent live meetings, high-definition videos, and pre-recorded sessions. There are options to monetize the event, sell tickets online, and set the attendees’ capacity for each session. Reviews highlight that it is reliable with no disruptions.
Eventbrite is mainly designed for in-person and simple virtual events. This platform does not offer a dedicated virtual event hub. It provides external streaming links that are widely used.
Cvent is highly supportive of in-person, virtual, and hybrid events. It consists of a dedicated virtual portal. However, there are a few additional charges that are applicable to virtual modules. The platform has a history of supporting large-scale hybrid events, although the setup is a bit complex.
Marketing and Branding Options
Event marketing specifications are crucial for a brand’s visibility and consistency.
Dryfta offers one-of-a-kind marketing tools that boost ticket sales. There are various functions like providing certain percentages, fixed discounts for a limited period, discount codes, and more to create a sense of urgency amongst the buyers. The presence of features like targeted and personalized emails and reminders enables a constant flow of information. It also comes with an event website builder that helps build responsive event websites ahead of the actual events.
Eventbrite consists of a pre-built event page template with limited customization for images and colors. Email communications are basic and lack advanced segmentation or automation. Its branding is present on all event pages and emails, with no option to remove it on standard plans.
Cvent offers multi-page event websites with custom branding and navigation. Email marketing supports campaigns and segmentation, but full white-labeling requires enterprise plans.
Mobile Applications and Engagement
The academic conference attendees get easily attracted if there is quick and simple mobile access to the event’s information and networking opportunities from the moment they hear about it.
Dryfta offers high-performance native mobile applications for both iOS and Android that synchronize with the web platform in real-time. These apps offer features like personalized agendas, program schedules, ePosters, speaker information, interactive messaging, polls, maps, push notifications, and QR check-ins. There are also options for offline mode, sponsor listings, frequent reminders, and updates that keep attendees well-informed. The applications include networking features that allow attendees to connect with each other, schedule meetings, and participate in discussion forums throughout the conference.
Eventbrite provides a mobile check-in app focused on ticket scanning. Though there is no option for including native badge printing. There are features for third-party integration if required.
Cvent provides on-site check-in with options for pre-printed or on-demand badge printing, as well as attendee tracking. These features impact attendee arrival experience, operational efficiency, and are part of its more complex event management suite.
Pricing and Package Considerations
Affordability is one of the primary factors that many consider when on a hunt for an event management platform selection. Many event organizing companies’ decisions are influenced by budget constraints.
Dryfta employs pricing models that are dependent on attendance expectations and necessary features that scale with the academic conference’s size. It offers different packages that match all levels, whether it is small workshops or large international gatherings with thousands of participants from around the world. The packages are tailored to meet the organizing team’s requirements.
Eventbrite’s pricing packages are tiered and a per-ticket fee model. The pricing structure is transparent for basic tiers, but there may be additional fees for premium options or integrations.
Cvent offers custom enterprise pricing. There is no public pricing availability, and organizations must request a quote.
Analytics and Reporting
To take data-driven decisions, it is important to have timely and accessible analytics.
Dryfta includes real-time, shareable reporting features, which are fully integrated with registrations and abstract workflows. The reports are available on virtual, mobile, and on-site, which helps academic organizers get all the necessary insights they require at every stage to understand attendee flow and submissions.
Eventbrite offers basic real-time sales and attendance dashboards. Some reporting limitations also exist. There are also options for exporting detailed data, but it has to be done manually.
Cvent gives real-time deep analytics, robust shareable reports, and custom dashboards across the event’s lifecycle. This is useful for the event organizers to track attendee’ behavior as well as measure return on investment (ROI).
Integrations and Customization
An event management platform can maximize its revenue and productivity if it consists of purpose-built integrations and customizations into the technology ecosystem.
Dryfta easily integrates with several tools like Zoom, Zapier, Stripe, Salesforce, Google Workspace, Vimeo, and ORCID, which many academic teams use. It offers customized domains with end-to-end data control.
Eventbrite integrates with Stripe and Mailchimp. It gets easily integrated with various social media platforms and marketing tools, which helps in simplifying the promotion process.
Cvent offers flexible options for integration. It effortlessly builds an event agenda that automatically integrates with speakers and sessions.
Ease of Use
User-friendliness is the most important aspect. It should be given top-priority while choosing a comprehensive solution for organizing events.
Dryfta offers an interface that is easy-to-use, navigate, and intuitive. It has a single system that offers multiple tasks, all in one place. It allows access to essential event functions, such as abstract review and submissions, registration, agenda building, and networking.
Eventbrite’s user interface is quite simple. The creation of an event and selling tickets can happen in minutes, even if there is no technical experience. Its design mainly focuses on easy event creation and online registration.
Cvent has a vast feature set, but its depth creates a steep learning curve and often comes with a cost. The organizing team must go through a training process before they use the system.
Users and Industries
An event management software majorly thrives on the end users and the industries it’s been used in.
Dryfta holds the immense potential to handle academic conferences, conference abstracts, and peer review workflows, irrespective of the size of the event.
Eventbrite is mainly chosen for small to mid-sized organizations, creators, and community-centric events.
Cvent actively aligns with the demands of large enterprises, associations, and event agencies, smoothly running the complex events and conferences.
Best for
Dryfta is the best all-in-one event management platform for universities, associations, and academic research conferences.
Eventbrite is favored by local workshops, public event organizers, community events and groups, small businesses, creative events, and independent creators managing local or regional events.
Cvent is typically selected by large enterprises, associations, and agencies managing complex, large multi-day conferences, corporations, internal meetings, and trade shows. Due to its cost and complexity, it is not usually used by smaller organizations or nonprofits.
The Best Platform for Academic Conferences
Choosing the best among the three platforms completely depends on the event’s type and its demands to meet certain requirements. All these tools were quite successful in helping event organizers create remarkable events.
If it comes to academic conferences, Dryfta stands out by combining the best of both worlds. Its all-in-one event management platform possesses the power of handling conferences easily with its large features. If you’re seeking a trusted platform for organizing conferences, then Dryfta is the best alternative.