With the right event management tool in your tech stack, you can accept online registrations, sell tickets, and gather analytics to improve future events.
Fortunately, there are several event ticketing and registration tools out there that can help you get started with a step in the right direction. That said, choosing the right tool for your specific needs requires quite a bit of research and comparison of all the different features that various solutions have to offer.
In an effort to help you make an informed decision, we’ll compare three of the most popular event registration and ticketing solutions in this post – Event Espresso vs Eventbrite vs Cvent. Before we begin, let’s step through some of the key features you should look for in event registration and ticketing software.
Features to Look for in Event Registration and Ticketing Software
Managing event ticketing and registrations manually isn’t easy. On top of this, you also have to promote your event, guide prospective attendees through the registration process, sell tickets, and accept payments – all while planning and organizing the actual event!
Event registration and ticketing software can help you simplify and automate routine tasks involved in organizing and managing an event. This typically includes online registrations, social media promotions, ticket scanning, and payment processing.
Here are the key features you should look for in event registration and ticketing software:
- Event registration. You should be able to create registration forms that enable prospective attendees to register for your events online.
- Payment options. The event registration tool should let you integrate popular payment gateways such as PayPal and Stripe into your event website.
- Data ownership/GDPR compliance. As an event organizer, you should have complete data ownership. Additionally, your event registration and ticketing plugin should be GDPR compliant.
- Built-in marketing tools. Go for an event management solution that comes with built-in marketing tools to help you build your email list and get the word out about your event.
- Reports and analytics. Your event registration software should give you access to reports and analytics. This allows you to monitor the number of registrations, ticket sales, and other key metrics over time or for each event.
Now that we have a better understanding of what sorts of features to look for, let’s take a closer look at three of the best event management tools and see how they stack up against our criteria.
Side-by-Side Comparison of Cvent, Eventbrite, and Event Espresso
Here, we’ll compare and contrast three popular event management solutions – Event Espresso, Eventbrite, and Cvent – and evaluate the key features on offer with each solution to help you find the right tool for your specific needs.
#1: Event Espresso
Event Espresso is a premium event registration and ticketing plugin for WordPress that comes with a number of powerful event management features out of the box. In addition to this, the developer has added multiple product add-ons providing you with advanced functionality and scalability for your event solution. You can use this plugin to create and sell tickets, collect payments from registrants, track event attendance, and much more.
Key Features
- Event Registration. Event Espresso allows your attendees to register for your events online by filling out custom registration forms. You can also accept group registrations and set up waiting lists for when your event becomes full.
- Payment Options. Event Espresso gives you access to multiple payment gateways to add to your WordPress site including invoice, check, PayPal, and credit cards. You’ll also be able to accept payments at the event venue. The plugin comes with six different payment gateways out of the box and 17 additional payment gateways are offered as add-ons.
- Data Ownership and GDPR Compliance. As an event organizer, you collect personal information from registrants which means you’re responsible for keeping it secure. This is particularly important if you collect data from EU residents because you’ll have to comply with GDPR guidelines. Event Espresso gives you complete control over your attendees’ data and offers features to make your event website GDPR compliant.
- Built-In Marketing Tools. Event Espresso’s built-in marketing tools allow you to boost registrations and ticket sales by offering prospective attendees special discounts and promotional codes and enabling social sharing options. It also lets you build your MailChimp mailing list or group to help with your email marketing efforts.
- Reports and Analytics. Its built-in reporting and analytics feature lets you quickly view attendee registrations and transactions for each event you organize. This allows you to gauge the performance of your events by analyzing the total number of registrations and ticket sales.
Who’s It For
Event Espresso is a powerful event ticketing and registration plugin for WordPress that helps users plan and organize successful events. Whether you want to organize a workshop for sales professionals, conduct a seminar for your employees, plan a conference, or a fundraiser for your charity, Event Espresso is flexible and easily adaptable to all of your event registration and ticketing needs.
Plans and Pricing
- Personal support license: $79.95
- Developer support license: $299.95
- Everything support license: $299.95
#2: Eventbrite
Eventbrite is an event management and ticketing website that lets you create, organize, and manage events. It enables users to build registration pages and offers all sorts of event organization related features including ticketing options and tracking attendees and sales.
Key Features
- Event Registration. Eventbrite offers professional-looking event registration pages optimized for all devices. You’ll be able to easily accept registration information from your attendees and send them confirmation emails.
- Payment Options. You can collect payments via invoice or check, or at the event venue using the Eventbrite Organizer mobile app. It also lets you accept these payments outside of Eventbrite’s platform.
- Data Ownership and GDPR Compliance. Eventbrite is an event management and ticketing website which means that Eventbrite owns all of the data you collect including customer names, emails, and billing information.
- Built-In Marketing Tools. Eventbrite comes with several built-in marketing tools to help you maximize your ticket sales. For starters, you’ll be able to improve your ranking in search results, sell tickets on Facebook and Twitter, and offer promotions with special discount codes to prospective attendees.
- Reports and Analytics. You’ll be able to view sales, attendees, and traffic and sales channel reports over a specific time period. It lets you filter this data and visualize it using charts and reports to gain useful insights about your events.
Who’s It For
Eventbrite is a great option for anyone looking to organize free-entry events and doesn’t have an event website. Since it’s a hosted solution, you can sign up with Eventbrite to create your event registration pages.
Plans and Pricing
- Essentials version: 2% + $0.79 per paid ticket
- Professional version: 3.5% + $1.59 per paid ticket
- Premium version is offered at custom rates
#3: Cvent
Cvent is a cloud-based event management solution that lets users source venues, manage their event budget, handle payment processing, and accept online registrations.
Key Features
- Event Registration. Cvent’s event registration system enables you to boost response rates without having to mess around with paper forms or spreadsheets. Its event registration process can be customized to meet your specific needs and requirements. You’re able to create event registration forms, brand your event website, and create visual event seating plans.
- Payment Options. Cvent offers fast and reliable payment processing options to help you accept payments, offer automated refunds, and gives you quick access to your earnings. It supports all popular credit card options, offers multi-currency support, and monthly payments.
- Data Ownership and GDPR Compliance. Cvent offers a secure way to handle the data you collect from event attendees and has established safeguards to help protect their privacy. Cvent’s in-house risk and compliance staff makes sure that its processes comply with strict data security regulations and standards.
- Built-In Marketing Tools. Cvent enables organizers to promote their events through a fully-functional event site that lets them showcase important event information, customize the site design to match their brand, and promote event sponsors. In addition, event organizers are able to run tests on their event marketing messages by sending different marketing emails to different groups.
- Reports and Analytics. It gives you the tools you need to better understand your target audience, streamline communication with your team, and improve event promotion. Its reports and insights features enable you to identify and focus on the opportunities that can help boost your event ROI.
Who’s It For
Cvent is a relatively expensive solution which makes it a reasonable option for organizing large events and business conferences.
Plans and Pricing
Variable pricing based on the number of annual registrations and features activated.
Conclusion
With the right event management solution, you’ll be able to better organize and manage your events, streamline the event registration process, sell tickets, and much more. Depending on your budget and the type of event you’re looking to organize, you might consider using one of the tools we covered in this article.
- If you have a WordPress-powered event website, we recommend going with the Event Espresso plugin. It offers everything you need to organize events and gives you complete control over your data.
- Those of you who are thinking of organizing a local, free-entry event then Eventbrite might be the right option for you. You’ll be able to create your event page and begin accepting registrations in no time.
- However, if you need a powerful event management tool that offers advanced features like a 3D event designer and real-time collaboration, Cvent is definitely worth a shot.
What sorts of events are you looking to organize? Let us know by commenting below.
