The 9 Best Webinar Platforms – Software To Sell or Teach In 2020

In the age of COVID, webinars are of course hot. Instead of having conferences or face-to-face meetups, events are being held online and virtually. Before 2020, webinar software was already big, now most online businesses could use webinar software in some capacity.

Even though webinars are somewhat overused, they are still an effective means to convert leads into customers. One could argue every digital business or high ticket item should add a webinar to their sales funnel.

Webinars are a great medium to do many things. You can use a webinar for:

• Live Events — Virtual conferences and mastermind events.
• Automated Webinars — Just-in-time webinar where it may appear live to the attendee.
• Product Demos — Showcase your product to prospective customers
• Customer Training — Create a how-to for existing customers to effectively use your product
• Internal Communications — Educate your employees and consultants on SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures)
• Online Courses — Train individuals live or with pre-recorded sessions.

The possibilities are limitless with webinars.

The biggest disadvantage of a live webinar is the ability to scale. With live webinars, you must be present to perform the webinar. One of the newer methods to sell with is with an automated webinar.

A pre-recorded automated webinar allows you to schedule times when it’s best for your attendees to watch your webinar. You create an automated webinar and can sell your product or service 24/7. Though I typically only recommend automating a webinar once you’ve got the sales funnel and conversions at an acceptable level.

Automated webinars are great because you scale your product or service and allow it to sell any you send traffic to your webinar.

Let’s compare the webinar platforms.

Summary – Software for Webinars

Click on the link above to read more about the webinar platform comparison.

Demio

The biggest advantage to Demio compared to the popular WebinarJam is the lack of a 30-second delay. Demio’s webinars are near real-time, allow you to better interact with your audience and in HD video. The other benefit over WebinarJam and EverWebinar is Demio’s service has live webinars and automated webinars combined into one service.

You have five different types of webinars you can create:

• Live
• Series
• Hybrid
• Automated
• On-Demand

Features

• Unlimited Sessions — No limit to how many individuals can attend your webinar
• Works with Any Web Browser — desktop and mobile device support. No app to install to watch one of your webinars.
• Screen Sharing — Share your screen with your attendees.
• Live and Automated Webinars — No additional fees to convert live webinars into automated pre-recorded webinars.
• Pre-Made Registration Templates — Quickly create a registration form
• Email Notifications — automated email notifications reminding registrants of an upcoming webinar.
• Interactive Polls — Engaged and interact with your audience with polling you can share (or not) with your attendees.
• Launch Offers and CTAs — Present offers during your webinar to a signup page of your choosing.
• Live Chat — Public or private chat with your attendees.
• Recorded in HD Video — Webinars are recorded in HD and can be downloaded in mpeg4 format.
• Replay Page — Automatically generate a customized replay page that matches your brand with a call-to-action button.
• Reporting — Find out how many attended your webinar and how many converted.

Pricing

• Starter — $49/month ($34/month yearly)
• Growth — $99/month ($69/month yearly)
• Business — $234/month ($163/month yearly)

If you purchase annually you save 30% on the monthly fees. If you are looking for automated events and custom form fields the ‘Growth’ plan is your best option. If you want multiple hosts (up to 4) and Marketo integration Demio’s ‘Business’ plan is your best option.

The ‘Growth’ plan removes any references to the Demio branding.

At their lowest plan (Starter) Demio allows for a 3-hour session limit, which should be more than enough but for the longest webinar.

You can try Demio for free with their 14-day trial.

EasyWebinar

Features

• Live and Automated Webinars — No need to upgrade to evergreen webinars since it’s built-in to EasyWebinar.
• Real-Time Chat — Live chat with your webinar attendees with emojis and links.
• Make Any Attendee A Presenter — Great for more interactive calls and mastermind sessions.
• No Latency — No delay from your presentation and chat with webinar attendees.
• EasyCast — Stream not only with EasyWebinar’s service but on the social media platforms of Facebook Live and YouTube Live.
• Right-On-Time Registration — With automated webinars for events in the next 15-minute increment.
• Push Offers —
• HD Video — The live stream can present and record in HD video. Also supports Facebook Live and YouTube Live streaming.
• SmartPhone App — In order to view a webinar on a mobile device, the registrant must install EasyWebinar’s app.

Pricing

• Standard — $78/month
• Pro — $90/month
• Enterprise — $499/month

If you pay yearly, you get 3 months free with EasyWebinar.

The primary difference with the plans is the amount of attendees that can show up to your live or automated webinars.

EverWebinar

WebinarJam’s sister service which allows you to automate your webinars so you can scale and create sales 24/7.

Features

• Flexible Scheduling — Schedule webinar times what’s best suited for your attendees. Exclude specific days to give the appeal of live webinars.
• On-Demand Webinars — Gives the appearance of a live webinar with a specific starting time and can join in on the call at any time.
• Live Chat — Hybrid chat where you can have pre-recorded chat sessions and mixed with your live responses to new questions.
• Live Chat Simulator — Make the chat appear to be live with evergreen chat sessions.
• Polls and Surveys — Create polls and surveys to help increase webinar attendee engagement.
• Split Testing — Unique to EverWebinar you can split test your webinar and track which performs better. Maximize your conversions.
• Active Offers — Present limited-time offers to your webinar audience while on the call.
• Built-In Email and SMS System — No need to use a third-party email service to remind registrants of your webinar. EverWebinar has an email and SMS service built-in.
• Pre-Made Landing Pages — Get your webinar landing page up in no time with EverWebinar’s pre-made landing page templates.
• One-Click Automated Webinars — If you are a customer of WebinarJam all you have to do to automate a webinar is one click.
• Automations — Works with many email marketing and CRM systems. Create tags and “if/then” rules to segment your visitors.

Pricing

EverWebinar’s plans only come in annual payment. They are also different in that EverWebinar’s features are exactly the same from the price tier. The only different in the plans is the payment terms.

• Installment Plan — 3 x $199 for one year or $597/year
• Annual Plan — $499/year
• Biennial Plan — $799/2 years

Keep in mind you do NOT need WebinarJam in order to use EverWebinar. Though of course the features give a similar functionality for your audience if your were to go from live to evergreen webinar.

EverWebinar does have a 30-day money back guarantee and a 14-day $1 trail period.

GoToWebinar

The sister service of GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar is a fully featured live and automated webinar SaaS. GoToWebinar is one of the oldest services listed in the group. In order to view a webinar, you must download and install GoToMeeting’s software. Which for some can be a deterrent from watching your webinar.

Features

• GoToMeeting Included — With every GoToWebinar plan
• Pre-Recorded Events — You can use GoToWebinar to host events that appear as if they are live.
• Reminder Emails — Remind your registrants of their upcoming webinar via email.
• Surveys — Get feedback so you can improve future webinars.

Pricing

• Lite — $59/month
• Standard — $129/month
• Pro — $249/month
• Enterprise — $499/month

If you prepay for the year you can get up to a 23% discount. To kick the tires, GoToWebinar offers a 7-day trail period.

With GoToWebinar, the primary difference in pricing is how many participants can show per webinar. The lowest plan is 100 and can support all the way up to 100,000. Which makes GoToWebinar ideal for larger corporate events.

Livestorm

Livestorm supports three types of webinars:

• Live
• On-Demand
• Automated

Features

• Scheduled and Instant Meetings — Livestorm is not just a webinar platform but similar to Zoom allows for two-way meetings.
• Iframe Mode — Integrate YouTube Live, Twitch, Livestream or any other live video streaming service for your webinar room.
• Unlimited HD Webinars — Host as many webinars as you want and record them in HD video.
• Screensharing —
• Live Chat — Communicate with your attendees in real-time.
• Guest Presenters — Add guests to your webinar. Up to 6 people can be on the stage as the same time.
• Analytics —
• Email —

Pricing

One of the main selling points of Livestorm is their free webinar plan. It does allow you to kick the

Livestorm does offer a discount of $10 for when you pay for their yearly plans

• Webinar Basic — Free
• Webinar Premium — $109/month
• Enterprise — Contact Sales
• Meet Basic — Free
• Meet Premium — Free (for COVID-19)

Stealth Seminar

Stealth Seminar seems to cater to digital product services. They are recommended and used by firms such as SamCart, Amy Porterfield, and Ryan Deiss. For automated webinars, it does what it does very well, but compared to the others their interface is ugly. It lacks a polished feel compared to the other webinars.

Features

• 3 Types of Webinars — Live, Automated, and Hybrid Webinars
• Easy Scheduling — Can schedule date and time to whatever you want.
• Social Proof — Shows webinar attendee count and shows attendee names. Can use real, faux, or a mix of the two.
• Polls and Surveys — Get feedback from your audience. Can use real or faux info and can choose actual or faux results.
• Chat and Q & A — Just like other functionality, it can be real or pre-populated faux chat.

Pricing

• Starter Plan — $69.95/month
• Growth Plan — $135.00/month
• Power Plan — Contact Sales

With Stealth Seminar if you prepay for the year, you get 2 months free.

WebinarJam

WebinarJam is a live-only webinar service. If you are looking to create automated webinars, their sister service EverWebinar can do automated webinars. Both services are by Genesis Digital LLC and also the maker of all-in-one service Kartra.

Features

• Live Chat — Communicate with your audience via private and public comments. Create sticky announcements and highlight previous comments.
• Flexible Scheduling — Run your webinars at the anytime you want.
• Email and SMS Built-in — While works with many email marketing software, it is an option with WebinarJam and can use their built-in Email and SMS reminders.
• Present Offers — Present offers to your webinar attendees for a limited time.
• Drawing Board — Write notes and messages on top of your presentation or screen share to highlight parts.
• Paid Webinars — A unique feature of WebinarJam is the ability to accept payment for the webinar without using a third-party shopping cart service.

Pricing

• Basic — $499/year
• Professional — $699/year
• Enterprise — $999/year

Unlike EverWebinar, WebinarJam does have differences in their three plan options.

WebinarJam has a 30-day money back guarantee.

The primary differences is with the Professional plan you have an always-on live room. This gives you a fixed URL link so existing audiences can use the same URL to access their training.

The other big option is a “panic button” option for the Professional and Enterprise plans. If there’s a technical glitch in your presentation, you can do a hard reset and start over again with your same attendees.

Otherwise, the only difference in plans is the duration but for most with the Basic plan, 2 hours max duration for live webinar is more than enough time.

WebinarNinja

WebinarNinja is already used by some well-known brands such as: Baremetrics, AppSumo and Podia. They offer four types of webinars:

• Live – broadcasted with a live host for audience interaction.
• Automated – recorded webinars that run at certain times or on-demand.
• Series – a group of several webinars.
• Hybrid – a combination of live and recorded videos.

Features

• 4 Types of Webinars — Live, Automated, Series, and Hybrid webinars

Pricing

• Pro — $79/month
• Plus — $159/month
• Power — $249/month

WebinarNinja comes with a 14-day free trail period to test out their service.

Zoom Video Webinar

In the past year Zoom has taken off as a company. They specialize in live meeting and perfect for that usage. Though should use also use Zoom for their Webinar software?

Zoom’s webinar software is primarily for the training and education of existing customers. If you using it for part of your sales funnel you’ll be disappointed in Zoom’s options. For example, it lacks any functionality to automate your webinars. As a lead-gen tool I would suggest avoiding Zoom.

Zoom can be great if live for live events like virtual conferences and mastermind groups. It supports large audience sizes.

Features

• 100 Panelists — If you have a large amount of panelists Zoom Video Webinar is the best option
• Screen Sharing — Panelists can share their video and audio from their desktop
• Live Chat — Communicate publicly and privately one-on-one with your attendees.
• Polls — Create polls and show the results to your audience.
• Whiteboard — mark up screenshots and presentations using Zoom’s built-in annotation tools.
• Email Reminders — Send emails pre and post-webinar events.
• Post-Event Survey — Send a link post-webinar to a survey to query your audience of how well they enjoyed the event.
• Third-Party Live Streaming — Not only stream within Zoom, but to external services such as Facebook Live, YouTube, and other streaming services.

Pricing

Zoom webinar features are included in all plans listed. The primary differences is the amount of attendees per call.

• 100 Attendees — $40/month
• 500 Attendees — $140/month
• 1,000 Attendees — $340/month
• 3,000 Attendees — $990/month
• 5,000 Attendees — $2,490/month
• 10,000 Attendees — $6490/month
• 10,000+ Attendees — Contact Sales (up to 50,000 attendees)

My Recommendations

Overall

In 2020 out of the options I’ve listed, I recommend Demio.

It has live and webinar options and presents nice and easy to use registration forms. It works with any web browser and does not require any special software to be installed by the attendee.

Automated

If you are looking to automate your sales funnel, EverWebinar is the best option.

Their automated webinars is their speciality.

Virtual Conferences

If you are wanting to use webinar software for a virtual conference or virtual mastermind I would recommend Zoom Video Webinar. They have the resources to handle large amounts of sessions and can stream to third-party services.

Webinar FAQs