Selecting the right digital event platform for your company is a big deal. The platform you choose will affect not just your actual events but your ability to grow your pipeline and hit revenue goals.

You also want a partner you can count on right now that will still grow with you over time. That adds in another layer of complexity, as some tools are well-suited for where you are now but may not be able to scale with you in the future.

Choosing the Right Digital Event Platform

If you've narrowed it down to Cvent and Goldcast, we've broken them down to help you choose the right one for your business. Whether you're shopping for a simple webinar platform for small events or a robust solution for large enterprises, here's how both platforms compare.

Cvent versus Goldcast

Here's a quick breakdown of the features and functionality offered by each SaaS platform and how they compare.

Cvent

Cvent is a leading meeting and event management platform. Cvent’s key strength is in-person events, and they have a comprehensive list of features to support these, including online event registration, venue selection, supplier procurement, badging, event marketing and management, and attendee engagement.

Their solution for in-person is best-in-class. But for B2B marketers with a digital-first approach, Cvent falls short. Simple things like scaling webinars, building beautiful and intuitive online events, and even onboarding speakers are overly complex.

The Good: Features & Benefits of Cvent

Let's explore the features and benefits of Cvent in more detail. These are the things people love.

• In-person check-in and badging solution

  As an in-person-first platform, Cvent offers state-of-the-art check-in and on-demand printing capabilities. This ensures your attendees get into your event quickly and easily.

• Advanced ticketing options for in-person events

  Hosting a complex event? No problem. Cvent supports express ticketing and add-on pricing for additional registration items. It also supports secure payment processing and walk-in registrations.

• Sleek mobile app with agenda builder

  The Cvent Attendee Hub mobile app is powerful for engaging and networking with other attendees, particularly for in-person and hybrid event experiences. The app works seamlessly across iPhone and Android devices.

• In-person event analytics

  Cvent rounds out its in-person capabilities with analytics. The platform allows you to track session attendance, manage session check-in and capacity, manage continuing education credits, and sync this data to your CRM or MAP.

• Event planning support

  Outside of just event management software, Cvent offers a complete supplier networking for sourcing event vendors. With customizable RFPs, event planners can search and filter through thousands of venues across the globe to find an event venue that checks all the boxes.

The Bad: What Are The Drawbacks of Cvent?

We mined popular review sites like G2, Capterra, and Trustradius to highlight the most common challenges customers experience with Cvent.

• Not built for digital events

  While Cvent is ideal for almost any in-person experience, they fall short when it comes to building beautiful online events. They do offer support for virtual, but customers find it clunky and complicated, especially for simple events like webinars.

• Steep learning curve

  Cvent has a lot of bells and whistles, and it can take a lot of training to really learn the platform. This makes it difficult for new event organizers or speakers to get up to speed quickly.

• Lack of high-end video production tools

  Many users note that Cvent has very limited video production capabilities, like chat publishing, overlays, or tickers. This can lead to an experience that falls flat and feels more like a Zoom call than an event.

• Issues with event surveys

  Post-event surveys are essential for collecting real-time attendee feedback. Many people mentioned the Cvent survey feature is not flexible or easy to use.

• Limited customization and branding

  Marketers, in particular, mentioned that there's a large gap when it comes to design customization. The platform is very limited here and doesn't allow for beautiful branding that attendees expect in a modern online event.

The Details: Cvent Pros & Cons

To summarize, here's a simplified chart that outlines the top pros and cons of Cvent.

Goldcast: The Revenue-Driven Event Marketing Platform

The Goldcast platform is built for B2B marketers to run engaging digital events. Many leading B2B brands like 1Password, Mailchimp, Lattice, Drift, Salesloft, and others have chosen Goldcast as a key component of their MarTech stack.

At Goldcast, we aim to make it easy to set up and run high-quality digital events while providing a seamless experience for attendees and enabling organizers to prove event ROI.

The Revenue Driving Event Formula

Goldcast provides your sales team with robust analytics and real-time insights through a host of native CRM integrations. You'll have everything you need to run pipeline-driving events that don't reek of Zoom fatigue.

The Details: Top Goldcast Features for B2B Marketers

• Goldcast is built for B2B marketers who want to create captivating experiences for attendees and drive engagement with their prospects and customers.

• Versatile and flexible for a plethora of B2B use cases, which include community events, webinars, product launches, demos, field events, hybrid events, user conferences, and more.

• Ability to embed CTAs and resources in an event.

• Plethora of engagement features like chat, polls, and Q&A in a completely customizable interface.

• Sophisticated video production tools that include overlays, speaker layouts, lower thirds, and tickers for an enhanced attendee experience.

• Duplicable templates to scale your webinars and virtual events across time zones.

• Accessibility made simple — aptioning, subtitles, and translation in 14+ languages.

• Actionable insights in the form of post-event analytics. Organizers have access to 16+ engagement points that are synced into CRMs and MAPs.

• Deep, native integrations with popular MarTech tools like HubSpot, Marketo, Pardot, and more.

• Accurate follow-ups with Slack + Salesforce integration - Sends notifications to sales teams when prospects engage in the event.

• On-demand access to all recordings within 24 hours.

• Dedicated customer success team with live customer support for ALL your events.

• Generous pricing model that allows multiple teams to scale digital events.