Why Marketers Choose Goldcast Over GoTo Webinar

If you want to elevate your online events, choosing the right platform is priority #1. This is where you'll create, run, and host your webinars—so making the right choice is paramount!

It's no easy task, though, because there are literally hundreds of virtual event platforms out there. If you're feeling a bit overwhelmed, we got you!

Choosing the Right Digital Event Platform

If you're here, you've likely narrowed your options down to Goldcast and GoTo Webinar. We've broken down both SaaS platforms to help you make the right choice. Let's dive in

Goldcast versus GoTo Webinar

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

GoTo Webinar Goldcast
Custom registration builder
Auto calendar holds
Chat, Q&A, and polls
Email builder and analytics
Video Q&A
Built-in overlays, lower thirds and tickers
Captioning, subtitles, & translation
1:1 Networking
Publish chat and questions to stage
Slack + Salesforce integration for sales team alerts
On-demand recording access
Advanced CRM and marketing automation integrations

GoTo Webinar

GoTo Webinar was one of the first leaders in the webinar space. The GoTo name is widely recognized, and they helped make live broadcasting easy for companies. GoTo is especially popular for marketing, team training, and sales enablement use cases.

Most people know of the GoTo brand because of their key product, GoTo Meeting, which was prominent (along with WebEx and BlueJeans) before Zoom and Microsoft Teams came into play.

While GoTo is a solid solution for business communication and broadcast-style webcasts, it’s not very customizable for event organizers and lacks the functionality to engage attendees fully.

The Good: Features & Benefits of GoTo Webinar

Let's explore some of the features and benefits of GoTo Webinar. Here's what people love!

  • One of the early webinar players

    If reputation, brand recognition, and history are important to you—you're in luck. GoTo has been in the webinar industry for a long time! It's a great option for no-frills webcasts and broadcast-style events if you need a simple and reliable partner.

  • Basic engagement features like chat, Q&A, and polls are available

    You can expect your "standard" engagement features like chat, polls, and Q&A. While these aren't best-in-class from an engagement perspective, they certainly check the engagement box.

  • Able to host both live and simulive webinars

    With GoTo, you can host both live and pre-recorded webinars on the platform, giving you more flexibility than platforms that only allow live events. This is helpful for planning and scaling webinar programming.

  • Can be accessed through web browsers

    Some webinar platforms, like Zoom, only allow you to access events through their desktop or mobile app. GoTo doesn't have this limitation; you can access webinars through browsers, mobile devices, and tablet browsers.

  • Affordable for small businesses

    GoTo's Lite mode starts at $49/year, which is super affordable for companies just starting out with their event programs (though this is limited to 250 participants per event).

  • Built-in post-session surveys

    When your event ends, you can easily capture attendee feedback using built-in surveys. This is helpful for capturing fresh, timely feedback that can empower teams to optimize event programming.

The Bad: What Are The Drawbacks of GoTo Webinar?

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

  • Bandwidth supports only up to 3,000 attendees

    If you're looking for a platform that will allow you to grow and scale event programming, you'll have to look elsewhere. The maximum number of GoTo participants is limited to 3,000.

  • Not ideal for global audiences

    GoTo lacks key features like transcription, subtitles, and UX translations, meaning audiences around the world will have a harder time tuning in and keeping up with your events. This can be a huge blocker for teams that host global events.

  • Speaker onboarding and webinar set-up aren't intuitive

    Many users mentioned that setting up GoTo can be cumbersome if you aren't familiar with the platform already. This can be frustrating for new users who often want a seamless, simple experience right away, and can slow down things like new team or speaker onboarding.

  • The interface lacks a modern B2B brand feel

    When it comes to the GoTo interface, it lacks the modern look and feel of today's B2B brands. This can make your company seem dated or out-of-touch to attendees.

  • Limited customer success and support options

    Users also mentioned that customer success and support were limited, which is disappointing when you're paying for a tool to help you grow. Timely support is critical for live events, so this could be a huge red flag for teams that want the peace of mind of reliable support.

  • No breakout rooms

    GoTo Webinar does not support breakout rooms. Many companies find breakout rooms allow users to engage more with each other and form connections, have meaningful conversations, and get questions answered.

The Details: GoTo Webinar Pros & Cons

To summarize, here's a simplified chart GoTo Webinar's top pros and cons:

Pros

  • One of the early webinar players, along with ON24
  • Basic engagement features like chat, Q&A, and polls available
  • Capabilities to host both live and simulive webinars
  • Can be accessed through web browsers, unlike Zoom
  • Affordable for small businesses
  • Built-in post-session surveys

Cons

  • Limited bandwidth can only support up to 3,000 attendees
  • Not suitable for a global audience- features like transcription, subtitles, and UX translation are missing
  • Experience for webinar set-up and speaker onboarding isn`t intuitive
  • An outdated interface for attendees that does not reflect a modern B2B brand
  • Limited customer success/support options
  • No breakout room option

Goldcast: The Revenue-Driven Event Marketing Platform

Looking for a digital event solution built for B2B brands? Meet Goldcast!

Goldcast is a digital events platform purpose-built for B2B marketers. With Goldcast, you can host virtual events of any size that leave a lasting impression on prospects and customers.

Enterprises such as GitHub, Pure Storage, Zuora, and Amplitude—as well as high-growth companies such as Drift, Salesloft, Lattice, and Definitive Healthcare—use Goldcast as an essential part of their demand generation and event marketing strategy.

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 conjure up that ever-dreaded feeling of Zoom fatigue.

Revenue
=
Best Attendee Experience
+
Actionable Data
+
Simple to Build and Run

Proven Results

Higher Attendance
10%
More Time Spent
25%
Per Event
More SQLs
20%
And Demo Requests
More Time Saved
3 Hrs
Per Month
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Implementation Support

“We moved to Goldcast in 25 days thanks to flexibility and guidance from the Goldcast team. They acted like an extended team till our first event”

Jess Bahr

Previously at Movable Ink

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Ease of Use

“Goldcast was super easy to use compared to other platforms for both our employees as well as our guest speakers”

Davi Schmidt

Demand Generation Director at snaplogic

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Video Production Capabilities

“Our customers were amazed by our thought leadership series, thanks to Goldcast!”

Amanda Elam

bloomreach

The Details: Top Goldcast Features for B2B Marketers

  • Specifically built to help B2B marketers scale digital event programming

    We built our entire platform with you in mind. Pretty cool, right?

  • State-of-the-art video production tools

    Goldcast offers overlays, tickers, and chat publish capabilities for your events.

  • Advanced audience engagement options

    Think: video Q&A, gamification, chat, polls, text Q&A, and more.

  • Valuable integrations for sales

    We're talking integrations with Slack and Salesforce that notify salespeople when prospects are engaging in the event. Super handy for driving conversions down the road!

  • Simple process at every touchpoint

    From onboarding, event set-up, execution, and beyond—we've made it as easy as possible for you.

  • Built to scale

    Again, Goldcast was built with B2B marketers in mind. As you grow, it can be used across teams, including demand generation, marketing operations, product, human resources, partner, and customer marketing teams.

  • Simple and intuitive platform

    Goldcast is easy to use for everyone, including partners, sponsors, attendees, organizers, and speakers.

  • Sleek and modern UI

    Our interface can be fully customized to your branding (not ours), allowing you to put on visually consistent and engaging events

  • Easy-to-digest data and dashboards

    Over 16 engagement points can be seamlessly synced into CRMs and marketing automation tools after your event, allowing you to analyze all the data afterward.

  • Deep native integrations

    We integrate with CRMs and MAPs of your choice, including HubSpot, Marketo, Salesforce, Eloqua, Pardot, Slack, and more.

  • Customer service and support that is second to none

    Enough said.

Hundreds of great brands trust Goldcast

FAQ

Last Updated February 2, 2023

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