Best Whova Alternatives (2026): 8 Conference Platforms Compared on the App, the Agenda and the Price

Whova is the conference app most attendees have used: agenda, personal schedule, networking, session polls and Q&A, exhibitor listings and a community feed, quoted per year by how many events you run. Organizers look for Whova alternatives for three reasons: the quote, the fact that the app is the product and the rest (registration, ticketing, badge desk, staff) is secondary, and the discovery that their attendees used the app for the schedule and little else. The best Whova alternatives in 2026 are Eventist for organizers who want the agenda, the speakers, registration and the badge desk on one platform at a flat fee per ticket, Cvent and Bizzabo for enterprise programs that want an equally rich app, Swoogo and Accelevents for a published annual price, and Eventzilla or RSVPify for registration-first events. Below, eight Whova competitors are compared on what replaces the app, the agenda, registration and check-in, and how each is priced.

Key takeaways

• Whova's pricing is custom and quoted by events per year; the platforms below range from a flat fee per ticket with no commitment to five-figure annual licences.
• Before replacing Whova, check your app analytics: if attendees mostly opened it for the schedule and the map, a web portal with a personal schedule and a venue map replaces it; if networking and Q&A drove engagement, you need an app-first platform.
• Whova is strongest inside the app and weakest around it; most alternatives are the reverse, stronger on registration, ticketing and on-site operations.
• A flat fee per ticket (Eventist at $4.99 CAD) costs a 500-person conference about $2,495 with no renewal; annual licences cost the same whether you run one event or twenty.
• Whoever holds the platform holds the attendee history; per-ticket platforms let you export it any time.

Top picks at a glance

• Best overall Whova alternative: Eventist, a flat $4.99 CAD per ticket, multi-track agenda with AI room suggestions, speaker dashboards, attendee portal and badge scanning, no licence.
• Best equally rich app at enterprise scale: Cvent or Bizzabo, on annual contracts.
• Best published annual price: Swoogo, unlimited events from $11,800 a year.
• Best all-in-one with virtual and hybrid: Accelevents, annual plans from $7,500.
• Best for registration-first events: RSVPify, free plan and monthly tiers from $39.

How we compared these Whova alternatives

• What replaces the app: native app, web portal, personal schedule, venue map, networking, Q&A.
• Agenda: multi-track scheduling, conflict checks, speaker tools.
• Registration and check-in: tiers, session selection, badge scanning, point-of-sale.
• Pricing model: per ticket, per month or per year, and whether a quote is required.
• Data and support: who owns the attendee list, and who answers.

The 8 best Whova alternatives in 2026

1. Eventist: the agenda, the speakers, registration and the badge desk on one platform, at a flat fee

Who it is for: Conferences of 100 to 5,000 attendees whose attendees used Whova for the schedule and the map, and whose organizers want registration, the agenda, speakers, exhibitors and the badge desk in one system without a quote.

What it does well: Attendees get a web portal with a personal schedule built from the public agenda, an interactive venue map and a QR badge, with drip email campaigns before, during and after the event. The multi-track agenda is built by drag and drop or drafted by the AI scheduler from your sessions and rooms, with conflict checks and room suggestions by capacity, and every change flows to the speaker dashboards and the attendee portal from the same data. Speakers upload bio, headshot and slides and see their own sessions. Registration tiers cover early-bird, member, student and VIP passes; registration fields collect session choices, workshop seats with capacity limits, dietary needs and affiliations per attendee; waivers are signed at checkout; payment plans split a higher-priced pass. Badge scanning runs from any phone at the registration desk and session doors, a built-in point-of-sale handles walk-ups, exhibitors buy booths through the same checkout and appear on the live map, and staff and volunteers get roles with task boards and a run-of-show. Every account includes a named support person. The conference registration software page covers it in detail.

What to watch: There is no native app and no in-app networking feed, polls or Q&A; if those drove your Whova engagement, pair Eventist's registration and agenda with a session-engagement tool, or choose an app-first platform below.

Pricing: As of September 2026, a flat $4.99 CAD per conference ticket with no annual licence, implementation fee or per-feature add-on; free registrations are free, and processing runs through Stripe or Square. See the pricing page.

2. Cvent: the enterprise standard, app included

Who it is for: Corporate events teams running large or global programs who want an app as rich as Whova's plus venue sourcing and procurement-grade reporting.

What it does well: Registration, a full attendee app, exhibitor management, venue sourcing, onsite hardware and deep reporting.

What to watch: Custom pricing and an implementation project; see the Cvent alternatives roundup.

Pricing: Custom contracts, typically $10,000 to $50,000 or more a year plus implementation and training.

3. Bizzabo: enterprise engagement, priced per user

Who it is for: Events teams that want Whova-class engagement analytics and on-site wearables and can commit to a multi-seat licence.

What it does well: A polished attendee app, on-site check-in and wearables, engagement analytics and structured onboarding.

What to watch: The three-user minimum makes a small team pay enterprise money; see the Bizzabo alternatives roundup.

Pricing: $499 per user per month billed annually, three-user minimum, from $17,999 a year, per Bizzabo's pricing page in September 2026.

4. Swoogo: unlimited events for one per-user price

Who it is for: Teams running many events who want a strong registration and event-site builder without per-registrant fees.

What it does well: Registration and website building, unlimited events and registrants, 30-plus free integrations, a 99.9% uptime commitment.

What to watch: A lighter attendee app than Whova's and an annual per-user commitment.

Pricing: From USD $11,800 a year for one user, per Swoogo's pricing page in September 2026.

5. Accelevents: an all-in-one with an app, on an annual plan

Who it is for: Organizers running in-person, virtual and hybrid events who want an attendee app, registration and check-in in one platform with no transaction fees.

What it does well: A broad feature set across formats, an attendee app, floor-plan management and 24/7 support on every plan.

What to watch: An annual commitment at five figures for the full feature set.

Pricing: Annual plans shown at $7,500 and $13,500 in September 2026, enterprise on request.

6. Eventzilla: agendas and registration at a flat fee

Who it is for: Training and mid-size conferences that need registration forms and multi-session agendas at a predictable price and can live without an app.

What it does well: $1.50 flat per ticket on Basic; Pro and Plus add agendas, a seating designer and full fee passing.

What to watch: A dated interface and a basic attendee experience.

Pricing: $1.50 per ticket on Basic, 1.9% + $1.50 on Pro, 2.9% + $1.50 on Plus, plus processing; annual plans from $1,999 per year.

7. RSVPify: registration first

Who it is for: Invitation-driven and internal events that need guest management more than an agenda.

What it does well: Polished registration and invitations, seating charts, a free plan and nonprofit pricing.

What to watch: Little for multi-track agendas or an attendee app.

Pricing: A free plan, then $39, $125 and $409 per month by monthly registrations, or $0 per month with per-ticket fees.

8. Eventbrite: ticketing with a consumer app

Who it is for: Public conferences that sell through Eventbrite's marketplace and run the agenda elsewhere.

What it does well: Reach, a familiar checkout, a consumer app for tickets and a scanning app.

What to watch: Nothing for agendas, speakers or session engagement, and fees that scale with price.

Pricing: 3.7% + $1.79 per paid ticket in the US, 3.5% + C$1.29 in Canada, plus 2.9% processing.

Comparison table

How to choose a Whova alternative

Look at what attendees did in the app. If it was the schedule, the map and their ticket, a web portal replaces it and you can stop paying for an app. If it was networking, polls and Q&A, you need an app-first platform or a session-engagement tool alongside a registration platform.

Count events and attendees. One to ten conferences a year under 5,000 attendees favour a per-ticket fee with no renewal; twenty events a year favour an unlimited annual licence like Swoogo.

Decide where the agenda lives. Whova is an agenda app; Eventist, Cvent, Bizzabo, Swoogo and Accelevents are agenda builders that also feed the attendee side.

Ask who owns the list. Per-ticket platforms let you export attendee history at any time; licences make it part of the renewal. The event registration versus ticketing explainer covers what a conference actually needs to collect.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best alternative to Whova?

For conferences under about 5,000 attendees, Eventist is the best Whova alternative in 2026: a web attendee portal with a personal schedule, venue map and QR badge, plus registration tiers, session choices, a multi-track agenda with AI room suggestions, speaker dashboards and badge scanning, at a flat $4.99 CAD per ticket with no licence. Cvent and Bizzabo match Whova's app at enterprise prices, and Swoogo offers unlimited events at a published annual price.

How much does Whova cost?

Whova does not publish pricing. Quotes are based on how many events you run per year and the features you need, and are typically annual.

Is there a free alternative to Whova?

For free events, Eventist, Eventzilla, RSVPify and Eventbrite all cost nothing, and Eventist's attendee portal, agenda and badge scanning are included. There is no free equivalent of Whova's networking app; the alternatives replace the app with a web portal or charge per ticket.

Do I need a conference app at all?

Only if attendees use it for more than the schedule. A web portal with a personal schedule, venue map and QR ticket covers what most attendees open an app for, without the download friction; networking-led conferences are the exception.

Which Whova alternatives handle registration and ticketing properly?

Eventist, Cvent, Bizzabo, Swoogo and Accelevents all handle registration tiers, session selection and check-in; Eventist and Eventzilla do so per ticket without an annual commitment.

Whova is worth its quote when the app is why people come. When the agenda, the speakers and the badge desk are what you need to run, start with the Eventist conference registration software, and read the Cvent alternatives roundup for the enterprise end of the same field.