The past few years have seen a rise in webinars and virtual events. Many meetings, presentations, classes, seminars, and other kinds of social interactions now occur online, which has led to an uptick in the popularity of online event hosting platforms such as Zoom and Crowdcast.
If you’re trying to choose a webinar software between Crowdcast vs Zoom, we’re here to help.
We will tell you everything you need to know about these two platforms, their functionalities, pros, cons, pricing, ease of use, and more.
Once you’ve finished reading this guide, you will be able to make the best software choice for your next event. Let’s dive in!
Crowdcast
Launched in 2015 by Sai Hossain, Crowdcast is a browser-based software for online live video conferencing. It was created for entrepreneurs, teachers, trainers, coaches, and content creators.
Users can host webinars, conferences, group calls, workshops, courses, live shows, interviews, and virtual summits.
The platform provides the following features:
- Hosting free and paid live events
- Hosting hybrid and multi-session events
- Allows duplication of events
- Broadcasting to YouTube Live, LinkedIn Live, Facebook Live, Periscope, and Twitch
- Polls and votes
- Call to action buttons
- Integration with other platforms like Zapier, MailChimp, PayPal, Patreon, Stripe, and more
- Compatible with different Internet browsers like Google Chrome, Edge, Opera, and others
Pros
- No lag in live video streaming
- HD quality video
- High-quality stereo audio
- Intuitive user interface
- Quick setup
- Presentations can be uploaded from Powerpoint and Keynote
- Allows sharing of pre-recorded videos and images with attendees
- Allows screen sharing
- It does not require viewers to download an app
- Unlimited attendee registrations
- Budget-friendly
- Offers automatic webinar replays
- Allows webinar recordings to be downloaded in HD video quality
- Single customizable URL for registration, event, and automatic replay
- Highly secure
- Audience members cannot enter without registration
- Push notifications and emails can be sent to attendees before, during, and after a webinar
- Events can be embedded on the host’s website
- Custom built-in landing page
- Enables data export
- Advanced analytics for tracking webinar performance
- Facebook Pixel ID information can track the performance of Facebook ads
- Live chat even before the event
- Timestamped Q&A
- Profile photos and bios for every user
- Quick response from the live technical support team
- Money-back guarantee
Cons
- Attendees need to sign up or sign in
- Requires a strong internet connection
- Does not offer automated webinars
- Lacks emojis
- Live customer support costs extra
- May have compatibility issues with Internet Explorer and Safari
- Team’s access cannot be secured with SAML SSO
- Attendees cannot dial in from a phone to the webinar
Zoom
Founded in 2011 by Zoom Video Communications, Zoom is a video conferencing software hosted on the cloud.
It is commonly used by businesses to host webinars, online meetings, presentations, virtual events, training sessions, and workshops.
Currently, Zoom Video Communications offers nine products:
- Zoom Webinar
- Zoom Meetings
- Zoom Events
- Zoom Chat
- Zoom Marketplace
- Zoom Phone System
- Zoom Developer Platform
- Rooms and Workspaces
- Zoom Contact Center
For convenience and an even field, we will delve only into Zoom Webinar. This platform offers the following features with all membership plans:
- Customizable registration
- Event performance and audience engagement reports
- Attendee networking
- Webinar monetization through paid registrations
- In-session chat
- Q&A
- Emojis
- Live polls and results
- Raise hand
- CRM and marketing automation integrations
- Webinar live streaming across social media channels
- Exportable webinar registrant and attendee lists
- Cloud recordings with video trimming and reporting options
- MP4/M4A recording
Pros
- More than 100 video panelists can present and share audio and video data
- Up to 50,000 live attendees
- Unlimited webinar sessions for up to 30 hours
- Live HD video
- Mobile app
- Virtual backgrounds
- Studio effects
- Suppresses background noise
- Panelists can prepare for events with practice sessions
- Live streaming of events on YouTube Live, Facebook Live, and other third-party streaming services
- Social share buttons
- Customize the webinar registration page and post-webinar landing page
- Send customizable event email reminders before and after an event
- Custom branding for the live streaming video watermark
- Screen sharing
- Live transcription
- Attendees can dial in from a phone to the webinar
- Language interpreter support
- Cloud event recordings and text transcripts
- All participants can be muted simultaneously
- Automatic post-webinar surveys for attendee feedback
- Collect contact details from registrants
- Hosts can secure their team’s access to Zoom with SAML SSO
- Dedicated support and moderation from Zoom for live events
Cons
- Lags a lot
- Limited cloud storage
- Poor security
- Poor sound quality
- Anyone can enter without registering
- Complex onboarding process for new users
- Software must be downloaded
- Single sessions only
- No single URL
- Forms cannot be embedded
- Events cannot be embedded on the host’s website
- Poor quality virtual backgrounds
- Limited emojis
- Q&A not timestamped
- No live chat before an event
- No duplication of events
- No automatic webinar replays
- Chat history is not saved
- Fewer integrations
- No call to action buttons
Ease of Use: Crowdcast Vs Zoom
Crowdcast
Crowdcast is incredibly easy to use. Its clean, intuitive user interface allows brand new users to start hosting webinars and events quickly.
It currently lacks an API option. However, you can stick to a single URL for everything, from creating a landing page to ticketing, webinar hosting, and recording.
You and your attendees also do not need to download any software to host or join an event.
Zoom
Zoom ranks slightly lower when it comes to ease of use. Its onboarding process is clunky and not as intuitive as Crowdcast’s.
It also does not offer a single URL and requires hosts and attendees to download and install dedicated software.
Also, its wide range of complex features and functionalities make it harder to find things on its platform. This can make it quite difficult for first-time hosts and attendees to use Zoom.
However, Zoom’s API version gives it an advantage over Crowdcast. Zoom can be accessed via a browser or an app, and attendees can dial in from their phones to a webinar.
Functionality: Crowdcast Vs Zoom
Crowdcast
Crowdcast offers several valuable features such as pre-event and in-session live chat, timestamped Q&As, polls, call to action buttons, event duplication, event embedding, and automatic webinar replays.
It also has a powerful analytics tool for hosts to gain insights into audience attendance and participation.
Crowdcast is also known for its built-in landing pages, push notifications and emails, and other promotional tools. It offers integrations with Stripe, Patreon, Drip, and other platforms.
However, the software does not allow its users to create plugins and widgets, as it does not have a public SDK.
Zoom
Zoom boasts a robust analytics dashboard but lacks automation. It provides native integrations with its parent company’s products, such as Zoom Meeting, Zoom Phone, and so on.
It also offers integrations with Salesforce, Keap, Hubspot, and others. The platform also offers customizable registration pages along with chats, polls, and Q&As.
But it does not allow hosts to display call to action buttons. In March 2021, Zoom introduced a public SDK option to create plugins and widgets. This helps users enhance their webinar experience.
Security: Crowdcast Vs Zoom
Crowdcast
Crowdcast provides top-notch security to hosts and attendees alike. If you need better privacy, you can create unlisted events. Hosts can also prevent uninvited viewers from attending a webinar or event by setting a password.
Crowdcast provides the following security controls to hosts:
- Hosts can focus the screen on a user or remove a presenter from the stage.
- A single webinar can have multiple hosts and admins.
- Hosts can invite an attendee to be a guest on screen.
- Hosts can toggle the video or audio off for a webinar.
- Users can offer a limited number of seats in an event.
- Hosts can broadcast webinars safely on YouTube Live, Facebook Live, LinkedIn Live, Periscope,
- Twitch, and more.
- Hosts can decide if they want to share their screens.
- Users are allowed to delete chat comments and ban trolls during a webinar.
Zoom
Zoom uses the 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) to safeguard login information and event data.
The platform provides the following security features and controls to hosts:
- Passcode-protected meetings.
- Hosts can lock the webinar to prevent new attendees from joining.
- Video panelists can share their screens with the audience.
- Panelists can play videos during a webinar.
- End-to-end data encryption secures messages shared between participants.
- Participants can use the raise hand feature.
- Participants can unmute themselves.
- Hosts can remove participants from a webinar.
- Hosts can report a webinar’s participants and take screenshots for evidence.
Pricing: Crowdcast Vs Zoom
Crowdcast
Crowdcast offers a free 2-week trial wherein you can check out all its features and functionalities with ten live attendees and 30-minute webinar sessions.
When you are ready to sign up, you can choose among four membership plans on a monthly or annual basis:
Starter
Crowdcast’s Starter plan is priced at $29/month. If you pay for a whole year in advance, it will be $20/month.
You can host webinars with 50 live attendees and stream for up to 5 hours per month. If you need more live attendees in a single session, you will be charged 15 cents for every additional attendee.
You can hold webinar sessions for up to 2 hours. There are unlimited registrations, multi-session events, HD quality live video with automatic recordings, and general email and chat support.
You can present up to four screens at a time, with the ability to view and download webinar replays.
You can also use RTMP Studio to broadcast your live event with HD quality video from OBS, Wirecast, Ecamm Live, and more. This plan also offers integrations with Patreon and Stripe.
Lite
The Lite plan costs $49/month. If you pay annually, you pay $34/month. You can host up to 100 live attendees and stream for 10 hours every month. Every extra live attendee costs 15 cents.
With this plan, you get all the features in the Starter plan plus the ability to export data, event and session analytics, and integrations with Zapier, Drip, and ConvertKit.
Pro
Pro is priced at $89/month. When paid on an annual basis, it costs $62/month. You can host 250 live attendees with 20 hours of monthly streaming. As with the Starter and Lite plans, 15 cents are charged for every extra live attendee.
This plan gives you the features of the Lite plan plus 4-hour webinar sessions and presentations from up to 6 screens. You can also multistream to a third-party site and add custom fields to registration forms.
Business
Crowdcast’s Business plan costs $195/month. But if you pay for it annually, you get a reduced monthly rate of $136/month.
You can host 1,000 live attendees in 6-hour webinar sessions and get 40 hours of monthly streaming. Additional attendees are charged 15 cents per extra attendee.
Besides the features in the Pro plan, you are also allowed to multistream your live event to 3 locations such as Youtube, Facebook, and Twitch, among others.
Zoom
Zoom Webinar has six-monthly and annual subscription plans, as follows:
- $7,000 per month per license or $61,000 per year per license for up to 500 attendees
- $30,000 per month per license or $300,400 per year per license for up to 1,000 attendees
- $87,500 per month per license or $874,600 per year per license for up to 3,000 attendees
- $220,000 per month per license or $2,199,800 per year per license for up to 5,000 attendees
- $573,400 per month per license or $5,733,700 per year per license for up to 10,000 attendees
If you need to accommodate more than 10,000 attendees, reach out to Zoom’s sales team to get a quotation.
Zoom also offers add-ons such as event services, cloud storage, audio conferencing, and premier developer support.
Customer Support: Crowdcast Vs Zoom
Crowdcast
Crowdcast provides general customer support via email and chat during its office hours. But if you encounter an issue when their office is closed, you will need to wait for a response.
If you’re hosting a virtual event and need live technical support, you have the option of hiring from the Crowdcast Specialists Marketplace.
The platform also boasts a comprehensive knowledge base, blog, and demo videos. It also has a Facebook community where you can post questions and get support from other users and experts.
On Wednesdays, Crowdcast hosts live Q&A sessions for users from Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. During these sessions, customers can ask questions and get tips on hosting online events.
Zoom
Zoom has a comprehensive knowledge base and blog. It also offers expert training, live demos, and a customer support page. It provides general information and customer support via phone, email, and its help desk.
Under Zoom’s Online Event Consulting service, you can partner with its experts to plan and set up a webinar and get live support, monitoring, and moderation for your online events.
Final Verdict: Crowdcast Vs Zoom
If you ask us which webinar platform we like better between Crowdcast vs Zoom, we will tell you hands down that it’s Crowdcast.
Its wide range of features and promotional tools, intuitive user interface, high security, affordable pricing, and helpful Facebook community make it our favorite choice.
But if you need to accommodate more than 10,000 participants, 30-hour webinar sessions, emojis, and phone customer support, Zoom is well-suited for you. It all depends on your individual webinar needs.
We hope you enjoyed reading our guide on Crowdcast vs Zoom. To check out more such guides and blog posts, browse our website. Also, do share this article with your friends and colleagues.
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