A webinar is only as good as the platform it’s hosted on, and if you’ve been in the market for a provider that gives you all the tools needed to host one successfully, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of EverWebinar and WebinarJam.
On the surface, they seem to be the same type of tool, but if you dig a little deeper, you’ll probably find one is a better fit for your business.
Is EverWebinar or WebinarJam better?
These two platforms are owned by Genesis Digital, with EverWebinar being more of a tool for creating evergreen content and WebinarJam suited to live events. Both are available under the complete business suite owned by Genesis or they can be purchased as standalone products and integrated with each other, if needed.
If you’re looking for the ultimate platform to host webinars, these are two of the heavy hitters on the market, and both of them have a lot to offer today’s modern business.
We’re going to look closely at the similarities and differences of WebinarJam and EverWebinar and their top features, so you’ll walk away knowing which is the perfect fit.
Contents
What Is WebinarJam?
Webinar Jam is a software that allows you to create webinars from the ground up, and it gives you all of the tools needed to design it, record it, market it, and engage with the audience.
Created in 2014, it’s become one of the most popular names in webinar platforms and has over 50,000 active users.
The major selling point of WebinarJam is that it’s about live webinars and you can reach up to 5,000 people just from one presentation.
The software integrates with a number of other programs and providers, and they offer a free trial so you can try for yourself what makes them such a big name.
What Is EverWebinar?
EverWebinar is created by the same people who made WebinarJam, Genesis Digital but was made some years later as a tool designed for evergreen content.
In comparison to a standard webinar platform, EverWebinar is all about taking your fine-tuned content and hosting it online so that it’s always available for people to view.
Many businesses use EverWebinar as integration with their existing webinar service, but it’s got plenty of goods to make it a powerful contender on its own.
You’ll be able to give the software a try with their 30-day money back guarantee, so there’s no risk in having a look at how this webinar host differs from the rest.
How The Platforms Are Similar
EverWebinar and WebinarJam are both popular platforms for hosting webinars, and they’re owned by the same parent company, but there are a few other similarities worth noting as well.
Here are just a few ways that these two services offer the same features for their customers:
Paid registration
If you plan on making money directly through your webinars, it’s possible with both of these platforms. While the standard offering is a free webinar, you can change the settings so that payment is required during the registration stages.
Before you get to this point though, it’s best to build up your reputation by offering valuable content, otherwise, people may be hesitant to pay when there are already some good free events out there.
24/7 support
Genesis Digital ensures that their team will always be there 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so you’ll never on your own with WebinarJam and EverWebinar.
They have a detailed FAQ section that can answer most questions, helpdesk ticket submission, live chatbot, phone support, and emails, so there’s no shortage of ways to reach out.
Security
WebinarJam and EverWebinar use the same security protocols to keep your data safe and your viewers’ as well. The Cloudflare Enterprise protects against things like DDOS attacks, they work with private IPs and remote cloud servers, and ongoing backups for all of your data.
Their storage services are encrypted, all HTTP requests are encrypted, and the webinar recordings have their own 30 digit key and URL that keeps them protected and makes sure nobody can accidentally view them.
Audience engagement
WebinarJam makes sure you connect with your audience during a webinar and you have the choice to utilize tools like Q&As, polling, and bringing up people to the “stage” so they can present something mid-event as well.
Even with an automated webinar, like EverWebinar provided, there’s still the chance to engage in live chat with attendees, give handouts to them, and answer any questions they have.
Automation
WebinarJam and EverWebinar offer the same automation as they’re owned by the same company.
Using these platforms, you can have a notification sent when someone signs up, create an autoresponder for new registrations, and add people to an SMS list after the event is done for follow-ups.
Integrations
Both platforms allow the same integrations with other software and providers, as well as being fully compatible with each other.
Using these webinar platforms will allow you to connect to Trello to create a follow-up board, stream webinars to YouTube Live, add registered participants to a Google spreadsheet, and connect to other services offered by the third-party platform Zapier.
Within the Zapier range is over 750 different apps you can utilize with your webinar software, so there’s no shortage of ways to link it to the rest of your business.
Marketing tools
You’ll be able to create branded marketing campaigns for your webinars, have them sent on a schedule or automatically, and use their point-and-click builders for registration pages and webinars.
Either of these services can become an integral part of your marketing strategy and they make it easy to attract an audience with a range of tools you can use.
Webinar building
The biggest selling point of a webinar service is how easy it is to create the event, and WebinarJam and EverWebinar both use the same template to help you do it.
You can have as little or as much involvement as you want, choose from ready-made templates, or create something totally unique.
They take you through every step of the process from building a branded registration page to automated follow-ups with attendees so you don’t have to think of anything else.
Their Key Differences
The difference between these two webinar providers is where you’ll be able to find out which is best for you, as you might find a certain feature or capability more enticing.
Check out the main differences you’ll notice between hosting webinars with WebinarJam and EverWebinar.
Primary purpose
The biggest difference between these two services is what they were made for, which can help you find the best fit.
WebinarJam was created for live webinars and EverWebinar for scheduled webinars that could be recorded earlier and played as needed.
You’ll likely find one of these better fits your marketing strategy, or you could utilize both if you can afford to.
Plan prices and features
As they’re both run by Genesis Digital, it’s no surprise that the plans for these two are laid out similarly. However, their overall costs and included features differ.
EverWebinar is around $600 for a full year, with the option to save more if you sign up for a longer period, and it comes with a 30-day money back guarantee. WebinarJam also has the 30-day money back guarantee, plus a 14-day trial for $1.
Their plans range from around $499 a year up to $999 a year for the Enterprise level.
Audience capacity
On their highest plan, WebinarJam will let you live broadcast to 5,000 people at a time. You’ll get to use six hosts, hold webinars for four hours maximum, and get unlimited broadcasts per year.
With an EverWebinar event, it’s pre-recorded and played to look like a live stream event, so there’s no limit to how many people can watch it at once, and you’ll get all of the automation tools you need.
Recording
If you want a webinar provider that lets you pre-record presentations and schedule them for later automatically, EverWebinar is the only way to do it.
WebinarJam is all about the live event, and while you can record the webinars using this service, you won’t be able to schedule them to play at a later time.
You can share the footage, though, including any audience engagement that happened during it, with the Replica Replay feature. WebinarJam also allows for hybrid webinars that mean you can play recorded video during a presentation, but it must be conducted live.
Which Webinar Provider is Best?
If you can only choose one of these webinar platforms to cater to your business needs, it will come down to the type of content you’re creating.
The obvious choice for people wanting to host live events is WebinarJam, as it’s more of a tool for developing these from scratch successfully.
However, EverWebinar still has lots of great features, with the huge benefit of being able to create evergreen content so that it’s available after the live event is over. You can integrate it with other software you have a swell, so it’s a nice little add-on that will give your marketing strategy a lot of value.
Of course, the best approach is to have both of these tools work for you, and when they’re synched together, they outperform the competition.
If you’re lucky enough to have the budget to meet it, you could even consider the entire Kartra platform for all of your e-commerce needs, otherwise, we’re certain that either WebinarJam or EverWebinar will be more than enough to handle all of your virtual presentations.
The Successful Way to Host a Webinar
Choosing one of the most trusted names in webinar services is always a good idea, and if you’re looking into either WebinarJam or EverWebinar, you’re on the right track.
With one of these professional platforms behind you and access to their suite of features, you’ll be halfway to developing a webinar that truly engrosses the audience.
Related Questions
A webinar is a useful tool if you’re looking to elevate your status as an expert or share a unique perspective, but without the right software to help you create it, it can be a dismal failure.
A better understanding of webinars can set you on the right path to hosting one with success, so check out these FAQs and our expert answers to find out more about them.
How Do You Attract People to a Webinar?
An interesting and highly specific topic is the best way to attract viewers to your webinar, but it also has to be marketed through the correct channels so that the potential audience gets an idea of what they gain from tuning in.
Making the registration process easy and keeping them engaged within the first few minutes will ensure they continue watching as well, and once you’ve had a successful event, word of mouth will help to get a better audience.
How Many Panelists Should Be In a Webinar?
The maximum number of panelists allowed in a webinar will depend entirely on the webinar platform you’re using, but you should be careful not to overwhelm the audience.
For a standard 45 minutes webinar, just a few panelists presenting is ideal, otherwise, it can be hard to keep up with the presentation.
What Is the Best Day For a Webinar?
Statistics show that mid-week is the best time for a webinar, with Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday being the highest reported days in terms of attendance.
The audience’s needs should factor in somewhat when planning a webinar date and time, though, so don’t be afraid to ask for their input as well.
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