Hopin — now sold and supported as RingCentral Events — is one of the most feature-complete virtual conference platforms available. Roam On-Air is the event layer of a Virtual Office Platform. These two products are solving different problems, and this page is honest about which is right for which situation.
Hopin launched in 2019 and became one of the fastest-growing software companies of the COVID era — reaching a peak valuation of $7.8 billion and raising over $1 billion in venture funding. Its multi-area virtual venue model (main stage, breakout sessions, 1:1 networking, expo booths) became the standard for large virtual conferences and trade shows during the pandemic.
In August 2023, RingCentral acquired Hopin’s Events platform and Sessions product for approximately $200 million — a significant step down from its peak valuation. RingCentral rebranded the product as RingCentral Events and has continued developing it as part of their communications portfolio. The original Hopin brand still carries recognition, and many buyers searching for “Hopin“ in 2026 are effectively evaluating RingCentral Events.
The StreamYard product — a live streaming studio Hopin acquired — was separately sold to Bending Spoons in 2024. StreamYard remains available as a standalone product and is integrated into RingCentral Events for RTMP production capabilities.
Teams evaluating Hopin today are buying a product with mature conference infrastructure, strong networking and monetization features, and the backing of RingCentral’s enterprise support — but no longer the independent, founder-led startup that defined the category.
Hopin (RingCentral Events) was purpose-built for event professionals running large virtual conferences, trade shows, and community events. Its architecture reflects that: a multi-area virtual venue with a main stage, breakout sessions, dedicated 1:1 speed networking, and virtual expo booths where sponsors can host live conversations with attendees. Paid ticketing via Stripe, multi-track session builders, and deep analytics make it the most complete tool for teams whose business model is the event itself.
Roam On-Air was built for teams whose business is everything else — and who need events to live inside the same platform as their daily work. The Theater is a purpose-built stage environment with walk-on music, a persistent backstage, and Roamoji reactions that grow as more attendees respond simultaneously. On-Air handles the event page, RSVP management, host controls, and attendance reporting. Because On-Air is part of Roam’s $19.50/user/month platform — not a separate ~$99–299+/organizer/month subscription — it is included for teams already using Roam for meetings, messaging, and scheduling. No separate purchase, no per-event pricing, no platform switch.
The honest framing: if your event is a conference or trade show with paying attendees, expo sponsors, and parallel session tracks, Hopin/RingCentral Events is the appropriate tool. If your event is a company all-hands, a hosted customer gathering, a product launch, or a community session where your team’s daily work environment and the event stage should be the same place, Roam On-Air is the appropriate tool.
1:1 speed networking — Hopin’s clearest differentiator. Hopin pioneered the virtual networking model: after the main stage session, attendees are matched for short 1:1 video conversations with other attendees. Roundtables and group networking rooms extend this further. For conferences where attendee-to-attendee connection is a primary value proposition — industry events, community summits, virtual career fairs — this feature is irreplaceable. Roam’s environment allows attendees to interact but has no dedicated speed-networking feature.
Virtual expo booths. Hopin’s expo booths give sponsors and exhibitors a persistent virtual presence with live video — attendees can walk into a booth, start a video conversation with a representative, and engage with sponsor content. This is the essential infrastructure for trade shows, conferences with sponsor packages, and any event where exhibitor monetization is part of the business model. Roam has no equivalent.
Native paid ticketing. Hopin has built-in Stripe integration for paid event registration — free and paid tickets, tiered access, and exhibitor packages. This makes it the tool for organizations that charge attendees for event access or sell sponsorship packages as a revenue stream. Roam On-Air does not currently support paid ticketing.
Multi-track / multi-session conference builder. Hopin’s architecture supports true multi-track events — multiple simultaneous session stages, session agendas, attendee-selectable tracks, and the overall infrastructure for a virtual conference with parallel content streams. This is its core differentiator for large event teams running annual conferences with multiple speakers across multiple stages. Roam supports multiple rooms and floors but does not have a dedicated multi-track conference builder.
RTMP streaming to external platforms. Via StreamYard integration, Hopin events can stream simultaneously to YouTube Live, LinkedIn Live, Facebook, and other RTMP endpoints. For events that need simultaneous external broadcast — a product launch on your YouTube channel, a live event on LinkedIn — this is native in Hopin. Roam On-Air events run within the Roam platform and do not currently support RTMP streaming.
Detailed engagement analytics. Hopin provides comprehensive post-event reporting on Q&A participation, poll responses, networking activity, session attendance per track, and exhibitor booth engagement — the full suite of data an event professional needs to measure event ROI and report to sponsors. Roam exports attendance and guest data; detailed engagement analytics are on the roadmap.
Deep CRM and marketing integrations. Hopin integrates natively with Salesforce, HubSpot, and Marketo — enabling registration and attendance data to flow directly into CRM records and marketing automation sequences. Roam integrates natively with HubSpot; Salesforce is not currently a native integration.
The Theater is an immersive stage, not a conference room. Hopin’s main stage is a live-streaming environment — speakers present, attendees watch. It is functional and polished but architecturally similar to a produced webinar. Roam’s Theater is purpose-built as a performance space: a stage with a persistent backstage green room, an audience seated in rows, Roamoji reactions that grow organically as more attendees respond simultaneously, walk-on music as speakers take the stage, and an audience microphone for live attendee participation. For events where the atmosphere is part of the experience — company all-hands that feel like a real gathering, product launches with energy, community events with a sense of occasion — Roam’s Theater creates something Hopin’s conference infrastructure does not.
Walk-on music. Custom music plays as each speaker takes the stage. No other virtual events platform in this comparison offers this. It is a detail that signals to both host and audience that this is an event, not a meeting.
True persistent backstage. Hopin’s green room is a speaker coordination area accessed before the session begins. Roam’s Theater backstage is a persistent environment speakers enter before going live and can return to between segments throughout the event — a real coordination space for the duration of the production.
Events and daily work in the same environment. Hopin is a standalone event platform. You buy it, run an event, and return to your normal tools — Slack, Zoom, email. Roam On-Air runs inside the same platform where your team holds daily meetings, sends group chat, records async video, and schedules calls. When an all-hands ends, the team does not switch tools. When a speaker needs a pre-event briefing, it happens in the same chat where the team operates every day. The event is not an interruption to normal work — it is a layer of the same environment.
No separate subscription for hosted events. Hopin/RingCentral Events starts at approximately $99/organizer/month (Events Pro, annual billing). For teams that run events occasionally — a quarterly all-hands, a monthly customer webinar, a product launch — paying $99–299/month for a standalone event platform is a significant cost relative to usage frequency. Roam On-Air is included in the $19.50/user/month Roam subscription alongside eight other products. A team that needs events twice a quarter is not paying a separate event platform subscription — they are using a feature of the platform they already operate in daily.
Drop-in meetings run while events run. In Roam, the Theater event and the virtual office coexist simultaneously. The team can hold spontaneous drop-in conversations, check who is available, and run parallel work — all while an event is live in the Theater. Hopin is an event mode that replaces your working environment for the duration of the event.
AI meeting notes for speakers. Magic Minutes captures notes from Theater event sessions, making it easy for internal teams to review key takeaways after a town hall or product launch without watching a full recording. Notes are delivered directly into the team’s group chat environment where they are immediately actionable.
| Feature | Roam On-Air | Hopin (RingCentral Events) |
|---|---|---|
| Max attendee capacity | ✅ Up to 10,000 | ✅ Scales to 10,000+; unlimited on enterprise tiers |
| Branded event / registration page | ✅ Custom logo, colors, event details; shareable link | ✅ Full custom landing pages with logos, branding, and AI-written copy |
| RSVP / registration management | ✅ Modern guest flow with tracking | ✅ Full registration and ticketing; custom forms and approval flows |
| Paid ticketing / monetization | ❌ Free events only | ✅ Native Stripe ticketing; sponsorship and exhibitor booth monetization |
| Multiple hosts / panelists | ✅ Multiple hosts; Theater coordination tools | ✅ Multiple speakers and organizers |
| Virtual backstage / green room | ✅ Persistent Theater backstage — throughout the live event | ✅ Dedicated speaker green room with coordination tools |
| Guest communication | ✅ Host-to-guest messaging before and during event | ✅ Email invitations, reminders, and in-event notifications |
| Immersive Theater / stage environment | ✅ Purpose-built stage — walk-on music, backstage, audience rows, Roamoji | ⚠️ Main stage with live streaming; conference-style, not immersive theater |
| Walk-on music | ✅ Unique — custom music as speakers take the stage | ❌ Not available |
| Audience microphone | ✅ Attendees can be given live mic for Q&A | ✅ Q&A with audio promotion; open mic in networking sessions |
| 1:1 / group networking | ⚠️ Attendees in Roam environment; no dedicated speed-networking | ✅ Dedicated networking area; 1:1 speed networking and roundtables — core differentiator |
| Expo / sponsor booths | ❌ No | ✅ Virtual expo booths with live video — key differentiator for conferences |
| Live Q&A | ✅ Audience Q&A in Theater | ✅ Moderated Q&A with upvoting and AI-assisted categorization |
| Live polls | ⚠️ Not a dedicated feature currently | ✅ Polls, surveys, and emoji reactions |
| Live chat | ✅ Via AInbox | ✅ In-event chat with GIFs, reactions, and notifications |
| Hand raising | ⚠️ Audience mic serves as equivalent | ✅ Raise hand and attendee promotion to speaker |
| Emoji reactions | ✅ Roamoji — grow naturally as more attendees react simultaneously | ✅ Standard emoji reactions |
| Multi-session / multi-track events | ⚠️ Multiple rooms possible; no dedicated conference builder | ✅ Full multi-track conference builder — core differentiator for large events |
| HD live streaming | ✅ Via Roam’s SFU infrastructure | ✅ HD via StreamYard integration |
| RTMP / external platform streaming | ❌ Events run within Roam; no external broadcast | ✅ RTMP to YouTube, LinkedIn, and others via StreamYard |
| Pre-recorded / on-demand content | ⚠️ Recordings accessible post-event; no dedicated library | ✅ On-demand content library for attendees post-event |
| Cloud recording | ✅ Yes | ✅ Session recordings with cloud storage |
| Screen sharing | ✅ Host and panelist screen sharing | ✅ Speaker screen sharing |
| Attendance tracking & export | ✅ Guest data export post-event | ✅ Real-time and post-event analytics with full attendee data export |
| Engagement analytics | ⚠️ Attendance and guest data; detailed analytics on roadmap | ✅ Full analytics — Q&A, polls, networking activity, session attendance |
| CRM / marketing integrations | ⚠️ HubSpot native; Salesforce not currently native | ✅ Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo, and extensive integrations |
| Integrated into virtual office | ✅ Events run inside Roam — same as daily meetings, chat, presence | ❌ Standalone event platform |
| Drop-in meetings alongside events | ✅ Team can hold drop-ins while Theater event runs | ❌ Event platform only |
| AI meeting notes for speakers | ✅ Magic Minutes for event session notes | ⚠️ Recording available; AI summaries on roadmap via RingCentral AI |
| Requires separate subscription | ✅ No — included in Roam at $19.50/user/mo | ✅ Yes — standalone subscription required |
| Price | ✅ Included in $19.50/user/mo (9 products) | ⚠️ ~$99–$299+/organizer/mo (annual); 30-day free trial |
| Free plan / trial | ✅ Free trial | ✅ 30-day free trial with full enterprise functionality |
| Included in larger bundle | ✅ Yes — alongside 8 other Roam products | ❌ Standalone platform only |
| Company status | ✅ Independent; founder-led | ⚠️ Formerly Hopin (peak $7.8B); acquired by RingCentral 2023 (~$200M) |
Hopin/RingCentral Events pricing starts at approximately $99/organizer/month on the Events Pro plan (annual billing). Advanced tiers — adding onsite capabilities, deeper integrations, API access, and premium support — run approximately $199–$299+/organizer/month. A 30-day free trial with full enterprise functionality is available.
Roam On-Air is included in Roam’s $19.50/user/month subscription alongside eight other products: virtual office map, drop-in meetings, Magic Minutes AI notes, AInbox enterprise messaging, Magicast screen recorder, Lobby meeting scheduler, On-It AI agent, and mobile. No separate purchase. No per-event fee.
For a 10-person remote team running four hosted events per year:
The Roam bundle is more expensive per year if Hopin is being evaluated in isolation. The comparison changes entirely when the full stack is considered: Roam replaces Zoom ($180/mo), Slack ($72.50/mo), Calendly ($16/mo), Otter ($29/mo), and a screen recorder on top of the event platform — a combined stack of $297.50+/month for daily tools alone, before the $99/month Hopin subscription.
There are many apps in the virtual meeting space but Roam is surely leading the way! Being able to see all your colleagues in their virtual offices, knock on a door to drop in about something quickly, and have large planned sessions with a stage, backstage, and more really adds to the experience and fills a gap I didn’t even realize existed.
Roam is a virtual office that replicates the speed and naturalness of in-person interaction. There are shared rooms where you can “knock,“ integrated whiteboards, and a Theater with a stage and backstage for presentations.
We host all of our All Hands meetings in Roam. Our product, research & dev teams practically live in their Roam virtual offices, giving “open door policy“ a whole new meaning.
It features private rooms, shared areas, a “theater“ for 1,000 people, a personal assistant that syncs calendars to schedule your meetings, and Magic Minutes which generates AI summaries of your meetings.
We have our own cabins, meeting rooms, and even a space to unwind. We have recreational rooms, theatre, an auditorium to celebrate our wins and more! No matter where we are now, we feel like we’re working together.
Leaning into Roam as our virtual office. Loving the in-person touches in our corner of the virtual world. Knocking on office doors, gathering in an auditorium, fist bumps, it’s all there.
Roam: We rolled this out in All Dry. It’s a digital office — replaces Slack, Zoom, and more. You can see when others are collaborating, drop in for quick convos, host events… It’s wild.
Your events are conferences, trade shows, or community summits where attendee-to-attendee networking is a primary value. You charge attendees for event access or sell sponsor packages with virtual expo booth presence. You need multi-track session infrastructure with parallel content streams and an event agenda. You need simultaneous RTMP streaming to YouTube, LinkedIn Live, or Facebook. You need deep Salesforce integration with every registration and attendance record. Your events team measures success with comprehensive engagement analytics including polling, Q&A participation, and networking activity per attendee.
Your events are internal all-hands, town halls, product launches, customer webinars, or community gatherings — not monetized conferences. You want your event environment and your team’s daily work environment to be the same platform. You are already evaluating Roam for meetings, messaging, and scheduling, and want events included without a separate subscription. The experience quality of the event matters — a real stage with walk-on music and Roamoji reactions, not a live-streaming grid. Your events are under 10,000 attendees. You use HubSpot as your CRM.
Is Hopin still a separate company? No. Hopin’s Events platform was acquired by RingCentral in August 2023 for approximately $200 million and rebranded as RingCentral Events. The product continues to be developed and supported under RingCentral’s ownership. StreamYard — a live streaming studio Hopin had previously acquired — was sold separately to Bending Spoons. Teams evaluating “Hopin“ are now purchasing RingCentral Events.
Can Roam On-Air replace Hopin for a large virtual conference? For most large virtual conferences — defined as events with multiple session tracks, 1:1 speed networking, paid ticketing, sponsor expo booths, and comprehensive engagement analytics — no, not completely. These features are core to Hopin/RingCentral Events and are either partial or not currently available in Roam. For company-run events like all-hands, product launches, and hosted customer sessions that do not require those conference-specific features, Roam On-Air covers the use case with a more integrated experience and significantly lower cost.
Does Roam On-Air have polling like Hopin? Not as a dedicated feature. Hopin has mature in-session polling with real-time results displayed to attendees. Roam’s Theater supports Q&A, live chat, Roamoji reactions, and an audience microphone, but polling is not a dedicated feature at this time — it is on the roadmap.
How does the 30-day Hopin free trial compare to Roam’s? Hopin/RingCentral Events offers a 30-day free trial with full enterprise functionality — you can run real events, invite real attendees, and evaluate the full feature set including networking and expo booths before committing. Roam offers a free trial for the full platform. For teams evaluating whether they need conference-grade infrastructure, the Hopin trial is a genuine way to test it before spending $99+/month.
What is the difference between Hopin Events Pro and the higher tiers?
The Events Pro plan ($99/organizer/month, annual) covers the core virtual event infrastructure — main stage, networking, expo booths, registration, and basic integrations. Higher tiers ($199–$299+/organizer/month) add onsite event capabilities (for hybrid events), deeper API access for custom integrations, premium support with dedicated event managers, and more advanced CRM and analytics configurations. For most virtual-only event teams, Events Pro covers the relevant feature set.
Can external attendees join a Roam On-Air event without a Roam account? Yes. Attendees receive a branded event page link, RSVP through On-Air’s guest flow, and join the Theater directly from any browser. No Roam account is required for event guests.