Virtual Events

Also known as: webinar software, virtual event platform, online event platform, webinar tool, virtual conference platform, all-hands meeting platform, online event hosting.

1. What is Virtual Event Software?

Virtual event software lets organizations host live, hosted sessions for large audiences — webinars, all-hands meetings, product launches, town halls, training sessions, and virtual conferences — without a physical venue. Attendees join from anywhere. The host presents from a stage. The platform handles registration, audience engagement, recording, and post-event reporting.

Zoom Webinars is the dominant tool in this category. It built its position on the back of Zoom’s brand recognition and reliability — billions of people are already familiar with how Zoom works, so getting a large audience into a Zoom webinar is frictionless. Zoom Webinars is a structured one-to-many broadcast tool: a host presents, attendees watch, Q&A and polls provide engagement. It is a well-executed version of the classic webinar format.

Hopin — now rebranded as RingCentral Events after its 2023 acquisition by RingCentral — took a different approach. Its model is closer to a full virtual venue: a main stage for presentations, breakout sessions, 1:1 speed networking, and virtual expo booths for sponsors. Hopin reached a peak valuation of $7.8 billion during COVID and became the standard for large virtual conferences that wanted more than a webinar. Its core differentiator remains multi-track conference infrastructure and expo booth monetization.

Roam On-Air is a different kind of product entirely. It is not a standalone webinar tool — it is the event layer of a Virtual Office Platform. Events run inside the same environment where a team’s daily meetings, drop-in conversations, and group chat already live. The Theater is purpose-built: a stage, a backstage for speakers, a seated audience with Roamoji reactions, walk-on music, an audience microphone, and up to 10,000 attendees. On-Air handles the event page, RSVP management, host controls, and post-event attendance export. And because On-Air is part of Roam’s $19.50/user/month bundle — not a separate per-event add-on — the price comparison with Zoom Webinars ($79–499+/month) and Hopin/RingCentral Events (~$99–299+/organizer/month) is stark.

Core Features of Virtual Event Software

• Event/registration page — a branded public page where attendees RSVP or register
• RSVP and registration management — collecting and tracking attendee sign-ups
• Multiple hosts and panelists — speakers with stage controls and backstage coordination
• Live streaming — high-quality video delivered to large audiences
• Audience engagement — Q&A, polls, chat, reactions, and hand-raising
• Cloud recording — capturing the session for post-event replay
• Attendance reporting — who joined, for how long, and what they engaged with

Differentiating Capabilities in 2026

• Immersive Theater / stage environment — a true stage-and-audience experience vs. a webinar grid
• Virtual backstage / green room — persistent speaker coordination area before and during the event
• Walk-on music — custom music playing as speakers take the stage
• Audience microphone — giving select attendees live voice in the session
• Roamoji reactions — applause and laughter that grow as more attendees join
• 1:1 speed networking — structured attendee-to-attendee conversations
• Virtual expo booths — sponsor and exhibitor presence during events
• RTMP streaming — broadcasting simultaneously to YouTube, LinkedIn, or Facebook
• Multi-track / multi-session conferences — parallel tracks at a virtual conference
• Paid ticketing — charging attendees for event access
• Platform integration — events running inside the same tool as daily meetings and chat

2. How to Choose Virtual Event Software

1. What type of event are you running most often? The category splits into three distinct formats. Simple, structured webinars — one host, one topic, an audience of up to a few hundred — are Zoom Webinars’ sweet spot. Large multi-track virtual conferences with networking, expo booths, and multiple simultaneous sessions are Hopin/RingCentral Events’ strength. Company all-hands meetings, internal town halls, product launches, and hosted community events where the experience quality and venue feel matter most are where Roam’s Theater shines.

2. Does the event experience itself matter, or is content delivery the only priority? If the goal is getting information from a speaker to attendees as efficiently as possible, Zoom Webinars accomplishes that reliably. If the experience is part of the value — walk-on music, a real stage, a backstage green room, Roamoji applause that builds as more people react — Roam’s Theater creates something that feels more like a live event than a video call. The framing: Zoom Webinars is the Yahoo-era webinar. Roam On-Air is the creator-era event.

3. Do you need paid ticketing or sponsor monetization? If your events generate revenue — paid attendee tickets, sponsorship packages with virtual booths, exhibitor presence — Hopin/RingCentral Events is the tool designed for that. It has native Stripe ticketing, expo booth infrastructure, and the sponsorship management tooling that event organizers and conference producers need. Zoom Webinars handles ticketing only via third-party integrations. Roam On-Air does not currently support paid ticketing — it is designed for hosted events, not monetized conferences.

4. Does your event need to stream to YouTube, LinkedIn, or Facebook simultaneously? RTMP streaming to external platforms — so a webinar appears live on your YouTube channel and inside the event simultaneously — is supported by Hopin/RingCentral Events (via StreamYard) natively, and by Zoom Webinars Plus (not the base Webinars plan). Roam does not currently offer RTMP streaming; events run within the Roam platform. For teams that want simultaneous public broadcast, that gap matters.

5. Do you need 1:1 networking or multi-track sessions? Hopin/RingCentral Events is the only tool in this comparison with dedicated 1:1 speed networking (matched attendee-to-attendee conversations) and a full multi-track conference builder for parallel session tracks. Zoom Webinars offers attendee chat but no structured networking; breakout rooms exist in Zoom Events (a separate, more expensive product). Roam’s environment means attendees are in the same virtual HQ and can interact, but it does not have a formal speed-networking feature.

6. Is the event a standalone production or part of your daily work environment? This is the most important question for remote-first companies. Zoom Webinars is an add-on product that requires a Zoom Workplace subscription as a prerequisite — you buy it, run an event, and exit back to your normal tools. Hopin/RingCentral Events is a standalone events platform. Roam On-Air is built into the same platform where your team’s daily meetings, drop-in conversations, and group chat already happen. When an all-hands ends, the team does not switch tools — they are already there. When a speaker’s backstage coordination needs to happen, it happens in the same chat where the team operates every day.

7. What does the full pricing picture look like? Zoom Webinars pricing starts at $79/month for 300 attendees — on top of a required Zoom Workplace Pro subscription starting at $13.33/user/month. A team of 10 hosting a 300-person webinar pays at minimum $79 + $133 = $212/month for webinar capability alone, on top of whatever they pay for Slack and other tools. Hopin/RingCentral Events starts at ~$99/organizer/month. Roam On-Air is included in Roam’s $19.50/user/month alongside 8 other products — virtual office, drop-in meetings, AI meeting notes, enterprise messaging, screen recorder, meeting scheduler, AI agent, and mobile. For remote-first teams already evaluating Roam for daily collaboration, On-Air is effectively free relative to a separate webinar subscription.

3. Platform Overviews

Roam On-Air is the virtual events product built into Roam’s Virtual Office Platform. Events are created and managed through On-Air: a branded shareable event page, RSVP tracking with a modern guest flow, host controls, speaker coordination, and direct Theater entry for live events. The Theater itself — Roam’s stage environment — is the experience layer: a purpose-built space with a stage, a persistent backstage green room where speakers prepare, an audience seated in rows, Roamoji reactions (applause and laughter that grow as more attendees join simultaneously), walk-on music when speakers take the stage, an audience microphone for attendee participation, and screen sharing for presentations. Events support up to 10,000 attendees. Cloud recording is included. Post-event attendance and guest data are exportable. Because On-Air runs inside Roam’s virtual office, the team’s daily environment and their event infrastructure are the same platform — no tool-switching, no separate subscription, no per-event pricing. On-Air is included in Roam’s $19.50/user/month price alongside 8 other products. Honest gaps: no paid ticketing, no RTMP streaming to YouTube/Facebook, no dedicated polling feature (partial), no 1:1 speed networking, no expo/sponsor booths, and engagement analytics are on the roadmap. Best for: remote-first companies running internal all-hands, town halls, community events, product launches, and hosted sessions where the experience quality and platform integration with daily work matter more than conference-scale networking or monetization infrastructure.

Zoom Webinars is the category’s most recognized tool — the webinar format millions of attendees already know how to join. Built on Zoom’s video infrastructure, it supports structured one-to-many broadcasts from 300 to 100,000+ attendees (the latter via Zoom Events). Core features include polling, Q&A with upvoting and anonymous submission, attendee and panelist chat, cloud recording, auto-shared recordings with registrants, and detailed attendance reporting. The AI Companion on paid plans generates transcripts and summaries for hosts post-webinar. Webinars Plus adds RTMP streaming to third-party platforms, advanced branding, and enhanced analytics. Zoom Events (a separate, higher-tier product) adds multi-session conference infrastructure and attendee networking. The pricing structure requires a Zoom Workplace subscription as a prerequisite, then the Webinars add-on on top: $79/month for 300 attendees, $499+/month for 1,000+ attendees (annual billing). No free plan or trial exists for the Webinars product. The attendee experience is familiar but standard — a webinar grid, not a stage. Branding is limited on the base plan. Best for: organizations where Zoom brand recognition drives attendee confidence, large broadcast webinars at scale (10,000+ attendees), deep CRM and marketing platform integration, and teams already running Zoom Workplace who can absorb the add-on cost.

Hopin (RingCentral Events) was the COVID-era virtual event category leader, reaching a $7.8 billion valuation before being acquired by RingCentral in August 2023 for approximately $200 million and rebranded as RingCentral Events. The platform retains Hopin’s core architecture: a multi-area virtual venue with a main stage, breakout sessions, a dedicated networking area with 1:1 speed networking and roundtable options, and virtual expo booths for sponsors and exhibitors. Native paid ticketing via Stripe and full sponsorship management make it the most complete tool for monetized virtual conferences. StreamYard integration enables RTMP streaming to YouTube, LinkedIn, and other platforms. Registration, branding, Q&A, polls, chat, and detailed engagement analytics are all mature. Pricing starts at approximately $99/organizer/month (Events Pro, annual billing) and scales to $199–$299+/month for advanced tiers; a 30-day free trial with full enterprise functionality is available. Best for: organizations running large-scale virtual conferences, trade shows, and community events that need multi-track sessions, 1:1 attendee networking, expo booth infrastructure, paid ticketing, and maximum RTMP production capability.

4. Full Comparison Matrix

Event Setup & Hosting

Attendee Experience

Engagement Features

Production & Streaming

Analytics & Reporting

Platform Breadth & Pricing

5. Summary Recommendations

Best for remote-first companies running all-hands and hosted company events: Roam On-Air. On-Air is the only webinar product that lives inside the same platform as your team’s daily work. Events run in the Theater — a real stage with backstage, walk-on music, Roamoji reactions, and an audience microphone — while the rest of the team continues working in the virtual office. No separate subscription, no per-event pricing, no tool-switching. At $19.50/user/month for nine products, replacing a separate Zoom Webinars subscription ($79–499+/month on top of Zoom Workplace) is often an immediate cost reduction.

Best for large-scale public webinars at maximum scale: Zoom Webinars. Zoom’s brand recognition means attendees already know how to join. For broadcasts from 1,000 to 100,000+ attendees, Zoom’s infrastructure is proven and familiar. The AI Companion, deep CRM integrations, and RTMP streaming on Webinars Plus make it the mature choice for organizations where webinar scale and reliability are the non-negotiable criteria.

Best for monetized virtual conferences with networking and expo booths: Hopin (RingCentral Events). The only tool in this comparison with native paid ticketing, virtual expo booths, 1:1 speed networking, multi-track conference infrastructure, and RTMP via StreamYard. For event teams running revenue-generating conferences, trade shows, or community events where attendee networking and sponsor monetization are the business model, Hopin/RingCentral Events is the right fit.

6. Pricing Comparison

7. Use Cases

Virtual all-hands meetings. Remote-first companies use On-Air to run company-wide all-hands in the Theater: leadership presents from the stage, the team joins from across the virtual office, Roamoji reactions fill the room, and the session is recorded automatically. Covers how the Theater’s stage-and-backstage model makes all-hands feel like a real gathering rather than a scheduled Zoom call.

Product launches and announcements. Product teams use On-Air to host external product launch events with a branded event page, RSVP management, and a live Theater session with walk-on music and audience Q&A. Covers how On-Air’s event page and host controls streamline external event production without requiring a separate webinar subscription.

Community and customer events. Customer success and community teams use On-Air to host exclusive customer events, training sessions, and community gatherings where the audience experience matters as much as the content. Covers the Roamoji reaction mechanic, the audience microphone for attendee participation, and post-event attendance reporting.

Replace Zoom Webinars with Roam. For teams reassessing their Zoom Webinars subscription — particularly those not running broadcasts above 500 attendees — the bundle math with Roam is compelling. Covers feature parity for standard all-hands and hosted events, where Roam gaps matter (RTMP, polling, paid ticketing), and what the total cost savings look like for a typical 25-person remote team.

8. Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between Roam On-Air and Zoom Webinars? Both support large hosted events, RSVP management, multiple hosts, cloud recording, and post-event reporting. The key differences: Roam On-Air events run inside a purpose-built Theater with a stage, backstage green room, walk-on music, and Roamoji reactions — an immersive experience Zoom’s webinar grid does not offer. On-Air is included in Roam’s $19.50/user/month with no separate add-on or per-event pricing; Zoom Webinars starts at $79/month on top of a required Zoom Workplace subscription. On-Air is integrated into Roam’s virtual office — the team is already there before and after the event. Zoom Webinars is a separate add-on product you exit back to after the session. Honest gaps where Zoom leads: larger attendee scale (100,000+), RTMP streaming (Webinars Plus), native polling (partial in Roam), deeper CRM integrations (Salesforce native), and a more established attendee familiarity with the platform.

What happened to Hopin? Hopin was acquired by RingCentral in August 2023 for approximately $200 million — a significant drop from its $7.8 billion peak valuation during COVID. RingCentral rebranded the product as RingCentral Events. The core Hopin platform — main stage, networking area, expo booths, and multi-track sessions — remains operational and continues to be developed under RingCentral’s ownership. Teams evaluating Hopin in 2026 are effectively evaluating RingCentral Events. The StreamYard product (which Hopin previously acquired) was sold separately to Bending Spoons.

Does Roam On-Air support paid ticketing? No. On-Air is designed for hosted events and does not currently include paid ticketing or attendee monetization. For conferences and events that charge attendees or sell sponsor packages, Hopin/RingCentral Events is the appropriate tool. Roam On-Air is best suited for internal company events, free community gatherings, hosted customer events, and product launches where monetization is not the goal.

Can Roam On-Air broadcast to YouTube or LinkedIn Live? Not currently. On-Air events run within Roam’s Theater environment and do not support RTMP streaming to external platforms like YouTube, LinkedIn Live, or Facebook. For simultaneous external broadcast, Zoom Webinars Plus or Hopin/RingCentral Events (via StreamYard) are the appropriate tools. Roam’s event experience is designed for the hosted audience inside the platform.

How many attendees can Roam On-Air support? Up to 10,000 attendees per event, powered by Roam’s proprietary SFU (Selective Forwarding Unit) technology. For events expecting fewer than 10,000 attendees — which covers virtually all company all-hands, product launches, and community events — On-Air’s infrastructure is fully capable.

Do attendees need a Roam account to join an On-Air event? No. Attendees RSVP through the event’s shareable link and join the Theater directly from their browser. A Roam account is not required for guests attending an event.

Is Zoom Webinars worth it for a 25-person remote company? For most 25-person remote companies, probably not. The combination of a required Zoom Workplace Pro subscription ($13.33/user/month × 25 = $333/month) plus the Webinars add-on ($79/month minimum) comes to $412+/month for video calls and webinar capability. Roam provides the virtual office, drop-in meetings, all-hands Theater, AI notes, messaging, scheduling, screen recording, and events at $19.50/user/month ($487.50/month for 25 users) — replacing Zoom Workplace, Zoom Webinars, Slack, Calendly, and an AI note-taker simultaneously. The per-product comparison favors Zoom’s webinar depth; the bundle comparison favors Roam significantly.

9. What Customers Say

Related Pages

• Virtual All-Hands
• Zoom Webinars Alternative
• Hopin (RingCentral Events) Alternative
• On-Air
• Theater