Hopin vs Zoom vs Superevent - Which Platform is Better?

If you’re in the market for a reliable virtual conference platform, you’ve likely come across Zoom, Hopin, and Superevent - all are great platforms with several unique features.

However, since August 2023 Hopin has been taken over by RingCentral through a not-so-successful acquisition. As this article was written before the acquisition, it remains unsure which former Hopin features described will remain.

So, which platform do you choose to support your events?

To help out, we’ve put together a direct comparison of these platforms below, providing in-depth insight into how each one slots into your specific needs and goals.

Hopin VS. Zoom VS. Superevent: Key Differences

Each platform is widely different in terms of features, usability, and price. Below, you’ll find the key differences between each, so you can find the best one for your needs.

Maximum Capacity

Zoom is great for smaller companies that just need a conferencing tool for internal meetings and virtual chats. But, when you start to scale the attendee numbers, the platform can struggle and the video stream can lag. 

That’s where platforms like Hopin and Superevent come in. Both can handle large teams. But, Hopin still lacks the experience for large in-person and hybrid events.

Superevent can handle any number of participants you require, whilst delivering a clean experience. Additionally, unlike Hopin, Superevent doesn't take a commission per ticket sale, so your costs won’t skyrocket and you’ll stay within your event budget. 

Pricing

Zoom limits its free plan to 40 minutes of event time. After this, you’ll have to pay for a premium plan which still limits event times. Hopin also offers a free plan but, again, limits event length.

Superevent’s free plan is perfect for any business or event professional as it only scales with attendees and doesn’t limit you on features or charge a commission. Even if you only use the free plan, you still get access to all features. 

User-Experience

Zoom is the easiest to use and is excellent for beginners in the virtual conference space. However, you’ll often need additional software to fill in the gaps due to its lack of features. 

Hopin has a good user experience as it has a variety of products depending on your specific needs (live streaming, webinars, etc.). However, users still need to set the platform up themselves, which can be an issue for those with a lack of technical skill.

Superevent provides the cleanest user experience available. You can also let their concierge service handle the strategy, data entry, and setup, as you focus on providing a high-quality conference. 

What is Hopin?

Update 2024: Hopin event platform does not exist anymore. The information below can be used as a reference of what Hopin used to offer.

‍

Hopin is a virtual event and conference platform that allows event organizers to set up large online venues, webinars, meetups, and more. Their platform is largely built around the element of community, and this presents itself in many ways in their software. 

Hopin places a large focus on online-only venues. But you can still utilize their software for hybrid or in-person events with ease using their mobile app. This opens their software up to a range of event organizers, enabling any size business to successfully manage virtual venues and put on a stellar performance. However, it is unclear if this remains after the recent takeover by RingCentral.

Hopin is composed of several platforms, all with different attributes and purposes. You have:

• Hopin Stream Yard - This is their live-streaming platform and is perfect for small creators
• Hopin Sessions - This is their webinar platform for educational and sales videos
• Hopin Events - Their main events and conferencing software for event professionals
• Hopin Streamable - Their video hosting platform
• Hopin Project C - Their community creation platform

Hopin's Key Features

Hopin has a list of features that make it a good platform for event managers and organizers. However, some stand out from the rest when you dive deeper. 

Advanced branding options

‍

‍

Hopin allows you to brand your entire conference to let people know exactly who is hosting the event. They provide a host of ways to achieve this, such as custom colors, logo additions, and font changes. 

They also allow for complete customization of the emails and messages you send, allowing for personal, brand-driven communication with your target customers.

Although the branding options are shouted about by Hopin a lot, they’re actually lacking in customization when compared to alternatives. They don’t provide branded apps, custom domains, or allow you to fully control the layout. 

Excellent Customer Service

‍

‍

A key feature of their platform is their customer service. Hopin has a professional event team on-hand to provide a flawless experience if you run into any issues. 

They provide premium support on the day of your event, and also provide technical training beforehand so you can adapt to the platform and make sure there are no mistakes when you’re hosting.

Magic Links

‍

‍

Hopin has a unique feature called Magic Links. These allow you to create links people can click to instantly register them and take them to the event. This reduces any friction attendees might have when joining, as they won’t have to create a separate Hopin account to join in. Each Hopin Magic Link is unique and is sent to your attendees via email. 

This is a useful feature and it enables organizers to utilize a third-party platform to register attendees for their events, such as Eventbrite. Organizers can then send emails to all the individuals who registered through the third-party software so they can easily join the event.

Pricing

Hopin is free, but many features are hidden behind paywalls. 

• Free - With their free version, you get unlimited events but can only have up to 100 attendees. Additionally, you can only host these events for up to 2 hours at a time. 
• Contact Hopin - If you want larger events, you’ll need to get in touch for their full range of plans. These allow for customizable event lengths and offer full platform onboarding. 

‍

‍

Pros and Cons

Pros

• A variety of virtual conferencing products to suit most event organizers' needs
• Offers a free plan with unlimited events
• Their customer support is some of the best around
• Their design and ease-of-use make operating Hopin simple

Cons

• A few features still need ironing out, such as in-platform notifications for analytics and sign-up data
• New features are added frequently that can be overwhelming for some users
• Their Salesforce integration is difficult to use
• You have to pay for attendees via a commission which gets costly if you’re running a free event

What is Zoom?

‍

‍

Zoom is a well-known online conference platform that is largely used for small internal meetings, such as morning stand-ups and general catch-ups throughout the day. 

You can use Zoom to communicate with both internal teams or a wider online audience through several devices, such as laptops, phones, and tablets. Zoom is easy to install and usually only requires users to download the platform and create an account. 

They have a huge range of products, including those for wider virtual and hybrid events with thousands of people. Saying this, they are primarily a video conferencing tool and don’t perform larger virtual events particularly well. 

Here's a list of some of their top solutions:

• Zoom One - Specializing in small team meetings
• Zoom Spaces - Specializes in business conferences and virtual meeting/board rooms
• Zoom Events - Specializes in larger virtual events and webinars

Zoom Key Features

Zoom has several unique features that make it a great platform for virtual conferences, especially small, personal meetings with your internal team.

Built-in collaboration tools

‍

‍

Unlike some other tools that only allow one participant to share their screen, Zoom provides the ability for multiple attendees to collaborate simultaneously. Attendees can share their screens, annotate on virtual whiteboards, and work together in a harmonious fashion. 

Immersive View

‍

Zoom allows you to include an immersive background to recreate specific environments and make conferences more interesting. Both hosts and attendees can add backgrounds such as parks, classrooms, and offices which act as virtual green screens during presentations. 

These backgrounds create a fun, engaging atmosphere that draws attendees' eyes back to the conference. The backgrounds can also be used to drive home specific points as well as drive home specific elements of your presentation, such as analogies or examples.  

Intuitive Transcripts 

‍

All events, meetings, and conferences can be recorded and searched in Zoom’s cloud database. Additionally, each video recording is automatically transcribed for even easier meeting navigation. 

Pricing

Zoom’s pricing is tiered and scales both by price and feature availability. Their first plan is free for everyone but comes with limitations. 

• Basic Plan - This is free for up to 100 attendees and 40 minutes of meeting time
• Pro Plan - Comes with 100 attendees per meeting and 30 hours of meeting time
• Business Plan - Comes with 300 attendees and 30 hours of meeting time
• Enterprise Plan - Comes with 1000 attendees and 30 hours of meeting time

With each plan, you get a number of whiteboards and cloud storage. Their enterprise plan also comes with a ton of extras, such as webinars, rooms, and translation. 

‍

‍

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Perfect solution for small internal teams
• Strong focus on team collaboration and engagement
• One of the simplest, beginner-friendly platforms anyone can jump on

Cons

• Limited to starters and beginners, lacking in more professional features
• More of a video conferencing tool than an event tool
• The mobile app is limited to 4 visible screens during video calls

What is Superevent? A Great Alternative for Zoom or Hopin

‍

‍

Superevent is a useful alternative for event managers looking for more features and control when putting on a virtual conference. Especially as Zoom and Hopin focus on either internal meetings or virtual events. 

Superevent is a virtual, hybrid, and in-person conference platform that suits the needs of any business and event-organizing professional. You can build your event from the ground up, as the platform is very customizable. You can even build your own app for a truly immersive event experience. 

You can create conferences, summits, courses, and large live events utilizing either virtual, in-person, or hybrid environments. The innovative and engagement-boosting features it provides are perfect regardless of your situation.

Superevent Key Features

Superevent provides a wide range of unique features that make it the ultimate alternative to any of the previous tools discussed previously.

Interactive Social Wall

‍

Superevent allows you to create an engaging social wall to share statuses and interact with guests. It’s like having your own social media inside your event. Guests can share experiences and socialize with each other with ease. It’s a great way to boost event engagement and create a sense of community. 

Informative and Data-Driven

‍

‍

Superevent takes all the information you need for an event and delivers it in a streamlined, optimized way. You can see everything from user lists, stage schedules, and floor plans to reporting and post-event analytics. 

Concierge Service

Superevent’s team can get involved and help you set up your event quickly. With their concierge service, you receive personalized assistance with the entire event’s management. Allowing you to focus solely on putting on a great experience. 

Customize Everything

‍

‍

Superevent allows you to customize and modify just about anything on the platform. Whereas Hopin only allows you to simply modify branding options, Superevent allows you to rename entire features, show certain individuals or groups different features than others, and have full control over the app experience. 

In terms of branding, Superevent also excels as it allows you to host the app on your own domain. This makes the app entirely yours, even to the extent that it has your brand and logo in the Apple/Play store and sits on your company URL. This makes it a much more customizable platform compared to the other options. 

Pricing

Superevent’s pricing is structured so the more attendees you have the more you’ll pay. However, all features are accessible regardless of what tier you’re on. Better yet, it starts off free for the first 50 attendees. 

After this, prices start to increase with different attendee numbers increments:

• 51 - 100 attendees
• 101 - 250 attendees
• 251 - 500 attendees
• 501 - 1000 attendees
• 1001 - 1250+ attendees

‍

‍

‍

Pros and Cons

Pros

• User-friendly
• Great personal service
• Personalizable and customizable

Cons

• Less suitable for big expos or tradeshows
• Branded apps can take longer because of Apple and Google review time

Hopin VS. Zoom VS Superevent: Feature Comparison

‍

Conclusion

Hopin, Zoom, and Superevent are all great tools for creating virtual conferences. However, they all come with their flaws and are not suitable for all situations. Additionally, the recent takeover of Hopin by RingCentral raises uncertainty about which features and benefits will be retained.

Zoom is best suited to starters and beginners who haven’t used virtual conferencing before. Hopin is more innovative than Zoom and should be used for virtual-only event organizers and smaller, individual creators. 

The clear winner is Superevent. It’s easy to use, offers every feature imaginable, works flawlessly in virtual, hybrid, and in-person events, and can be used in just about any situation. Better still, you can try it out for free here.