Short answer. For a conference app we would start with Whova if you want the most proven attendee experience, Cvent or EventMobi if procurement needs documented controls, and Sociana if the delegates are travelling and you want hospitality and group-scoped content in a branded app. Free or low-cost options suit workshops, not a paid annual conference.
Disclosure. Sociana publishes this guide and is listed once, at position 5 of 10, labelled as our product. We compiled it on 19 Oct 2026 from public vendor pages linked below, without hands-on testing, and nobody paid for a place. Where another product is stronger we say so.
How we chose
- Attendee experience: personal agenda, session alerts, networking and Q&A.
- Organiser tooling: registration, check-in, exhibitors, sponsors and reports.
- Published pricing or at least a stated pricing model.
- Hospitality for out-of-town delegates, which most conference apps leave to spreadsheets.
- India readiness: rupee billing, WhatsApp, support hours.
We placed Sociana at position 5. It is the pick for situations such as “delegates fly in and need rooms, pickups and a help desk”; for the other situations in the table further down, products ranked differently are the better choice. Prices are what vendors publish on 19 Oct 2026, not quotes, and aggregator figures are marked unverified.
The ranked list
| Rank | Product | Best for | Pricing as published (19 Oct 2026) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Whova | Association, academic and government conferences | Quote-only after a five-question form; no figures published | pricing |
| 2 | Cvent | Large enterprise conferences with strict procurement | Quote-only; modules and two platform tiers, add-ons unpriced | pricing |
| 3 | EventMobi | Associations that want a published price and onsite hardware | From $3,500 per event or from $7,900 a year for multiple events | pricing |
| 4 | Swapcard | Trade-show style conferences driven by meetings and exhibitors | Quote-only; licence plus per-user rates tiered by event size | pricing |
| 5 | Sociana (our product) | Conferences where delegates travel, stay and book slots | Packages priced by scope, per occasion or per year; see the pricing page | pricing |
| 6 | Zuddl | B2B marketing teams on a single annual licence | Unified licence from $10,000 a year for two organisers; collaborator seats $170 a month | pricing |
| 7 | Bizzabo | Flagship conferences with CRM and attribution needs | $499 per user per month billed annually, three-user minimum | pricing |
| 8 | Dreamcast | Indian conferences with large registration and onsite hardware | Published in rupees per confirmed registration in three descending bands; 1,000-attendee minimum on the self-serve plan | pricing |
| 9 | KonfHub | Community and developer conferences selling tickets by UPI | 0% on free tickets (to 100 registrations), 2% + GST on UPI-only Lite, 3.75% + GST on Silver, custom Gold | pricing |
| 10 | Guidebook | Small to mid conferences that want a flat-fee app | Flat fee per event, annual, or campus licence; no figures on the page | pricing |
Product notes
Whova, position 1
Stronger at: The review base is hard to beat: 4.8 from about 253,000 US App Store ratings on 19 Oct 2026. Agenda, community board, session Q&A and abstract tools are in one product.
Weaker for this job: Quote-only, a container app by default, and we found no hospitality module.
Cvent, position 2
Stronger at: Registration, OnArrival kiosks, badge printing, API and SSO on the Enterprise tier, and ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II and PCI DSS Level 1 on its trust page.
Weaker for this job: Dollar quotes and per-registration fees; our research found no India pricing page.
EventMobi, position 3
Stronger at: Per event from $3,500 or per year from $7,900, with pre-printed badges and rentable iPad kits listed.
Weaker for this job: North American support hours and no hospitality module on its pages.
Swapcard, position 4
Stronger at: AI matchmaking, exhibitor centre and meeting scheduling are the core, with SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 detailed on its security page.
Weaker for this job: Quote-only with per-user rates; heavy for a 300-delegate meeting.
Sociana (our product), position 5
Stronger at: Delegate OTP login against the registration list, My Stay and journey cards, paid meeting-room slots, polls and group-scoped content in a branded app. Used at an association conference in Mumbai and an association app that opens each member’s occasion.
Weaker for this job: No badge printing, no abstract-submission workflow, no public API; configured by our team rather than self-serve.
Zuddl, position 6
Stronger at: Published floor price, strong in-person check-in, and the clearest security page in our set.
Weaker for this job: The $10,000 annual floor is hard to justify for one conference, and the mobile app is an add-on.
Bizzabo, position 7
Stronger at: Published per-seat price, wearable lead capture and a deep event-experience suite.
Weaker for this job: Annual only, with a three-user minimum of about $17,999 a year.
Dreamcast, position 8
Stronger at: Rupee pricing per registration and facial-recognition check-in on its own proof pages.
Weaker for this job: A 1,000-attendee minimum on self-serve and no hospitality module found.
KonfHub, position 9
Stronger at: Rupee and GST pricing, a free tier and quick setup for ticketing.
Weaker for this job: Progressive web app rather than a store app; no hospitality or games.
Guidebook, position 10
Stronger at: Long-running app builder with a flat fee per event and no setup fees.
Weaker for this job: Quote-only pricing, a campus-licensing focus and India support we did not assess.
Which to pick, by situation
| If your situation is | Consider |
|---|---|
| You want the largest installed base and review count | Whova |
| Security review needs SOC 2 or ISO attestations | Cvent, Zuddl, Swapcard or EventMobi |
| Rupee ticketing for a developer meet-up | KonfHub |
| Delegates fly in and need rooms, pickups and a help desk | Sociana |
| Exhibitor meetings are the product | Swapcard |
| You want a published per-event price | EventMobi |
Where Sociana is not the right pick
Sociana is not the right pick if your conference lives on abstract submission and peer review, needs badge printing on site, or has to pass a procurement checklist that demands SOC 2. Whova, Cvent and EventMobi are stronger in those cases.
FAQ
What should a conference app include?
At minimum a personal agenda, speaker pages, push alerts, polls or Q&A, a delegate directory and check-in. For out-of-town delegates, add personal travel and stay cards and a help desk. Exhibitor and sponsor zones matter if sponsors fund the event.
How much does a conference app cost?
Published figures range from a few thousand dollars per event (EventMobi from $3,500) to annual licences from $10,000 (Zuddl) or about $17,999 (Bizzabo), while Whova, Cvent and Swapcard quote privately. Sociana prices by scope in its published packages. Check each source before relying on a number.
Can a conference app replace WhatsApp groups?
It can replace the broadcast and the schedule questions, which is where WhatsApp groups struggle. Many organisers keep WhatsApp for reach and use the app for records. We compare both in our event app versus WhatsApp group page.
Should an association build its own conference app?
Rarely for a single event. A configurable platform costs less than a custom build, and a multi-occasion app lets members join once and return for every conference. Read our custom versus white-label comparison before commissioning anything.
Keep comparing
- Whova: Sociana vs Whova · Whova alternatives
- Cvent: Sociana vs Cvent · Cvent alternatives
- EventMobi: Sociana vs EventMobi · EventMobi alternatives
- Swapcard: Sociana vs Swapcard · Swapcard alternatives
- Zuddl: Sociana vs Zuddl · Zuddl alternatives
- Bizzabo: Sociana vs Bizzabo · Bizzabo alternatives
- Dreamcast: Sociana vs Dreamcast · Dreamcast alternatives
- KonfHub: Sociana vs KonfHub · KonfHub alternatives
- Approach comparison: Event app vs WhatsApp group: which should you use for an Indian event?
- Approach comparison: Event app vs event website: which do you need for your conference?
- Case study: Paid meeting-room slots inside a conference app
- Case study: An association’s multi-occasion app with AI session summaries the organisers approve
- How Sociana is priced: pricing
Sources and disclosure
- Whova: whova.com
- Cvent: cvent.com
- EventMobi: eventmobi.com
- Swapcard: swapcard.com
- Sociana (our product): Sociana pricing
- Zuddl: zuddl.com
- Bizzabo: bizzabo.com
- Dreamcast: dreamcast.in
- KonfHub: konfhub.com
- Guidebook: guidebook.com
Vendor and product names are trademarks of their owners. Sociana is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any product named here, and names are used only to identify them. Found a mistake? Report a correction or email hello@sociana.in and we will correct the page within five working days. Pricing and feature statements were checked on 19 Oct 2026 and should be re-checked before you buy.