BigMarker vs GoTo Webinar

BigMarker is a browser-based webinar and event platform from Chicago, developed in 2010 by founder Zhu-Song Mei. It runs live, automated and on-demand webinars, virtual conferences and the digital side of in-person and hybrid events. Most customers are B2B marketing teams that treat webinars as a pipeline channel.

Webinars run without downloads, with chat, Q&A, polls, handouts, offers, breakout rooms and simulive or evergreen replays. The event suite adds custom registration, a mobile event app, badge printing and check-in, while Media Hubs turn recordings into on-demand video, learning and resource libraries. BigMarker AI creates derivative content and scores leads, and native integrations push data to Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo and Eloqua. Pricing is quote-based: webcast plans (Basic, Professional, Enterprise) differ mainly by host licenses, and event, mobile app and media hub licenses are priced separately.

BigMarker fits mid-market and enterprise teams that run frequent webinars plus a few large virtual or hybrid events and want both on one platform with CRM sync. It is too much for occasional small webinars, and the lack of public pricing makes quick comparisons hard. Demio is simpler and transparently priced for SMB webinars, Livestorm is a clean European option with self-serve plans, and Zoom Events suits companies already standardized on Zoom.

Buying tip: BigMarker does not publish list prices, and trials or proofs of concept are arranged through sales. Get a written quote covering host seats, audience size and add-ons.

GoTo Webinar is one of the longest-running webinar platforms, sold by GoTo, the Boston-based company formerly called LogMeIn, which renamed itself in 2022. It began at Citrix as GoToWebinar and became part of LogMeIn in 2017. The product covers registration, live and pre-recorded webinars, audience engagement and reporting, and is widely used by B2B marketing teams, trainers and associations.

Core features include branded registration pages, automated reminder and follow-up emails, polls, handouts, live Q&A, closed captions, VoIP and phone audio, and detailed attendee reports. Higher tiers add cloud recordings, AI summaries and transcripts, breakout rooms, custom URLs, simulive events that run recordings as if live, source tracking, certificates, paid registrations and live streaming. Webcast mode and the GoTo Stage video hub handle larger one-to-many broadcasts. Plans were renamed to Reach, Elevate and Complete and are priced per organizer, with Complete sold through sales.

It fits companies running regular lead-generation or training webinars that need reliable registration data flowing into a CRM or marketing automation tool. Zoom Events is the natural choice for teams already on Zoom, Livestorm is browser-only with a more modern interface, and Demio is simpler for marketers running automated webinars.

Buying tip: the published prices are per organizer per month on annual billing, and Reach caps you at 500 participants, so price Elevate if you expect larger audiences or need cloud recordings. A free trial is available from the pricing page.