BigMarker vs Luma

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.

Luma (lu.ma) is an event management platform known for beautiful, minimal event pages. Tech communities, startups, venture firms and creators use it to host meetups, product launches, demo days, workshops and conferences, both in person and online. Its core job is to make creating an event, collecting registrations and keeping attendees informed effortless.

Organizers create an event page in minutes, then manage RSVPs with approval-based registration, waitlists, custom registration questions and capacity limits. Ticketing runs through Stripe with free, paid and pay-what-you-want options. Email and SMS blasts, automatic reminders and calendar invites keep attendees engaged, and a check-in app scans QR codes at the door. Community calendars let people subscribe to everything an organization hosts, which builds a recurring audience over time. Luma is free for free events and charges a platform fee on paid tickets, which Luma Plus removes along with adding more admins and advanced features for an annual subscription.

Luma fits communities and startups that run frequent events and care about how they look and feel. It is not built for large multi-track conferences with complex agendas, exhibitor management or enterprise integrations; Eventbrite reaches a broader consumer audience, Meetup offers built-in group discovery, Partiful suits casual social events, and platforms such as Cvent or Bizzabo serve large corporate conferences.