BigMarker vs Zoom Webinars

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.

Zoom Webinars and Zoom Events are the webinar and virtual event products of Zoom Video Communications, the San Jose company (renamed Zoom Communications in late 2024) whose meeting software became the default for video calls. Zoom Webinars handles broadcast-style sessions where panelists present to a large audience, while Zoom Events (including Zoom Sessions for single and multi-session events) adds event hubs, lobbies, ticketing and multi-day conference features on the same infrastructure.

Webinars include registration with custom questions and approval, branded pages and emails, a backstage area for panelists, Q&A, polls, chat, reactions, and live captions. Simulive plays pre-recorded content as if it were live, and recordings become on-demand content. Zoom Events adds an event lobby, networking, expo booths for sponsors, ticketing and multi-track agendas for virtual and hybrid conferences. Reporting covers registration, attendance and engagement, and integrations connect to HubSpot, Marketo, Salesforce and other marketing tools. Licensing is per host and attendee capacity, starting at 500 attendees for Webinars, with larger capacities and Events packages priced higher or quoted.

Zoom is a safe choice for company all-hands, large customer webinars, training and conferences, because attendees already know the interface and the video infrastructure is reliable at scale. Marketing-focused tools usually offer richer engagement analytics and conversion features: Livestorm and Demio run fully in the browser with marketing integrations, and ON24 provides enterprise-grade engagement analytics.