Key takeaways
- A higher price does not automatically mean a better fit. What matters is whether the platform covers your actual needs.
- You should never pay for features you don’t use. Many expensive platforms include functionality that remains unused in practice.
- The true cost of an event platform is influenced by multiple factors, such as setup fees, support, licenses, payment handling, and add-on services.
- Free registration systems may work for simple use cases, but they often lack integrations, GDPR compliance, flexibility, and reliable support.
- Flexibility is a key quality criterion: a good platform lets you scale up or down and add modules as your needs evolve.
- In the long run, a flexible and professional event platform often delivers better value – and lower total cost – than a free or poorly matched system.
“You get what you pay for.” That’s an expression we’ve all heard many times. The moral is that it often pays to spend a little extra to get good quality in what you buy.
But when it comes to systems for planning, marketing, delivering, and evaluating events, the picture is a bit more complex than that. A comprehensive event platform isn’t free – but it’s also not the case that a very expensive system necessarily meets your needs better than a more affordable one.
The rule of thumb is that a good event platform should give you the functionality you actually need – and that you shouldn’t pay for more than you’ll use.
Confused…? Keep reading, and I’ll explain exactly what I mean.
Don’t pay extra for features you don’t need
How much does a car cost? Naturally, it depends on what kind of car you need. What are you going to use it for? Do you just need a small city car for short trips, or do you need a vehicle that can handle far more demanding driving conditions, even when things get a bit rough? What kind of service is included in the price? And how much extra equipment do you actually need?
Price and quality are often linked, whether we’re talking about cars or digital systems.
There are several large, “heavy” event management platforms on the market that come with a high price tag – where you may only need a small part of what the system offers. All the clever features are “nice to have” in theory. In practice, though, you don’t need them, and they never get used.
It’s a bit like all the extra buttons and gadgets in a car. You get excited when the salesperson explains how amazing and essential they are. But do you really need them? No. And paying extra for them turned out to be unnecessary in the first place.
Several factors determine the cost of an event management platform
A system that at first glance appears reasonably priced may turn out to come with costly add-on invoices you didn’t account for. Before entering into a long-term agreement with an event platform provider, you should therefore pay attention to the following:
- Check what is included in the price. Read all the fine print carefully.
- Many providers charge extra for support.
- Most providers have an entry fee or one-time setup cost for access and onboarding, followed by a fixed monthly fee based on volume or number of users. Also check how the agreement is regulated if you end up using more (or less) than what was agreed.
- If the system handles payments, check what is included in the price so that no deductions are made from incoming payments without your knowledge. For example, when using credit cards, it’s normal for card companies to charge a few percent for card usage, which is usually deducted from the amounts paid.
- Whether payments are made by card or invoice, some providers also take a percentage of the amount paid. For large events, this can add up to significant sums, so it’s important to be aware of this in advance.
- Make sure the entry price includes the necessary setup of templates and graphic design tailored to your organization.
- Some providers charge high license fees for additional users, while others look at the overall picture and include extra users and add-on licenses free of charge or at an agreed low cost.
- Some providers also charge annual fees for licenses.
- Finally, you should check what additional services the provider can offer and make sure these are regulated in an agreement. If you need extra help, you should be able to get it – but you need to know in advance what you’ll be paying extra for.
You might also like: 9 smart questions to ask before choosing an event management platform
Why not just use a free event registration system?
At the other end of the scale, you’ll find free systems. These can work just fine if you only need to collect names for, say, a simple breakfast seminar.
But if you plan to use the information further – to manage attendees in a professional way at that event, or if you run many courses and events and want to reuse the data – then you need to invest a bit more.
Not to mention that a free event registration system rarely integrates with the other systems your organization uses.
And what about GDPR and data protection regulations, does a free system take care of that? Again, the answer is often no.
In addition, the registration system needs to make you feel confident as a user—confident that you’re using the system efficiently and correctly, and confident that you and your colleagues will get the help you need, when you need it. That’s why good support is absolutely essential. And that’s something you can usually forget about with a free registration system.
Instead, choose a complete event platform.
The event platform must be flexible (and that costs a bit)
A good, comprehensive event platform that is meant to match your budget and your current (and future) needs must allow you to upgrade and expand easily as your requirements evolve.
That’s why flexibility is one of the most important quality criteria when choosing an event platform.
Benefits of a flexible event platform:
- You never have to pay for more than exactly what you need. You can scale volume up or down as the situation requires, without having to cancel your agreement – while still retaining access to the functionality you rely on.
- You always have flexibility when it comes to purchasing modules as your usage grows. You may not need all the functionality from day one and might want to get familiar with the system before investing in the full package. For example, you can start with a basic package and upgrade over time, add additional modules as needed, or select exactly the features you need from different versions. The provider can then put together a solution with pricing per attendee per event.
- The system offers solutions that can be tailored to your organization’s needs at any given time. This allows everyone internally who works with the event to contribute easily and work independently. Free systems do not offer this level of customization.
You might also like: How to choose the best event management platform – without wasting time or budget
How much does the Proviso event platform cost?
A provider of a complete event platform should offer a pricing model that is simple and flexible.
At Proviso, we use the following model:
- You choose the package with the modules you need and specify your expected number of attendees per year.
- When we enter into an agreement, you pay a one-time startup/setup/onboarding fee, followed by a fixed monthly fee for as long as the agreement runs.
- All agreements run for one year and then continue with three months’ rolling notice.
- If your needs change, you can adjust your package, the number of attendees per year, or expand the number of licenses at any time. Many customers start with Basic or Business and upgrade as they become more familiar with Proviso.
- You receive one license at startup. There is no recurring license fee per user per year. If you need more licenses than those included in the packages, you can easily order and pay for these as a one-time cost.
- You decide yourself who uses the licenses you’ve purchased, making it easy to handle staff changes when someone leaves and someone new joins.
- If you only have a single event you need help with, Proviso puts together the services you need. You pay only for the production of the elements you’ve chosen, plus a per-attendee fee. There are no recurring costs.
Final thoughts
Many different factors influence the total cost of a complete event platform. When comparing providers and systems, use these points as your guiding principles:
- A complete event platform must cover all your needs, be user-friendly, and be priced in a way that matches the value it delivers.
- A complete event platform should give you the functionality you must have – but you shouldn’t pay for more functionality than you actually need.
- A very expensive system doesn’t necessarily meet your needs better than a more affordable one.
A flexible event platform lets you scale volume up or down. That way, you don’t have to cancel the agreement when your needs change. And you still have access to what you need.
All in all: An event platform that helps you become more professional and gives you more satisfied attendees costs a bit. But the reality is that it often becomes more expensive to use a free system – or not to use an event platform at all.
I hope you now have a clearer picture of what a flexible and complete event platform costs, and what can cause prices to vary from system to system.
If you have any questions about using an event platform or how Proviso’s pricing model works, don’t hesitate to get in touch!