When Jordan Melnick first had the idea to host a live, portrait drawing event in Miami a decade ago, he didn’t know if anyone would show up.

“We thought about 50 people would come.” To his surprise, over 500 showed up to share the love of drawing.

Today the movement, now called Sktchy Art School, is 18,000 strong. But they no longer meet on the streets of Miami. They now meet virtually on a Mighty Network, but still share the same love for drawing that brought them together in the first place.

Whether you came to the virtual event space as an expert, or whether you’re the one shouting, “Is this thing on?” as 500 attendees giggle, there’s one thing that makes a virtual event sing.

A great platform.

Virtual events and virtual conferences are thriving. And, in this post, we'll help you find the right virtual event platform for you.

Host amazing virtual events in G2's top-rated community platform - free for 14 days!

A virtual event platform is a software solution that lets you create an event that people can engage with remotely on their computers or mobile devices. While in the past an event ALWAYS meant going somewhere, a virtual event comes to you. A virtual event platform makes this possible.

Virtual event platforms usually combine a number of features from traditional live events with features you can only get thanks to technology.

While it’s not an exhaustive list, virtual events offer a lot of neat functionality that traditional events didn’t have.

• Scheduling and built-in live streaming

• Invites and notifications

• Diverse content options

• Recording and playback

• Community forums, Q&As, Polls

• Member profiles and messaging

• AI connections and automations

• Branding and customization

• Branded apps

• Gamification

• “Ticketing” options, payment gateways, and the option for tiered pricing.

• The option to carry on the community after the event.

• Upsells into courses, masterminds, etc.

• Single Sign On (SSO)

G2's #1 Community platform w/ built-in virtual events

Mighty Networks is an all-in-one community platform with virtual events built-in. It combines native livestreaming with courses, events, and paid memberships. It's trusted by brands and creators to run some of the top virtual events in the world, including by Tony Robbins, Marie Forleo, and TED.

For virtual events, Mighty Networks includes:

• HD livestreaming with backstage, multi-speaker, and high-velocity chat.

• Events Spaces with RSVPs, calendar view, event chats, automations, and member discovery.

• Sell event access or bundle with a membership in 120+ different currencies.

• AI-boosted engagement, including smart profile-building and 1-click conversations.

• Collaborative gamification including recognitions, leaderboards, unlocks, and new-member journeys.

You can run your virtual event on Mighty's native iOS or Android apps. Even Spaces can be custom branded within Mighty's app.

Or, you can opt for a virtual event on a completely branded app. Mighty Pro has built premium branded apps for 500+ creators and brands. It's the ultimate place to host your next virtual event, and a year-round community to go with it!

Mighty is home to more $1 million communities than any other platform. If you want to host your virtual event, try Mighty free.

Or, to explore a branded event app, book a call with us to learn more!

• Native live streaming w/ multi-speaker

• Built-in Zoom integration

• AI member matching and conversations

• AI content assists

• Group chat and messaging

• Interactive discussion forums

• Member profiles

• Customizable branding

• Payments, plan creation, and bundling

• Notifications & automatic email updates

• Available on the web or native apps

Mighty Networks is…

• A one-stop solution for virtual events: Mighty Networks not only provides awesome features for delivering your virtual event like RSVPs and messaging (so you can send out reminders), but also provides member profiles, direct messaging, comments, posts, groups, and of course, paid memberships and one-time payments.

• A full suite of interaction tools: When you make your virtual event, you’ll want tools that help facilitate interactions across the whole range of the event, including those moments of serendipity when you bump into a new friend. Mighty Networks is built for this: live text chat, polls, questionnaires, small groups, discussion boards, comments, and more.

• Keep the conversation going: Forget about the email list. A Mighty Network lets you build a thriving community that can last until the next event. This will let your attendees convene and discuss their relevant interests together in one place. Here are a few examples of when this might be useful: to publish speaker bios and hint at Q&As ahead of an event; repurpose conference sessions into digestible lessons when you create online courses, mastermind groups, and in-depth breakout sessions; and you can offer replays and recorded videos with additional notes and commentary as a benefit of a paid membership.

Best virtual events platform for a one-off event.

Accelevents is a virtual event platform for virtual, hybrid, and in-person events. It offers features like breakout sessions, a native broadcast studio, and A.I.-powered matchmaking for attendees. It's designed with corporate applications in mind and it's a great tool for trade or industry events.

With ticketing features and some gamification options, Accelevents has continued to add features that show it's serious about being a virtual event host, and that puts it at #2 on this list.

Accelevents starts from $7,500 for a single event, moving to $13,500 for unlimited. However, virtual events are a paid add-on.

• Native broadcasting and livestreaming

• Multi-stages and breakout rooms

• Expo sponsor booths

• Check-in and badge printing (for in-person)

• Q&A, polls, and some gamification

• Networking and meeting scheduling.

• Mobile event app.

Accelevents is a great option for one-time or recurring corporate events. Note it's not made to keep connections going between the events, but to run the events themselves.

Best enterprise forums and events solution

Bevy started as a virtual conference tool, but has added more and more community tools to its platform. It now combines events with forums, groups, gamification, analytics, and AI. It's used by enterprise brands like Salesforce, Atlassian, and Adobe to run community-led programs that include events.

As an event and community platform, Bevy offers AI Agents for intros as well as an AI matchmaking tool, community knowledge, and AI moderation.

Note that Bevy's pricing is not publicly available.

• Forums with threads and gamification

• Virtual or in-person event management

• Virtual conference add-on (breakout rooms, recordings)

• AI engagement Agent Hub

• e-learning paths

• White-label & custom domain options

Bevy has a corporate feel, and is a strong choice for enterprise brands that want to mix communities and events. However, it's not built for smaller brands or creators.

Solid hybrid events option

Stova is the result of a merger between two established event platforms, MeetingPlay and Aventri.

Built specifically with virtual and hybrid events in mind, Stova combines conference planning and production tools into a single platform — covering everything from building an event website to budgeting to running the live event itself.

It also offers some useful attendee networking features, like an integrated scheduler for booking 1:1 meetings and matchmaking based on shared interests.

Stova's pricing isn't publicly listed, but is estimated to start from around $10,000, making it a better fit for mid-sized to large organizations with significant event budgets.

• Livestreaming w/ breakout rooms

• Agenda building

• AI-powered 1:1 networking and matchmaking

• Virtual sponsor booths

• Lead retrieval for exhibitors

• Built-in event budgeting and email marketing

• Onsite event support

• Mobile event apps

Stova is a good platform for a one-time event. It’s not created for keeping connections going between events with an integrated community or ongoing conversations.

Convene is an interesting use case in the virtual event space because they’re actually best known for physical events. They have a collection of physical event spaces you can rent, as well as workspaces and meeting rooms that are available to members.

But Convene has some virtual event tools attached with Convene Studio. It’s their blended approach to hybrid events and help with production – including a producer and team members to help pull the event off.

This means Convene is probably a better option for blended events in one of their select live locations.

• Branded event site

• Producer & tech support

• Control room & production team

• Video editing

• Live stream speaking and panels

• Production graphics

• Green room

• Live chat

• Breakout sessions

• Analytics

• 30-day event playback

The best virtual event platform is the one that meets your needs, whether you're working at a big corporation or you've got a smaller brand or you're a solopreneur.

Either way, there's an option on this list for you.

If you want virtual events on your own branded community apps, book a call with us!

We work with established brands and creators to create amazing, branded event apps--think branded livestreaming, splash screens, and proactive updates.

Mighty helped creators earn over $500 million last year. Book a call and we'll show you what we could build together!