Whova vs Eventship (2026)

How Eventship compares to Whova for conferences, attendee engagement, and the event program around them

Whova and Eventship are built for different jobs. Whova's job is the conference itself. It has the deeper conference app, and on live polling, virtual and hybrid delivery, abstract review and exhibitor lead retrieval it is ahead of us. If that app is the deliverable you are buying, buy Whova, and budget for a quote you cannot see until you ask for one. Eventship's job is the program around the event: pricing you can model today, a site on your own domain, direct revenue from tickets, sponsorships, booths and memberships, and one attendee record that outlives the event. If a small team has to run the whole thing and everything it leaves behind, that is us.

Pricing comparison

Eventship pricing

Free plan with unlimited events and guests. 3% per paid ticket (0% on Pro and Enterprise) + Stripe processing (2.9% + $0.30). Pro is $59/mo billed annually, or $69 month to month, and Enterprise starts at $3,000/year for up to 250 attendees. Other transactions carry their own fee: 5% on add-ons and exhibitor booths, 10% on memberships, and 20% on sponsorships (10% on Pro, 0% on Enterprise). See the pricing page for the current schedule.

Whova pricing

No published platform pricing. Quotes are custom, scaled to event size, format, duration and the features you turn on, so a budget needs a sales conversation first. Published US registration examples charge 3% + $0.99 per paid ticket, and Whova notes the actual registration and Stripe fees vary by country and currency. Free tickets carry no registration fee.

Feature comparison: Eventship vs Whova

Feature
Eventship
Whova
Pricing & buying
Public platform pricing
Sign up without a sales call
Free plan for organizers
$0, unlimited events
Platform fee per paid ticket
3% (0% on Pro & Enterprise)
3% + $0.99 (published US example)
Fixed per-ticket charge
None
$0.99
Fees on sponsorships, booths & memberships
Sponsorships 20% (10% Pro, 0% Enterprise), booths 5%, memberships 10%
Not published
Payment processing
Stripe (2.9% + $0.30)
Stripe (varies by country)
Rolling payouts as tickets sell
Stripe Connect
Stripe early payout, 39 countries
Registration & ticketing
Multiple ticket types
Early bird & scheduled ticket sales
Discount & coupon codes
Event add-ons
Registration approval flow
Waitlist with automatic promotion
Waitlist
Member-only tickets
Conditional registration questions
Attendee app & live engagement
Native iOS & Android apps
Browser access without an app download
Personalized attendee agenda
Live polls & in-session Q&A
Gamification & leaderboards
Session surveys & post-event feedback
Virtual & hybrid event delivery
White-label attendee app
Networking
Attendee profiles & directory
Direct messaging between attendees
Community discussion feeds
Attendee matchmaking
Two AI intros per guest, with the reason
Profile-based recommendations
Attendee-organized meetups
Relationship history across events
Cross-event reporting
Program & content
Sessions, tracks & speakers
Call for speakers / submissions
Abstract review: reviewers, scoring & decisions
Blind peer review
Accepted submissions become agenda sessions
Event website & brand
Event website builder
Website on your own domain
Branded URL on Whova
White-label conference site
Enterprise
Embeddable agenda, speaker & sponsor widgets
Tracking pixels (Meta, Google Analytics)
Not published
Sponsors & exhibitors
Sponsor packages sold from the event page
Sponsor registration with payment
Booth purchase from a live floor plan
Booth selection
Package benefits applied automatically
Benefits listed at purchase
Exhibitor lead retrieval (badge scanning)
Digital booths & appointment scheduling
Passport contests & booth gamification
Sponsor impact reports
Sponsor marketplace & network discovery
Ad network that pays the host
Memberships & community
Paid recurring memberships
Member-only tickets via AMS
Community hubs & member directories
Member benefits & member-only content
Member-only tickets
One audience across every event you run
Persistent contact record
Past-attendee campaigns
Check-in & badges
QR code check-in
Dedicated check-in role for volunteers
On-demand badge printing
Zebra
Zebra & Brother
Self-service check-in kiosk
Session-level check-in & CE tracking
Apple & Google Wallet passes
Data, integrations & AI
CRM sync (Salesforce, HubSpot)
Pro
HubSpot & AMS
Marketing sync (Mailchimp, Klaviyo, HighLevel)
Pro
Mailchimp, Constant Contact
Attendee CSV export
Enriched attendee data export
Pro
Not published
REST API
Pro
MCP server for AI assistants
Pro (31 tools)
Create & manage events from an AI assistant
Security & compliance
SOC 2 Type II
Encryption in transit
PCI handled by the payment provider
Stripe
GDPR controls

Whova figures checked against Whova’s published materials in August 2026. Competitor pricing and features change.

Where hosts hit limits with Whova

The limitations hosts run into most often, and how Eventship handles each one.

We could not budget for Whova without going through a quote first. Pricing depends on event size and which features we turn on.

Eventship fix: Eventship publishes every number. Free is $0, Pro is $59/mo billed annually or $69 month to month, and Enterprise starts at $3,000/year. Ticket fees, sponsorship fees, booth fees and membership fees are all on the pricing page, so you can model the cost before you talk to anyone.

Pricing is per event and scales with attendees, so a good year costs more and every small event needs its own license

Eventship fix: On Free and Pro, Eventship is a flat subscription with unlimited events and unlimited guests, so a bigger year does not move you into a higher bracket. Enterprise is sized by attendee capacity and starts at $3,000/year for up to 250.

Whova is app-first, and the app carries Whova's branding, so our conference sits inside someone else's product.

Eventship fix: Eventship's front door is a web page, and it can run on your own domain. On Enterprise the whole conference site is white-label. There are native iOS and Android apps too, but they are an option for guests rather than the place the event lives.

The fixed $0.99 per ticket is fine on a $300 conference pass and brutal on a $25 community ticket.

Eventship fix: Eventship has no fixed per-ticket charge. On a $25 ticket, Whova's published US rate takes $1.74 and Eventship Free takes $0.75. On Pro the platform fee is $0 and only Stripe processing applies.

Our attendee history lives inside the event platform, so the CRM never sees who has been coming back for three years.

Eventship fix: Eventship keeps one record per attendee and sponsor across every event you run: invites, registrations, check-ins, introductions, returns and speaker applications. It syncs out to HubSpot, Salesforce, Mailchimp, Klaviyo and HighLevel, so the history sits in your CRM rather than only in an event dashboard.

Frequently asked questions

Is Eventship a good alternative to Whova?+
For in-person conferences, recurring event programs and lean teams, yes. Eventship covers registration, ticketing, the event website, sponsorships, booth sales, badges, memberships, CRM sync and attendee follow-up in one system, with published pricing and no implementation project. Whova remains stronger if you need a deeply featured conference app, virtual or hybrid delivery, live in-session engagement, formal abstract review, or exhibitor lead retrieval.
Which platform has the better mobile event app?+
Whova. Its conference app is more developed, with personalized agendas, community boards, live polling, gamification, virtual participation, exhibitor lead retrieval and appointment scheduling. Eventship has native iOS, iPad and Android apps covering event discovery, tickets, attendee profiles, AI introductions, direct messaging, check-in and Zebra badge printing, but it does not try to match Whova on in-session engagement.
Is Eventship cheaper than Whova?+
On ticketing, yes, and you can do the math yourself. Whova's published US example is 3% + $0.99 per paid ticket. Eventship is 3% on Free and 0% on Pro and Enterprise. On 500 tickets at $100, that is $1,995 with Whova, $1,500 on Eventship Free, and $0 on Pro, where the whole year costs $708. What cannot be compared is the platform fee itself, because Whova does not publish one. A full total-cost comparison needs a live Whova quote.
Which platform is better for virtual or hybrid events?+
Whova. Virtual and hybrid delivery are a core part of its product. Eventship is built around in-person events and the relationships they create, and does not host virtual sessions.
Which platform is better for sponsors and exhibitors?+
It depends on which half of the job matters more. Whova is stronger once exhibitors are on the floor: lead retrieval, digital booths, appointments, passport contests and ROI reporting. Eventship is stronger at selling the inventory in the first place, with sponsorship packages bought from the event page, booths bought from a live floor plan, benefits applied automatically, and a sponsor network that surfaces your event to brands looking for one. Eventship has no exhibitor lead retrieval.
Which platform is better for recurring events and memberships?+
Eventship, on memberships specifically. Whova supports member-only tickets and integrates with association management systems, but its public materials do not describe a native recurring membership product. Eventship bills paid memberships directly, with member benefits, directories, member-only tickets and community discussion that stays live between events. On recurring events the gap is narrower than it looks: Whova can target attendees from past events in a campaign. The difference is where the history ends up, which for Eventship is your CRM.
Which platform is better for attendee networking?+
Both match attendees, but the intent differs. Whova gives attendees the tools to find people themselves: recommendations based on interests and affiliations, community boards, direct messages and meetups inside the app. Eventship makes the first move instead. Before doors open it picks two people each guest should meet and explains why, and that connection stays attached to the guest's history with you. Whova helps attendees explore the room. Eventship helps the right people find each other before they walk into it.
Does Whova offer a white-label app?+
No. Whova states its mobile app is not white-label, though organizers can brand the event page with their own logo, colors, header image and welcome message. Eventship uses the Eventship app too. The difference is on the web: Eventship event and conference sites run on your own domain, and Enterprise includes a fully white-label conference site.
Which platform has stronger security credentials?+
Whova, on published compliance. It maintains SOC 2 Type II and documents PCI DSS and GDPR controls. Eventship runs on Google Cloud with Cloudflare WAF and DDoS protection, TLS 1.2+ in transit, AES-256 at rest, Firebase authentication and Stripe-managed payments, but Eventship does not currently hold a SOC 2 report of its own. If your procurement process requires one from the vendor itself, that is a real difference.
Can I migrate from Whova to Eventship?+
Yes. You can rebuild an event on Eventship in minutes, and our team can help move your attendee lists. Enterprise also offers a paid migration service where the Eventship team works alongside yours to move the conference and its website across.

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