WebinarJam vs GotoWebinar: Helpful Comparison

Are you stuck choosing a webinar platform between WebinarJam and GotoWebinar?

Then read on…

There are a lot of webinar platforms and settling for a webinar platform is a common snag most businesses face.

In this post, I’ll be putting two of the biggest and long-existing webinar platforms to test.

We’ll walk you through the differences and similarities between WebinarJam and GotoWebinar with a look into their features and pricing plans.

In detail, some of the criteria that will be considered in selecting the best are:

• Ease of use (e.g. is it easy to use and set up webinars even for beginners?)
• Webinar registration (e.g. ease of registration, customizable registration page, etc)
• Webinar presentation (e.g. live & pre-recorded webinar presentation)
• Email marketing (e.g. does it allow you to send pre-webinar and post-webinar emails to follow up with attendees?)
• Analytics (e.g. what kinds of webinar analytics are available?)

So let’s dive in. Asap!

What’s WebinarJam?

WebinarJam is a webinar platform that allows you to host live webinars. Founded in 2013 by Genesis Digital, WebinarJam has grown to over 50,000 users.

And counting…

Besides, WebinarJam is in the company of two other popular platforms; EverWebinar and Kartra.

Offering advanced and mouth-watering features, WebinarJam isn’t without glitches and shortcomings. Here my WebinarJam review for full issues and features.

The inability to host automated webinars is one of the noticeable shortcomings of WebinarJam. But asides from that, there are many other differences between both platforms.

What is GotoWebinar?

GotoWebinar is one of the granddaddies of webinar platforms. Founded in 2004, GotoWebinar is one of the pioneers of webinars.

However, just like you guessed, being the earliest doesn’t guarantee the best. Besides, GotoWebinar has an old-fashioned user interface.

One of the reasons which have made lots of GotoWebinar alternatives slowly dominating the industry.

But, that isn’t the only deciding factor when choosing a webinar platform, there are many other features to be considered.

Let’s look at some of the differences between WebinarJam and GotoWebinar.

Differences Between WebinarJam and GotoWebinar

Difference #1: Webinar Types and Webinar Interface

At first, GotoWebinar takes the lead with the different types of webinars it supports, allowing you to host live webinars and automated webinars.

A live webinar is what it is, streaming as it is happening.

And for automated webinars, they are pre-recorded videos or webinars hosted to mimic the live experience.

However, GotoWebinar doesn’t offer the best webinar interface. To be candid, their user interface is a bit clunky.

You get an old-fashioned webinar room interface while hosting your webinars.

Both the backend interface for the host and the user-end interface is outdated.

And that’s where WebinarJam comes in. WebinarJam provides a better user interface for its customers and end-users. Sexy-looking at that.

You don’t have to spend the whole day trying to figure out where the tools are or how to use the platform, it’s self-evident of user friendly.

On the other hand, you might find it difficult to use GotoWebinar because of the poor user interface.

In essence, when it comes to webinar types, GotoWebinar wins but speaking of the user interface, WebinarJam takes the lead.

See WebinarJam in action here

Difference #2: Registration Page

GotoWebinar and WebinarJam offer similar solutions for their registration pages.

While on WebinarJam, you can survey your registrants through the survey field and peep into their minds.

Likewise, on GotoWebinar, you can also survey your audience through the custom fields.

With the custom fields, you can add simple surveys on the registration form.

But, while WebinarJam provides a library of registration page templates to choose from, this is missing on GotoWebinar.

And the obvious solution is to integrate with LeadPages, which allows you to add a custom registration page to your webinar.

Good solution but also present on WebinarJam. So, if you’re not satisfied with the 17 built-in page templates, you can also revert to third-party page builders. Or seamlessly use its sister platform. Kartra.

Noteworthy is the fact that you can customize the templates to fit your brand.

The default GotoWebinar template can also be customized. Likewise, the templates on WebinarJam are also subject to customization.

To be exact, you can edit the title, form, image (logo), and other elements of the registration page.

So you’d agree, that WebinarJam is ahead in this game with their built-in templates.

Winner – WebinarJam

Difference #3: Event Scheduling

Scheduling is an essential aspect when it comes to webinars.

Webinars just like events take the schedule and time a priority.

GotoWebinar does offer an advanced scheduling solution compared to WebinarJam.

In detail, with GotoWebinar you can host live and automated webinars.

You can also host series and on-demand webinars.

Speaking of automated webinars, it’s a notable missing feature in WebinarJam.

On-demand webinars are a recently added feature to WebinarJam. Still growing and not yet direct sync to the platform, but can also be referred to as a decent solution.

With WebinarJam, you have three scheduling options:

• One single session
• Multiple sessions
• And recurrent series sessions

The one single session is a one-time webinar. However, it can be hosted twice with the same content just to make it flexible for attendees to choose the most suitable schedule for them.

And for the multiple sessions, it’s a mini-series that is hosted for a few days or weeks. Each day spans a different episode.

Lastly, the recurrent series is exactly what it’s called, a webinar series hosted for a long time with each episode spanning different content.

It’s similar to a TV show.

Although looking at the three different types of schedules offered on WebinarJam, you might be tempted to equate it to GotoWebinar.

All three schedules can be handled under the series and the live webinar solution of GotoWebinar.

And for the automated webinars, there’s no solution for it on WebinarJam.

The feasible solution is to upgrade to a premium plan that gives you access to EverWebinar (WebinarJam’s sister platform).

Just like you guessed, it comes at an additional cost.

This is an obvious win for GotoWebinar.

Winner – GotoWebinar

Difference #4: Live Chat

Just like the polls, WebinarJam and GotoWebinar both offer moderate live chat solutions.

For WebinarJam, you can decide to chat with your administrators (presenters, moderators, and hosts) without your attendees seeing the chat.

Also, you can chat with your attendees. As the host, you can turn the chat mode to the Q/A mode where all messages are marked as questions.

On GotoWebinar, you also have a similar feature. You can chat with your administrators without your attendees seeing the chat.

Likewise, you can chat with attendees. But your attendees cannot chat with one another.

They can only send chats to administrators.

A huge shortcoming I see with the GotoWebinar live chat feature is the absence of the chat pane on Android devices.

So all android users won’t be able to see the chat pane on their webinar interface.

Winner – WebinarJam

An absolute win for WebinarJam because there’s no restriction for mobile users. All mobile users can access the full functionality of the chat pane.

Try WebinarJam for $1 here

Difference #5: Email Notification

Although GotoWebinar offers modest email notification automation, WebinarJam offers the best. Let’s see how.

GotoWebinar allows you to send a maximum of three reminder emails and three follow-up emails.

In detail, here’s what GotoWebinar email notification looks like:

1.) A confirmation email after registration

2.) Three reminder emails:

• 1 to 6 hours before the event start date and time
• 1 to 6 days before the event start date and time

3.) Follow-up emails:

• 1 to 6 weeks after the event
• 1 to 6 days after the event
• 1 to 6 hours after the event

You can customize the emails to fit your webinar. Email subjects and the body of the email are some of the elements you can customize.

GotoWebinar allows you to add a recording of your webinar to the follow-up email to attract your absentees to watch a replay of the webinar.

For WebinarJam, you’ve better options.

You can also send a confirmation email after registration to your registrants. Reminder emails and follow-up emails are also present.

Likewise, you can customize the emails to suit your brand and event.

But where WebinarJam beats GotoWebinar is the ability to send 10 reminder emails before the event and 10 follow-up emails after the event, making it a total of 20 automated emails.

That’s way more than what you can get on GotoWebinar.

Winner – WebinarJam

Difference #6: Paid Webinars

Hosting paid webinars is now very common in the industry, and if you have the slightest intention of hosting a paid webinar sooner or later, then it’s a feature to look into.

As it is, GotoWebinar does not provide a built-in solution to host paid webinars.

Although you can cut corners to do this outside the platform, it isn’t worth the stress since there are other solutions out there.

And among many others, WebinarJam shines in this area.

WebinarJam has a built-in solution that allows you to charge your attendees for your webinars.

Besides, WebinarJam provides analytics for the conversion rate and also tracks your sales. This is a missing feature on GotoWebinar.

Winner – WebinarJam

Difference #7: Youtube Integration

Youtube Integration is a feature that allows you to live stream webinars to your youtube channel and allow your subscribers to catch you live on Youtube.

This awesome feature is present on WebinarJam.

Some of your followers or audience that were not able to register for the webinar can always join the webinar via YouTube live streaming.

Also, this is a solution to occupy all your audience and interested attendees.

Since there’s a cap on the number of attendees a webinar room can host depending on your plan, you don’t have to close others out.

With this feature, interested audiences that were not able to register for the webinar can always catch you live on YouTube.

However, this isn’t without a limitation. The integration does not include the engagement features on WebinarJam (polls, surveys, etc.).

That said, this feature is missing on GotoWebinar.

Winner – WebinarJam

Difference #8: Product Offers

As referred to on WebinarJam, the product offer feature allows you to display an offer or call-to-action to guide your attendees.

If you have a product to sell or whatever is your goal for hosting the webinar, you’ll find this feature helpful.

You can pre-configure your offer and also add a price (if it paid) before the webinar. The offer is displayed on the right-hand side of the screen.

Your attendees will see the offer (product/service) and will also be able to interact with the CTA. You can also customize the CTA button to fit your offer or product.

As good (and bad) as this sounds, it’s missing on GotoWebinar.

Winner – WebinarJam

Get started with WebinarJam here

Difference #9: Gamification (Certificate of Completion)

Not a popular feature when it comes to webinar platforms, however, this is a huge plus for GotoWebinar.

GotoWebinar allows you to host your webinars and also issue a certificate of completion to your attendees.

Aside from the engagement tools offered by GotoWebinar, I see this as a compelling tool to keep your attendees until the end of the webinar to obtain the certificate of completion.

WebinarJam doesn’t offer this. If you must issue a certificate of completion to your attendees, then you need to do this manually by adding it to your follow-up emails to your attendees.

Besides that, I don’t see any feasible method to achieve this on WebinarJam.

Winner – GotoWebinar

Difference #10: Webinar Analytics

Analytics is an essential aspect of a marketer’s work. WebinarJam and GotoWebinar do have an analytics dashboard to track the performance of your webinar.

However, the features of the dashboard are the difference. WebinarJam offers advanced webinar analytics compared to GotoWebinar.

And the major difference is the ability to track sales on WebinarJam. You can track both the sales of your paid webinars and your product offers (though this requires some integration with your payment gateway).

Winner – WebinarJam

WebinarJam vs GotoWebinar – Similarities

Similarity #1: Polls and Quizzes

WebinarJam and GotoWebinar are both on point when it comes to engagement, most especially, polls and quizzes.

With GotoWebinar, you can set up your polls before the webinar session or during the webinar session.

And not just a few polls, GotoWebinar allows you to set up 20 polls.

You wouldn’t need anything close to that, except on rare occasions.

Also for WebinarJam, the case is similar. You can also pre-configure your polls before the webinar session or you do it during the webinar.

Because of the two set-up processing WebinarJam offers, you can only pre-configure your polls when you choose the full-configuration mode.

The full-configuration gives you the option to set-up everything before the webinar.

So you can choose to set-few polls or all your polls before the webinar session.

And for the Express-Configuration, it’s faster because it skips most of the set-up.

So, you have to do the set-up in the webinar room. In essence, if you follow this route, you’ll have to set-up your polls in the webinar room or during the webinar.

Deciding who wins here is tough. They’re both ON POINT when it comes to polls.

Similarity #2: Attendee Spotlight

As it is referred to on WebinarJam, it’s a feature that allows you to turn any of your attendees to guest speakers allowing them to share their webcam and audio.

This is an advanced engagement feature that allows you to connect on a higher level with your attendees.

Interestingly, GotoWebinar also has the feature. GotoWebinar allows you to make any of your attendees a presenter.

But once you make them a presenter, the attendee will remain as a panelist till the end of the webinar.

So you can revert the authority. However, you can always mute or unmute your panelists or presenters as an organizer or host.

So, it’s a win-win for both WebinarJam vs GotoWebinar.

Similarity #3: Integration

It’s rare to see a webinar tool that does it all without a glitch. If there was, I could have just directed you to the tool without doing this long epistle.

But to compensate for the areas they are lacking, most webinar platforms allow you to integrate other platforms with their tool.

For example, you can integrate GotoWebinar with LeadPages and create a customized registration page without having to stick to the default template.

Besides that, you can also integrate WebinarJam and GotoWebinar with email automation tools like Aweber, and many others.

For WebinarJam, you can integrate with the following apps:

• Kartra (seamlessly!)
• Aweber
• ActiveCampaign
• InfusionSoft / Keep
• iContact
• OntraPort
• GetResponse
• MailChimp
• ConvertKit
• Drip
• Constant Contact
• Maropost
• Zapier
• Twilio

In contrast, GotoWebinar allows you to integrate with the following apps:

• Aweber
• Hubspot
• Hubspot CRM
• Marketo
• Salesforce Pardot
• Oracle
• ActiveDEMAND
• LeadPages
• Webmecanik
• PlusThis
• CirQlive
• Automate.io
• Zapier

Comparison of WebinarJam vs GotoWebinar Pricing Plans

WebinarJam Pricing Plans

 

To begin with, WebinarJam does NOT offer a free trial.

The trial costs $1 for 14-days. With the paid trials, you can have a look at how the software works.

They also provide a free demo to walk you around the platform.

That said, WebinarJam offers three pricing plans:

• Basic
• Professional
• Enterprise plan

The basic plan costs $499 per year offering a 500-attendee webinar room, a max of 2 presenters, and 2 hours of duration.

The professional plan costs $699 per year offering a 2000-attendee webinar room, max of 2 presenters and 3 hours of duration, Always-live room, and Panic button.

Lastly, at $999 per year, the enterprise plan offers a 5000-attendee, max of 6 presenters and 4 hours of max duration, Always-live room, Panic button, and control center.

Get WebinarJam for $1 here

GotoWebinar Pricing Plans

To begin with, GotoWebinar offers a free demo and free trial to get you started on the platform.

They offer four different plans:

• Lite
• Standard
• Pro
• Enterprise

For each plan, GotoWebinar allows you to pay either monthly or annually. Paying annually will save you some amount.

The least plan, Lite subscription, is priced at $49 monthly when billed annually. (Limited to 100 attendees ).

The Standard subscription is priced at $99/month when billed annually (Limited to 250 attendees).

And for the Pro subscription, it is priced at $199 per month limited to 500 attendees.

Lastly, at $399 per month, the Enterprise subscription offers a 3000-attendee room.

Pros and Cons of GotoWebinar vs WebinarJam 

WebinarJam Pros

• Offers some built-in templates
• WebinarJam supports up to 5000 attendees
• It’s more affordable compared to GotoWebinar
• Provides advanced engagement tools
• Advanced webinar analytics

WebinarJam Cons

• Does not allow you to host automated webinars
• It does not have a built-in gamification feature
• Does not have a free trial (a trial costs $1 for 14-days).

GotoWebinar Pros

• Allows you to host live and automated webinars
• Provides a gamification feature that allows you to award your attendees a certificate
• Advanced polls and quizzes
• Offers free trial

GotoWebinar Cons

• Offers a small webinar room
• Does not support paid webinars
• GotoWebinar lacks a product offer or CTAs to sell something to your attendees
• It is expensive

WebinarJam vs GotoWebinar – Which is Best?

It’s been a long walk-through and a tight comparison between WebinarJam and GotoWebinar.

However, there’s a neat gap between both WebinarJam and GotoWebinar software.

WebinarJam wins over GotoWebinar. However, you might find GotoWebinar attractive if you run webinars mainly for meetings in your organization.

But, if you are an online creator and looking to sell via webinars, then I (highly) recommend WebinarJam because of the built-in features to sell products and at the same time, track your sales.

Hope you found this GotoWebinar vs WebinarJam comparison guide helpful?

Lemme know your thought below!