Compare

Conferencer vs the field.

Eight tools that run a call for speakers or a conference programme, compared line by line. Every figure and feature on these pages is quoted from the vendor’s own public site, linked, and dated — and where a vendor publishes nothing, the page says so instead of estimating.

Each comparison also names where the other tool is genuinely better. A page that only lists our wins would be marketing, not information.

The field

Published prices at a glance.

Sessionboard: From $249 / mo; Speaker and content management for event teams. Conferencer vs Sessionboard →
Sessionize: $499 / event; Call for papers, schedule and speaker management. Conferencer vs Sessionize →
Oxford Abstracts: $890–$3,450 / event; Abstract management and conference platform for academic events. Conferencer vs Oxford Abstracts →
Ex Ordo: Not published; Peer review and conference management for research events. Conferencer vs Ex Ordo →
pretalx: Self-hosting free; hosted from €199 / event; Open-source conference management, from call for papers to schedule. Conferencer vs pretalx →
PaperCall: $0 — until 31 August 2026; The easy way to manage your call for papers. Conferencer vs PaperCall →
Sched: From $200 / event; Event scheduling and management platform. Conferencer vs Sched →
Whova: Not published; All-in-one event management platform. Conferencer vs Whova →

Conferencer

$0, always

MIT licensed and self-hosted: no plan, no per-event fee, no limit on submissions, no share of your revenue. Your only bill is the box it runs on, and a $5 VPS covers it.

Public pricing pages, read on 12 August 2026; every comparison page links its sources so you can check us. Vendors change prices; if a figure here has gone stale, the linked page is the truth.

How to read these pages

Sourced, dated, and fair to the other tool.

Everything is checkable: Every price and every feature claim about another product comes from that vendor’s own public pages — pricing page first, feature pages second — linked at the foot of each comparison and read on 12 August 2026. Where a vendor publishes no price, the page says “not published” rather than estimating one.
The other tool gets its due: Every page carries a “where they are genuinely better” section. Sessionize has a speaker network, pretalx will host for you, Sched sells the attendee half of the event. If one of them fits your conference better, these pages should help you notice.
Our side is checkable too: Everything claimed for Conferencer is in the repository: the source, the schema, and a seeded demo conference you can click through. Back to the landing page →

Open the live demo Read the source