The 7 Best Whova Alternatives in 2026 (With Transparent Pricing)

Try to find Whova's price. Go ahead — the pricing page ends in a quote request form. Third-party reviews and buyer reports place typical Whova event licenses in the low-to-mid four figures per event, with registration payments processed at 3.4% + $0.30 through Whova's payout system (2.9% + $0.30 if you connect your own Stripe). But you won't know your number until you've sat through a sales call — and that opacity is the first reason organizers go looking for alternatives.

It isn't the only reason. Whova is an attendee-app-first platform: its heart is the networking app, agendas, and community boards. If your event doesn't need those — and most fundraisers, festivals, races, workshops, and single-day events don't — you're paying suite prices for a feature set where registration is the supporting act. Attendees, meanwhile, have opinions about the app's notification volume that you've probably heard at your own events.

Here are the seven best alternatives in 2026, organized around the question that actually decides this: do you need an attendee networking app, or do you need registration and check-in done excellently?

First, what Whova does well

Credit where due: for multi-day conferences where attendee networking is a core deliverable, Whova's app is genuinely strong — session agendas, attendee messaging, community boards, gamification, sponsor visibility. Conference attendees really do use it, and if that engagement layer is why your attendees come, Whova belongs on your shortlist despite the pricing dance. This guide is for everyone who's realized that's not their event.

The comparison

US pricing, August 2026, $50 paid ticket where computable:

That "Published pricing?" column is the point. Half this industry will tell you what it costs; the other half wants a discovery call first.

1. Sunfish Events — best registration-first alternative

Fees: $1.49 + 1.5% per paid ticket + Stripe processing. Free events free. No monthly fee, no contract, pricing on the public pricing page.

If the honest answer to "do we need the networking app?" is no, Sunfish Events covers everything else Whova was doing for you, at a price you can calculate without a sales call. Registration runs on fully branded pages with conditional forms, audience and member-specific pricing, add-ons for merchandise, meals, sponsorships and donations, attendee self-service, invite lists, campaign emails, waitlists, and abandoned-cart recovery. Day-of, check-in runs in any browser, downloads the attendee list ahead of time so it works without venue Wi-Fi, and supports kiosk and staffed modes with live dashboards. It serves fundraisers, festivals, races, conferences, workshops, association and corporate events alike.

Honest trade-offs: no attendee networking app or community feed — that's the explicit trade — no native badge printing, and no marketplace.

Best for: organizers who need excellent registration and check-in, not an engagement suite.

2. EventMobi — best app-inclusive alternative

Fees: quote-based.

If you do need the attendee app but want an alternative vendor, EventMobi is the most direct Whova substitute: event apps, networking, agendas, and engagement tooling with a long conference track record. Pricing is also quote-based — you're trading one sales call for another — but buyers frequently cite design quality and support as differentiators. Peers worth quoting alongside: Eventify (publishes indicative pricing) and Swapcard.

Best for: conferences keeping the app requirement but shopping the vendor.

3. TicketSpice — best flat-fee ticketing at volume

Fees: $0.99/ticket + 2.9% + $0.30 processing; extras metered (email $0.02/send, custom domain $150/yr).

For high-volume general-admission events — festivals, fairs, concerts — TicketSpice's flat 99 cents beats percentage pricing, and its page builder is flexible. Registration workflows (conditional logic, member tiers, self-service) are lighter than registration-first platforms, and several conveniences are paid add-ons, so price the whole basket.

Best for: high-volume ticket sales where a flat fee wins.

4. RegFox — best for complex registration forms

Fees: $0.99 + 1% per registrant + processing.

RegFox (TicketSpice's registration-focused sibling) brings a powerful form builder suited to conferences, camps, and courses. No attendee app; the comparison with Sunfish comes down to workflow depth around the form — self-service, automated audience pricing, integrated offline check-in. Our RegFox comparison covers it head-to-head.

Best for: form-heavy registration events.

5. Ticket Tailor — best budget option

Fees: ~$0.75/ticket pay-as-you-go (less prepaid), 50% charity discount, 5,000 free tickets/year.

The simplest and cheapest credible option. If a Whova quote sent you looking for sanity, Ticket Tailor is its opposite: tiny published fees, money direct to your Stripe, minimal frills. Complex events will outgrow it; simple ones never need to.

Best for: simple events minimizing cost.

6. Eventbrite — best if marketplace discovery matters

Fees: 3.7% + $1.79 + 2.9% processing.

Coming from Whova, Eventbrite is a different animal: self-serve, published pricing (the highest per-ticket fees on this list), and a consumer marketplace that can genuinely sell tickets for public events. No networking app of Whova's depth; payouts arrive after your event by default. Full numbers in our Eventbrite fee guide and alternatives roundup.

Best for: public events that sell to browsing strangers.

7. Cvent — best for enterprise programs

Fees: quote-based annual subscription.

If your organization runs a year-round event program with procurement, compliance, and integration requirements, Cvent is the enterprise answer — at enterprise cost and implementation weight. For a single conference that's outgrown Whova, it's usually too much machine; see our Cvent alternatives guide.

Best for: enterprises with dedicated event teams.

Switching from Whova: practical notes

Check your contract dates — Whova licenses are typically per-event or annual; time the switch to renewal. Export your data early: attendee lists, session data, and historical registration info — get CSVs of everything while access is easy. Decide the app question honestly: survey last year's attendees on whether they used the networking features; the answer often settles the whole vendor debate. Rebuild before you cancel: stand up your next event on the new platform in parallel. Sunfish's concierge migration does the rebuild for you, side by side, before you commit — book a demo and ask.

FAQ

How much does Whova cost?
Whova doesn't publish pricing; licenses are quoted per event, with third-party buyer reports typically citing low-to-mid four figures per event depending on size and modules. Registration payments processed through Whova's payout system carry 3.4% + $0.30; connecting your own Stripe runs 2.9% + $0.30.

Does Whova charge per ticket?
Whova's model is primarily license-based (quoted), plus payment processing on paid registrations. The per-ticket economics depend on your quoted license spread across your ticket volume.

What's the best Whova alternative without an attendee app?
Sunfish Events — full registration depth (conditional forms, member pricing, add-ons, self-service, waitlists) plus offline-capable check-in, at published per-ticket pricing with no license fee.

Which Whova alternatives publish their pricing?
Sunfish Events, TicketSpice, RegFox, Ticket Tailor, and Eventbrite all publish exact fees. EventMobi and Cvent, like Whova, quote.

Can I keep networking features without Whova?
Yes — either an app-inclusive alternative like EventMobi or Eventify, or a lighter path many events choose: registration on a platform like Sunfish plus a free community space (Slack, Discord, or a LinkedIn group) for attendee connection, which attendees often prefer to another single-event app.

Pricing verified August 2026. Whova license figures are third-party buyer reports, not published rates — your quote may differ; that's rather the point.