Cvent is one of the largest event platforms in the world. It says it has more than 34,000 customers and is trusted by 89% of the Fortune 100. Beyond registration and the event app, it covers venue sourcing, hotel room blocks and meetings at trade shows. The AttendBeacon event platform is new, much smaller, and built for community and business events that want a published price and a short set-up.
At a glance
| Topic | AttendBeacon | Cvent |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Published: free for free events, free up to 1,000 participants, then €500 per event, excluding VAT | On request; pay-as-you-go in some countries, with a fee per registration and a share of revenue |
| Free events | Free, at any size | Pay-as-you-go charges its fees per registration, also on a free event |
| Payments | Your own Mollie or Stripe account | Cvent Payments, or a gateway such as Stripe, CyberSource or PayPal |
| Data hosting | EU regions of Microsoft Azure | AWS in Frankfurt and Dublin for EU customers |
| Check-in offline | Yes, on any phone's browser | Yes, in the OnArrival check-in app |
| Venue sourcing and room blocks | No | Yes |
What it costs
Cvent does not publish prices. Its pricing page offers a Professional tier, where you license the parts you need, and an Enterprise tier with everything included, and asks you to get a quote. It offers special rates to non-profits.
In some countries you can also pay as you go. Building an event is free; when you open registration, you see "a per-registration fee plus a small percentage of revenue share". Cvent does not publish the amounts. If the registrations do not cover its fees, "such as in the case of a free event", it charges your credit card.
The AttendBeacon pricing page is public and works per event:
- An event where every ticket is free is always free, at any size.
- Any other event is free up to 1,000 participants.
- Above that, a one-off licence costs €500 per event, excluding VAT.
- There is no fee per registration, no share of revenue and no subscription.
Your payment provider charges its own fees on both platforms. Try your own numbers in the ticket fee calculator.
Payments
Cvent works with several payment gateways. Outside North America and Australia these are Cvent Payments, its own merchant account, and CyberSource, PayPal Express Checkout, Stripe and WPM. Cvent Payments is not available for pay-as-you-go accounts.
AttendBeacon works with your own Mollie or Stripe account, and the money goes straight there. Mollie is a Dutch company. Each event sells in one of 38 currencies, with local ways to pay, such as iDEAL in the Netherlands or BLIK in Poland.
Where your data is
Cvent's trust page says it stores all customer data on AWS, in Frankfurt and Dublin for customers in the EU. Both platforms host EU data in the EU, and both run on a US company's cloud: Cvent on Amazon's, AttendBeacon on Microsoft's, in Sweden and the Netherlands. AttendBeacon's sovereignty page lists what leaves the EU, such as push messages and wallet passes, and why.
Where Cvent is stronger
- Breadth. Cvent sources venues from a network of about 340,000 hotels and venues, manages hotel room blocks and schedules meetings at trade shows. AttendBeacon books hotel rooms for the people you host, but has no venue marketplace.
- Certifications. Cvent's trust page lists ISO 27001 and 27701, SOC 1 and 2 Type II and PCI DSS Level 1. AttendBeacon has none of these yet.
- Support. Cvent's pricing page promises 24/7 support from a client services team of more than 1,800 people.
- Integrations at scale. Cvent connects with Salesforce, Marketo, HubSpot, Eloqua and others. Both platforms connect with Microsoft Dynamics 365: Cvent since July 2026, AttendBeacon as described in the Dynamics 365 guide.
Where AttendBeacon does more
- A price you can see, without a sales call, and free events that stay free.
- Set-up in minutes. Sign in, create an event and share its page. No licence to choose and no contract.
- Check-in on volunteers' own phones. The scanner runs in the browser, so nobody installs an app, and it keeps working offline.
- Community events. Recurring meetups, a community page with members, and season passes, next to the conference tools.
- Everything in every event: a call for speakers, badges, sponsors and exhibitors, room screens, volunteer shifts, the budget and the integrations. See the features.
Who should switch, and who should not
Consider AttendBeacon if:
- You run community events, user groups or conferences of a few hundred to a few thousand people.
- You want a published price, and free events that cost nothing.
- Your team is small and wants to start today, without a contract.
Stay with Cvent if:
- You source venues and manage hotel room blocks for many events a year.
- Your procurement requires ISO 27001 or SOC 2 from its suppliers.
- Your marketing runs on Salesforce, Marketo or Eloqua with Cvent's integrations.
Cvent is a trademark of its owner. AttendBeacon is independent of Cvent and is not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by it.