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Webinars, or web-based seminars, are the latest and greatest way to learn and connect remotely. These powerful tools let companies showcase their products, experts share their knowledge, and creators connect with their followers.
But harnessing the power of a webinar comes at a cost. Most webinar software isn’t cheap, which creates a barrier for many would-be hosts.
In this article, we’ll remove that barrier by introducing several of the best free webinar software. We’ll also walk you through choosing the right tool for you and provide tips for using it effectively.
What to consider when choosing free webinar software
There are several factors you need to keep in mind when choosing a platform to host free webinar meetings:
Webinar Goals
First, it’s important to establish clear goals for your webinar before choosing your software. These goals might include:
- Education
- Training
- Sales
- Content engagement
- Customer retention
Your goals determine your webinar’s format.
When you imagine a webinar, you might picture a single speaker presenting to a large audience. But the best webinars are interactive. Depending on your goals, you could incorporate polls, Q&As, networking, poster presentations, and more.
Some free webinar software offers these features, while other platforms don’t. Plan ahead before choosing a tool so the one you choose helps you accomplish your goals.
Number of Attendees
Your webinar’s goals also determine its length and ideal number of attendees.
Most free webinar platforms only allow up to 100 attendees per event—often fewer. If you need more participants, consider buying a subscription. But be careful not to overestimate the number of sign-ups you’ll get. You don’t want to buy webinar software only to get less interest from your audience than expected.
Make sure the tool you choose aligns with your goals and realistic expectations.
Usability
Another factor to consider before hosting a free webinar online is your webinar software’s usability.
In an ideal world, every tool would be simple and intuitive. But not every webinar platform is that straightforward. Some tools have a steep learning curve, while others remain complicated even after you’ve learned to use them.
If you’re a freelance content creator and relatively tech-savvy, you may get away with using complex webinar software. But if you’re choosing software for your company, keep in mind that others may use it. Even if you can figure it out, they might not be able to.
We recommend using the free trial many webinar tools offer to test their usability.
Reliability
While free trials are useful for determining reliability, it’s hard to thoroughly test software you’ve never used before. You probably won’t have time to learn all the features before the trial expires.
Instead, the best way to assess free webinar software’s reliability is to read customer reviews. They let you see through the eyes of long-term users who have tested the software in various ways. If it’s weak in a particular area, it’s good for you to know that before investing time into learning the software yourself.
You can also ask colleagues or friends about their experience with the software. Or, you can attend a free webinar online that uses the software and observe it from the participant’s perspective.
Integrations
Webinar software integrations are connections between the software and other tools. They make it simple for you to use your webinar software in conjunction with these other tools.
A common example is an integration between a webinar tool and video-editing software so you can edit your webinar recording before distributing it to participants or posting it on your website.
Before choosing a webinar tool, think about which integrations are most useful for you.
Webinar Recording
Last, we recommend choosing webinar software that lets you not only host free webinars online but also record them.
Recording webinars helps you reach more people by getting your content in front of those who can’t attend live. For example, you can post your entire webinar (or short clips from it) on your website or social media.
Recordings also enhance attendee satisfaction; even those who attend live appreciate having a recording to look back at.
Also, people with disabilities may need to watch the recording several times to absorb the information. In that way, recording your webinars increases their accessibility.
Transcription
Webinar software that offers transcriptions can help boost your content’s discoverability by improving your SEO. You can use your transcript to produce video captions and subtitles. You can also post your entire video online in text form.
Search engines can these use these captions, or text to help place your content under relevant search terms, making it easier for your audience to find you. That means when your audience does a Google search related to your webinar topic, your recording is more likely to show up.
Now that you know how to choose the right software for your free webinar meetings, we’ll walk you through today’s best free webinar platforms.
7 Best free webinar software and services for 2024 (All PCs)
1. Hopin
Compatibility: Web, Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android
Hopin is an all-in-one online and hybrid webinar software. It recreates in-person seminars by providing virtual reception, networking, and expo areas. On the back end, it lets you access a suite of participant analytics.
With Hopin’s free plan, you can host unlimited webinars with up to 100 participants per event. Events can last up to 2 hours. The free plan also includes all of Hopin’s virtual spaces, customizable participant registration, and basic participant analytics.
Key Features:
- Customizable registration
- Participant analytics
- SEO optimization
- Event chat channels
- Live closed captions
Best for: Those hosting large webinars that include networking or multiple presentations
2. Google Meet
Compatibility: Web, Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android
Google Meet is a free webinar service for anyone with a Google account. Meetings include a virtual whiteboard, emoji reactions, and host safety controls.
Both hosts and participants can screen-share, though you can only share your entire screen or a single app. You can’t share a select portion of your screen. That means that if you’re giving a webinar talk on Google Meet, you can’t use PowerPoint presenter view.
You can hold up to 60-minute webinars with up to 100 participants using the free version of Google Meet.
Key Features:
- Virtual whiteboard
- Screen-sharing
- In-meeting hand raising
- Emoji reactions
- Host safety controls
Best for: Individuals with a Google account hosting relatively small, short webinars
3. Livestorm
Compatibility: Web, Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android
Livestorm advertises its software as an end-to-end webinar solution. The company helps with both advertising for your webinar and with the webinar itself. It also provides post-meeting participant analytics.
With Livestorm’s free plan, you can host 20-minute live webinars with up to 30 attendees.
Key Features:
- Customizable email templates
- Customizable registration pages
- In-meeting polls
- Emoji reactions
- File-sharing
- Participant analytics
Best for: Individuals or companies looking for an end-to-end webinar solution
4. Zoom
Compatibility: Web, Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android
Zoom became a household name during the COVID-19 pandemic, and is still one of the most popular video-conferencing platforms. One of Zoom’s benefits for webinar presenters is its ability to screen-share a PowerPoint in presenter view. That means your audience sees only your slides, while you see both your slides and your notes.
Zoom lets you host unlimited 40-minute webinars with up to 100 attendees for free. You can also record meetings, though you need a subscription to record to the cloud.
Key Features:
- Screen-sharing
- Emoji reactions
- Hand-raising
- Automatic captions
- Virtual whiteboards
- In-meeting chat
- Calendar integrations
Best for: Those whose webinar presenters or attendees prefer a familiar platform
5. FreeConferenceCall
Compatibility: Web, Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android
FreeConferenceCall’s mission is to give everyone access to audio and video-calling. To that end, they work on a pay-what-you-can model. For a price you can afford, the software lets you host or attend webinars, share your screen, and record the meeting. If you can’t afford to pay, you can use the software for free.
You can hold unlimited webinars with no per-meeting time limit and with up to 1,000 attendees. You can also store up to 1GB of meeting recordings in the cloud.
Key Features:
- Unlimited meetings per month
- Unlimited time per meeting
- Up to 1,000 attendees per meeting
- Meeting recording
- 1GB of storage
- Screen-sharing
Best for: Those looking for the most features in a free webinar software or wanting to host very large webinars
6. Zoho Meeting
Compatibility: Web, Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android
Zoho Meeting is a secure webinar software for businesses of all sizes. Its interface is user-friendly, and its audio and video are high-quality. It also comes with collaborative features like screen-sharing, file-sharing, and in-meeting chat.
Zoho Meeting’s Forever Free plan lets you host 60-minute webinars with up to 100 attendees.
Key Features:
- Screen-sharing
- File-sharing
- Ability to mute participants
- Virtual backgrounds
- Virtual whiteboard
- Meeting analytics
Best for: Businesses for whom meeting security is paramount
7. Airmeet
Compatibility: Web, Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android
Airmeet’s webinar software helps you make virtual meetings more engaging by modeling them after in-person events. The software offers several features that facilitate connections between attendees, including networking, polls, and interactive sessions.
With Airmeet’s free plan, you can host unlimited 90-minute webinars with up to 50 attendees.
Key Features:
- Live meeting polls
- Real-time meeting analytics
- In-meeting networking
- Participant email templates
Best for: Individuals or businesses hosting small, interactive webinars
For a deeper dive into webinar tools, check out our article on the 20 best webinar software platforms.
Is free webinar software worth it?
This really comes down to your needs. If you find the above free plans meet all your requirements, then sure it’s worth using a free webinar tool. That said, many free plans can be limiting and if you’re a regular webinar host, it may be better to invest and pay for a all-rounded webinar recording platform.
Luckily this doesn’t have to be expensive, with a platform like Riverside you can record in studio-quality and an affordable price.
Recording webinars with Riverside
Riverside is a webinar recording, streaming, and editing software. With Riverside’s webinar software, you can host live webinars with up to 1,000 attendees. You can also stream webinars to multiple social media platforms, and even custom RTMPs.
Several factors set Riverside apart from other webinar software. First, the tool records webinars on your local device instead of over the internet. That means any internet problems you or your attendees have won’t end up affecting your recording. You can record in up to 4K video and 48kHz audio resolution to ensure top quality. After recording, you’ll receive separate audio, video and screen share tracks for all your participants. This makes editing easier as you can adjust each track separately.
While we have a screen share feature, we also have a dedicated Presentation Recorder. You can upload presentation slides, and even assign a guest controls to go through slides. Slides are also recorded locally, and in a separate track.
With Riverside, you can host up to 10 guests, plus invite your audience to call in live. You can also invite someone on your team in producer mode so they can control meeting settings behind the scenes without being in the recording.
When you’re done streaming you can download your recordings as they are, or you can polish them for repurposing in our text based editor . Here you can edit as easily as editing a recocording transcript. You can burn in captions, customize your layout and more. Better yet, create webinar highlights to take your content further. Our Magic Clips tool uses AI to identify your long-form recordings’ key moments and turns them into multiple shareable clips, all in one click.
Key Features:
- Local recording so your quality doesn’t depend on your internet connection
- Separate audio, video and screen share tracks for all participants
- Up to 10 participants and up to 1,000 audience members per webinar
- Audience live call-ins for maximum engagement
- Text-based editor where you can edit your recording as easily as editing text, plus customize your layout at the tap of a button
- Automatic audio fine-tuning with silence removal, background noise removal and audio normalization.
- Magic Clips creator to repurpose your webinar into multiple social media videos
- Producer mode gives your producer easy access to technical settings
- Script and teleprompter feature for easily staying on track
- Highly accurate AI Transcriptions available in over 100 languages
Learn more, or sign up to start experiencing all these benefits, and more.
Best practices for using your webinar software
Of course, everything you’ve read in this article won’t do you any good if you don’t know how to implement it! To that end, we’ll share a few best practices for those who want to host webinars for free.
Cater to your audience
First, understand your target audience. What are they interested in? What questions do they have?
Make sure your free webinar meeting caters to their interests or answers their questions. It should provide practical, actionable tips they can implement in their daily lives.
Choose the right speakers
Next, choose engaging webinar speakers who your audience will be able to relate to. If your speaker has nothing in common with your audience, attendees may grow bored and disengage. You risk a similar outcome if your speaker is just plain boring!
It’s also important to choose knowledgeable speakers. They don’t have to be a renowned expert in their field, but they should know more about their topic than their listeners.
Invest in high-quality equipment
Make sure your webinar speakers and moderators have a high-quality camera and microphone. While a computer or phone camera will do the job, it’s best to invest in an external microphone. Most devices’ built-in mics are notoriously low quality.
Remember, the quality of both your live stream and your recording will only be as good as your equipment. It’s amazing how much of a difference good hardware makes!
Make webinars interactive
There’s a reason webinar software companies heavily advertise their interactive features. Connecting with hosts and other attendees helps people engage with the webinar!
Encourage attendee connection through polls, meeting chats, breakout rooms, Q&As, whiteboards, and emoji reactions. These activities also help you as organizer get to know your audience better.
Once you combine these tips with one of the free tools we listed above, you’ll be recording high-quality webinars in no time!
FAQs on Free Webinar Software
How do I create a webinar for free?
You can easily create a free webinar online using one of the tools we’ve described in this article.
These free webinar platforms let you invite dozens of attendees and give you access to tools for increasing audience engagement during meetings. They also often give you participant analytics after the meeting.
Is GoTo Webinar free?
GoTo Webinar is not a free webinar platform. Its lowest pricing tier is an annual subscription of $49/month.
For a free alternative to GoTo Webinar, consider Riverside’s webinar software. Riverside lets you host unlimited free webinars with up to 1,000 attendees at each meeting. It also produces high-quality meeting recordings.
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