Crowdcast Review (2024) | Key Features, Pros, & Cons

If you regularly host webinars and live events, you likely face some problems that your current hosting solution doesn’t solve, such as clunky interfaces and limited features.

As an entrepreneur, educator, or online business owner, it’s rare to find a piece of software with all the features you need at the right price.

Often, you have to hack your webinar platform, or duct-tape together platforms designed for meetings, not events, to align with your vision of communication and collaboration – all the while dreaming of a tool that would work exactly the way you want it to without the hassle.

Enter Crowdcast – a live video platform that allows creators to connect with audiences and engage them in interactive ways. You can use it to streamline interviews, workshops, and webinars, and connect all your e-commerce and engagement tools to manage everything from one place.

Read the rest of this Crowdcast review to discover more about this platform, including its key features and functionality, pros and cons, integrations, customer support, and pricing. By the end, you’ll have a good idea of whether or not this is the right multistreaming webinar platform for you.

You can also learn more about alternatives to Crowdcast in our post, 10 Best Live Streaming Software For Multi-Platform Streaming.

Who is Crowdcast Good For?

More than a simple webinar tool, Crowdcast is a powerful live-streaming platform that solves many problems faced by online business owners and community event organizers.

Listed below are some of the most common use cases to give you a better idea of what this tool can do.

• Course Creators: Use Crowdcast’s course creation integrations to get your teaching and training out to the world. From private lessons to multi-week courses, you can share slides, invite students on screen, answer upvoted questions, and customize your replays for an enhanced learning experience.
• Online Coaches: Grow your online course business with hybrid events. Livestream in-person events and use the interactive classroom functionality to engage with the audience over Q&As, group calls, hangouts, and more.
• Businesses: Use Crowdcast to present workshops and webinars to your customers without the hassle. Built-in tools help you keep the audience’s attention on your business, brand, products, and services while you interact meaningfully with attendees. You can even use the platform to train or interactively collaborate with your remote team.
• Event Organizers: Stream virtual conferences, festivals, and live shows and turn your content into an engaging community event. You can easily host live podcast shows, create a series, or stream concerts right from your browser, and send emails and push notifications to attendees with one click.
• Non-Profits: Use the Patron-Stripe integration to host live streams and raise money for your causes. You can control which tiers have access to your content and patrons can register with a single click.

Now, let’s take a deeper look at some of the platform’s most powerful tools that you will enjoy.

Crowdcast Functionality

1. Ease of Use

This is a full-fledged tool that lets you host online events from any device. Its business applications can be categorized into three sections: webinars, live courses, and community engagement.

In a nutshell, the platform allows you to conduct:

• Workshops and webinars
• Live shows
• Teaching
• Patreon events
• Online festivals and conferences
• Casual events or social hangouts

Like many similar tools in the webinar space, there is virtually no learning curve when it comes to using the Crowdcast app. You can get started right away and get a good handle on the tool within a relatively short time. Onboarding is fast, and navigation is simple.

Unlike many other live streaming solutions, no technical skills are required since there’s no software to download or install.

Although full-featured and comprehensive, the admin interface is clean and intuitive. You’ll have an easy time finding your way between the viewer list, chat, polls, questions, and all other options on the platform.

Getting Started with Crowdcast

The best part of using Crowdcast to host events is that it has a very simple setup process. To get started, simply sign up for a Crowdcast account on the website. You will then be directed to the dashboard where you can start creating a webinar right away by clicking “Create event”.

From there, you can fill in all the details, including the event title and description, date, time, etc. You can then customize the event page by uploading your logo and other branding elements, such as a background image.

Next, configure payment settings to determine whether your event will be free or paid, or if registration is required. You can also include any additional options, such as Q&As or polls to make your event more interactive.

Just like that, your event is set up.

Now you can start promoting it through email, social media, or on your blog by simply sharing the event link.

As a user on the platform, you can create a profile page and channel that your audience can subscribe to. All your previous and upcoming events are automatically listed on your channel as shown in the example below:

Alternatively, you can upload your own registration form and embed upcoming events on your website.

You can charge for live events however you want, create coupons, and engage your audience via email. You can even connect with your social media followers by posting your live events there. All of this is possible from the platform’s user-friendly dashboard designed for ease of use.

2. Intelligent Webinar Link

Crowdcast provides a single intelligent link that allows users to register, watch, and replay events all on one page. This way, it only takes a few seconds to set up your live event.

That one link will work for everything, including:

• Registration;
• Attending the event; and
• Watching the video stream replay.

You can attend and host live events or virtual gatherings directly from any desktop or mobile browser. Create live interviews, Q&As, and interactive conversations to engage your audience seamlessly.

Enhance your webinars through live chat and live polls and stream to all major social media platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

3. Live Streaming

Crowdcast allows you to host virtual events your community loves while integrating the tools you need to grow your business. It’s considered by many to be among the best live streaming software for multi-platform streaming.

As previously mentioned, you can go live from any device; likewise, participants can attend from any device just by registering with their email address.

Removing the extra steps for registration helps to ensure that your attendance rates skyrocket for non-download webinars.

The platform works with all modern browsers, as well as Android and iOS devices which means your audience can easily join events from anywhere.

Crowdcast also integrates seamlessly with social media platforms to help you expand your reach. This is a very important feature in today’s landscape where social media plays such a crucial role in promoting content and events. You’ll be able to tap into your existing social network to attract a broader audience to your webinars.

4. Audience Engagement

Crowdcast’s interface is very different from traditional webinar interfaces where you typically don’t see people, just see slides and a limited chat. Instead, Crowdcast is designed with community-building in mind.

It has features like live Q&A, polls, guest speakers, and audience engagement tools to make online events more dynamic.

Crowdcast provides a modern chat experience that further drives interaction not only between you and the audience but also between audience members themselves. You can conduct polls and surveys during the webinar to further enhance the overall experience.

The interactive nature of the platform is one of its most notable features. Unlike traditional webinars that utilize the one-to-many broadcasting model, interactive webinars give attendees the option to engage with the host and ask questions in real-time.

So, rather than a monologue from a one-way presentation, you have a conversation where attendees actively participate in sessions.

This is a great feature that helps you develop a collaborative environment that fosters a sense of community among webinar participants.

If your goal is to generate new business and grow your community, then this platform has a range of tools to help you achieve that objective. As you well know, webinars are one of the most efficient channels to retain existing customers and engage new audiences.

As an online coach or course creator, you can use Crowdcast’s functionality for interactive classrooms to engage with audiences worldwide.

The slide-sharing and course creation functionality, as well as one-on-one coaching features, allow you to deliver professional service to clients and streamline and automate the entire process.

5. Browser-Based

Unlike other options like Facebook Live, GoToWebinar, Webex, or Zoom where audiences have to download clunky webinar software, Crowdcast is a browser-based tool which means that there are no downloads.

The old way of conducting webinars includes users having to:

• Open the webinar page;
• Fill out a giant form;
• Submit the form;
• Sift through their inboxes for the registration email;
• Wait for another email with a link to the meeting;
• Wait for the event to go live;
• Download and install a platform like Zoom;
• And only then watch the event.

Crowdcast has simplified this entire process with its cutting-edge web technologies that make it possible to provide large-scale live video experiences right from your browser.

The biggest benefit of this is when there is no software to install, you get higher show-up rates and increased engagement.

Webinar attendees simply have to click the webinar link. If they haven’t registered for the event, they’re shown a beautiful landing page where they can register in one click. If the event hasn’t started, they can instantly join the chat, take polls, or submit questions.

6. Multiple Event Hosts  

Crowdcast lets you present your events like a pro by sharing the stage with guests. Of course, you have the option to focus on your media. Share presentations, product demos, or videos. However, you can further improve the experience of your webinar participants by having multiple hosts.

You can have up to 11 people on screen at the same time, and you can invite cohosts, guests, or attendees on stage with just a click. You are the director, and Crowdcast gives you full control over your event.

7. Crowdcast Webinar Studio

Built for both creators and brands, Crowdcast’s live production studio allows teams to co-produce engaging online events. The studio-in-browser gives users total control over their events.

Once you’re signed in as the event host, you have full access to this tool which means you’ll be able to design your stage exactly how you want with your brand and feel.

The new studio also allows you to cue up elements like animated overlays, videos, and images without integrating any additional tools.

There’s also a Greenroom where you can practice your webinar event before going live. This amazing tool even has a specially designed “wing” for speakers to wait in before going onto the stage.

All of this gives you even more control over what your viewers see. 

Best of all, you can check the status of your Crowdcast before doing live training. This helps to take much of the mental load off of going live as you’ll be able to see that everything is running smoothly or iron out any tech glitches before the audience joins your event.

8. Built-In Landing Pages

As a Crowdcast user, there’s no need to integrate third-party landing page builders. The platform has dozens of pre-configured landing pages to choose from.

Once you find a template you like, you can customize it to match your brand. Change the URL, video, image, and description on the registration page to help you capture more leads.

If unregistered users click your webinar link, they are automatically shown a beautiful landing page on which they can save their spot with just a click of a button.

Through all of this, Crowdcast provides powerful branding features to help you create a coherent brand experience for your audience. This, in turn, positively impacts engagement which helps to drive more revenue.

9. Notifications

Crowdcast offers email and push notifications as part of its service. The platform has built-in lead generation and conversion tools to automatically capture email addresses and send push notifications.

You can send reminder messages to your audience at any time – before, during, and after the event. There are various customization options to ensure that your email messages fit your brand.

This feature also makes it easier for you to build a following on the platform and keep attendees coming back. For instance, viewers can “follow” your Crowdcast channel and be notified via email or push notifications about any upcoming events.

10. Multi-Streaming Capabilities

This popular live event platform for creators gives you the capability to multi-stream your events. You can broadcast to various other platforms where your audience handouts, including:

• Facebook Live
• YouTube Live
• LinkedIn Live
• Twitch

This is good news for you if you already have an audience on other social media platforms. You can automatically broadcast your online show to all major social platforms – and you can do it all effortlessly with a single click.

This means you can use the platform to cater to your existing audience while growing your viewer base from email and social media channels. You get to go omnichannel without any of the clutter.

11. Built-In Analytics Features

Crowdcast offers event and session analytics on all plans. You can see detailed metrics about your Crowdcast account, including the following:

• Conversion rates
• Performance metrics
• Referral information
• Engagement metrics

Compared to other live streaming tools, Crowdcast’s analytics provide significantly more in-depth data similar to that of Google Analytics.

You can track where your audience comes from, how many people are registered, how many people visited your landing page, who showed up for the event, and your levels of audience engagement.

Having comprehensive data on audience demographics, attendance rates, engagement levels, questions asked, and other attendee engagement metrics can help you optimize your content based on the preferences of your attendees.

You can also use the smart data collected to optimize your overall marketing strategies for successful event outcomes.

12. Built-In Video Monetization Tools

On Crowdcast, you can run paid events to maximize revenue from the value you deliver. The platform integrates easily with Stripe, and you can charge for your events any way you like.

For example, you can charge a fixed price, or use a sliding scale. You can even use the Stripe and Patreon integrations to accept donations from your followers.

The platform offers flexibility thanks to its ability to connect to over 1,500 apps and services through Zapier (more on Crowdcast integrations below).

Important Note: Depending on the plan you choose, Crowdcast takes a small percentage of your withdrawal amount as a transaction fee (minimum 5%).

Additional Crowdcast Features

Here are a few more of Crowdcast’s features that are worth mentioning:

• Live, Time-stamped Q&A: Attendees can submit questions, take polls, and interact with the chat even before the session starts. You can timestamp the answers for easy replay.
• Chat and Polls: In addition to being able to chat with the audience even before the event goes live, you can also delete comments and ban trolls, as well as invite attendees on screen.
• Powerful CTAs: Use the platform’s call to action buttons, such as “subscribe to the newsletter”, “take survey”, “download PDF now”, “purchase e-book”, etc. to send attendees to external links. You can show or hide the CTA button with one click.
• RTMP Mode: You can use professional live-streaming tools like Wirecast, OBS, Restream, or Ecamm Live to send an RTMP output and integrate it with your Crowdcast event.
• Embed Events: Get the most out of every event by embedding it on your website or blog with just a few clicks.
• Create and Share Clips: Attendees can create and share 60-second clips of your events to help drive more registration to your live events or replays.

Crowdcast Pros and Cons

As you can see, Crowdcast replaces a lot of online webinar tools thanks to its impressive range of features.

The business applications of the platform make it ideal for establishing a live-streaming presence. You can use the powerful software to create a business channel dedicated to publishing webinars, coaching, training content, Q&As, interviews, and meetings.

However, like every other software, Crowdcast has its drawbacks. Here are some of its major pros and cons to give you a better idea of the platform’s capabilities and limitations.

Pros:

1. Easy to Use: Crowdcast is browser-based which means there’s no need to download any software. The platform also has a simple interface that is easy for both hosts and audiences to navigate.
2. Interactive Features: You can use the built-in chat, Q&A, and survey tools to engage with your audience and make your webinars more dynamic and captivating.
3. On-Demand Replays: Crowdcast provides on-demand replays that viewers can access using the same webinar link they used to register.
4. Unlimited Registered Attendees: On any of Crowdcast’s plans, you can have unlimited users to register for your events, and you only have to pay for those who show up to live (above your plan’s attendee limit).
5. Social Media Integration: Easy integration with major social platforms makes it easy for you to reach and connect with a broader audience, and promote your webinar more effectively.
6. One-Click Data Export: You can export all essential data like attendee names and emails, chat messages, live conversions, poll answers, and CTA analytics data with just one click.

Cons:

1. Limited Branding Options: Compared to a platform like Livestorm, which lets you add branded colors, Crowdcast’s customization options may not be adequate for businesses and individuals with a strict brand identity.
2. Requires Stable Internet Connection: The cloud-based platform’s reliance on stable internet for smooth performance means that hosts and attendees in areas with poor connectivity will have compromised video and audio quality. The video will likely be glitchy and may even drop off.

Crowdcast Alternatives

As this review has shown so far, Crowdcast is so much more than just a simple webinar tool. It offers a wide range of features and functionalities that are essential for individuals and businesses wanting to connect with their audiences in more meaningful ways.

You get on-demand, automated, or evergreen webinars, embed forms, a company page, call-to-action buttons, and built-in social sharing, among many other features.

However, if you find that this webinar tool doesn’t tick all the boxes for you, you might consider one of the Crowdcast alternatives below to find the best fit for your webinar needs.

Crowdcast vs WebinarNinja

WebinarNinja is a full-featured Crowdcast alternative that integrates with all your tools directly. The platform is built for teaching, not meetings, which makes it ideal for online course creators and coaches.

Automated webinars are included in all plans and you can have up to 1,000 live attendees to any event. Everything is streamlined so there is no clutter or confusion when running your webinars.

You can turn past webinar recordings into automated webinars with just a few clicks. All of this is possible with no need to integrate any third-party tools.

Like Crowdcast, WebinarNinja has built-in marketing tools to help you promote your webinar to a global audience. One of the main differences between the two platforms is that WebinarNinja has a stronger focus on help desk management which makes it the ideal webinar tool for independent creators.

Crowdcast vs EverWebinar

EverWebinar is automated webinar software that allows you to host polished webinar presentations without needing to be actively involved. It works by taking your recorded webinar video and pitching it to audiences automatically according to a customized schedule and script.

EverWebinar is the best webinar solution for evergreen webinars. Once you set up the automation, the platform promises to boost both the reach and quality of your webinar content.

Handling the logistics behind the scenes enables unattended webinars that run smoothly each time. The platform aims to help creators realize more consistent revenue growth by repeatedly re-engaging past audiences and attracting new viewers.

Its automated features allow you to focus less on webinar operations and more on developing compelling content. Ultimately, EverWebinar strives to scale up your webinar impact through automation.

Crowdcast vs Livestorm

Livestorm is one of the best webinar software tools that offer an end-to-end solution. You can manage everything from your dashboard – from organizing and promoting to hosting and analyzing your webinars.

Like Crowdcast, this webinar software lets you create and run your webinars straight from your desktop or mobile browser.

Also, you can collaborate with your team using the user-friendly dashboard and promote your webinar to global audiences with automated emails and built-in customizable registration pages.

Unlike Crowdcast, no integrations are needed to send emails, you can do it right in your account.

Crowdcast Pricing

Crowdcast offers a free two-week trial which allows you to go live for free. You get all the business features included, and you can have 10 live attendees and 60-minute sessions.

Once your free trial is over, you can upgrade to one of three premium plans ranging from $34-$136/month (you get a 30% discount when you pay annually).

Here’s what each plan entails:

• Lite Plan: $34/Month: This plan is ideal for creators and small businesses that want to grow their audiences. It allows you to have up to 100 live attendees for each event and unlimited registered users. Stream for up to 10 hours each month and add a teammate to your channel to help you manage and produce events.
• Pro Plan: $62/Month: This plan is perfect for professional creators who consistently host live video events. It allows you to have up to 250 live attendees. You can stream for up to 20 hours per month and add two team members to your account. This plan also allows you to stream your Crowdcast stage to Facebook, YouTube, Twitch, and other third-party sites.
• Business Plan: $136/Month: Users on this plan can have up to 1,000 live attendees for the events. It allows up to 40 streaming hours per month and four additional host seats. You can multistream your Crowdcast stage to three locations, making it ideal for startups and companies that want to engage their customers.

All plans come with base features included. You can stream two, four, or six-hour sessions (depending on your plan) and add unlimited sessions to an event. You also get HD live video with recording which means the event will be available instantly for replay and download. Additionally, all users get email and chat support, as well as event and session analytics.

Crowdcast Customer Support

Perhaps the most impressive thing about this webinar tool is its customer support. The Crowdcast team offers one-on-one care and attention that helps users overcome obstacles and get their questions answered with ease.

Crowdcast support is offered through various channels.

• Live technical support
• Live chat and email support
• Crowdcast forum
• Crowdcast Facebook community
• Crowdcast blog

The website has an FAQ page where you can get answers to the most commonly asked questions. You can also search for articles on the site’s well-curated knowledge base.

Additionally, Crowdcast users can get in touch with support via email or chat to get advice and answers from the knowledgeable support team. The platform’s general support hours are Monday to Friday, between 9 AM to 5 PM PST and they typically reply within two hours.

Unlike many other streaming platform services that provide subpar customer support, Crowdcast focuses on providing world-class support to all its users.

The support team is friendly and knowledgeable, and you can even hire Crowdcast experts if you want to plan a complex live event with countless participants. They will work with you from start to finish to ensure the success of your event.

A Crowdcast expert will be assigned to help you with all relevant tasks, from technical support to producing, marketing, and facilitating your event or conference.

Integrations With Other Software

Integrations are crucial for webinar tools for many reasons. They allow you to expand your reach by leveraging channels like email marketing, CRM, and social media platforms to promote your webinar and drive registrations.

You can also use integrations to streamline workflows, enhance data tracking, and improve the experience of your attendees through integrated chat tools, survey builders, payment processors, and marketing automation to smooth out the user experience.

Crowdcast lets you integrate with over 1,500 tools, software solutions, and systems through Zapier.

The list of supported apps includes the following:

• Google (Gmail, Google Drive, Google Forms, Google Sheets, Google Calendar)
• Slack
• Kajabi
• HubSpot
• Shopify
• Mailchimp
• Facebook Lead Ads
• YouTube
• Patreon
• Stripe
• Webflow

You can connect any of the apps and services you need to manage your business from one place. You can even enable customization through niche apps designed for unique use cases. This allows you to customize your webinar workflows to your tech stack.

Crowdcast User Reviews

Crowdcast is a relatively new platform compared to some of its competitors, and it has a smaller but fast-growing user base. Specific user numbers are not publicly reported, but the reviews and mentions online seem largely positive.

They highlight Crowdcast’s friendlier pricing, ease of use, and interactive features as benefits over alternatives. Many reviewers also praise the platform for its prompt customer support and online help.

One reviewer had this to say about the software: “The app is clean and intuitive. It does everything we need it to do, which includes watching an event, participating in an event chat, asking questions, responding to polls, and watching replays of past events”.

However, as with any platform, there’s also some negative feedback on certain functionality from some users. For example, one Capterra user laments the software’s accessibility issues such as poor contrast and even keyboard/screen reader problems.

Wrapping Up – Is Crowdcast Right For You?

Crowdcast positions itself as an easy-to-use and interactive webinar platform geared towards creators, though it can be used by anyone. Crowdcast has reimagined the entire live video experience to help you reach, connect, engage with, and grow your audience.

Depending on your needs, this feature-rich platform could be the perfect webinar tool for you. It delivers ease-of-use and robust functionality at an affordable price.

Choose it if you want to host informative, engaging webinars to expand your existing marketing funnels. You’ll be able to create new prospects to interact with your business and deliver product/service demonstrations. 

Crowdcast FAQ

What is Crowdcast?

Crowdcast is a webinar and live streaming app that allows content creators to conduct a live interactive conversation at scale. The platform comes with built-in tools for live streaming, audience engagement, real-time interaction, and analytics to help you turn webinar attendees into qualified leads.

Does Crowdcast offer a free version?

Crowdcast doesn’t have a free version, but you can sign up for a free 14-day trial on the website. You’ll have access to all the business features and integrations. You can create live sessions limited to 60 minutes, unlimited registered participants, and up to 10 live attendees.

Is Crowdcast worth it?

Crowdcast.io has three separate pricing plans based on the amount of time you will need to spend broadcasting webinars or live streaming. Ranging from $34/month to $136/month, the plans also scale according to the number of collaborators and attendees. The platform provides the best value for money when used as part of a comprehensive marketing strategy.

Can Crowdcast handle large audience sizes?

Yes, Crowdcast is capable of handling large audiences while ensuring a smooth experience for each user. The platform ensures performance and scalability which allows you to accommodate hundreds or even thousands of attendees in your webinars. However, both hosts and attendees must have a stable internet connection to maintain a seamless experience.

Can you use Crowdcast for on-demand webinars?

Crowdcast.io supports on-demand webinars. Hosting live webinars just isn’t scalable because the chosen time won’t be convenient for everyone, particularly when you’re dealing with global audiences located in different time zones. Many people won’t be able to attend the live session and you’ll have to schedule another one. That’s why this is such a handy feature. It allows you to pre-record your webinars so that attendees can watch replays at their convenience.

Why Is Crowdcast better than free webinar platforms like Zoom?

Crowdcast is a better alternative to Zoom because Zoom is a general online meeting app that doesn’t have Crowdcast’s functionality for efficiently conducting live streaming, training, workshops, and paid seminars. Zoom also lacks the built-in tools for real-time engagement of the audience where they can interact with the host and each other.