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Expola

Bizzabo alternative

Bizzabo is built around the conference.

If most of your revenue comes from the hall rather than the stage, the platform underneath it should be built around the floor.

The line between a conference platform and an exhibition platform is not features — it is which side of the event the software treats as the customer.

Conference platform

What Bizzabo is good at

For a content-led conference, Bizzabo is a strong, well-designed choice. Registration, the agenda, the app and sponsor visibility hang together, and the attendee experience is the product's centre of gravity.

Where expo teams outgrow it

The job underneath the show

At an expo, the paying customer is the exhibitor. They want a stand in the right aisle, a portal that answers their questions, staff badges that work, and a lead report that justifies the invoice. A platform organised around attendees treats that as sponsorship reporting rather than as the main event.

Side by side

What changes. The same jobs, handled by Expola and by Bizzabo's category.

Expola compared with Bizzabo
The jobExpolaConference platform
Who the platform treats as the customerThe exhibitor and the sponsor, then the visitorThe attendee, then the sponsor
Selling the floorLive plan, zone pricing, holds, rebooking during show weekSponsorship packages rather than square metres
Exhibitor portalManual, deadlines, artwork, staff badges, invoices, lead exportsSponsor assets and lead lists
Entrance and queue controlAccess control, re-entry, capacity by hall and live queue viewCheck-in
Who owns the audienceYour domain, your list, your payment account, your dataYours, on their platform

Product names are trademarks of their respective owners. This page describes what each category of tool is designed to do, not the current feature list of any one release.

Why teams move

Three reasons it keeps happening.

  • 01

    Square metres are a product

    Zone pricing, premium positions, holds that expire and a plan that stays true are not sponsorship tiers. They need to be modelled as what they are.

  • 02

    Rebooking happens on the last day

    The best moment to sell next year is while this year is still standing. That takes a portal the exhibitor is already logged into.

  • 03

    The gate is part of the platform

    Badge printing, access control and capacity belong with registration, not with a separate on-site supplier.

FAQ

Switching, in practice. What teams ask before they move off Bizzabo.

See Expola next to Bizzabo, on your own event.

A demo built around your floor plan, your ticket types and the exhibitors you already have.