Your marketing director wants to host a product launch webinar. Target attendance: 3,500 people across 40 countries. Simple enough, right?
Then you discover most webinar platforms advertise “up to 10,000 attendees” but start experiencing issues around 2,000. Chat becomes laggy. Video buffers. Audio drops. Participants get “server full” errors even though you’re well below your purchased capacity.
Welcome to the gap between advertised capacity and actual performance at scale.
Running webinars for 3,000+ simultaneous attendees isn’t just a bigger version of a 300-person event. The technical requirements, infrastructure demands, and failure modes are completely different. Platforms that handle small meetings perfectly can collapse under the concurrent load, chat volume, and bandwidth requirements of enterprise-scale events.
This guide examines the best webinar platforms built to handle 3,000+ attendees reliably. We’ll explore what “enterprise-grade” actually means, compare the leading platforms across critical criteria, and help you choose the right infrastructure for your large-scale events.
What you’ll learn:
- Why 3,000+ attendee webinars require specialized infrastructure
- Six critical criteria for platform evaluation
- Detailed comparison of top 5 enterprise webinar platforms
- Real-world scenarios from government, banking, and enterprise events
- Decision framework matching platform to your requirements
Why 3,000+ Attendee Webinars Require Enterprise-Grade Infrastructure
Small webinars scale linearly. A 100-person meeting uses roughly 10x the bandwidth of a 10-person meeting. But large webinars don’t scale linearly—they scale exponentially.
The Concurrent Load Challenge
Think about what happens when 3,000 people join your webinar within the same 5-minute window. That’s 600 connections per minute. 10 per second. Each connection negotiates bandwidth, establishes video streams, loads chat history, synchronizes participant lists.
Most platforms handle this through queue management—slowly admitting participants to prevent infrastructure overload. But “please wait, meeting at capacity” messages create terrible attendee experiences. The best platforms handle concurrent load spikes without queuing delays.
Real Example: A Southeast Asian government ministry scheduled a public policy webinar for 4,000 citizens. Registration hit 4,200. At launch time, 3,800 tried joining within 3 minutes. Their Zoom Events setup (rated for 5,000) started queuing participants at 2,700. The remaining 1,100 waited 8-12 minutes to join. By the time they got in, the introduction was over.
Chat and Q&A Volume Strain
With 3,000 attendees, even 5% engagement generates 150 simultaneous interactions. Chat messages. Questions submitted. Polls answered. Reactions sent. Each interaction must propagate to all other participants in real-time.
Poor chat architecture creates message delays—participants see responses before questions. Or chat freezes entirely under load. The platform might work perfectly during rehearsal with 10 people, then fail when real attendees join.
Multi-Region Routing Complexity
Your 3,000 attendees aren’t all in the same city. They’re distributed across countries, continents, network conditions. Someone in Singapore on gigabit fiber. Someone in rural Kenya on 3G. Someone in New York on corporate wifi. Someone in Mumbai on mobile hotspot.
The platform needs intelligent routing—connecting each participant to the nearest server with adequate capacity. Without proper CDN distribution and multi-region architecture, distant participants experience latency, buffering, and disconnections.
Real Example: A multinational bank hosted their annual investor call for 6,500 participants globally. Early testing from their London headquarters worked flawlessly. During the actual event, Asian participants experienced 15-30 second audio delays because the platform routed all traffic through European servers. Q&A became impossible—questions arrived after the topic had moved on.
Recording and Transcription Load
Recording 3,000-person webinars generates massive data streams. Audio from all participants (for archives), video from active speakers, screen shares, chat logs, Q&A submissions, poll responses. A 2-hour event generates 50-75GB of raw data requiring real-time processing.
Add AI transcription and the computational load multiplies. Real-time transcription for 2 hours might cost $200 in cloud computing resources. Platforms that don’t architect for this scale either fail during recording or charge premium fees for the processing power required.
Device and Browser Diversity
In small meetings, everyone uses the same platform—usually corporate laptops with modern browsers. In 3,000-person public webinars, attendees join from ancient Android phones, corporate-locked Windows 7 machines, iPads, Chromebooks, and everything in between.
The platform must gracefully degrade for older devices while maintaining quality for modern ones. Without proper architecture, the lowest-common-denominator participant forces reduced quality for everyone.
Why “Rated for 5,000” Doesn’t Mean “Reliable at 5,000”
Platform capacity ratings measure maximum concurrent connections, not performance under load. A platform might technically support 5,000 attendees while experiencing:
- 30% video packet loss above 3,000 participants
- Chat delays exceeding 10 seconds
- Inability to mute all participants simultaneously
- Recording failures under high load
- Elevated CPU usage causing laptop fans to scream
Enterprise-grade platforms maintain full functionality even at maximum rated capacity. Consumer platforms with enterprise tiers often struggle as you approach their limits.
Criteria for Choosing a Webinar Platform for 3,000+ Attendees
Not all “enterprise” platforms deliver equal performance. Evaluate these six criteria:
1. Scalability and Architecture
What to Look For:
Distributed Load Balancing: Connections spread across multiple servers automatically. No single point of failure. Geographic distribution for global audiences.
Automatic Scaling: Infrastructure expands dynamically as participants join. No pre-configuration or capacity reservation required.
Multi-CDN Support: Content delivery through multiple providers (Cloudflare, Akamai, AWS CloudFront). If one CDN experiences issues, traffic routes through alternatives.
Adaptive Bitrate Streaming: Video quality adjusts automatically based on each participant’s connection. Someone on 3G gets 360p. Someone on fiber gets 1080p. Same meeting, optimized experience.
Questions to Ask Vendors:
- How many concurrent 3,000+ attendee webinars do you host monthly?
- What’s your largest single event to date?
- Do you queue participants or admit all immediately?
- How do you handle connection spikes (1,000 joins in 1 minute)?
2. Reliability Under Stress
What to Look For:
No Lag at Peak Join Times: The critical 5-minute window when everyone joins shouldn’t cause degradation.
Audio/Video Synchronization: Lips matching words even with 3,000 concurrent streams.
Graceful Degradation: If issues occur, the platform maintains core functionality (audio continues even if video quality drops).
Error Recovery: If a participant disconnects, they should rejoin instantly without manual intervention.
Stress Testing: Vendors should demonstrate load testing results—actual events they’ve hosted at scale, not theoretical capacity.
Red Flags:
- Vendor refuses to share customer references for 3,000+ events
- Demo environment performs differently than production
- Terms of service disclaim responsibility for performance issues
- No published SLA for uptime or quality
3. Security and Compliance
What to Look For:
Single Sign-On (SSO) and SCIM: Integration with corporate identity providers (Azure AD, Okta). Automatic user provisioning and deprovisioning.
Certifications: SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR compliance, HIPAA compliance (if healthcare), FedRAMP (if US government).
Role-Based Access Controls: Different permissions for hosts, co-hosts, presenters, moderators, attendees.
Audit Trails: Complete logs of who joined when, what actions they took, what content they accessed.
Data Sovereignty Options: For government and regulated industries, ability to keep all data within national boundaries. On-premise deployment or regional cloud options.
Critical for Large Events: With 3,000 attendees, the risk surface expands dramatically. One compromised account shouldn’t expose entire event. Strong authentication and granular permissions become mandatory.
4. Moderator and Event Controls
What to Look For:
Instant Mute-All: Single button to mute 3,000 participants immediately (crucial when someone’s unmuted with background noise).
Q&A Workflows: Screening questions before display. Assigning questions to specific speakers. Marking as answered. Upvoting popular questions.
Panic Controls: Emergency broadcast takeover. Immediate event termination if needed. Removing disruptive participants without impacting others.
Host Switching: Seamlessly transferring presenter or host role. Critical when technical issues affect one organizer.
Chat Moderation: Filtering profanity. Screening messages before public display. Throttling chat rate per participant (preventing spam).
Breakout Room Management: If using breakouts with 3,000 participants, automatic distribution, customizable room sizes, broadcast messaging to all rooms.
Real Scenario: A public university hosted a 4,000-person graduation ceremony virtually. One attendee unmuted and played loud music. The platform’s “mute all” button froze under load—took 90 seconds to execute. Those 90 seconds of chaos went into the official graduation recording. Better platforms execute mute-all instantly even with thousands of participants.
5. Pricing Transparency and Total Cost of Ownership
What to Look For:
Clear Capacity Pricing: No “contact sales” ambiguity. Published rates for 3,000, 5,000, 10,000 attendee tiers.
Add-On Identification: Which features cost extra? AI transcription? Cloud recording? Advanced analytics? Premium support?
Storage Limitations: How much cloud storage included? What do overages cost?
Concurrent Event Limits: Can you run multiple 1,000-person events simultaneously, or does capacity apply to total across all events?
Contract Terms: Monthly vs annual commitment? Penalties for early termination? Price escalation clauses?
Hidden Cost Examples:
Recording Storage: Platform includes 100GB. A single 3,000-person 2-hour webinar generates 50GB of recordings. You’ll hit limits after 2 events. Overage: $50-100 per month per 100GB.
AI Services: Transcription costs $0.10-0.25 per minute. A 2-hour webinar costs $12-30 for transcription. Host 20 webinars annually and that’s $240-600 in add-on costs never mentioned in base pricing.
API Usage: If integrating with marketing automation, CRM, or analytics tools via API, some platforms charge per API call above included limits.
Support Tiers: Standard support means email-only with 24-48 hour response. Premium support with phone access and faster response costs $5,000-15,000 annually extra.
6. Support and Event Assistance
What to Look For:
24/7 Technical Support: When your 3,000-person webinar starts at 6 AM, email support doesn’t help. Need phone/chat access immediately.
Live Event Engineers: Some platforms assign dedicated support engineers during large events. They monitor from backend, proactively addressing issues before participants notice.
Technical Rehearsals: Vendor participation in dry runs. Testing load, confirming integrations work, training your team on controls.
Post-Event Analysis: Detailed reports on performance—connection quality by region, participant engagement metrics, technical issues encountered.
Red Flag: Vendor says “our platform is so reliable you won’t need support.” Large events always have edge cases. Vendor confidence is good. Vendor dismissiveness is concerning.
Top Webinar Platforms for 3,000+ Attendees — 2025 Comparison
1. Convay Big Meeting — Best for Data Sovereignty and Reliability
Capacity: 3,000–10,000+ attendees with published pricing at every tier
Architecture: Sovereign meeting solution with on-premise and national cloud deployment options. Built from the ground up for government, banking, and regulated industries requiring complete data control.
Key Strengths:
Horizontal Scaling Without Crash Risk: Convay’s architecture automatically distributes load across servers. As more participants join, infrastructure scales elastically. No queuing. No “at capacity” errors. Just seamless admission even during connection spikes.
Low-Bandwidth Optimization: Unlike platforms optimized for Silicon Valley internet speeds, Convay works reliably on 2G/3G connections. Participants in rural areas or emerging markets join successfully where other platforms fail. Critical for government events with diverse populations or multinational companies hosting global webinars.
Predictable Flat-Rate Pricing: $21,192 annually for 3,000-attendee capacity. $34,800 for 5,000. $62,004 for 10,000. No per-attendee spikes. No hidden costs for recording, AI features, or premium support. What you see is what you pay.
Advanced AI Suite Included: Real-time transcription in Bengali and English. Automatic meeting summaries with speaker attribution. Action item extraction. Sentiment analysis on Q&A. Searchable video archives. All standard, not add-ons.
Data Sovereignty and Compliance: On-premise deployment means participant data never leaves your infrastructure. Critical for government ministries, defense agencies, banks handling sensitive discussions. Constitutional-level security, not just vendor promises. ISO 27001 and CMMI Level 3 certified.
Unified Platform: Not just webinars—integrated meetings, team chat, file sharing, and events in one platform. Reduces vendor complexity and integration overhead.
Best For:
- Government agencies requiring data sovereignty
- Banks and financial institutions with compliance mandates
- Telecommunications companies hosting large customer events
- Enterprises in emerging markets with bandwidth constraints
- Any organization where “data never leaves our country” isn’t optional
Limitations:
On-premise deployment requires infrastructure investment and IT management. Cloud deployment available for organizations wanting convenience without full sovereignty. Initial setup takes 2-4 weeks versus instant cloud activation.
Real Customer Scenario: Bangladesh’s Ministry of ICT hosts quarterly Digital Bangladesh summits with 5,000-9,000 participants—government officials, private sector leaders, international observers. Convay’s on-premise deployment keeps all discussions on government servers. AI transcription in Bengali serves local language needs Zoom and Webex ignore. Predictable pricing prevents budget variance. Three years running, zero technical failures during events.
2. Zoom Events — Best for Corporate Marketing Teams
Capacity: Up to 10,000 attendees with tiered pricing
Architecture: Cloud-based global infrastructure with mature CDN distribution
Key Strengths:
Familiar Interface: Most corporate teams already use Zoom for daily meetings. Minimal training required for webinar platform. Attendees know how to join, use features, troubleshoot basic issues.
Polished Presenter Experience: Screen sharing, virtual backgrounds, spotlight video—features presenters expect work reliably. Good production value for marketing events.
Broad Integration Ecosystem: Connects with most CRM platforms, marketing automation tools, analytics systems. API documentation comprehensive.
Established Track Record: Millions of Zoom webinars hosted. Mature platform with known behavior patterns.
Limitations:
Cost Increases Sharply Above 3,000 Attendees: Base pricing works for 500-1,000 attendees. At 3,000, you’re paying $26,490 annually. At 5,000, you hit “Contact Sales” with no published pricing. Budget planning becomes challenging.
Recording Storage Expensive: 10GB included. Overages cost $40/month per 50GB. Large webinars generate 30-50GB per event. Storage costs compound quickly.
Foreign Cloud Dependency: All data routes through US-based cloud infrastructure. Government agencies, banks, and defense contractors often cannot accept this architecture for compliance reasons.
Performance Variability: Shared cloud infrastructure means your webinar competes with thousands of other Zoom meetings simultaneously. During peak usage (business hours in major time zones), performance can degrade.
Add-On Costs: AI Companion for transcription costs $3,600 annually extra. Advanced analytics packages cost thousands more. Premium support requires Enterprise tier negotiation.
Best For:
Corporate marketing teams launching products to customers. Organizations already standardized on Zoom for daily collaboration. Teams with flexible budgets and minimal data sovereignty concerns.
Scenario: A software company launches their annual user conference with 4,500 registered attendees. Zoom Events provides familiar experience for speakers and attendees. Integration with HubSpot captures leads automatically. Cost: $28,000 annually including add-ons. Acceptable for marketing budget driving customer acquisition.
3. Cisco Webex Webinars — Best for Cisco-Standardized Enterprises
Capacity: Up to 100,000 attendees (though practical reliability matters more than theoretical capacity)
Architecture: Enterprise-grade infrastructure with strong security certifications
Key Strengths:
Enterprise Stability: Cisco’s infrastructure investment shows. When properly configured, Webex handles large events reliably.
Security Certifications: FedRAMP Moderate authorization. SOC 2 Type II. ISO 27001. HIPAA compliance with BAA. Strong compliance portfolio for regulated industries.
Cisco Ecosystem Integration: If your organization runs Cisco phones, Webex Meetings, Cisco collaboration tools—everything connects seamlessly. Unified management through Control Hub.
Predictable Enterprise Support: Cisco’s Technical Assistance Center (TAC) provides mature escalation paths and issue resolution.
Limitations:
Outdated User Interface: Webex’s interface feels dated compared to modern platforms. Attendee experience less polished than competitors.
Expensive at Scale: 3,000+ attendee webinars require premium contracts with significant annual commitments. Total cost often exceeds Zoom.
Requires Strong Host Network: Webex works best when hosts have high-bandwidth, low-latency connections. Hosts on marginal internet experience more issues than with platforms optimized for variable conditions.
Complex Licensing: Cisco licensing has earned its reputation for Byzantine complexity. Named hosts, concurrent capacity, feature modules—understanding true cost requires procurement expertise.
Best For:
Large enterprises already standardized on Cisco collaboration infrastructure. Organizations requiring specific compliance certifications Webex maintains. IT teams experienced with Cisco platforms and comfortable navigating licensing.
Scenario: A healthcare system hosts continuing medical education webinars for 3,500 clinicians quarterly. HIPAA compliance mandatory. Already using Webex Meetings across all hospitals. Webex Webinars extends existing infrastructure. Cost: $35,000 annually including compliance features. Justified by unified vendor relationship and regulatory requirements.
4. Microsoft Teams Live Events — Best for Internal Employee Communications
Capacity: Up to 10,000 attendees per event
Architecture: Integrated within Microsoft 365 ecosystem
Key Strengths:
Zero Marginal Cost: If you have Microsoft 365 E5 licenses, Teams Live Events comes included. No separate subscription. Immediate availability.
Familiar for Employees: Organizations using Teams daily find Live Events natural extension. Same interface, same controls, minimal learning curve.
Strong for Internal Use Cases: Employee town halls, HR announcements, training sessions—Teams excels at internal communications where everyone has corporate accounts and M365 access.
Native Integration: Calendar integration, corporate directory sync, OneDrive file sharing—everything works seamlessly within Microsoft ecosystem.
Limitations:
Poor External Attendee Experience: Guests joining without Microsoft accounts face friction. Anonymous join has limitations. Authentication requirements create barriers for public events.
Limited Branding Control: Can’t fully customize attendee experience with corporate branding. Microsoft’s interface shines through regardless of your event design.
Reliability Issues with Mixed Connections: Works great when all participants have strong corporate internet. Struggles when external attendees join from home wifi, mobile hotspots, or bandwidth-constrained locations.
Feature Gaps: Compared to purpose-built webinar platforms, Teams Live Events lacks advanced event management features—ticketing, sponsor booths, networking lounges.
Best For:
Internal employee communications exclusively. HR all-hands meetings. Corporate training programs. CEO town halls for staff only. Organizations wanting to leverage existing Microsoft 365 investment.
Scenario: A Fortune 500 retailer hosts monthly store manager training for 6,000 managers. All managers have corporate laptops with M365 E5. Teams Live Events handles this perfectly at zero incremental cost. External customer events? Different story—they use other platforms.
5. ON24 — Best for Marketing-Driven Enterprises with Large Budgets
Capacity: Effectively unlimited for paid tiers
Architecture: Purpose-built for marketing webinar production and lead generation
Key Strengths:
Marketing Analytics Powerhouse: Engagement scoring, content consumption tracking, lead qualification signals, CRM integration—ON24 provides unmatched marketing intelligence from webinars.
Highly Produced Experience: Virtual backgrounds, video editing, multimedia integration, professional broadcast quality—ON24 enables TV-quality production values.
Comprehensive Platform: Not just live webinars—on-demand content libraries, virtual event capabilities, always-on webinar channels. Full digital experience platform.
Strong for Demand Generation: If your webinars drive sales pipeline, ON24’s analytics justify cost through measured revenue impact.
Limitations:
Very Expensive: Contracts often exceed $50,000-100,000 annually for enterprise features and capacity. Significant budget requirement.
Requires Extensive Setup: Producing high-quality ON24 webinars needs dedicated staff, planning time, content development. Not quick-launch solution.
Not Ideal for Government or Sovereignty: US-based cloud platform. Limited data residency options. Compliance-heavy organizations face challenges.
Overkill for Simple Events: If you just need reliable video conferencing at scale without extensive production, ON24’s complexity exceeds requirements.
Best For:
Marketing-driven enterprises where webinars generate measurable pipeline. SaaS companies running dozens of demand generation webinars monthly. Organizations with dedicated webinar production teams and substantial marketing budgets.
Scenario: A cybersecurity vendor runs 40+ customer webinars annually, each generating qualified leads worth $50,000+ in potential deals. ON24’s analytics prove which content drives pipeline. Annual cost: $80,000. ROI measured in millions of influenced revenue.
Comparison Table: Best Platforms for 3,000+ Attendee Webinars (2025)
| Feature | Convay | Zoom Events | Webex | Teams Live | ON24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max Attendees | 10,000+ | 10,000 | 100,000 | 10,000 | Unlimited |
| True Reliability at 3K+ | Excellent | Good | Good | Mixed | Excellent |
| Data Residency | Sovereign/On-prem | Global cloud | Regional options | Global cloud | USA/Europe |
| Cost Predictability | High (flat-rate) | Low (add-ons) | Medium | High (included) | Low (custom) |
| AI Features | Advanced (included) | Medium (paid) | Basic | Basic | Advanced |
| Bandwidth Optimization | Excellent (2G/3G) | Good | Good | Moderate | Good |
| Setup Time | 2-4 weeks | Instant | 1-2 weeks | Instant | 4-8 weeks |
| Starting Annual Cost (3K) | $21,192 | $26,490+ | $28,000+ | Included (E5) | $50,000+ |
| Best For | Gov, BFSI, Telcos | Corporate Marketing | Cisco Enterprises | Internal Comms | Marketing Giants |
How to Choose the Best Platform for Your 3,000+ Attendee Event
If Security and Data Sovereignty Matter → Choose Convay
Government ministries discussing policy. Banks hosting board meetings. Defense contractors conducting training. Healthcare organizations reviewing patient data. Telecommunications companies presenting infrastructure plans.
When “where does our data live?” isn’t just a question but a regulatory requirement, Convay’s sovereign architecture delivers compliance other platforms fundamentally cannot provide. On-premise deployment means constitutional-level security, not vendor trust.
If Brand Polish Matters More Than Cost → Choose ON24
Your webinars drive brand perception and generate millions in pipeline. Production quality matters. Marketing analytics justify significant investment. You have dedicated event production staff and substantial budgets.
ON24’s premium positioning matches premium execution. If your webinar represents your company to the market, investment in quality presentation pays returns.
If Internal Meeting Only → Choose Teams
Your 3,000 attendees are all employees with corporate accounts and Microsoft 365 licenses. You’re hosting town halls, training, internal updates—not customer-facing marketing events.
Teams Live Events leverages existing infrastructure at zero incremental cost. Why pay for external platforms when Microsoft provides adequate capability included?
If You’re Already Zoom-Heavy → Choose Zoom Events
Your organization standardized on Zoom for daily meetings. Users know the interface. IT understands the platform. You have existing vendor relationship and support contracts.
Extending to Zoom Events minimizes training, reduces vendor complexity, leverages familiarity. If cost and sovereignty aren’t primary constraints, staying within ecosystem makes operational sense.
If You Need Enterprise-Grade Reliability at Scale → Choose Convay
You’re hosting mission-critical events where technical failure creates significant consequences. Shareholder meetings. Public policy hearings. Crisis communications. Major product launches.
Reliability matters more than any other factor. Convay’s architecture built specifically for 3,000-10,000 attendee scale delivers consistent performance when stakes are highest. Flat-rate pricing prevents budget surprises. Data sovereignty eliminates compliance risks. AI features come included rather than requiring separate subscriptions.
Real-World Scenarios
Government Ministry Hosting 5,000-Person Public Hearing
Challenge: Constitutional requirement for public participation in policy development. Citizens nationwide must access hearing. Data must remain within national boundaries. Transcription needed in local language.
Initial Attempt with Zoom: Policy team purchased Zoom Events for 5,000 capacity. During first hearing with 4,800 participants, platform experienced stability issues. More critically, legal team flagged that participant data—citizen names, locations, submitted questions—resided on US servers subject to foreign legal jurisdiction. Constitutional violation. Project halted.
Solution with Convay: On-premise deployment on government servers. All data remains within country. Bengali language AI transcription serves local population. Three public hearings conducted successfully with zero technical issues. Cost: $34,800 annually vs Zoom’s $24,900 + compliance impossibility.
Outcome: Government continues using Convay for all large public events. Data sovereignty requirement met. Citizens can participate without constitutional concerns.
Enterprise Marketing Team Running 3,500-Person Product Launch
Challenge: Annual flagship product reveal for customers and press. Polished presentation critical for brand. Integration with marketing automation for lead capture. Participants span 35 countries.
Initial Attempt with Teams: Marketing assumed Microsoft 365 subscription included everything needed. Invited 3,500 registered attendees. External participants without Microsoft accounts faced authentication friction. Video quality degraded for participants on slower connections (common outside US/Europe). Production quality felt corporate-generic rather than brand-aligned.
Solution with Convay: Cloud deployment with global CDN distribution. Adaptive bitrate streaming served optimal quality per participant’s connection. Custom branding maintained brand consistency. Integration with Salesforce captured engagement data. Low-bandwidth optimization meant participants in emerging markets joined successfully.
Outcome: Product launch succeeded with 96% of registered attendees joining (vs 78% with Teams). Marketing attributed $2.1M in influenced pipeline to event. Switching to Convay cost $21,192 annually but delivered measurably better outcomes.
Telecom Company Annual General Meeting (6,000+ Shareholders)
Challenge: Publicly traded telecommunications company required hosting AGM virtually for 6,000+ shareholders. Regulatory requirements for recording, transcription, secure voting. High stakes—executive team, board, major investors all participating.
Initial Quote with ON24: $95,000 annually for enterprise contract including virtual event capabilities, compliance features, and shareholder voting integration.
Alternative with Convay: $62,004 annually for 10,000-attendee capacity including all compliance features, unlimited recording storage on-premise, AI transcription, and 24/7 support. Shareholder voting integrated via API at no additional cost.
Outcome: CFO selected Convay, saving $32,996 annually (35% reduction) while meeting all regulatory requirements. ON24’s marketing analytics weren’t needed for shareholder meeting use case. Convay’s reliability and predictable pricing aligned better with corporate governance requirements.
Conclusion: 2025 Belongs to Scalable, Reliable Webinar Platforms
Running 3,000+ attendee webinars is no longer a luxury reserved for major corporations. It’s mission-critical infrastructure for government communications, enterprise training, financial reporting, educational institutions, and customer engagement.
The platform you choose determines whether your event becomes a showcase of your organization’s capabilities or a demonstration of technical failure broadcast to thousands.
Choosing wisely means understanding the difference between advertised capacity and reliable performance. It means recognizing that “works for 100 people” doesn’t predict “works for 3,000 people.” It means evaluating infrastructure architecture, not just feature checklists.
For most organizations hosting regular large-scale events, the choice crystallizes around fundamental priorities:
If data sovereignty isn’t negotiable: Convay’s on-premise architecture delivers compliance other platforms cannot match at any price.
If cost predictability matters: Convay’s flat-rate all-inclusive model eliminates the hidden costs that make Zoom and Webex 30-50% more expensive than advertised.
If reliability under load is paramount: Convay’s infrastructure built specifically for 3,000-10,000 scale handles concurrent load spikes other platforms queue or throttle.
If emerging market participation matters: Convay’s low-bandwidth optimization ensures participants join successfully regardless of connection quality.
The webinar platforms that dominate 2025 won’t be the ones with the longest feature lists or the most familiar brand names. They’ll be the ones that actually work when 3,000 people join simultaneously, that maintain full functionality under stress, and that deliver predictable costs at scale.
Choose infrastructure worthy of your audience’s time and your organization’s reputation.
About Convay: Bangladesh’s first sovereign AI-powered video conferencing platform. Serving government agencies, enterprises, and regulated sectors across Bangladesh, MENA, and Africa, Convay delivers secure event management with complete data sovereignty. CMMI Level 3 and ISO 27001 certified for quality and security assurance.
