The team at GoToWebinar/Citrix has finally addressed one of the key limitations of it’s service by increasing the limit on number of attendees in the top level plan from 1,000 to 2,000 for their traditional Plus Plan. I can’t tell you how many times I have been forced to use an inferior service like Google Hangouts or others because I knew we would go way over the limit of 1,000 attendees.
In order to take advantage of the new limits, you must have a Plus Plan ( which currently is priced at $429.00/month). With the higher limits other changes include:
- There is no download required – it all plays in your browser. This is helpful in some environments when company firewalls block access.
- Attendees are in “Listen-Only” mode, so Q&A is available only via Chat or Question box. Not a big deal as I see fewer and fewer presenters using live Q&A any more.
- “Source Tracking” is now available allowing you to see from where and even who your registrations are coming from.
The team at GoToWebinar does offer additional plans for Enterprise accounts that go up to 5,000 attendees but pricing is provided only to qualified companies directly. If you already have a Plus Plan you have already been upgraded.
Over the last few years, GoToWebinar has seen many competitors come into the market. Both Webinar Jam and Webinar JEO are popular and highly rated, with my preference on the side of Webinar JEO. Both of these competitors provide an unlimited number of attendees and full recording, Chat, Polling, Q&A and are substantially less costly than GoToWebinar. I own all three and use each for different purposes, though I will not renew my Webinar Jam license when it expires as Webinar JEO has become my preferred choice for live video broadcasting, while GoToWebinar is my preferred choice if I am presenting a slide deck only.