Conference management software vs. expo management software: why one price doesn't fit both

A lot of event management software is built for one kind of event and quietly hopes the rest of you make do. Run a conference, it fits fine. Run an expo or a fair, and suddenly you’re managing exhibitor logistics inside a tool that was designed around attendee tickets, wondering why the sponsor dashboard feels like an afterthought.

Event management platforms often serve both conference and expo organizers, but from what’s publicly available, none breaks out a pricing track built specifically around exhibitor management versus attendee management. We built two.

Why conference software and expo software need different pricing

Ask a conference organizer what keeps them up at night and you’ll hear about agenda clashes, speaker no-shows, and getting the right session in front of the right attendee. Ask an expo or trade fair organizer the same question and you’ll hear about booth allocation, exhibitor onboarding, and whether the sponsor sales pipeline is actually moving or just sitting in someone’s inbox.

Different jobs, different software priorities — and pricing should follow. That’s the logic behind run.events’ two tracks.

Conference management software pricing

Conference packages are tiered by attendee count, because attendees are what a conference scales around.

Essentials (€4,300/year) covers Audience Management, Mobile App, and Check-In & Badging. Registration through badge scan — the operational core of running a conference.

Advanced (€5,700/year) adds Abstract & Agenda Management. If you’ve ever managed a call for papers, a review committee, and a multi-track schedule in three different spreadsheets, this is the tier where that stops.

Professional (€7,100/year), our most popular tier, adds Events CRM. Sponsors and exhibitors move from an inbox into an actual sales pipeline, which matters even for conferences once sponsorship becomes a real revenue line.

Enterprise (€9,900/year) adds Event Marketing and Expo & Booth Management on top, for organizers running the full portfolio, marketing included.

Expo and fair management software pricing

Expo and fair packages are tiered by exhibitor count instead, because exhibitors are the actual unit of scale for a trade fair. The product mix shifts to match.

Essentials (€4,300/year) again covers Audience Management, Mobile App, and Check-In & Badging — the same operational core every event needs.

Advanced (€5,700/year) adds Events CRM already at this tier, one step earlier than on the conference track. That’s not a rounding difference. It reflects that exhibitor and sponsor sales isn’t a nice-to-have for a fair, it’s the business model.

Professional (€8,500/year) adds Expo & Booth Management: booth templates, exhibitor catalogues, and a self-service portal that lets exhibitors manage their own floor plan questions instead of emailing your team at midnight before doors open.

Enterprise (€9,900/year) adds Event Marketing on top, matching the conference track’s ceiling.

Same platform underneath, either track

Here’s the part that doesn’t change: both tracks run on the same data layer. No exports, no syncing between a separate ticketing tool and a separate exhibitor CRM, no middleware duct-taping two systems together. If your organization runs both conferences and expos across a portfolio — which many of ours do — everything sits in one place, with shared partner records, shared team permissions, and one login for your whole team.

Both tracks share the same non-negotiables: unlimited users and unlimited events within your tier, on every package. Seats and logins aren’t metered on either side.

Choosing between conference and expo pricing

If you’re still unsure which track fits, the honest answer is: whichever noun describes what you’re actually counting. If you’re counting attendees and building an agenda, you’re evaluating conference management software and belong on that track. If you’re counting exhibitors and building a floor plan, you’re evaluating expo management software and belong on the expo track.

Some organizations run both, on different events — which is exactly what the shared data layer is for. Either way, the model underneath is identical: pick your package, pick your size tier, add optional products like Smart Hub or AI-Matchmaking if you need them. The only thing that changes is which products show up at which tier, because a trade fair and a conference genuinely need different things at different points in their growth.

See the full comparison

The full comparison — including every product at every tier on both tracks — is on the pricing page. If you’d rather have it in front of you on paper, the pricing brochure covers both tracks side by side.

And if you’re ready to see what your specific event actually costs on either track, book a demo before September 30 and 10% comes off your first year, whenever you sign.

We’ll build your proposal live — conference or expo track, package, tier, and add-ons — so you leave with a real number, not a callback.