Best abstract management software: 9 tools compared (2026)
Published on 15 Jun 2026
What is an abstract management software?
If you have ever run a call for abstracts on a spreadsheet, you know how quickly it falls apart: versions get lost, reviewers send back scores in five different formats, and no one can say for sure which submissions made the cut. Abstract management software exists to end that scramble.
It is the tool academic and scientific events use to collect submissions, run peer review, and publish accepted work in one place. Done well, it saves you hours, cuts manual errors, and keeps your review process credible. The hard part is picking the right one, which is exactly what this comparison is for.
In this article, I compare the nine best abstract management software solutions for 2026, starting with Fourwaves. A few are purpose-built for academic and scientific conferences; others are general event platforms that have since added abstract handling.
Most “best abstract software” roundups score tools on generic event-platform features. I took an academic-first view instead and weighed each tool on what actually matters to a scientific conference: a genuine free plan, transparent pricing without surprise per-submission or per-registrant fees, automatic book-of-abstracts generation, and real single or double-blind peer review. I also weighed scope, meaning whether a tool runs your whole event or only the abstracts. I keep this comparison current as vendors ship changes, and everything below reflects what I confirmed in spring 2026.
On a tight budget? If you’re looking for free abstract submission tools, free tiers, or DIY workflows, see our guide on free abstract submission software.
Abstract management software compared at a glance
| Software | Free plan | Pricing model | Book of abstracts | Blind peer review |
| Fourwaves | Yes | Flat annual; no per-submission fee | Yes | Single and double-blind |
| Cvent | No | Quote only; per-registrant | No | No |
| OpenWater | No | Quote only | No | No |
| Ex Ordo | No | Quote only, per event | Yes | Single and double-blind |
| EasyChair | No | Per submission | Yes | Yes |
| Dryfta | Trial only | From $1,499/yr | Yes | Single, double, triple-blind |
| Attendee Interactive | No | Quote only | No | No |
| Oxford Abstracts | Yes | Transparent, per event | Yes | Single and double-blind |
| Whova | No | Quote only; scales with attendees | No | No |
I verified pricing and features against each vendor’s website or by contacting their sales team in spring 2026. “No” means the capability is not offered or not published by the vendor, and “quote only” means pricing is shared on request. The sections below explain where each tool fits.
1. Fourwaves
Build your call for abstracts with drag-and-drop fields, tracks, and presentation types.
Fourwaves is abstract management and peer review built for academic and scientific events, with one defining idea: start with what you need now and grow into the rest. Plenty of organizers arrive just to run their call for abstracts and peer review, then add registration, payments, and their event website the next year, all on the same platform.
What keeps them is the experience. The reviewer screen is clean enough that reviewers actually complete their assignments inside the tool, instead of giving up on a clunky interface and emailing you their scores in a spreadsheet. Organizers tell me the platform is easy enough to learn that they launch in an afternoon, and accepted abstracts flow straight into a book of abstracts, your program, and your event website without re-keying anything.
What reviewers see: the abstract beside a clear scoring form, so reviews actually get completed.
Fourwaves also partners with university financial services, so organizers can connect their event to their institution’s payment gateway. That removes a lot of friction when it is time to collect money, whether for registration or for the submission fees a growing number of conferences now charge to deter AI-generated abstracts.
On cost, the model is transparent: flat annual plans with no per-submission fee, so collecting more abstracts never inflates your bill. A free plan lets you collect submissions and sort them as accepted or rejected, so you can trial the workflow, and single and double-blind reviewing is part of the peer-review module on paid plans.
Standout Features:
- Customizable Submission Forms: Design submission forms with options to categorize by topic, track, or presentation type. Add custom fields to collect additional details required for your event.
- Real-Time Editing: Authors can edit their submissions until the deadline, ensuring the most up-to-date research is presented.
- Integrated Peer Review Tools: Manage your chosen review type with ease. Session chairs can oversee reviews, filter submissions by reviewer feedback, and classify them as accepted or rejected.
- Event Website Integration: Seamlessly publish abstracts, posters, and supplementary materials directly to your event website, complete with search functions and filters.
- Interactivity: Enable participants to send private messages or post questions to presenters, fostering scientific collaboration and engagement.
Pro Tip: Want to learn how to manage the entire abstract evaluation process with Fourwaves? Read our guide on Abstract Management Tips.
Track every review and surface the top-scored submissions from one dashboard.
Once submissions are in, you assign them to reviewers automatically: at random or matched to each reviewer’s track of expertise, with a maximum workload per reviewer and a set number of reviews per submission. You can also create sub-committees that own specific tracks. Reviewer progress is easy to track, and reminders go out automatically so you are not chasing anyone by hand.
When the reviews are back, the rest moves quickly. Notify presenters of acceptance, ask for edits, and collect final papers, posters, slides, or other files. Accepted work then drops into a conference program and is placed into sessions, so attendees can browse the content and build their own agenda, and you can email presentation times to presenters in a few clicks.
Published abstracts, posters, and slides live on your event website with search and filters, and attendees can message presenters privately or post questions on a discussion board before and after the event.
Accepted submissions compile into a formatted book of abstracts, ready to share.
One thing generic platforms miss is the difference between submitters, authors, and presenters. Fourwaves treats them as distinct roles, so you can message everyone or just one group. And because registration lives in the same platform, it is easy to spot presenters who have not registered yet and follow up with them.
Interactive Fourwaves demo
Try Fourwaves below. To book a live 15-min demo, click here.
2. Cvent
Cvent allows you to customize the submission options.
Best for: Large, complex events that need enterprise tooling
Cvent provides a complete event management solution, from the peer review process to publishing accepted abstracts. Its customizable forms and email automation make it versatile, though some reviewers find it less intuitive and less focused on academic events.
Standout Features:
- Customizable submission forms tailored to any event type.
- Powerful email automation for invitations, confirmations, and reminders.
- Reviewer tools to assign, evaluate, and approve submissions.
- Agenda creation and content publishing for event websites.
In my conversations, Cvent users tend to be long-time customers who stay for its power but question the price. Most run academic events that never touch its full enterprise toolkit, so the cost is hard to justify.
Where it genuinely earns its keep is very large conferences: the on-site mobile app and on-site badge printing are excellent at scale.
Pro Tip: If you run research conferences and do not need the enterprise overhead, see why organizers choose the Fourwaves abstract management software instead.
3. OpenWater
A call for proposal page on OpenWater.
Best for: Multi-Year Event Planning
OpenWater is a versatile platform that allows organizers to duplicate submission setups for recurring conferences, streamlining multi-year event planning.
Standout Features:
- Duplicate abstract collection forms for easy annual setup.
- Centralized dashboards for session and submission management.
- Peer review tools to simplify scoring and categorization.
Pro Tip: Learn more about simplifying abstract evaluation with our article on Conference Reviewer Processes.
4. Ex Ordo
A table showing a list of submissions on Exordo.
Best for: Academic conferences focused on publishing
Ex Ordo specializes in managing submission reviews with tools to track reviewer progress and send automated reminders, and it has leaned into the publishing side recently.
Standout Features:
- Customizable submission forms and review processes.
- Automated notifications for reviewers who fall behind.
- Reviewer scoring and ranking for streamlined decision-making.
A few things organizers raise with me: in 2025 Ex Ordo added calls for panels and sessions, a welcome expansion, but the submission forms can feel rigid and you cannot try the platform on your own because access runs through sales.
I also see teams move from Ex Ordo to Fourwaves for a shorter learning curve, and since Ex Ordo is based in Europe, organizers in North American time zones occasionally find support hours limiting.
5. EasyChair
EasyChair is a submission management system that provides an interface to manage all aspects of your online submissions and review.
Best for: Teams already used to the long-standing academic standard
EasyChair is the platform almost everyone in academia has used at some point, and it is genuinely capable at abstract submission and peer review.
Standout Features:
- Smart CFP for flexible submission options.
- Tools for online discussions during the review process.
- Author rebuttal management to improve research submissions.
The catch is the experience. The interface feels dated, and when a reviewer screen is clunky, reviewers stall, which leaves you emailing people to finish their assignments.
Most organizers I talk to find everything they need in Fourwaves with an interface reviewers actually enjoy, and they like having the event website, program, and registration in one place instead of bolting them on later. If you are weighing the two, see the full Fourwaves vs EasyChair comparison, or compare the wider field in our guide to the best EasyChair alternatives.
6. Dryfta
There are many submission and review options on Dryfta to adapt it to your usual workflow.
Best for: University-Specific Events
Dryfta caters specifically to university events with tools to manage submissions, reviews, and session scheduling.
Standout Features:
- Automated notifications for late submissions or reviews.
- Support for single-blind and double-blind review processes.
- Export data as CSV or PDF for post-event reporting.
Dryfta packs in a lot of features and options, which is both its appeal and its drawback: organizers tell me the interface can feel bloated and the learning curve is steep.
Abstract submissions are typically free to start, but if you plan to grow into registration and a website, it helps to have everything in one place from day one. One practical gap I hear about: Dryfta does not offer the university payment-gateway partnerships Fourwaves has, which can complicate collecting registration or submission fees through an institution’s financial services.
7. Attendee Interactive (by Community Brands)
An example of a submission form on Attendee Interactive.
Best for: Associations and large professional conference organizers
Attendee Interactive focuses on simplifying collaboration among reviewers with role-based assignments and comprehensive scoring tools.
Standout Features:
- Reviewer roles tailored to submission types.
- Automated compilation of reviewer scores and comments.
- Tools to calculate and track overall grading results.
It is used mostly by associations and large professional conference organizers, and it is capable in that world.
For small and mid-size research conferences the fit is less clear: organizers describe it as expensive and complex, with pricing available only through sales. The teams I hear from want something they can set up themselves over a weekend, which is a different need than this platform is built for.
8. Oxford Abstracts
Oxford abstract allows you to customize the submission process.
Best for: Configurable academic abstract management
Oxford Abstracts offers flexible peer review options to keep things clear for reviewers while managing conflicts of interest and late reviews.
Standout Features:
- Intuitive peer review assignment based on specialisms.
- Late review tracking with automated follow-ups.
- Customizable decision-making processes for submission status.
Oxford Abstracts comes up more than almost any other tool when organizers are weighing Fourwaves, so it deserves a close look. It is highly configurable, and while the interface has felt option-heavy, the team has been actively improving it.
In 2025 it added a website builder, though it runs on a third party. The difference organizers point to is integration: with so many options to configure, the link between submissions and the rest of the event is not as seamless as Fourwaves keeps it. Our Oxford Abstracts alternative breaks down the comparison.
9. Whova
Whova’s review screen, with the proposal on the left and the rating form on the right.
Best for: An all-in-one event app that expanded into abstract management in 2025
Whova is a widely used event management app that has built out a fuller call-for-speakers and abstract workflow. Organizers can collect submissions through customizable forms, assign reviewers, flag conflicts of interest, score with custom rubrics, and track reviewer progress, then turn accepted submissions into agenda sessions for the event app.
Standout Features:
- Customizable submission forms for calls for speakers, papers, posters, and abstracts.
- Reviewer assignment with conflict-of-interest detection and customizable scoring rubrics.
- Accepted submissions convert directly into sessions for the agenda and event app.
Whova expanded into abstract management in 2025, and because it is still new to this space, organizers tell me it is not yet up to speed on flexibility and depth compared with dedicated tools. Several have also noted its pricing climbing noticeably over the past year.
On cost, Whova does not publish prices: it quotes each event individually, with the package scaled to your attendee count and abstract management sold as a paid add-on. Paid registration also carries a per-ticket fee, so the total grows as your event does.
Not sure which tool to choose for your abstracts?
In conclusion
Choosing the right abstract management software depends on your specific needs:
- Fourwaves: Best for academic and scientific events, offering seamless integration of abstract submission, peer review, and event management.
- Cvent: Ideal for large, corporate-style events but less intuitive for academic users.
- OpenWater and Ex Ordo: Useful for recurring events or those requiring extensive automation.
- EasyChair and Oxford Abstracts: Great for managing detailed reviews and fostering transparency in the academic publishing process.
- Whova: A capable all-in-one event app if you want abstracts inside a broader attendee experience, though abstract management is a paid add-on.
For academic and scientific events, Fourwaves stands out by running submissions, peer review, registration, and your event website in one place, with transparent pricing and a review experience your reviewers will actually complete.
Ready to simplify your abstract management process? Explore the Fourwaves abstract management software, start for free, or book a demo to see it on your own event.
Abstract management software FAQ
The best abstract management software for academic and scientific conferences is Fourwaves, because it combines a free plan, flat pricing with no per-registrant fee, automatic book-of-abstracts generation, and single or double-blind peer review in one platform. EasyChair and Oxford Abstracts are strong academic alternatives, while Cvent suits large corporate events. The right choice depends on your event size, budget, and how deep your review process needs to be.
Fourwaves combines abstract management, peer review, registrations and your event website in one platform. See how it stacks up in our detailed comparisons: Fourwaves vs EasyChair, Fourwaves vs Ex Ordo and the best Oxford Abstracts alternative.
Abstract management software ranges from free to several thousand dollars per event. Academic-focused tools like Fourwaves and Oxford Abstracts publish their plans and include free tiers, EasyChair charges per submission, and enterprise platforms such as Cvent, Ex Ordo, and OpenWater quote pricing based on event size. Watch for per-registrant fees, which can make a seemingly cheap platform expensive once attendance grows.
“Best” varies based on your context. If you only need to collect abstracts, a free form builder (Google Forms or Microsoft Forms) can work.
If you need peer review, reviewer assignments, scoring, and decision workflows, you’ll usually need either a self-hosted solution you maintain yourself or a real conference platform that offers a free tier like Fourwaves.
Free tools often lack role-based permissions, automated reviewer assignment, multi-stage review or exports for proceedings or scheduling. They can be fine for very small calls for abstracts, but most conferences outgrow them due to limited number of submissions once volume and complexity increase.
Use peer review software designed for academic conferences. It simplifies submission intake, allows you to assign peer reviewers efficiently, and helps track communication with authors. Define evaluation criteria early, and ensure full disclosure during peer assessment.
Create a custom review form, add reviewers, and pair them with submissions using our assignment engine.
Keep track of assignments and make decisions easily. Learn more on our Peer Review page here.
You can hide submitters’ and authors’ identifying details from reviewers, and also hide reviewers’ names from authors if you choose to share the results with them.
Highly flexible! Our form builder offers maximum freedom. Add any field, including short text, long text, multiple choice (dropdowns, checkboxes, etc.).
Collect submission titles, authors, abstracts, poster files, PowerPoint files, videos, images, and more with specific fields.
Use conditional logic to display fields based on submission types.
You can even edit your form after you’ve started collecting submissions.
Yes, easily export abstracts to Excel or a formatted Word document with your preferred order or grouping, including an author index, for proceedings.
Export all submission files into a single folder, with individual folders for each submission.
You can, but it’s typically a “DIY” workflow: collect submissions in a form, export to a spreadsheet, assign reviewers manually (or automatically), and track scores/comments in shared documents.
This can work for small events, but it gets messy fast when you have multiple tracks, conflicts of interest, or larger program committees.