Fourwaves vs Ex Ordo: which academic event management platform is right for you?
Published on 08 Jan 2025 · Updated on 05 Sept 2026
Organizing academic events can be overwhelming: managing abstract submissions, peer reviews, registrations, and more, all while ensuring everything runs smoothly. Disclosure: Fourwaves wrote this comparison. Facts about Ex Ordo come from its newsroom (panels and symposia release, 15 January 2025), its help centre (Naylor Novi AMS integration) and our own Ex Ordo account, checked in September 2026. Platforms like Fourwaves and Ex Ordo aim to make this process easier, but which one is the best fit for your needs?
In this comparison, we’ll dive into how Fourwaves and Ex Ordo stack up, focusing on the features, pricing, and user experience that matter most to academic event organizers, PCOs, and associations.
The challenges of event management
Academic conference organizers who compare Fourwaves and Ex Ordo usually name three problems with their current setup:
- Time-consuming abstract submissions and peer reviews.
- Disjointed tools for registration, payments, and communication.
- Limited options for customization and attendee engagement.
Both Fourwaves and Ex Ordo address these three problems; the differences are in what each platform includes and how it is bought, detailed below.
Feature comparison: Fourwaves vs Ex Ordo
Below is a side-by-side comparison of the core features offered by each platform. In short: both run abstract submission and peer review; Fourwaves adds the event website, registration and payments, a free plan with 25 submissions and published flat annual prices, and keeps past events online indefinitely; Ex Ordo prices by quote per event, collects panel and symposium submissions natively, and syncs member status from Naylor Novi AMS.
| Features | Fourwaves | Ex Ordo |
| Abstract Management | Fully customizable forms, conditional logic, and file uploads. | Streamlined submission process but less customizable. |
| Peer Review Tools | Built-in review workflows, scoring, and real-time updates. | Simplified process but limited flexibility. |
| Registration & Payments | Integrated payments, detailed reporting, and attendee tracking. | Basic registration tools with fewer integrations. |
| Brand Customization | Complete branding options for a professional event website. | Limited branding flexibility. |
| Networking Features | Virtual networking and poster sessions for hybrid/virtual events. | No dedicated networking tools other than the live stream. |
| Event Website | All-in-one, professional websites tailored for academics. | Focused on abstract and review systems, less on websites. |
| Free plan | Free plan with 25 submissions per event and unlimited registrations. | No free plan. |
| Pricing model | Flat annual plans published on the pricing page, no per-registrant fee. | Quote per event after sales demos. |
| Past events | Event websites and data stay online indefinitely; events are cloned for the next edition. | Not archived indefinitely. |
| Membership sync | Not offered. | Syncs member status from Naylor Novi AMS, an association management system, enabled on request. |
| Panel and symposium submissions | Collected through conditional logic in one submission form. | Native panels and symposia feature, released 15 January 2025. |
What makes Fourwaves unique?
- All-in-one platform Fourwaves doesn’t stop at abstract submissions: it provides end-to-end solutions, from registration to peer reviews, to event branding and networking.
- Custom branding for professionalism Your event’s identity matters. Unlike Ex Ordo, Fourwaves allows you to create a fully branded website that reflects your institution or organization.
- Built for time savings Fourwaves centralizes all event logistics, saving you hours of manual work. Whether you’re organizing a small research day or a large-scale conference, our tools grow with your needs.
- Built for researchers by researchers Fourwaves is tailored to the academic community. We understand the unique challenges of research-focused events and offer features specifically designed for them.
Fourwaves for large, multi-track conferences
Fourwaves runs multi-track conferences with up to 2,000 submissions, per-track review committees and hundreds of reviewers on one flat annual plan. The Geological Association of Canada has run its national conference, about 800 participants and 500 abstracts, on Fourwaves since 2022 (customer story). The Organization for Human Brain Mapping ran its 2022 hybrid annual meeting with 2,880 participants from 49 countries on Fourwaves (customer story). The United States Association for the Study of Pain coordinated 120 reviewers on 530 abstracts for its 2025 annual meeting through the peer review module (customer story). Neither platform offers parallel submission workflows with separate review forms per lane; Fourwaves handles distinct presentation types through conditional logic in one submission form.
Organizers who only need the call for abstracts and peer review can run those on their own in Fourwaves, then add registration, payments, the program and the event website on the same event at a later edition, with no second vendor.
Where Ex Ordo shines
Ex Ordo shines for associations that need member status inside the conference platform: it syncs membership data from Naylor Novi AMS, an association management system, so delegates carry the right member or non-member status through submission and registration. Since January 2025 it also collects panel and symposium submissions natively, where a convener submits a session with its presentations, comparable to the symposium add-on in Oxford Abstracts. An association that manages its abstracts around that specific integration has a reason to choose Ex Ordo. Its publishing partnerships (SPIE, BioOne, SSP) also suit conferences whose proceedings go straight to those publishers.
Pricing and value
Both platforms offer competitive pricing, but Fourwaves provides flexible plans tailored to academic events of all sizes. Plus, with Fourwaves, you get access to features like event websites, custom branding, and integrated networking tools at no additional cost, which Ex Ordo does not include. Fourwaves publishes flat annual plans and includes a free plan with 25 submissions per event; Ex Ordo prices by quote per event and has no free plan.
The winner
Fourwaves and Ex Ordo both run abstract submission and peer review for academic conferences. Fourwaves is the better choice for organizers who want the event website, registration and payments, the program and the review workflow on one event, with published flat annual prices and a free plan, from a 30-abstract research day to a 2,000-submission congress. Ex Ordo is the better choice for associations that need native panel submissions or the Naylor Novi AMS member sync and accept quote-based pricing.
