Starter
$0 USD
/ year- Unlimited registrations
- Unlimited events
- 25 abstract submissions / year
- Branded event website
- Conference app
- Event program
- AI, chat and email support
Simple pricing for
academic conferences
Unlimited registrations, conference app included and price locked for up to 3 years.
Essential
$899 USD, multi-year
/ year −10%- Unlimited registrations
- Unlimited events
- 100 abstract submissions / year
- Badge generator
- Email communications
- Confirmation emails
Advanced
$2,339 USD, multi-year
/ year −10%- Unlimited registrations
- Unlimited events
- 300 abstract submissions / year
- Peer review
- Unlimited website pages
- Certificates generator
- Onboarding call
Pro
Custom pricing
- Unlimited registrations
- Custom number of events
- Custom submission volume
- Tracks management
- Event-specific admins
- Domain name
- Dedicated account manager
Somewhere between two plans?
Just over a cap? Tell us about your events and we will find the right fit.
Book a demo
Compare all plan features
Tap or hover a feature name for details.
| | Starter
$0 USD
/ year Get started
| Essential
$899 USD, multi-year
/ year Get started
| Advanced
$2,339 USD, multi-year
/ year Get started
| Pro Custom pricing Book a demo
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| Registrations | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Custom volume |
| | 25 | 100 | 300 | Custom volume |
| | 3% | 3% | 3% | Custom |
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| Reusable email templates Soon | ||||
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| Email automation Soon | ||||
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| Virtual and hybrid | ||||
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What organizers say about the value
Universities, scientific societies and research networks run their whole event on Fourwaves, from the first call for abstracts to the last certificate.
The Fourwaves platform has centralized everything into one convenient location, both for organizers and attendees. Our team is able to efficiently review posters submitted by investigators and make them public to view on the day of the event.
Todd Barnash
Office of Research, University of Florida College of Medicine
Fourwaves truly felt like a one-stop shop for everything we needed. It made attracting people and organizing our event more efficient than we could have imagined.
Dr. Karyn Frick
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
We decided to return MXR to Fourwaves, and I recommended it for Meaningful Play, because it's the only one-stop-shop for conference organizing with a reasonable price tag. It helps us avoid needing a separate paper competition management system and registration system.
Rabindra Ratan
Professor and AT&T Endowed Chair, Department of Media & Information, Michigan State University
Fourwaves is a game-changer. It simplified event management with an intuitive interface, making everything easy for participants and admins.
Maggie Rigney
College of Natural Sciences, UT Austin
Fourwaves made it possible to manage the conference largely on my own, without pulling academics into logistics.
Dr. Courtney Marsh-Rosseel
University of Antwerp
The ability to centralize everything has been a game changer for us. Our process is finally streamlined.
Dr. Deanne van Rooyen
Acadia University
The platform is easy to use, reasonably priced and the support team is very helpful. We faced no technical challenges at all. Fourwaves is a pleasure to work with!
Randy Gollub, MD, PhD
Harvard Medical School
Fourwaves is indispensable to our operations for nearly 80 events per year. The platform is easy to use, fast, well-structured, enhancing our reputation.
Viki Bernard
CHU Sainte-Justine
Fourwaves simplified all aspects of our event management, from abstracts to registrations — saving us time and improving the participant experience.
Dr. Denice Bay
University of Manitoba and the Canadian Society of Microbiologists
Book a demo 
Real people who run academic events, not a sales rep.
See it in action, get your price
Pick a time that works for you. In 30 minutes we tailor everything to your event and answer every question. No slides, no pressure.
- A walkthrough tailored to your event
- A clear quote for your event size and needs
- Answers on invoicing, POs, and multi-year terms
Frequently asked questions
When your organization reaches its yearly submission cap, Fourwaves pauses new submissions until you upgrade to the next plan. Fourwaves warns you ahead of the cap, in the app and by email, so the pause never comes as a surprise. Your existing submissions, registrations and event websites stay accessible. Upgrading applies to all your events, and Pro is priced on volume when you expect more than 300 submissions a year: contact sales for a quote.
Fourwaves locks your price for the term you choose at checkout: 1, 2 or 3 years. A 2- or 3-year term also takes 10% off, you keep paying yearly rather than up front, and the plan renews automatically at the end of the term, with the option to cancel anytime.
A multi-year plan on Fourwaves can be cancelled anytime without penalty, and since you are invoiced yearly, nothing is prepaid for the remaining years. If you return later, you re-enroll at the then-current rate, which may be higher than your original price.
Fourwaves service fees can be passed on to your registrants instead of being absorbed by your event. These fees are clearly identified on the participant invoice, making them easy to distinguish from your event costs.
Fourwaves accepts payment by bank transfer upon invoice, in addition to credit card, and you can include a purchase order if needed. Our invoicing is compatible with university procurement processes.
When your Fourwaves plan expires, your account moves to the free Starter plan. You keep access to past events, but premium features like sending emails, editing content or receiving new submissions are disabled until you renew.
Fourwaves offers custom pricing on the Pro plan: if you expect more than 300 abstract submissions a year, run many events or have a high payment volume, contact our sales team for a quote based on your volume.
More about Fourwaves pricing
How much does Fourwaves cost?
Fourwaves costs $0 on the Starter plan, $999 USD per year on Essential and $2,599 USD per year on Advanced, with Pro on custom pricing quoted on your volume of submissions and events. Every plan covers unlimited registrations; Starter, Essential and Advanced also cover unlimited events, while Pro sets the number of events with you.
Read more
Prices are listed in USD, CAD and EUR: Essential is CAD $1,199 or EUR €899 per year, Advanced is CAD $2,899 or EUR €2,299 per year. A 2- or 3-year term takes 10% off every paid plan and locks the price for the term. A 3% service fee applies only when you collect credit card payments through your own payment gateway (Stripe, PayPal, Moneris, TouchNet or Global Payments), on top of the payment gateway’s own fees; Fourwaves never holds your funds. There are no add-ons and no per-registrant fees.
What counts as an abstract submission?
An abstract submission on Fourwaves is one entry received through a submission form, whether the presentation type is a poster, a talk, a workshop proposal or a paper. Submissions are counted across all your events over a plan year: 25 on Starter, 100 on Essential and 300 on Advanced; Pro is priced on your volume.
Read more
An organization running three symposia with 30 submissions each uses 90 of its yearly quota. Registrations, reviews and edits to an existing submission are never counted, and the yearly submission cap is the only usage limit in the product.
Which Fourwaves plan fits your event?
The free Starter plan fits a research day or seminar with fewer than 25 submissions, Essential fits a symposium or an annual meeting with up to 100 submissions, Advanced fits a peer-reviewed conference with up to 300 submissions, and Pro fits large conferences and organizations running many events, from 300 submissions a year up.
Read more
Starter includes the event website, registration and payments, the program, the conference app and support. Essential adds the badge generator, email communications, confirmation emails and website content blocks. Advanced adds peer review, the certificates generator, unlimited website pages and an onboarding call. Pro adds your own domain name, no Fourwaves footer, tracks management, video hosting, virtual poster sessions, event-specific admins and a dedicated account manager.
How does Fourwaves pricing compare to other conference software?
Fourwaves lists flat yearly prices with unlimited registrations, which is uncommon in conference management software: EasyChair charges per submission, Oxford Abstracts scales its plans with submissions and sells the symposium module as a paid add-on, Ex Ordo, Cvent and Whova quote each event on request, often with per-registrant fees, and ConfTool licenses per event.
Read more
Fourwaves writes these comparisons itself, so read the dated detail in Fourwaves vs EasyChair, Fourwaves vs Ex Ordo, Fourwaves vs Whova, Fourwaves vs Cvent and the best Oxford Abstracts alternative, and check each vendor’s pricing page before deciding.