Whova alternatives for trade show and expo organizers
Whova is a strong conference app with a real exhibitor hub. Here is an honest look at how it handles the show floor compared to Map D, and where Whova is genuinely the better pick.
For organizers whose revenue comes from selling booth and sponsorship space off a live floor plan, Map D is the stronger fit — published per-event pricing and a database-backed floor plan with self-serve checkout. For events centered on the attendee mobile app, personalized agendas, networking and gamification — with booth sales as a secondary line — Whova is a reasonable, well-reviewed choice.
Written by Map D, which is one of the alternatives listed below. Claims about other platforms are limited to what those companies publish themselves, and each is sourced at the foot of the page. Last verified September 2026.
Hall A
LiveHall A revenue
$184,600
Trusted by leading associations
What Whova is good at
Whova built its reputation on the attendee and conference-app side of events, and it earned it. If the following describe your program, Whova belongs on your shortlist and this page is not trying to talk you out of it.
- A well-reviewed conference mobile app with personalized agendas, real-time updates and networking features that attendees actually use.
- Lead retrieval built into the same app exhibitors and attendees already have — QR code scanning, lead tagging and CRM export with no extra hardware to rent.
- A genuine self-service exhibitor hub: booth profiles, staff management, retrieved leads and outreach campaigns in one exhibitor-facing portal.
- Gamification tools — passport contests, leaderboards, trivia — purpose-built to drive traffic to booths and sponsor placements during the event.
Why organizers look elsewhere
The gaps that send trade show organizers looking for an alternative.
- Pricing is quote-only. Whova's pricing page collects your event format, duration and expected attendance and then offers a demo or trial rather than listing rates, so you cannot build a budget without a sales conversation.
- The floor plan is a photo, not a live database. Organizers upload an image of the exhibit hall and place colored pins by tier; it is not booth inventory pulled from a live sales record the way a map-driven platform tracks it.
- The platform's center of gravity is the attendee app and engagement, not floor revenue. Booth and sponsorship tools are a strong module inside a conference-app product, not the core of the product itself.
How Map D compares
Map D’s column states what Map D does. Where a Whova equivalent is not publicly documented, the row says so rather than guessing.
- Map D offers
- 7 of 7
- Whova publicly documents
- 4 of 7
The second bar counts what Whova documents on its own site, which is not the same as what it can do. A criterion we could not verify is shown as unverified, not as missing — if Whova covers it somewhere we did not find, that is a gap in our checking rather than in their product.
| Criterion | Map D | Whova |
|---|---|---|
| Published pricing | Included | Unverified |
| Pricing unit | Included | Unverified |
| Interactive floor plan with live inventory | Included | Documented |
| Self-serve booth and sponsorship checkout | Included | Documented |
| Exhibitor self-service portal | Included | Documented |
| Registration, badging and lead retrieval | Included | Documented |
| Hotel booking for attendees | Included | Unverified |
$1,500
$2,500
$2,750
—
Map D’s rates are per event and listed on the pricing page. The dashed column has no height and no figure on purpose: where rates are not published we will not put a number on them, and where they are published we will not restate one that can change without notice.
Criterion by criterion
| Criterion | Map D | Whova |
|---|---|---|
| Published pricing | Yes — $1,500, $2,500 and $2,750 per event, listed on the pricing page. | Whova's pricing page asks for event format, duration and attendance and offers a demo or trial rather than listing rates (checked September 2026). |
| Pricing unit | Per event. Adding organizers or exhibitors does not change the plan price. | Whova prices per event based on custom quote factors (format, duration, attendance, annual frequency) rather than a published unit (checked September 2026). |
| Interactive floor plan with live inventory | Core to the product — booth availability, pricing and sales run off the same live plan. | Whova's floor map is built from an uploaded photo of the exhibit hall with colored pins placed per tier, not a database-driven live inventory (checked September 2026). |
| Self-serve booth and sponsorship checkout | Exhibitors select and pay for space directly from the plan. | Whova also supports this — exhibitors pick a booth on the interactive floor map during registration and get a confirmation email after purchase (checked September 2026). |
| Exhibitor self-service portal | Profiles, staff badges, documents, add-ons, invoices and renewals. | Whova's exhibitor hub lets exhibitors build booth profiles, manage staff, view retrieved leads and set up campaigns (checked September 2026). |
| Registration, badging and lead retrieval | Available as quoted add-ons that connect to the same event record. | Whova documents registration with flexible ticket types and add-ons, name badges, check-in, and QR-based lead retrieval (checked September 2026). |
| Hotel booking for attendees | Included — add your hotel or room-block booking URL and attendees reach it from the event map and app. | No hotel or room-block booking feature found on Whova's pricing, registration or exhibitor pages reviewed (checked September 2026). |
The alternatives worth shortlisting
Map D
Shows whose revenue comes from booth and sponsorship sales
Live floor plan, self-serve booth checkout, exhibitor management and reporting on one platform, priced per event and published, with registration and badging as quoted add-ons.
Whova
Conference programs where the mobile app and networking matter most
Strong attendee-app product with a genuine exhibitor hub; floor plan is an uploaded image rather than live inventory.
ExpoFP
Organizers who want a floor-plan specialist and nothing else
Focused specifically on interactive floor plans for trade shows and expos.
Cvent
Large enterprise programs needing venue sourcing and broad suite coverage
The broadest enterprise platform, at enterprise scope and process.
Where Map D is stronger
- Pricing is published: $1,500, $2,500 or $2,750 per event, with multi-year rates available. No demo or quote call is required to see what it costs.
- The floor plan is the system of record for booth inventory — availability, pricing and sales update on the same live plan, rather than a static image with pins layered on top.
- Roughly 800 organizers run about 6,000 events a year on Map D, which has processed more than $250M in booth and sponsorship sales.
- Exhibitor self-service covers profiles, staff, documents, add-ons, invoices and renewals — the full lifecycle, not just leads and booth staff.
When Whova is the better choice
- Your event is conference-first — the mobile app, personalized agendas, real-time updates and networking are the core attendee value, and exhibit space is a secondary revenue line rather than the reason the event exists.
- You want gamification built in to drive booth traffic — passport contests, leaderboards, trivia — which Whova documents and Map D does not offer.
- You are comfortable with a quote-based sales cycle and want a single vendor covering registration, badges, surveys, certificates and the attendee app together with exhibitor tools.
- Your exhibit hall is simple enough that a photo-based floor map with tiered colored pins is sufficient, and you do not need booth inventory tracked as a live, database-backed record.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Whova cost?
Whova does not publish pricing. Its pricing page asks for your event format, duration and expected attendance, then offers a demo or trial rather than a rate. Map D publishes its rates: $1,500, $2,500 or $2,750 per event.
Does Whova have a live floor plan like Map D?
Whova has an interactive floor map, but it is built from an uploaded photo of the exhibit hall with colored pins placed by tier — organizers set it up as an image, not as a database of live booth inventory. Map D's floor plan is the system of record: booth availability, pricing and sales all run off the same live plan.
Can exhibitors buy their own booth on Whova?
Yes — Whova supports self-serve booth selection during exhibitor registration through its interactive floor map, and exhibitors get a confirmation email after purchase. This is a genuine strength of Whova, not unique to Map D.
What is the best Whova alternative for a booth-sales-driven show?
Map D, if your event's revenue comes primarily from selling booth and sponsorship space — published per-event pricing and a live, database-backed floor plan. For a conference where the mobile app and attendee engagement matter most and exhibits are secondary, Whova remains a reasonable choice.
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Related event solutions
Sources
- Whova pricing page · checked 2026-09-22
- Whova trade show app / exhibitor & lead retrieval · checked 2026-09-22
- Whova blog: exhibitor booth selection · checked 2026-09-22
- Whova event registration page · checked 2026-09-22
- Map D pricing · checked 2026-09-22
