Forrester Names Top Vendors in Rapidly Consolidating Virtual Event Platform Category
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Skift Take
Virtual events are growing in importance as a key source of valuable first-party data, making having the right tool for the job more important than ever.
Forrester has named Cvent, ON24, RainFocus, Kaltura, and Zoom as leaders in its second-quarter evaluation of virtual event management platforms, which looked at both the strength of their current offerings and the strength of their strategy.
In total, 12 vendors were assessed, all of which brought in at least $10 million in virtual-event revenue over the past four quarters and are being considered by Forrester's enterprise clients.
Kaltura led the scores on product offering (4.44), ahead of RainFocus (4.34), Cvent (4.28), ON24 (3.86), and SpotMe (3.70). On strategy, Cvent led by a wide margin (4.60), followed by ON24 (4.00), Zoom (3.80), RainFocus (3.50), and Kaltura (3.20). Forrester grouped SpotMe, Goldcast, and vFairs as strong performers, and BrightTALK, RingCentral, Adobe, and GoTo as contenders.
While Kaltura was rated as the strongest product in Forrester's view, it couldn’t compete with Cvent on strategy. Forrester considered that Cvent’s strategy outpaces every rival, giving it top marks on all six sub-categories except “pricing flexibility and transparency.” It’s worth noting that while the current offering was scored across 25 categories, strategy had only six.
Market consolidation was patently apparent in the report. Cvent, the largest event technology provider, acquired two of the other vendors listed in the last seven months. It bought Goldcast in December 2025 and closed its public acquisition of ON24 in April 2026. The result is a ranking in which the strategy leader now owns a fellow leader, ON24, and the platform Forrester rated most highly: Goldcast, the evaluation's sole customer favorite. Zoom and SpotMe were also rated as having above-average customer feedback.
The report doubles as a snapshot of a fast-consolidating market. According to Forrester, the number of webinars and virtual events is likely to grow or at least stay consistent over the next year. It also points out that attendees now expect engaging, consumer-grade experiences, passive viewing won’t cut it.
Finally, the report presents what is perhaps the most compelling reason to continue investing in virtual events: they are a valuable source of first-party data. The implication is that these platforms should be considered essential data-capturing tools, not just streaming platforms.
