Brownbag vs Symposio
Brownbag
brownbag.orgSymposio
symposio.frSide by side
| Figure | Brownbag | Symposio |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | — |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 3 |
| Spec score · Event Abstract Management Software | 8.1 (#8) | 6.5 (#29) |
| Payments | The site says Premium upgrades use secure payments with Stripe and can be made from the dashboard. | The Standard plan lists PayPal, Systempay or bank transfer as payment methods. |
| Peer review | Organizers can assign internal and external reviewers, use custom labels, track scores, and export conference data to CSV. | The peer review system supports multiple evaluation levels, reviewer assignments, automatic scoring and ranking, and acceptance or rejection notifications. |
| Purpose | Brownbag is conference management software for academic research, covering conference pages, submissions, reviews, programs, and registration. | Symposio is an all-in-one solution for organisers of scientific conferences and symposia, with tools for registrations, abstract submissions and programme scheduling. |
| Support | The help center offers guides for organizers, reviewers, authors, and attendees. | Support varies by plan: Standard technical support, personalised technical support with Premium, and priority technical support with Custom. |
Plans
Symposio
- StandardPriced on request
- PremiumPriced on request
- CustomPriced on request
In their own words
Brownbag
Brownbag is web-based conference-management software for academic research. It combines public conference pages, calls for papers, submissions, peer review, program planning, email, and analytics. Organizers can build pages with headings, images, tabs, and submission blocks. Submission forms can require fields, define file types and deadlines, and collect co-authors; authors can reuse uploaded details across conferences. Review workflows support internal and external reviewers, custom labels, score tracking, and CSV export. Accepted papers can be arranged into sessions, rooms, and time slots, then published for viewing on any device. Organizers can email authors, reviewers, or attendees and schedule messages. Analytics show views, referrers, and devices without a third-party tag. Brownbag describes a ChatGPT connection for organizer and reviewer tasks while carrying its permissions across. Stripe handles Premium upgrades from the dashboard. A help center provides guides for organizers, reviewers, authors, and attendees. Attendee registration is marked “Coming soon.” The Free plan costs nothing, billed per conference, with organizer views capped at 100 submissions. Premium costs $1,000, paid once and provides unlimited submissions in organizer views.