Fourwaves vs GetSpot

Fourwaves is a conference management service for academic and scientific events, covering abstract submissions, peer review, registration, event websites, programs and attendee apps. Submission forms can support calls for papers and abstracts, and organizers can export abstract books with author indexes. Review workflows offer single- or double-blind processes, reviewer conflict detection and custom scoring grids. Its iOS and Android app includes the event program, personal agenda, participant list and presentation materials, and works offline. An API with organization-specific keys provides endpoints for event, registration, form, submission and session data. The free Starter plan costs nothing and caps yearly submissions at 25. Essential costs $999 a year with a 100-submission limit; Advanced costs $2,599 a year with a 300-submission limit. Each lists a 3% service fee. When a yearly cap is reached, new submissions pause until an upgrade, though existing submissions, registrations and event websites remain accessible. The company describes its audience as research communities, universities, scientific societies and research networks.

GetSpot is a free Android and iOS app for organizing recurring sports meetups with limited capacity and a fee. Organizers can create groups, share join codes, manage members and schedule events with a date, time, location, capacity and fee. When an event is posted, members can be notified. Once places fill, additional registrations go onto a waitlist, and the next person is promoted automatically when a confirmed place opens. Organizers collect payments offline using methods such as cash, Venmo or Zelle, then credit group wallets; registration fees are deducted from those balances. Withdrawing before the commitment deadline returns the fee to a member’s wallet. After the deadline, the fee is forfeited unless someone on the waitlist takes the spot. Organizers can approve join requests, add or remove members, credit wallets and send announcements. Players receive push notifications about events, registration changes and reminders. Users sign in with Google or Apple. GetSpot says real payment details do not pass through its servers because payments happen offline.