Fourwaves vs Gythr

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.

Gythr is a web-based event management platform for conference organizers, associations and teams running multi-track events. Gate covers ticket tiers, registration forms, Stripe payments, QR check-in, sale windows, promo codes and waitlists. Agenda provides drag-and-drop scheduling, multiple tracks, personal schedules with conflict detection and calendar export. Stage handles speaker rosters, portals, proposal review and session assignments, including creating assignments when proposals are accepted. Link adds AI-powered attendee matching, meeting scheduling, an activity feed and icebreaker suggestions. Attendees use Gythr Here in a browser without an app-store download; its optional Comfort Mode provides a simplified next-session view, social energy controls and simpler navigation. The Free plan costs nothing and allows up to four events annually and 250 attendees per event, with a 3.5% fee on paid tickets plus Stripe processing. Free-plan data remains live for 90 days after an event and then archives; Data Vault keeps it warm for $100/year. The Event plan is $2,995 per event, while annual Business costs $9,990/year. Gythr describes the platform as built for conferences of 500–5,000 people.