GoToWebinar Reviews: 4.3/5 — Solid Choice

GoToWebinar provides good audio and visual features for the audience.

GoToWebinar requires installations that some users can't overcome.

We've used GoToWebinar to inform clients/potential clients of our new technology.

I enjoy that this product is easy to install and use among remote users who are not technically savvy.

I don't like how virus scans may block the use of the webinar if strict heuristic scans are set.

We're able to conference in remote users with a single click for setup instead of flying them in. Very cost efficient.

Inexpensive easy mechanism to host webinars and reach a large target population.

There are limits of time and presentations that can be loaded.

Basic meetings and presentations.

Familiarity of the product. User interface with our marketing relationship system, Eloqua.

The audio function for simi-live is a disaster. We produce approximately 20 webinars a year and the recording portion is fine - however when we play the recording the audio doesn't work 10% of the time.

Bi-monthly webinars hosted, simi live cast utilizing our email marketing CRM system Eloqua.

GoToWebinar is great for putting on large webinars. I like that you get analytics of how many people attended, when people dropped off, etc.

Muting attendees before they entered the room, was an issue for us but we figured out the hack. Recording the webinars was always an issue, but the issue was more on the actual computers we were using.

GoToWebinar helped us walk through new processes with new members and staff. We always had a Q & A afterwards, and we found that a lot of people had similar questions. So it was helpful for us to address those at one time.

It's one of the only really functional webinar products that is publically available at a relatively reasonable price.

It's clunky. We have a business account, and sharing access is not intuitive or helpful.The interface is also dated.

We use it for a better education program for our product, with a side effect of engaging some prospects as well.

It's fairly easy to set up, and the reporting and options are robust. You can either duplicate an existing webinar, or start from scratch, and the UI basically walks you through everything - with a few exceptions. When running a webinar, there are options for chatting, polls, answering questions, and providing handouts, as well as the ability to selectively mute and unmute users.

The interface at times feels clunky, and I've had some issues during live webinars - not repeated, but once the audio cut out completely with no explanation. I also wish it allowed for more integration into our website or a stronger look & feel modification. Additionally, during webinars it can be challenging to effectively use some of the options unless you're on a separate computer (which can be challenging since many staff don't feel confident in using the webinar software alone).

We offer free informational webinars for our products. We may choose to use it to conduct ticketed webinars for CE credit for our members, but will have to come up with a workaround for paid live webinars or paid recording access.

The different chat features and poll features are nice for larger meetings

I have experienced various connectivity issues and meetings timing out.

I have used it to meet with clients remotely and share documents with them. It has saved me time from traveling to meet clients in person.

The ease of sending out invites and the fact that there is a connector with Pardot. I also like that we don't have to commit for a year.

I'm not admin but I'm asked to present. As far as I can tell, I cannot see who is on the call--only admin can see that. Also, although it interfaces with Pardot, not all data is transferred over. You can only see who attended, not when they joined or dropped off. You have to go to GTW for that.

Internal and external webinars. It's pretty cost-effective and we've been able to do several webinars now.

GoToWebinar allows to record the session and use mobile device. It has a user friendly interface, the navigation through the service is very intuitive and self-explanatory. Additionally, there are numerous services both online and offline that could improve the quality of your work and the exploration of new tools and features.

I had a lot of problems related to the product quality. Sometimes it was impossible to switch between applications when you were sharing the screen (I needed to switch between PowerPoint presentation and system that I demonstrated). It was very frustrating, and tech support was not able to resolve the issue, so I switched to WebEx.

I used GoToWebinar for teaching and it turned out to be a great service with pleasant experience for both me and my students. My students pointed out that they specifically liked the initial process as it clearly described all the future steps and gave a brief overview of the interface.

I like that it is a convenient way to conduct a meeting without needing to be in the same area

There really isn't much to dislike. It provides everything you need

Transportation limits

Setup and scheduling of webcasts is easy - and it automatically links info to our eTrigue marketing automation system. The registration pages are far superior to the "other" competing major webinar provider. Having this discrete URL for registration is so much easier to handle, and it makes it easy to share the URL (with source) tracking. Source tracking (registration source) is easy to accomplish. Video production after completion of a webcast is also fairly straight forward. You may save the files directly on our PC and convert to MP4 or WMV - or save a copy on the GoToWebinar server and download. We typically produce a finished version with title/logo bumper and ending bumper. We can the upload the these back to GTW and associated it with a past webinar event. GTW will take "registrations" for the replay.

An update, post acquisition. GoToWebinar has degraded the feature set available to users, and restricted access to features such as video playback on a webinar, to only the most expensive levels. This is typically the sign of a company in decline, trying to extract as much money out of users rather than realizing that all software becomes more capable over time. It's time to revisit the many competitors. There is a "new" and an "old" version of this. I am more comfortable with the older interface version through experience. The newer version places options in different areas. Both work well. (note and addendum a year and a half later - The "New" version is very well thought out and works perfectly, every time) Would like to see some tweaks to the localization for webcasts we do that are produced in the UK and ANZ

We run about 30 larger scale webcasts each year, along with weekly events. We needed a system that was very easy to setup and update. The "create a new webcast" from an existing one makes it simple.

GotoWebinar is simple and straightforward to use. With all the other moving parts that go into a webinar, it's nice to have a sturdy, pretty dependable software for presenting those webinars. It's also great that GotoWebinar integrates with Zapier, making it easier to integrate with other, more robust registration and reporting tools.

I wish GTW had more customization options, especially in sending reminder emails. The reminder emails were always a thorn in my side, as there was so little I could do to brand or customize the HTML.

We used GotoWebinar as a mid-funnel tool, running educational webinars for agency prospects and clients. GotoWebinar is the industry standard, and is very similar to GotoMeeting, which meant little to no friction with getting people comfortable with our webinar process.

Easy to use; clear instruction about guest code access without log in/account setup.

Only works on laptop/desktop for the web conference.

I was using the software to solve business problem. The benefit is to be able to share voice and visual presentation to multiple users virtually without time zone restriction.

I like how its easy to schedule webinars. It makes it easy because the install doesn't take a long time so if you have a client that doesn't have the product, you don't have to delay your meeting because they forgot to install it earlier.

The connectivity can sometimes be bad. The connection just fails in the middle of the webinar, which is not good during your presentation.

Being able to use this with our clients who are out of the area or not able to come into the office to meet. Helps with scheduling issues that can happen frequently.

Most people have seen/used the service so are comfortable with the brand

Need to download a plugin for it to work properly

Webinar attendance

I liked the ability to control interaction with viewers. I also liked the variety of methods in which information could be shared with viewers. There was a robust amount of options for sharing screens, mobile devices, video, audio, call in audio, etc.

I disliked the stability of the connection. It was chopping losing audio or video several times. Despite our strong internet connection I found it to not be the most reliable system.

Continuing education is important to all in our business. Having the opportunity to receive additional education without traveling is a time and money saver.

If you do "standard" webinars, this is a great value for the money tool. It lets you do pretty much all you need, from presentations to screen sharing, polling etc.

They came up with a much better way to share video (called their video lab feature). This is much needed as the videos are extremely choppy if you just show them via screen sharing. Unfortunately, it does not work consistently, so you really can't use it yet. Support on this has been iffy.

Flexible to upgrade for a "rare occasions" busy webinar while usually running the lower attendance plan. Live Q&A interactions, good recordings to have replays available.

-Reporting and analytics available for past sessions (number of attendees who registered vs. attended, attendee attention span %, questions asked, total time in session, etc.) -Easy integration with Outlook, so that you can quickly choose to add scheduled webinars to your Outlook calendar and then invite via Outlook -Can easily record a webinar or training as it is in session, pause the recording, resume it, and then when completed, download to your computer for sharing/storing in other places -"Raise hand" feature allows attendees to indicate that they have a question or comment during a busy webinar

-Better video recording tools would go a long way with this tool. As a software trainer, I would love to be able to use GTW/GTM to record trainings (I do a little bit at the moment). Currently, if I make a mistake while recording, I have to restart the entire training. Pausing the recording is nice since I can take breaks and prepare what I'll say next, but I'd love to have additional tools (ability to rewind, cut clips out, add effects/titles, etc.) -Dislike the fact that all webinar attendees are muted by default. Would prefer an organizer-level or webinar-level setting to turn this on/off. Requires organizer to manually unmute all attendees if the webinar is designed to allow for open dialogue.

-As a software company, our training department uses GoToWebinar to train internal employees and clients, and is especially helpful when we have large groups of people attending. -We also use this for internal company-wide meetings held by executives.

I like the user friendly nature of GoToWebinar. It is very easy to register for a webinar and to sign people up for series. A lot of people have familiarity with this product already, so it is easier for clients to navigate.

The phone conference lines they use are pretty hit or miss. I have had several issues with static and dropped calls.

I need to train clients on how to use our product, so I will use GoToWebinar as an option for a training webinar.

The best thing is I don't even know what is this webinar about

Maybe you can do some creative marketing to get noticed

Bro as I told I know nothing about this webinar

On demand webinar features are the best in the business - I don't want to lose that feature

I've had so many issues with MAC users able to activate cameras and microphones, we're likely making a switch in Q3

Reaching audiences, identifying regular users, sharing content security and with moderation

Great Service - even though I had to terminate my membership. It became too expensive to continue using, so had to revert to a FREE platform

The cost. I would have been able to continue if it was more cost-effective

Keeping my team up to date and reaching out to customers

I like that as an organizer, you have full control of the team putting on the webinar and the attendees. I also like that you can create templates/copy from a previous webinar so you don't always start from scratch! I also really enjoy the analytics that are provided after the webinar as well as the recording editing ability and video library option.

The platform and control panel look and feel VERY outdated. The control panel can be challenging to learn for someone brand new to the platform. There is also not an option to NOT have people register for an event.

We use GoToWebinar when we need full control over the audience (mic, camera) but would also like the ability to provide handouts, run polls, collect registration data, share more than one presenter's webcam, and provide post-webinar emails (that can include the webinar recording and certification if applicable). SUPER nice feature!

Easy and simple, only have 2 mins to join the meeting, but immediately know how to use and get used to it fast. The loading speed is comparatively fast which is very smooth.

Too less functions, while compare with zoom or skype, still have a lot of functions should available for user.

Since this is easy, I will try to raise this to someone who are not familiar with online meeting. Since the set up time not much, so which helps to arrange for some urgent meetings.

Easy installation and control. Good performance

Requirements are not easily met due to slow connection

Saved training costs

The ability to attend a webinar without having to leave my home!!

I would have to say that I don’t have the material in my hands to manipulate as I am a visual and tactical person.

The ability to be in two places at once, multi tasking as I can be cooking and taking a course at the same time!

Like the ability to track and view which phone numbers, computers and or users are on any call via computer screen. Ability to join or listen on computer or phone.

It is pretty baseline - there may be higher versions that personally have not used.

We utilize to track meet attendance, participation and coordinating between multiple clients. Program tracks amount of time and rank of appearance for each "caller" - has ability to record whole meet and auto sending copies to all registered recipients.

The quality of webinars, the metrics, the match with HubSpot...I can see who is attended and who's not. It allows questions, I can share my screen...and so on.

The interface, people have to download a software if they want to see the webinar...

I make online masterclass in live! I can teach about marketing

Enables me to participate in training with colleagues from across the country as well as complete CEU courses with other providers. I appreciate being able to listen over my phone or through the computer

Functionality of being able to respond to questions is inconsistent. If multiple people are participating on one computer, there is no way for all participants to be "signed in" unless the log into the webinar on another computer

It makes it much easier and more convenient to participate in training and educational seminars