Sessionboard vs HotCRP.
HotCRP is open-source academic review software that the committee hosts, patches, and supports itself. Sessionboard is the commercial program layer: speaker portals, conflict of interest at scale, transcription, attendee delivery, and support SLAs, with nobody's volunteer time holding it up.
SIDE BY SIDE
Where each one does its work.
Read from the approved comparison, not from a feature checklist. Where we could not verify a HotCRP capability from their own material, the cell says so.
| Capability | Sessionboard | HotCRP |
|---|---|---|
| Review rounds and committees | Review plans with rounds, committees, rubrics and conflict-of-interest rules. Your team changes forms and review steps without a services ticket. | Blind review and program committee workflows familiar to CS and research communities. |
| Hosting and support | Hosted and supported by Sessionboard: SOC 2 Type II, US or EU tenancy, no servers for the committee to patch. | The license is free; hosting, patching, and support come out of volunteer IT time. Customize hosting and data residency when staff can operate it. |
| Call for papers and abstracts | Submission forms with logic per track and format; abstracts, disclosures and files on one submission. Returning speakers arrive with their history. | varies |
| Speaker materials and portal | Branded speaker portal with task lists, agreements and e-sign; the Coordinator agent reminds whoever is late. | varies |
| Agenda and attendee program | Agenda builder with speaker and room conflict detection; program site, embeds and the Attend app update as it changes. | varies |
| Posters and ePosters | Poster tracks in the same call, review plan and portal; ePoster gallery with search and audio walkthroughs. | varies |
| Transcription and media library | Live Transcribe in the room or from Zoom, ON24 and Goldcast; transcripts, captions, clips and quote cards in a library searchable across events. | varies |
| Peer sharing with attribution | Share kits with tracked links for speakers, sponsors and attendees; registrations traced back to the share. | varies |
| Registration | Stays where it is. Accepted sessions and speakers sync to Cvent, Swoogo, Bizzabo and others. | varies |
| CRM and AMS | Two-way sync with HubSpot, Salesforce, iMIS, Fonteva and Nimble AMS; public API, webhooks and an MCP server. | varies |
Where HotCRP fits best: pure academic program committee workflow with no speaker materials or CE requirements. What often stays with HotCRP for now: mid-contract abstract forms if not ready to migrate call for papers. This page compares workflow and product fit, not a feature checklist.
WHERE IT DIFFERS · AFTER ACCEPTANCE
Acceptance is where the speaker’s work starts, not where the software stops.
Review rounds, committees, rubrics and conflict-of-interest rules live on a review plan your chairs edit. When the decision lands, the accepted speaker gets a branded portal and a task list, and the Coordinator agent reminds whoever is late. Nothing is exported from HotCRP into a spreadsheet to make that happen.
- Review plans & rounds
- Conflict-of-interest rules
- Speaker portal
- Coordinator agent
GROWSA program your committee trusts, and speakers who arrive ready
WHERE IT DIFFERS · THE RECORD KEEPS GOING
Every accepted session becomes content, and every speaker comes back with their history.
Live Transcribe captures the room, the media library keeps every word, and speakers share their own session with tracked links. Next cycle, returning authors and reviewers arrive with their submissions, scores and materials already on the record.
- Live Transcribe
- Media library
- Speaker share kits
- Returning speakers
GROWSReach this year and submissions next year
Questions, answered
Is Sessionboard a full HotCRP replacement?
Yes. HotCRP saves license fees by spending committee time on hosting, patching, and support. Sessionboard covers the same review workflows plus speaker portal, transcription, Content Gallery, Advocacy, and vendor support after the program committee accepts papers.
Can we run one meeting on Sessionboard first?
Yes. Pilot one annual meeting or specialty track beside the registration or abstract stack you run today. Historical speakers and abstracts import onto the record, and we can run in parallel during an active call for papers.
Does Sessionboard include transcription and attendee delivery?
Yes. Live Transcribe captures the room or the webinar, batch transcription handles recordings, and transcripts, clips and quote cards publish to the Content Gallery and the media library.
What about registration?
It stays where it is: Cvent, RainFocus, EventsAir, Cadmium or another platform. Accepted sessions and speakers sync out, and Sessionboard owns the program layer between acceptance and content reuse.
Can we export everything later?
Yes. Submissions, scores, speakers, agenda, transcripts and media export by CSV, program book export, the public API and webhooks.