Stova Reviews

“Global Promises, Cost Surprises, and Operational Gaps”

Pros

Centralized platform for registration, communications, and reporting Scales well for large, complex events Useful attendee data and reporting insights

Cons

Shipping costs were consistently underestimated, resulting in unexpected budget overruns late in the planning cycle. This lack of cost transparency made it difficult to manage financial expectations internally and with stakeholders. Despite positioning themselves as a global provider, Stova did not deliver reliable support for international events. Equipment shipments were delayed and in some cases became stuck in customs, with limited proactive communication or contingency planning. This created unnecessary risk and stress for time-sensitive event execution. We also experienced notable turnover across both account management and project management roles. The lack of continuity led to repeated re-explanations of requirements, inconsistent support, and an overall decline in service quality. From a financial perspective, billing practices were a consistent challenge. Invoices were not issued on time, causing charges to roll into the next fiscal year and complicating internal financial processes. Additionally, while reconciliation summaries were provided for review, final invoices ultimately came in significantly higher—eroding trust in the accuracy and transparency of their billing. Another major limitation was the high cost associated with on-demand printing services. The required investment makes this offering impractical for smaller events. For example, a one-day event with fewer than 1,000 attendees carries an average minimum cost of approximately $25,000, which is difficult to justify given the value delivered.

“Efficient for event sign-ups, needs better support”

Pros

You can get a simple event registration page running in no time. It handles the job of signing people up and you can easily send them confirmation details.

Cons

The company has changed from Aventri to a merged brand called Stova and since then the help team hasn't been great. I'm also unsure about the new company's future plans.

“quick event registration setup”

Pros

Setting up registration pages hasn't taken much time for me and I've found it easy to manage attendee communication.

Cons

It started as Aventri and later merged with MeetingsPlay to become Stova and since then the customer support hasn't been very strong. I'm also unsure about the direction the platform is heading.

“powerful features but frustrating experience”

Pros

It offers a wide range of features in my experience, covering most event-related needs effectively.

Cons

Using it is not user friendly at all. The platform only offers a limited number of integrations and customer support wasn't helpful. It honestly felt like they expected appreciation just for offering the product instead of actually treating me like a customer.

“Good for hybrid events”

Pros

This platform gave us a simple way to run a global event that had both in-person and online attendees.

Cons

Learning the system and training several team members took a significant amount of time.

“hybrid event management done right”

Pros

Using it has been a convenient way for me to manage international hybrid events without too much complexity.

Cons

Getting familiar with the platform took some time, especially when onboarding several staff members.

“powerful features but daunting setup”

Pros

The platform provides a strong set of tools in my experience and I've found the reporting, analytics and support options very helpful when everything is running smoothly.

Cons

Getting started with it was much harder than expected, even with help from support. The setup process felt overwhelming and honestly, I never looked forward to having to use it. The pricing is also on the expensive side, especially once extra fees are added in. We also ran into problems with payment processing and integrating it with the other systems already established in our business was far from simple.

“overly complicated interface”

Pros

The help team gets back to you incredibly fast usually in just a few minutes.

Cons

The website isn't very simple and is overly complex for straightforward events. The design feels old and the full version is so convoluted that it requires too much effort to understand.

“quick support with clunky interface”

Pros

Whenever I've reached out for help, I've received quick responses from the customer service team which I really appreciate.

Cons

The site isn't very user-friendly and feels overly complicated for handling simple events. The interface also looks a little outdated and the extended version is far too complex and takes too long to understand.

“poor UX”

Pros

If money is no object, this platform can do pretty much anything you can imagine. You can tailor its functions heavily to match your organization's specific requirements.

Cons

User experience needs improvement unless you are a skilled programmer. Without extensive coding knowledge, you'll require a lot of assistance during setup.

“tough to setup”

Pros

With this tool, I've noticed a high level of customization which lets me tailor things closely to specific requirements when needed.

Cons

The user experience still needs improvement, especially for anyone who isn't a highly skilled developer. Without strong coding knowledge, getting everything set up usually takes a lot of extra help.

“fast setup and clean interface”

Pros

Getting everything installed and set up was easy for me and I found the interface clear and easy to work with.

Cons

At times, the connection can be unstable and the quality during meetings drops occasionally.

“agile and simple to use tool”

Pros

The performance has been impressive in my experience and I haven't found it difficult to use at all.

Cons

Honestly, I like everything about it. The handling is simple, easy and detailed and it doesn't let you down. You can buy it with confidence.

“simple tools and helpful tutorials”

Pros

One thing I really appreciated is the absence of fees, along with how simple it was to set up events and learn the platform through clear tutorials.

Cons

I did run into a recurring issue when trying to reach customer support which was frustrating at times. Other than that, I didn't notice many real downsides, except that the website design could feel a bit more modern.

“Affordable but has room to grow”

Pros

The cost was a perfect match for what we were looking for. Since we don't have a massive number of people signing up, it was a great fit. It even offers extra features we can grow into later on.

Cons

I've discovered a couple of things the system can't handle though I know no product can do everything. It's also not a major problem. There are so many different screens that it's occasionally tough to recall where to go for more advanced edits.

“Easy setup, can't transfer test data”

Pros

The system is very easy to operate. The instruction we received was very detailed and connecting it to our customer database went off without a hitch.

Cons

We built our registration pages in the practice environment. It would be helpful if we could move them to the real event on our own, without having to wait for the support team.

“perfect fit for growing teams”

Pros

The pricing lined up really well with what we needed. Since we don't have a large number of users or attendees, it was a strong match for our current setup. It actually offers more than we need right now which is a big plus because it gives us room to expand and grow into it over time.

Cons

A handful of features turned out to be unavailable but honestly they're pretty minor and I understand no platform is going to cover every single need. There are also quite a few pages and sections to navigate, so it can sometimes be tricky to remember exactly where to go when making more detailed changes.

“user-friendly setup and great training”

Pros

The program felt very user-friendly right from the start and I found the training detailed and thorough while the CRM integration went smoothly.

Cons

One thing that could be better is the registration setup process. We created everything in the test environment and it would be much nicer if we could move those over to the live system ourselves instead of having to depend on customer service.

“frustrating formatting and suspension”

Pros

Overall, it feels fairly easy to use and I find the software generally user-friendly.

Cons

Editing pages is incredibly frustrating because the text formatting keeps changing on its own, so I end up redoing it over and over. I can press the return key and the very next line suddenly has a different font, different size, or broken spacing which makes the whole process feel anything but simple. Even after clearing all formatting and starting from scratch, it still won't stay consistent. On top of that, the billing support has been completely unacceptable. We've been a loyal customer since 2015 and after getting a notice that our account was at risk of suspension, I worked internally to resolve the payment issue. Then, less than 24 hours after being told the account was only "at risk," it was suspended without warning and we lost three hours of work spent building a full registration page. This was honestly one of the most unprofessional experiences I've ever dealt with and we'll be moving on to another platform like CVENT, Eventbrite, or Salesforce, all of which appear to have far better reviews.

“Great session setup”

Pros

My favorite aspects were how simple it was to set up event schedules, the polished look of the mobile app, the wide range of options, getting automatic alerts when sessions reached capacity and the simple process for adding session details.

Cons

The process for signing up for conference talks was a little frustrating because people had to switch between windows repeatedly to read the session descriptions.