Cadmium (Eventscribe) alternatives for trade show and expo organizers
Cadmium's Eventscribe runs association conferences end to end: abstracts and peer review, speakers, registration, badges, the event app and continuing education, with exhibitor and booth sales as one module. Here is where it is the better choice, and where Map D and other tools fit shows whose income comes from selling the floor.
Written by Map D, which is one of the alternatives listed below. Claims about other platforms are limited to what those companies publish themselves, and each is sourced at the foot of the page. Last verified November 2026.
Hall A
LiveHall A revenue
$184,600
Trusted by associations, expos and show organizers since 2011
What Cadmium is good at
Eventscribe is built around the education program of an association meeting, and for that job it is often the right answer. If the following describe your event, keep it on your shortlist.
- Calls for abstracts, awards and proposals, with submitter and reviewer workflows, and accepted abstracts flowing into the schedule, the app and post-event content.
- Speaker management with a speaker portal, content review and a schedule builder.
- Continuing education: credit management and certifications after the event, and Cadmium's Elevate and EthosCE learning systems alongside it.
- Video and live streaming through Cadmium's Warpwire, for virtual and hybrid sessions and recorded content.
- One connected platform for registration, self-serve kiosk check-in with personalized badges, an exhibitor portal, lead retrieval tied to registration profiles and the event app.
Why organizers look elsewhere
The gaps that send trade show organizers looking for an alternative.
- In Cadmium's help center, online booth selling sits in an optional Booth Rentals add-on that is priced separately, so the booth sales piece of your show is an extra line in the quote rather than the core of the product.
- Cadmium builds the floor plan from a PDF you submit, which can take up to five business days, and its help center notes that recreating the diagram removes every booth assignment. Organizers who redraw the hall often may want to draw and edit the plan themselves.
- No prices appear on Cadmium's Eventscribe pages; they point to a demo request or an RFP. Organizers who want to see a starting price before a sales call may prefer a vendor that publishes one.
How Map D compares
Map D’s column states what Map D does. Where a Cadmium equivalent is not publicly documented, the row says so rather than guessing.
- Map D offers
- 6 of 9
- Cadmium publicly documents
- 8 of 9
The second bar counts what Cadmium documents on its own site, which is not the same as what it can do. A criterion we could not verify is shown as unverified, not as missing — if Cadmium covers it somewhere we did not find, that is a gap in our checking rather than in their product.
| Criterion | Map D | Cadmium |
|---|---|---|
| Published pricing | Included | Unverified |
| Abstracts and peer review | Not offered | Documented |
| Continuing education credits | Not offered | Documented |
| Virtual and hybrid events with live streaming | Not offered | Documented |
| Registration, check-in and badges | Included | Documented |
| Exhibitor portal and lead retrieval | Included | Documented |
| Interactive floor plan | Included | Documented |
| Exhibitors pick and pay for booths online | Included | Documented |
| Sponsorship sales | Included | Documented |
$3,499
—
Map D’s rates are per event and listed on the pricing page. The dashed column has no height and no figure on purpose: where rates are not published we will not put a number on them, and where they are published we will not restate one that can change without notice.
Criterion by criterion
| Criterion | Map D | Cadmium |
|---|---|---|
| Published pricing | Yes. The free plan builds the floor plan for one event. Publishing the map, sharing it and selling booths need a paid plan: Basic starts at $3,499, plus a one-time $250 onboarding fee. Professional and Enterprise are quoted. | No prices appear on the Eventscribe pages checked; they offer a demo request or an RFP (checked November 2026). |
| Abstracts and peer review | Not offered. Map D does not run calls for abstracts or reviewer workflows. | Eventscribe documents submissions and reviews for abstracts, awards, scholarships and proposals (checked November 2026). |
| Continuing education credits | Not offered. Map D does not track or award credits. | Eventscribe documents credit management and certifications, and Cadmium sells the Elevate and EthosCE learning systems (checked November 2026). |
| Virtual and hybrid events with live streaming | Not offered. Map D is built around the in-person floor plan. | Eventscribe supports in-person, virtual and hybrid events, with live streaming and Cadmium's Warpwire video (checked November 2026). |
| Registration, check-in and badges | Available on Professional and Enterprise, with badge printing on Zebra, Epson and Brother printers. Not included in Basic. | Eventscribe documents custom registration forms, self-serve kiosk check-in by QR code or email, and personalized badges (checked November 2026). |
| Exhibitor portal and lead retrieval | Available on Professional and Enterprise: the exhibitor portal with lead retrieval. Not included in Basic. | Eventscribe documents an exhibitor portal for content, tasks and payments, and lead capture tied to attendee registration profiles (checked November 2026). |
| Interactive floor plan | Core to the product. You draw the hall to scale in the AI-assisted map editor, or start from a hall in the Venue Library, and edit it yourself at any time. | Cadmium builds a web-based interactive floor plan from a PDF you submit, in up to five business days; later edits are yours (checked November 2026). |
| Exhibitors pick and pay for booths online | Included from Basic. Exhibitors pick a booth on the map, see its price and check out; the booth turns sold. Dynamic booth pricing is included. | Cadmium documents online booth purchases through an optional Booth Rentals add-on, priced separately (checked November 2026). |
| Sponsorship sales | Sell sponsorships online alongside booths, with limited inventory, dynamic pricing and sponsor profiles. | Eventscribe documents sponsorship options such as banner ads, sponsored sessions and push notifications, with payment collection (checked November 2026). |
The alternatives worth shortlisting
Map D
Trade shows, expos and fairs whose income comes from booths and sponsorships sold on the floor plan
To-scale floor plans you draw and edit yourself, published as an interactive map exhibitors buy booths from and attendees navigate, with published pricing. Registration, badges, the app and the exhibitor portal come on quoted upper tiers. No abstracts, credits or virtual events.
MapYourShow
Large exhibitions with an established public exhibitor directory
Long-established in the exhibition space, with floor plans and a strong public-facing exhibitor directory.
Cvent
Enterprise teams that want registration, an event app, check-in and diagramming in one suite
Registration and marketing, an event app, check-in and badging, a virtual experience, trade show lead capture and event diagramming, for any format.
ExpoFP
Trade shows that mainly need an interactive floor plan with booth reservations
A browser floor plan editor, live availability with booth reservation or card purchase on the map, exhibitor-updated profiles and a free start.
Where Map D is stronger
- The floor plan is the sales tool, and you own it. You draw the hall to scale in the AI-assisted map editor, or start from the Venue Library, move booths whenever you need to, and publish it as the interactive map exhibitors pick a booth on, see its price and check out.
- Booth sales are not an add-on. Online booth sales, dynamic booth pricing and sponsorship items with limited inventory are in every paid plan, with payments through Stripe, Authorize.Net, PayPal, Payflow Pro, NMI, BluePay or QuickBooks Payments, and ACH or eCheck through Authorize.Net.
- Attendees use the same map to find exhibitors with 2D wayfinding. Ticketing and registration, check-in and badge printing on Zebra, Epson and Brother printers, the mobile app and the exhibitor portal with lead retrieval come with Professional and Enterprise.
- Building the floor plan for one event is free. Publishing, sharing the map and selling booths start at Basic, $3,499 plus a one-time $250 onboarding fee, with no Map D transaction fees on booth sales. Professional and Enterprise are quoted.
- 900+ organizers, 9,000+ events powered and $400M+ in booth and exhibitor sales, building since 2011.
When Cadmium is the better choice
- Your event is an association meeting built on its education program. Eventscribe runs calls for abstracts, peer review and speaker management; Map D does none of those.
- You award continuing education credits. Eventscribe documents credit management and certifications, and Cadmium sells learning systems alongside it; Map D does not track credits.
- Your event is virtual or hybrid, or you want recorded sessions afterward. Cadmium documents live streaming and its Warpwire video platform; Map D does not run virtual events.
- You would rather have the vendor draw the floor plan. Cadmium builds the interactive floor plan from your PDF; in Map D you draw it yourself, with the AI floor plan assistant and the Venue Library to start from.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Cadmium alternative?
It depends on the job. For a trade show, expo or fair that sells booths and sponsorships from the floor plan, Map D. For a large exhibition with a public exhibitor directory, MapYourShow. For an enterprise event suite, Cvent. For an interactive floor plan with booth reservations, ExpoFP. If abstracts, peer review and continuing education credits are the point, Cadmium's Eventscribe may still be the better choice.
Is Cadmium the same as CadmiumCD and eventScribe?
Yes. cadmiumcd.com now redirects to gocadmium.com, where Cadmium sells Eventscribe as its event management platform, so a search for an eventScribe alternative or a CadmiumCD alternative is about the same product (checked November 2026).
Does Cadmium have floor plans and booth sales?
Yes. Its exhibitor management system, Expo Harvester, includes an interactive floor plan that Cadmium builds from a PDF you submit, and online booth purchases through an optional Booth Rentals add-on priced separately (checked November 2026). In Map D you draw the floor plan to scale yourself, and booth sales with exhibitor checkout are included from Basic.
Does Map D handle abstracts, speakers or CE credits like Cadmium?
No. Map D does not run calls for abstracts, peer review, speaker management or continuing education credits, and it does not stream virtual sessions. If your event needs those, keep Cadmium or another conference platform for the program and use Map D to sell and map the exhibit hall.
Does Cadmium publish its pricing?
No prices appear on the Eventscribe pages checked; they offer a demo request or an RFP, and the help center says Booth Rentals is priced separately (checked November 2026). Map D publishes its pricing: the free plan builds one event's floor plan, and publishing and selling booths start at Basic, $3,499 plus a one-time $250 onboarding fee.
Does Map D include registration and an exhibitor portal?
On its upper tiers. Basic covers online booth sales, the interactive map, wayfinding, dynamic pricing, sponsor profiles, embeds and the API. Professional and Enterprise, which are quoted, add ticketing and registration, check-in and badges, the mobile app, and the exhibitor portal with lead retrieval.
Stop reading about it. Build one.
Upload the floor plan you already have and place your booths on it yourself, in Map D’s editor. Free to build, no contract, and nothing to install.
- 900+
- Organizers who have run shows on Map D
- 9,000+
- Events powered since 2011
- 1.8M+
- Booths drawn to date
“I am really excited about this. The staff met with me this morning and we all LOVE the platform. People are already filling out their booths.”
Sources
- Cadmium Eventscribe home page (cadmiumcd.com redirects here) · checked 2026-11-12
- Eventscribe platform overview · checked 2026-11-12
- Eventscribe exhibitor and sponsor management · checked 2026-11-12
- Eventscribe registration, check-in and badging · checked 2026-11-12
- Cadmium for exhibitors and sponsors · checked 2026-11-12
- Cadmium company page · checked 2026-11-12
- Cadmium help center: Exhibitor Management System (Expo Harvester) service listing · checked 2026-11-12
- MapYourShow home page · checked 2026-11-12
- Cvent home page · checked 2026-11-12
- ExpoFP home page · checked 2026-11-12
- Map D pricing · checked 2026-11-12