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bagevent vs Captello: what “free registration” includes—and requires
Two procurement paths look similar on a brochure and diverge on the floor. One is a registration-and-door stack that also captures exhibitor leads under consent rules you set. The other is a lead-to-revenue platform that can waive registration for shows that make it the official and exclusive lead-capture solution. Choose bagevent when you want published plans, a 0% platform fee, offline check-in, and exhibitor exports that stay inside attendee consent—without locking the hall to one scanner. Stay with Captello when enrichment, pipeline attribution or The $0 Show’s exclusive-lead trade is the real purchase.
This page does not restate Captello's list prices or invent their feature matrix; where The $0 Show or EventGen differs by contract, check captello.com and their $0 Show announcement. bagevent facts below match /pricing and /features/exhibitors. All comparisons.
| Topic | Lead-to-revenue / $0 Show aisle | bagevent |
|---|---|---|
| Who the product is for | By its public positioning, an event-to-revenue intelligence platform for enterprise event programmes—lead capture as the system of record, with show organisers and exhibitors as buyers. Confirm on captello.com. | In-person conferences, exhibitions and corporate events that treat registration, the door, exhibitor leads and settlement as one system. |
| Centre of gravity | Lead Capture, Meeting Management, Activations & Engagement, Event Revenue Intelligence (Revelation™), plus Event Operations / EventGen for registration, badging, check-in and exhibitor lead retrieval. Public emphasis on enrichment (125+ sources) and CRM-routed attributed pipeline. | Registration, event website, agenda and speakers, offline check-in and badges, exhibitors with consent-gated export, reports, payments into your own Stripe. Lead capture is a module inside the conference stack, not a separate revenue-intelligence suite. |
| “Free registration” path | The $0 Show (announced 27 Oct 2026): EventGen registration and EventNexus attendee app core licence at no cost for qualifying new organisers—official and exclusive lead capture, 75+ exhibitors on Captello by default, meeting to confirm. Confirm current terms on their site. | No equivalent exclusive-lead trade. Published Pro / Business / Enterprise; 0% platform fee on every plan; ticket money to your own Stripe. |
| Exhibitor leads on the floor | Public pages emphasise premium lead capture on any device, enrichment, exhibitor portals and packaging lead retrieval as organiser revenue. Confirm consent, exclusivity and what exhibitors pay in your quote. | Stand staff scan badges (including offline), rate and annotate, ask up to five stand questions, see only shared fields, and export CSV only for consented rows when you allow exports. Live booth codes rotate every 90 seconds. |
| Door / badging | EventGen pages describe registration, badging and check-in. Confirm offline behaviour and print path in a live demo. | Mobile and desktop check-in apps keep scanning offline and sync when the network returns; the desktop app prints badges at the desk. |
| Procurement shape | Typically sold around lead programmes and show-floor revenue proof; The $0 Show routes through a booked meeting. Confirm self-serve vs sales-led path for your size of show. | Self-serve published plans and a free trial as the default path; Enterprise on request. |
| When bagevent is the wrong fit | Stay when enrichment-to-CRM attribution, activation scoring, or exclusive lead capture (including qualifying for The $0 Show) is the centre of the buy. | bagevent does not ship Revelation-style pipeline attribution or a 125+ enrichment network as core modules; if that is the purchase, it is not the product. |
Audit The $0 Show line by line
Free registration is the headline. The contract shape is exclusive lead capture. Per Captello's public announcement, all of the following must hold for new organisers—confirm each with them before you treat registration as “free”:
- Official and exclusive lead-capture solution for the event—not “preferred,” exclusive.
- 75 or more exhibitors using Captello as their default lead capture.
- A booked meeting to confirm the offer—not a self-serve toggle.
- What is waived: EventGen registration and the EventNexus attendee app core licence. Ask what still bills: enrichment tiers, activations, exhibitor packages, premium modules, overages.
That path can be rational for a large association show that already intended one official scanner and can sell lead packages as revenue. It is a poor fit when exhibitors bring their own tools, when your legal team will not grant exclusivity, or when you only needed a registration-and-door stack.
Choose bagevent when…
- You are buying registration through the door first, and exhibitor leads as part of that stack—not a lead suite that happens to include registration.
- Ticket revenue must land in your own Stripe account with a 0% platform fee on every published plan.
- Exhibitors may export only what attendees consented to share, under seats and export rights you set—see exhibitors and the field guide on what a scan actually reveals.
- You want published monthly plans and a free trial without making lead exclusivity the price of entry.
Stay with Captello when The $0 Show’s exclusive-lead trade fits your floor politics, or when enrichment-to-CRM attribution and activation scoring are the centre of the buy—and switching cost outweighs settlement or consent-model differences.
Five questions before you buy either
- If registration is “free,” what must be exclusive on the floor—and what happens to exhibitors who already bought another scanner?
- Who owns the attendee relationship and the export file: organiser, exhibitor, or the platform’s enrichment layer?
- Can you run the door with Wi-Fi off on the exact phones and desks your staff will use?
- Where does ticket money land, and is any platform fee on tickets the same on every plan you are quoted?
- What does a scan mean without Contact consent—a visit count, or a mail-ready lead?
bagevent vs Captello — questions
By its public positioning, Captello is an event-to-revenue intelligence platform whose centre of gravity is lead capture, enrichment, meetings, activations and ROI attribution into the CRM, with EventGen as an operations track for registration, badging, check-in and exhibitor lead retrieval. Confirm current modules on captello.com. bagevent is a conference stack from registration and the event site through an offline staffed door and settlement into your own Stripe account, with exhibitor lead capture that respects attendee consent and organiser export rights. Score both on the same demo script: publish, door with Wi-Fi off, exhibitor scan and export, settlement path.
Yes when you are shortlisting registration-through-door software that also covers exhibitor badge scans and consented lead export. Stay with Captello when the buy is enterprise lead enrichment, meeting-to-pipeline attribution, activation scoring, or a show-wide exclusive lead-capture programme (including The $0 Show) as the commercial centre.
Per Captello’s 27 October 2026 announcement: new organisers who name Captello the official and exclusive lead-capture solution, have 75 or more exhibitors using Captello as their default lead capture, and book a meeting to confirm, receive EventGen registration and the EventNexus attendee app core licence at no cost. Their announcement also states a waived-value range for those pieces. Confirm eligibility, what “exclusive” means for other scanners on the floor, and what exhibitors pay, on captello.com/zero-dollar-show or with their team. bagevent does not offer an equivalent “free registration in exchange for exclusive lead capture” programme; registration sits on published Pro, Business and Enterprise plans with a 0% platform fee on tickets.
On bagevent, a badge scan is a visit. Stand staff see only fields the attendee shared (Basic / Contact / Intent). CSV export includes only consented rows, only when the organiser allowed that exhibitor to export and a stand admin runs the download. Booths can require a live code that rotates every 90 seconds so a photographed poster does not count as a visit. Confirm Captello’s consent, enrichment and export rules in a live demo and in your DPA—do not assume their floor model matches yours.
bagevent’s mobile and desktop check-in apps hold the attendee list on the device, keep scanning offline, and sync when the network returns; the desktop app prints badges at the desk. Captello’s public EventGen pages describe registration, badging and check-in—confirm offline behaviour on the devices your staff will use before you sign.
Plans are public on the pricing page: Pro at $99/mo billed annually ($129 month-to-month), Business at $479/mo billed annually ($599 month-to-month), Enterprise on request. 0% platform fee on tickets on every plan, and a 14-day free trial.
Field guides
- What exhibitors see when they scan a badge (and what they don’t)What stand staff see after a badge scan: visit vs consented fields, Basic / Contact / Intent layers, offline behaviour, and what leaves in a CSV.
- What should exhibitors finish before the show opens?The pre-show handoff for exhibitors: seats, questions, export rights, consent, and what still belongs to the organiser.
- Why aren’t badge scans and footfall enough to prove exhibition ROI?What badge scans actually prove, which numbers to put next to them, and how to stop reporting footfall as if it were pipeline.
- What should you look for in event registration software?A demo shows the happy path. Check cost, billable regs, self-serve control, event-day support, the door, and exit.
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