Airballoon

AirBalloon is a conference-management platform for academic events, spanning submissions, review, registration, presentations, publishing, and attendee networking. It suits organizers who want those jobs under one roof, alongside tools for authors, reviewers, and attendees. Its broad coverage is compelling, but registration and presentation charges can make a nominally free setup a paid one.

Overview

AirBalloon divides its work among modules: AirMaster handles conference administration, AirReview submissions and peer review, AirReg registration, AirUp presentation logistics, AirExplore publishing, and AirUpNet participant networking. That breadth can reduce the need to coordinate separate systems, especially for conferences with both scholarly review and live or hybrid sessions. The trade-off is that organizers must decide which modules they need and account for their different pricing terms.

Review workflows include blind review, mixed submission types, and custom review stages. Organizers can configure forms, anonymity checks, expertise matching, bidding, conflict detection, decisions, and camera-ready collection. AI review assistance is included among the capabilities, while the terms say submitted content is not used to train general-purpose models and AI subprocessors may use it only to return results for the user's request.

Key features

AirMaster combines committee roles and consoles with multiple programs and tracks, a drag-and-drop website builder, channels, announcements, and webmail. AirReview adds the mechanisms for managing review assignments and decisions. Together, these tools cover much of the administrative path from collecting submissions to preparing accepted work, though any future per-submission charge for unlocking or downloading submissions would be introduced with advance disclosure.

AirReg supports ticket types, add-ons, invite codes, fee exemptions, Stripe checkout, receipts, invoices, and refunds. AirUp provides session planning, schedules, rooms, session chairs, and speaker uploads for onsite or hybrid events. A schedule builder is supported. AirExplore handles DOI and citation metadata registration, scholarly indexing, and proceedings with ISBNs or ISSNs for recurring series.

For attendees, AirUpNet offers personal agendas, real-time notifications, attendee connections, QR contact exchange, one-to-one chat, and an event community feed. Integrations include Stripe, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, Cisco Webex, ORCID, institutional SSO, and ICS calendar standards or integrations. AirBalloon describes encryption in transit and at rest, role-based access, least-privilege IAM, audit logging, vulnerability scans, dependency monitoring, backups, and disaster-recovery procedures.

Pricing

Several core modules are free, but that does not make every conference free to operate. BalloonUp, the event app, and AirMaster, conference setup and management, are each free, with no paid service tiers stated. AirReview is also free, with no current per-submission fee; a fee to unlock or download submissions may be introduced in the future with advance disclosure.

AirCore, full conference, is free on or before December 31, 2026, and 3.0% after that date. It provides a shared participant identity and data across the full conference. Organizers planning beyond that date should budget for the percentage charge rather than treat the full-conference setup as permanently free.

AirReg, full conference, has custom pricing: it is billed at 2.9% + $0.99 once per transaction, with Stripe processing fees additional. AirReg standalone, for registration without the full conference platform, is also custom pricing, at 3.0% + $0.99 per registration, plus Stripe processing fees. The standalone option fits organizers who need registration apart from the broader suite; the full-conference option ties registration to the rest of AirBalloon but still carries transaction costs.

AirUp, the presentation system, has custom pricing: $5 per presentation for documents plus $5 per 200 MB of video, summed across the conference and billed once at its end. This includes three years of storage, after which an additional fee may apply. The formula makes presentation volume and video storage important budget inputs. Sandbox conferences offer a way to work in a non-public setting, but are limited to 10 attendees, do not process real payments, and auto-archive after 30 days unless promoted.

Platforms

AirBalloon is available on web and through an API. Those options suit browser-based conference administration and integrations; the attendee event app is part of BalloonUp, though a separate mobile platform listing is not given.

Who it's for

AirBalloon is aimed at conference organizers, authors, reviewers and program committee members, and attendees. It is strongest for academic events that need peer-review controls alongside scheduling, registration, publishing, or participant networking. Organizers seeking only low-cost registration or submission handling may find the module charges and breadth unnecessary.

Pricing, partnership, Custom-tier, and other inquiries receive a response within 1–2 business days. Existing users can report bugs or request features through Report Issues in the sidebar.

Pros and cons

Pros

• Broad academic-event coverage: Review, registration, presentations, proceedings, and networking sit in one platform, reducing the need to assemble separate tools for those tasks.
• Configurable review workflow: Blind review, custom stages, expertise matching, conflict detection, and mixed submission types support varied academic processes.
• Useful organizer and attendee tooling: Committee consoles, schedule building, personal agendas, notifications, and attendee connections address both event operations and participation.
• Several modules have no charge: AirMaster, AirReview, and BalloonUp are free, and AirCore is free through December 31, 2026.

Cons

• Registration is not cost-free: Both AirReg options add percentage and fixed transaction charges, and Stripe processing fees are additional.
• Presentation costs vary with content: AirUp charges by presentation and video storage, with a possible additional fee after three years.
• The full-conference rate changes: AirCore moves from free to 3.0% after December 31, 2026.
• Sandbox use is constrained: A 10-attendee cap, no real payments, and 30-day auto-archiving limit its value as a live-event substitute.

Alternatives

For a wider comparison of submission-focused tools, see Call for Papers Software.

• Microsoft CMT is a free web-based option for managing academic conferences; choose it if a free conference-management service is the priority.
• EasyChair has a free plan capped at 20 submissions with no technical support, and a Professional plan at $3.90, paid once, billed per submission, capped at 60 submissions and payable by credit card. It may suit events that can work within those submission limits.
• SimplyConf offers a self-hosted and web option, with its Core plan free forever for unlimited events, submissions, and users. Consider it when unlimited free core usage or self-hosting matters more than AirBalloon's stated module breadth.
• MeetingHand Abstract Management has a free plan for up to 25 registrations or abstracts. It may fit a smaller event within that cap.
• HotCRP offers free plans for ACM-sponsored and USENIX-sponsored conferences, journals, and workshops. It is a relevant alternative for events under those sponsorships.
• ConfTool offers a free license on request for smaller non-commercial events, up to 150 participants, with local installation only and no support. Consider it if those conditions suit the event.
• Oxford Abstracts has a free Basic plan with unlimited submissions, collection, review and decisions, ticketing, reviewer-progress tracking, and customizable forms and emails. It may suit organizers seeking those abstract-management functions without a submission cap.
• Fireside is free and open source under the Apache-2.0 license, with API, self-hosted, and web platforms. Choose it if open-source or self-hosted software is the priority.

Verdict

AirBalloon is a strong fit for academic conference organizers who want review, event operations, publishing, and attendee networking in one platform. Its modular breadth and free administration and review tools are the main reasons to choose it. Look elsewhere if transaction charges, presentation fees, or the AirCore price change do not fit the event budget, or if the conference needs only a narrower submission workflow.