OpenSession

OpenSession is an open-source conference program platform for organizers handling submissions, reviews, scheduling, and speaker onboarding. It suits teams comfortable self-hosting on Cloudflare; its focused program workflow is useful, but it is not an all-in-one event business platform.

Overview

OpenSession connects a call for papers to the working agenda and the accepted speakers’ next steps. Organizers can collect and review talks, assign sessions to rooms and time slots, and manage speaker onboarding in one program workflow. That focus makes it a credible fit for conferences whose main operational challenge is building and maintaining the program.

The software is MIT-licensed and can be self-hosted on Cloudflare Workers. Hosting uses Cloudflare D1 for the database and R2 for files, so the free software plan still depends on the organizer operating the deployment and staying within Cloudflare’s free-tier limits. Teams seeking built-in CRM, marketing pages, or payment processing will need separate tools.

Key features

Calls for papers and review

Submission forms are built with MDX and support conditional logic, multiple speakers, and file uploads. Each speaker can submit up to three talks per event, a useful guardrail for focused CFPs but a constraint for events that want more proposals from the same person. Reviewers can vote, comment, and see aggregate scores without admin access, which gives a committee a shared evaluation process without granting broad administrative permissions.

Scheduling and speaker tasks

The agenda builder assigns accepted sessions to rooms and time slots, then flags room and speaker conflicts. That makes it more useful than a submission inbox once organizers are balancing a live program, though the product’s scope remains conference program management rather than broader event operations.

Accepted speakers get a self-service portal to manage profiles, track submissions, complete onboarding tasks, and upload files. Application forms, travel details, session assignments, and email automation are included in the product’s workflow. RFC 5545 ICS invitations and automatic updates when the schedule changes help keep calendar changes in sync; embeddable agendas and speaker galleries, alongside JSON and ICS feeds, support publishing and third-party integration.

Authentication and hosting

Organizers and speakers can sign in by email or Google. Google OAuth credentials are optional for self-hosting. Cloudflare Workers’ stated free-tier allowances are 100,000 requests per day, 5 GB of D1 storage, and 10 GB of R2 storage. Those limits can cover many conference workloads, but organizers remain responsible for hosting and should consider whether their event’s traffic and file volume fit within them.

Pricing

OpenSession — free (billed Free, forever). The plan is self-hosted on your Cloudflare account, with Cloudflare’s free tier covering most conference workloads. There are no paid tiers described; the tradeoff for a zero software price is managing the deployment and its hosting limits yourself. This plan best fits technically capable organizers who want control over hosting and can keep conference operations within Cloudflare’s free allowances.

Platforms

OpenSession supports API, self-hosted, and web use. Its JSON and ICS feeds provide integration options, while the self-hosted route uses Cloudflare Workers, D1, and R2.

Who it's for

Choose OpenSession if your priority is a connected CFP-to-agenda workflow, including reviewer input and speaker onboarding, and you can take responsibility for a Cloudflare deployment. It is less suitable if you need a managed event platform or expect CRM, marketing-site, or payment features to be part of the same product.

Pros and cons

• Pros: Submission, review, scheduling, and speaker onboarding share one program workflow, reducing the need to coordinate those tasks across separate tools.
• Pros: Reviewers can contribute votes and comments and view aggregate scores without admin access, supporting committee review with narrower permissions.
• Pros: Conflict flags and automatic ICS updates address two practical sources of scheduling friction: double-booked rooms or speakers and outdated calendars.
• Cons: Self-hosting on Cloudflare puts deployment and quota management on the organizer, making it a weaker fit for teams that want a managed service.
• Cons: CRM, marketing pages, and payment processing are outside its scope, so organizers needing those capabilities must assemble additional tools.
• Cons: The three-talk-per-speaker limit per event may not fit CFPs that encourage frequent submissions from the same speaker.

Alternatives

For a broader speaker-management comparison, see Speaker Management Software.

• Greenroom is another free option with API, self-hosted, and web platforms.
• Trackstage is worth considering for its free self-hosted plan, with every feature and no tiers, or its free cloud plan while in beta.
• Sessionize offers Android, iOS, and web support, with a free Community event plan limited to community events rather than internal, private, promotional, marketing, profit, or commercial events.
• SpeakerWeave is another free option available via API, self-hosting, and web.
• submitcfp has a free web plan capped at two events and 50 submissions per event.
• Speaker Dream offers a free web plan with unlimited events, sessions, and speakers.
• ConfTool offers a free license on request for smaller non-commercial events, up to 150 participants, with local installation only and no support.
• Novex Speaker Management has a free Beam plan for one event and up to 150 attendees, with email confirmations, QR e-badges, and on-site QR check-in.

Verdict

OpenSession is a strong choice for conference organizers who want CFPs, reviewing, agenda scheduling, and speaker tasks in a single open-source workflow and are prepared to self-host. Its clearest reason to choose it is the end-to-end program focus; its clearest reason to look elsewhere is the need for managed hosting or event-business features such as CRM, marketing pages, and payments.