Event Timer vs Stagetimer: which do you actually need?
This is a comparison between a paid production tool and a free single-screen clock, written by the people who make the free one. So let us save you some time on the verdict: if you are running a real production, buy Stagetimer.
That is not modesty. They are different categories of thing, and pretending otherwise would cost you a conference day. Here is the honest version, so you can work out which side of the line you are on.
Disclosure: C4E makes Event Timer. Everything below about Stagetimer was checked against their own site and pricing page.
The one-line difference
Stagetimer runs a show. Event Timer shows a clock.
Stagetimer knows about your agenda, your stages, your speakers and your rundown, and it lets a producer drive all of it from a phone. Event Timer knows how many minutes are left. That is the entire gap, and everything below is detail.
Where Stagetimer wins, and it is not close
- Live messaging. You type “wrap up” and it lands on the speaker’s timer instantly, colour-coded. Event Timer cannot talk to anyone. This is the single feature we would most want.
- Agenda with auto-advance. Import your rundown as a CSV, and the timer moves from speaker to speaker on its own. Event Timer is one duration at a time, typed in by hand.
- Multi-room. A separate timer room per stage. Event Timer is one room, one clock. A two-track conference needs two laptops and two humans.
- Remote control. Start, pause and adjust from a phone anywhere in the venue. Event Timer is controlled from the machine it is running on.
- Integrations. OBS browser source, vMix input, Stream Deck via Companion. Event Timer has none of this.
- Offline, properly. Their desktop app runs on a local network with no internet at all.
Where Event Timer wins
A short list, honestly:
- Setup time. Open a URL, click a preset, press F. There is no account, no room to create, no rundown to import, no decision to make. From cold to a clock on a stage screen is about ten seconds.
- Nothing to learn. Anyone you hand the laptop to can run it without a briefing. On an event day, the person minding the room is often not the person who set it up.
- It is free with no ceiling. No three-timer cap, no connection limit, because there is nothing to count.
That is the whole list. If none of those three things is your problem, Stagetimer is the better tool.
What Stagetimer’s free tier already covers
This is the part most comparison posts skip, because it is inconvenient. Stagetimer’s Starter tier is free, needs no credit card and no signup, and gives you three timers and three live connections per room, with audio chimes, custom logo and colours, and password-protected outputs.
So “free” is not a reason to choose us over them. For a single room within those caps, their free tier is more capable than our entire tool. We are not going to pretend otherwise to win a search result.
The gap only opens where their caps bite: more than three timers, more than three connections, or the moment you want the paid features.
What it costs
| Stagetimer | Event Timer | |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | 3 timers, 3 connections per room, no signup | Everything, no caps |
| Pro | $210/year | — |
| Premium | $420/year, 50 connections, unlimited timers | — |
| Enterprise | From $630 | — |
| Desktop, offline | $980 one-time, 3 years of updates | Browser only, runs after load |
The decision, in one question
Is there a person whose job today is running the room?
If yes, there is a rundown, probably more than one stage, and a producer who needs to talk to speakers without walking on stage. Buy Stagetimer. The $210 is irrelevant next to the cost of the day.
If no, and timing is the twentieth thing on a list held by somebody who is also chasing the caterer, then a clock on a screen in ten seconds is worth more than a feature set nobody has time to configure. That is us.
Using both is normal
Worth saying: these are not mutually exclusive. Plenty of teams run Stagetimer on the main stage where the production lives, and something disposable in the breakout room where a session was added on Tuesday. We do this ourselves.
Our timer is at c4e.in/timer, free, no signup. If it is not the right fit, Stagetimer probably is, and we have compared the whole field honestly, including a free competitor that beats us.
C4E runs corporate events, conferences and MICE programmes across India, Dubai and South East Asia. If you would rather someone else ran the room, talk to us.