Best Self Hosted Alternatives to Gather

Atria is an open-source event management and professional networking platform designed for hybrid and virtual events. It combines session scheduling, sponsor management, and attendee discovery with real-time chat to help organizers foster meaningful connections.

Key Features

• Multi-day event and session management with drag-and-drop speaker organization
• Real-time communication (session chat, backstage, direct messages) powered by Socket.IO
• Professional networking tools: icebreakers, attendee discovery by role/interests, privacy controls
• Multi-tenant architecture with granular role-based permissions and organization-level isolation
• Sponsor management with multi-tier support and automated image optimization (WebP conversion)
• Developer-friendly API surface with OpenAPI docs and a RESTful design
• Docker-first deployment and Redis-backed clustering for Socket.IO scaling
• Support for S3-compatible object storage for uploads and PostgreSQL for data persistence

Use Cases

• Hosting enterprise conferences or multi-day summits with sponsor tiers and analytics
• Running community or creator events that emphasize attendee networking and moderated chat
• Supporting hybrid workshops, fundraisers, or educational events with virtual attendance and live session chat

Limitations and Considerations

• Licensed under AGPL-3.0: modifications run on a server must be made available according to the license, which may be incompatible with some proprietary workflows
• Several planned features are on the public roadmap (custom event theming, advanced analytics, ticketing integrations, AI-enhanced tools) and may not be available yet
• Project status notes partial backend test coverage (~47% reported) and active development; production operators should review current CI/test status before large deployments

Atria is suitable for teams that want a transparent, extensible platform for events and networking. It can be self-hosted for full control or used via the project’s managed offering for a hosted experience.