Sched Alternative for Academic & Scientific Conferences
Sched is a schedule platform with registration built in. HEPCon is an attendee app that reads the programme your committee already maintains in Indico, EasyChair, ConfTool, or Confex. Where each fits, checked against Sched's documentation in September 2026.
Two Different Starting Points
Sched expects the schedule to live in Sched. You build it in its control panel or import it from a spreadsheet, sell tickets through it, run a basic call for papers in it, and publish to its web and mobile apps.
Research conferences usually start somewhere else: abstracts are submitted, reviewed and scheduled in an academic system, and that system's programme is the one the committee edits until the last day. The question is then not which tool can hold a schedule, but where the schedule should be maintained.
Where HEPCon Is Stronger
1. One programme to maintain, not two
Sched's documented routes in are its control panel, its schedule spreadsheet and its API. Sched's own guide recommends importing most sessions by spreadsheet and managing later changes in the control panel — and warns that re-importing the spreadsheet overwrites changes made in the control panel, so a team must pick one method. A programme that keeps changing in Indico, EasyChair, ConfTool, or Confex therefore has to be carried across by hand, or by someone writing against Sched's API.
HEPCon reads that programme from its link and re-reads the same link when it changes, applying only the difference. The committee keeps editing where it already edits.
2. The price follows the programme, not the headcount
Sched's plans are sized by attendees — each starts at 250, with more added in blocks of 250 — and its pricing page publishes the structure but not the figures. HEPCon quotes a fixed price from the programme's complexity before the event: €500–€900 for workshops and research days, €900–€2,500 for most conferences, with no per-attendee fee. Late registrations never change the bill. Programmes under 50 contributions are free. The quote page shows the band for a programme of your size.
3. Data stored in the EU
Sched's privacy policy states that its servers are in the United States and that data collected elsewhere is transferred there. HEPCon stores event and attendee data in Frankfurt, Germany (Google Cloud, region europe-west3), which matters when a European university's data-protection office asks where attendee data lives.
What HEPCon Deliberately Leaves Alone
- Registration and ticketing stay in the system you already use. HEPCon never touches your registration data.
- The call for papers and its review stay with your programme committee. HEPCon reads the programme once it is accepted and scheduled.
- Attendee matchmaking is not the point. HEPCon's interaction is built around the science: questions, discussion and ratings on each talk, moderated by your conveners.
Everything HEPCon does do is aimed at one job — putting a dense research programme in your attendees' pockets and keeping it correct to the last minute.
What Research Programmes Get in HEPCon
Not claims about Sched — the questions to put to any vendor when your programme is a research one:
- Contributions inside sessions. Each talk keeps its authors, affiliations and abstract, and every author gets a profile listing their talks.
- Formulas displayed as mathematics. LaTeX in titles and abstracts renders on the phone, offline.
- Abstracts on the device. Once opened, the full programme — abstracts included — reads and searches without a connection.
- A preview on your own data first. Paste your Indico, EasyChair, or public ConfTool link on the try-free page and open your real programme in about 30 seconds.
HEPCon on Screen
Also in HEPCon
- Clash warnings. When two saved talks overlap, the attendee's schedule says so.
- AI Help Desk (add-on, from €500). Attendees ask in their own words, and every answer shows the passages it relied on.
- Programme book (PDF) (add-on, from €250). A print-ready programme and book of abstracts from the synced programme.
- Reports for the committee. A post-event report with Pro and Enterprise, and a report for each sponsor with Enterprise.
Side by Side
| Sched | HEPCon | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the schedule is maintained | Rebuilt in Sched: its control panel or a spreadsheet import | In your submission system; HEPCon reads it from its link |
| Late changes | Edit in the control panel, or re-import the spreadsheet — which overwrites edits made in the panel | Re-read from the same link; only the difference is applied |
| Pricing basis | Plans by attendee count, in blocks of 250; figures not published on the pricing page | Fixed price by programme complexity; no per-attendee fee |
| Data location | United States | Frankfurt, Germany (Google Cloud, region europe-west3) |
Questions Organizers Ask
Is HEPCon a Sched alternative for academic conferences?
For the attendee app, when the programme is maintained in Indico, EasyChair, ConfTool, or Confex. HEPCon does not replace Sched's registration, call for papers or check-in.
We already use Sched for registration. Can we use HEPCon only for the programme?
Yes. Registration can stay where it is; HEPCon only needs the link to your programme.
Does a larger audience cost more?
Not with HEPCon. The price is fixed from the programme before the event and has no per-attendee component, so the number of registrations does not change it.
See Your Own Programme in HEPCon
The fairest test is your real programme on your committee's phones — built from the link, before anyone talks to us.
Comparison based on each vendor's published documentation, September 2026. Sched's pricing page checked again in October 2026.
Comparing Other Platforms?
The same evaluation applies across the generic event-app market — see how HEPCon compares to each, or start from the vendor checklist: