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OpenRostrum
What it is
OpenRostrum is free, MIT-licensed software for managing conference speakers, submissions, and programs from outreach through a published agenda. It runs as a hosted web service or can be self-hosted, with all features available without a paid tier. Its searchable speaker directory supports segments, event assignments, and an eight-stage prospect pipeline with scores, notes, and history. Organizers can create multi-step calls for speakers using reusable fields, conditional questions, deadlines, draft rules, and configurable limits for speakers, chairs, and moderators. Proposals can be routed by track and reviewed with approve, maybe, or deny decisions; optional AI scoring supplies rationale, with human overrides. Speakers manage profiles, headshots, slides, tasks, and submission status in a portal. A day-by-room agenda grid flags conflicts. Published outputs include schedule, speaker, session, gallery, and itinerary views, embeds, and HTML, JSON, XML, and iCal feeds.
For and against
For
- Free plan with all features
- Self-hosted or hosted web deployment
- Eight-stage speaker prospect pipeline
- Conflict flags for speakers and rooms
- HTML, JSON, XML, and iCal feeds
Against
- No paid tier for added features
- Requires organizing conference-specific workflows
- AI scoring is optional first-pass review
The verdict
OpenRostrum brings outreach, proposal handling, speaker tasks, scheduling, and publishing into one conference workflow. Its free MIT license, self-hosting, and broad export feeds are central reasons to consider it.
Who it suits
It suits conference organizers handling speaker outreach, proposals, reviews, scheduling, and publishing. Self-hosting and export options may fit teams needing control over deployment and data.
Plans and prices
OpenRostrum
Free · MIT · all features on hosted and self-hosted editions
Read 8 Oct 2026 · openrostrum.com
On the record
- Agenda
- The agenda builder places accepted sessions on a day-by-room grid and flags double-booked speakers and rooms.openrostrum.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- Airtable
- The product comparison page lists Airtable sync as an OpenRostrum capability.openrostrum.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- Calendar integration
- Acceptance and schedule-change emails can include .ics invitations, which the site says work with Gmail, Outlook, and Apple Calendar.openrostrum.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- Calls for speakers
- Organizers can build multi-step CFP forms with reusable fields, conditional questions, deadlines, draft rules, and configurable speaker, chair, and moderator limits.openrostrum.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- Data portability
- The site says users can export CSV data, download uploaded files in a ZIP, and use JSON, XML, and iCal feeds.openrostrum.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- Intended users
- The site describes OpenRostrum as conference speaker, submission, and program management software.openrostrum.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- License and hosting
- OpenRostrum states that it is MIT licensed, can be self-hosted, and has no paid tier that unlocks features.openrostrum.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- Publishing
- Published content includes schedule, speaker, session, gallery, and itinerary views, plus styled embeds and filtered HTML, JSON, XML, and iCal feeds.openrostrum.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- OpenRostrum manages conference speakers, submissions, and programs from speaker outreach through published agenda.openrostrum.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- Review
- Proposals can be routed by track and reviewed with approve, maybe, or deny decisions; optional AI first-pass scoring includes rationale, and humans can override results.openrostrum.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- Speaker CRM
- Its searchable speaker directory supports segments, event assignments, and an eight-stage prospect pipeline with scores, notes, and history.openrostrum.com · read 8 Oct 2026
- Speaker portal
- Speakers can manage bios, headshots, slides, task forms, and see the status of each submission in a self-service portal.openrostrum.com · read 8 Oct 2026
