When it comes to digital lead capture, two names frequently appear: iCapture vs. Captello. Both solutions offer ways to digitize your lead capturing process and promise smoother, faster integrations with your sales tools. But when you’re relying on events to fill your pipeline and meet revenue targets, it’s essential to know exactly what you’re getting and perhaps more importantly, what you’re missing out on.
This article provides a comprehensive, unbiased comparison between iCapture and Captello, covering their features, strengths, and critical limitations. It’s designed specifically for event marketers, sales leaders, exhibitors, and operations professionals who want clarity about which solution is the better fit.
However, effective lead capture today isn’t just about scanning badges or digitally replacing paper forms. It is about accelerating the sales pipeline, shortening follow-up times, and providing rich, actionable insights that enable your sales reps to close deals faster. In short, the bar has risen significantly.
As we break down iCapture and Captello, you’ll see how each platform measures up against the actual demands of modern event teams. You’ll also gain insights into where both solutions tend to fall short and what advanced teams should expect from a truly effective lead capture platform.
By the end of this in-depth comparison, you’ll not only understand the strengths and weaknesses of these two popular solutions, you’ll also discover the essential features your event lead capture tool needs to actually deliver on your pipeline goals.
iCapture and Captello at a glance
iCapture is an “intelligent lead capture” app focused on speed and data quality. It allows exhibitors to scan trade show badges or business cards and instantly sync those leads to their CRM or marketing automation system. iCapture emphasizes ease of use (“Easy to use. Every event. Connected to your CRM” is its motto) and prioritizing hot leads – it can automatically score or sort leads so sales knows who to follow up with first. Founded in 2002, iCapture has years of experience and was recently acquired by Cvent (a major event technology platform) in late 2023.
Captello brands itself as a universal lead capture and event engagement platform, with a special focus on gamification. In addition to standard badge scanning and forms, Captello offers interactive booth games (like spin-to-win wheels, trivia, and more) to attract attendees and capture their info in a fun way. It’s a newer entrant that has positioned itself as an innovative, independent alternative in a consolidating industry. Captello aims to bridge the gap between marketing and sales by not only capturing leads, but also driving engagement and personalization (for example, its app can help book meetings and personalize follow-up content).
Quick comparison
The table below summarizes key features of iCapture vs. Captello and how they address the needs of event teams:
Aspect |
iCapture (Cvent) |
Captello (Independent) |
| Ease of use & adoption | Very intuitive app and admin interface; G2 users rate it highly for usability (won “Best Usability” and “Easiest to Use” badges). Reps find it straightforward to scan and qualify leads with minimal training. | User-friendly, but the added layer of games can require initial setup. Onboarding is thorough and support is quick to assist. Some users note a slight learning curve for creating custom games or forms. |
| Offline capture | Yes – fully functional offline badge and business card scanning. Data is stored locally if no internet and syncs once online. Designed for reliability so no leads are lost due to Wi-Fi issues. | Yes – supports offline data capture as well. Captello’s app will hold scans and game data when offline and upload when connectivity returns (crucial for busy trade show floors). Both tools ensure leads aren’t lost if internet drops. |
| Lead capture methods | Scans QR/barcode badges from all major providers (integrations with many badge systems), plus business card OCR with high accuracy. Also supports custom lead forms with qualifier questions and skip logic for consistent data capture. Focus is on fast, reliable scanning and data entry. | Scans badges and business cards (also with OCR). Offers interactive games as a unique capture method to entice booth visitors. Leads from games or forms all funnel into one system. Custom qualifier forms can be used after a game to ask additional questions. |
| Lead qualification
|
Real-time scoring and lead ranking: you can define qualifiers (e.g. product interest, buying timeline) and iCapture will tag or score leads as “Hot”, “Warm”, etc. immediately based on their responses. This helps prioritize follow-ups. Notes and conversation details can be captured for context. | Basic scoring and tagging: Captello lets you assign custom criteria (e.g. via post-game survey responses or form inputs) to categorize leads. Its emphasis is more on capturing large volumes and segmenting by engagement (e.g. which game they played) rather than advanced scoring algorithms. |
| CRM integration | Native integrations to all major CRM and marketing automation platforms (Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo, Eloqua, Dynamics, Pardot, etc.). Leads are synced instantly to your CRM with all the captured details. This real-time routing means sales can get an alert or see the lead in CRM right away during the show. | Integrates with popular CRMs/automation like Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo as well. Data – including any game interactions – is synchronized in near real-time to your systems. Both tools eliminate the need to manually upload spreadsheets, ensuring leads flow into your existing sales pipeline without delay. |
| Follow-up automation | Can trigger an immediate follow-up email or content send to each lead upon capture (e.g. automatically email a thank-you note or a brochure). However, multi-step nurturing (drip campaigns, multiple touches) is handled by your connected CRM/marketing platform. iCapture essentially handles the first follow-up and relies on your CRM for anything beyond that. | Allows some personalization in follow-up (you can configure a thank-you email or SMS, and data is in CRM for further action). It does not have built-in multi-email nurture campaigns – you’d use your marketing automation for that. One neat feature: reps can book meetings with prospects through the app interface, bridging to calendar scheduling. |
| Analytics & ROI tracking | Provides a dashboard of basic analytics: number of leads captured per event and per rep, lead qualification breakdown (how many hot/warm/cold), and comparisons across events. iCapture also helps quantify ROI by letting you measure which shows yielded the most qualified leads and delivering key metrics to management. However, it does not track post-event engagement (e.g. email opens or website visits – that data is in your CRM). | Offers analytics on engagement and lead output: for example, which games attracted the most participants, how many leads each event and each game generated, and segmentation of leads by interests or tags. You can view aggregate lead metrics across multiple events – useful for enterprise teams tracking annual event performance. Like iCapture, deeper post-event engagement (opportunities, revenue) would be tracked in your CRM. |
| Unique strengths | Speed and simplicity. iCapture excels at quickly getting high-quality leads into your system with minimal fuss. Users praise its intuitive interface and smooth workflow – it was rated 9.4/10 for “Lead Capture (Lead Builder)” on G2, outscoring Captello in ease-of-use in that area. Its business card scanner is particularly noted for accuracy and speed. Also, as part of Cvent now, it may benefit from tighter integration with Cvent’s event management ecosystem (though it remains a standalone app as well). | Engagement and gamification. Captello’s standout differentiator is its library of booth games and activations. This can significantly boost booth traffic and attendee participation. Companies that want to create a memorable experience or collect leads in a more organic, opt-in way (visitors volunteer their info to play) may find Captello invaluable. It’s essentially lead capture plus an engagement toolkit in one. |
| Key limitations | No deep enrichment or multi-touch nurture out-of-the-box. iCapture captures what’s scanned or entered, but it won’t automatically append external data (like pulling a lead’s LinkedIn profile or company info) – it sticks to the info from the badge/business card. And while it sends one immediate email, anything beyond that requires your CRM’s workflows. These gaps mean you might need additional tools for advanced lead nurturing or data enrichment. | Reliance on gamification fit. If a company’s audience or brand isn’t suited to games (e.g. a very formal industry event), Captello’s core strength could be underutilized. In such cases it works like a standard lead app, but you might be paying for features you don’t fully use. It also lacks AI-driven enrichment – it won’t auto-enrich or score leads beyond the info they provide. And its rich feature set can come at a higher price point, which might be overkill for smaller exhibitors. |
Both tools enjoy strong user reviews (each averaging 4.8 out of 5 stars on G2) and have loyal followings. iCapture is often lauded for its ease and support, while Captello is praised for innovation in engagement. Now, let’s dive deeper into each aspect.
Understanding the challenges in event lead capture
Event professionals today encounter numerous challenges that limit the effectiveness of their lead capture efforts. To help you identify precisely what may be holding your team back, we’ve organized these common pain points into a clear, concise table, along with actionable insights and implications to consider when choosing your next lead capture solution.
Common pain point |
Why it matters to your team |
Practical insights & implications |
| Manual data entry | Manual entry is slow, prone to errors, and wastes valuable time that sales reps should spend engaging leads directly. | Digital automation significantly reduces errors, accelerates follow-up, and lets reps focus on meaningful sales interactions. |
| Delayed follow-ups | Leads lose interest quickly after the event. Immediate follow-up is crucial to capitalize on fresh interest. | Real-time integrations that trigger automated follow-up improve response rates dramatically. |
| Poor data accuracy and quality | Incorrect or incomplete lead details mean lost opportunities, confused reps, and damaged prospect experiences. | High-accuracy OCR and badge-scanning technology directly impact the quality of your follow-up conversations. |
| Limited or ineffective CRM integrations | Without instant CRM sync, leads are isolated, follow-up is delayed, and sales visibility is limited. | Real-time integration with CRM and marketing automation tools ensures quick, effective handoffs to sales. |
| Minimal lead qualification and scoring | Unqualified leads waste sales rep time, lowering overall conversion efficiency and morale. | Intelligent scoring allows sales teams to prioritize outreach, increasing lead-to-opportunity conversion rates. |
| Fragmented event technology | Managing multiple disconnected tools creates complexity, increases costs, and frustrates booth teams. | Integrated, unified platforms simplify processes, reduce training, and streamline the overall lead capture strategy. |
| Low adoption by sales teams | If reps find a solution cumbersome, they revert to manual methods, undermining your investment. | User-friendly interfaces and intuitive workflows significantly improve team adoption and data consistency. |
| Insufficient visibility into event ROI | Without clear analytics, justifying event spend and understanding ROI becomes nearly impossible. | Robust analytics that tie event leads directly to pipeline and revenue help secure future event budgets. |
| Poor offline functionality | Unreliable Wi-Fi at venues risks losing leads entirely, damaging the trust of your sales team. | Reliable offline mode with auto-sync ensures no leads are lost, even without stable internet connections. |
| Lack of actionable insights | Without context or interaction history, sales reps struggle to engage leads effectively post-event. | Context-rich data capture gives your sales team talking points that directly align with each prospect’s interests. |
Why these insights matter
Many lead capture solutions available today claim to address these issues, yet only superficially tackle them. When evaluating any lead capture platform—including iCapture, Captello, or others—teams must critically assess whether the technology directly solves these pain points or merely digitizes an outdated process.
Modern event professionals should no longer tolerate:
- Spending time manually transcribing leads after the event, losing critical hours or days of sales momentum.
- Fumbling with inaccurate or incomplete lead data, resulting in missed opportunities.
- Wondering whether investments in events actually contribute to sales growth and pipeline acceleration.
Instead, your lead capture strategy should actively empower your team to close deals faster, foster stronger connections at events, and provide clear visibility into event-driven ROI.
Ultimately, understanding these common event-capture pain points and their practical implications helps ensure your next choice of a solution truly aligns with the needs and priorities of today’s fast-paced sales and marketing teams.
Evaluating iCapture and Captello
Choosing between iCapture and Captello starts with evaluating each platform’s core capabilities, strengths, and limitations. The table below provides a clear comparison, designed to quickly show you how each platform performs in the areas event teams care about most.
Key feature or capability |
iCapture |
Captello |
| Badge and business card scanning | Good accuracy with standard badge scanning and OCR, easy to use for quick scans. | Supports scanning with decent accuracy but is slightly less reliable on OCR. |
| Offline mode reliability | Reliable offline capability; scans stored locally and sync automatically. | Good offline support; leads stored offline and synced after reconnection. |
| CRM integration | Supports popular CRMs like Salesforce, HubSpot, and others; setup can require additional steps. | Good integrations available, similar to iCapture, but can require some technical effort for setup. |
| Lead qualification and scoring | Basic scoring based on preset qualifiers; real-time prioritization. | Manual tagging; lacks dynamic scoring, making real-time prioritization difficult. |
| Follow-up automation | Single email follow-up automation upon capture; lacks advanced nurturing features. | Basic automated email or SMS; includes meeting scheduling but lacks deeper nurturing. |
| Analytics and reporting | Basic lead capture analytics; limited in-depth insights or ROI tracking. | Focuses on engagement data from games and events; lacks comprehensive pipeline ROI tracking. |
| Engagement tools | Limited engagement features; primarily scan-and-go. | Strong suite of interactive booth games to attract attendees. |
| Ease of use and rep adoption | Easy, intuitive app with minimal learning curve; high adoption among sales teams. | Slightly more complex due to interactive features; can have moderate learning curve. |
| Pricing flexibility | Typically annual plans with higher upfront costs; some hidden integration costs. | Offers per-event licensing flexibility; premium features can add up quickly. |
While iCapture focuses on fast, streamlined lead capture, its limited engagement and deeper nurturing gaps become evident quickly. Captello tries to bridge this gap with interactive booth experiences, yet it struggles with intuitive adoption, streamlined workflows, and advanced qualification.
For teams serious about capturing leads that directly feed the sales pipeline, these limitations represent real missed opportunities.
Why momencio stands out
To truly benefit from event lead capture, your solution must go beyond simple badge scanning or form digitization. momencio offers a clear competitive advantage by directly addressing the critical shortcomings of iCapture and Captello, positioning itself perfectly at the intersection of efficiency, engagement, and conversion. Here’s how momencio differentiates itself clearly:
Intelligent real-time lead capture
Unlike basic scanning tools, momencio uses proprietary AI-based EdgeCapture technology to quickly and accurately capture lead data with exceptional precision. This reduces human error, eliminates manual data entry, and ensures accurate lead details every time.
Contextual lead enrichment
momencio automatically enriches lead data, filling in important context like company information, buyer intent signals, and previous interactions. This depth enables your sales reps to have informed follow-up conversations, significantly boosting conversion potential.
Dynamic lead scoring and prioritization
Instead of basic manual tagging, momencio dynamically scores leads based on real-time responses, conversation details, and implicit buying signals. This ensures your sales reps immediately understand each lead’s value, greatly increasing follow-up effectiveness.
Automated multi-touch follow-up
Where iCapture and Captello end at simple email triggers, momencio continues nurturing leads well beyond the initial contact. It automatically sends relevant content, tracks interactions, and adapts its follow-up based on each prospect’s real-time engagement and behavior.
Comprehensive event analytics and ROI visibility
momencio provides clear visibility into event-driven ROI, enabling teams to easily track pipeline generated, understand event performance, and make smarter decisions about future event investments. Unlike basic analytics offered by other tools, momencio connects events directly to sales outcomes.
Unified platform with zero adoption barriers
momencio combines lead capture, qualification, nurturing, content sharing, and analytics in one cohesive interface. Booth staff love the zero-training, intuitive experience, while marketers and sales leaders appreciate the ease of managing everything from one central location.
Flexible and predictable pricing
momencio’s flexible licensing means no hidden integration or premium feature costs. Pricing is predictable, scalable, and designed to ensure unlimited access across events, users, and features—ideal for teams attending multiple events throughout the year.
In short, momencio was designed specifically to overcome the limitations found in traditional lead capture platforms. It directly addresses your team’s real pain points, ensuring your event investments deliver pipeline acceleration, measurable ROI, and higher-quality conversations at every stage.
Tailored solutions for diverse roles
When evaluating a lead capture solution, each member of your event team will have different priorities. momencio understands these unique needs and provides specific benefits tailored for each role. Here’s how momencio addresses key challenges faced by different stakeholders at events:
Event marketers and field marketing teams
Event marketers need to demonstrate ROI and improve booth engagement. momencio addresses this by:
- Providing detailed event analytics that tie booth interactions directly to pipeline contribution.
- Offering easy-to-deploy, engagement-focused content that boosts attendee participation.
- Enabling real-time visibility into booth performance and lead quality for instant adjustments.
Event marketers using momencio gain clear insights into event performance, allowing them to optimize strategies on the fly, and confidently report outcomes back to leadership.
Sales leaders and VP-level decision makers
Sales leaders focus on converting leads quickly and maximizing pipeline from events. momencio enables this by:
- Delivering enriched, highly qualified leads directly into CRM systems instantly.
- Ensuring sales reps can prioritize leads based on dynamic, intelligent scoring.
- Allowing real-time follow-up actions to shorten sales cycles immediately post-event.
momencio helps sales leaders ensure their teams spend more time engaging qualified leads and less time sorting through unqualified contacts, significantly accelerating deal closures.
Sales representatives and booth staff
Sales reps prefer easy-to-use tools that allow them to quickly capture leads without disrupting conversations. momencio supports booth staff by:
- Providing a frictionless, intuitive app interface requiring virtually no training.
- Capturing critical conversation context, making post-event follow-ups easier and more effective.
- Offering automated, personalized follow-up content to keep leads warm and engaged immediately.
With momencio, booth reps enjoy a simplified yet powerful solution that enhances their productivity, effectiveness, and motivation to consistently use the tool at every event.
Event operations managers
Operations teams value reliable, seamless technology that integrates smoothly into existing workflows. momencio ensures operational efficiency through:
- Robust CRM and marketing automation integrations that reduce manual workload.
- Reliable offline mode to ensure leads are never lost, even in challenging venues.
- A unified system that reduces reliance on multiple disconnected tools, lowering complexity and operational overhead.
Operational teams using momencio appreciate a streamlined experience that reduces errors, increases data accuracy, and simplifies overall event logistics.
By addressing each role’s distinct needs, momencio provides clear, practical advantages over tools like iCapture and Captello, ensuring maximum adoption, performance, and ROI from your event lead capture investment.
Cost-benefit analysis
Comparing lead capture solutions effectively involves more than just feature checklists; teams must consider overall cost, scalability, and return on investment (ROI). The following table provides a transparent, practical view of the total cost of ownership and value delivered by iCapture, Captello, and momencio.
Cost and benefit factors |
iCapture |
Captello |
momencio |
| Pricing model | Typically annual subscription with additional per-user costs | Event-based or annual licensing; costs increase significantly with gamification and premium features | Flexible annual model with unlimited users, events, and comprehensive feature access |
| Hidden fees and extra charges | Often additional costs for CRM integrations, onboarding, and customization | Fees can accumulate quickly with gamification, custom branding, and advanced integrations | Transparent pricing with no hidden integration, onboarding, or user-based fees |
| Adoption and training costs | Low due to simple interface; however, limited advanced capabilities can impact overall ROI | Medium to high; interactive features increase onboarding time and training expenses | Very low; zero-training interface ensures rapid adoption and high usage consistency |
| Data accuracy and quality costs | Moderate; good accuracy but limited enrichment can mean additional cost of external enrichment tools | Moderate; OCR errors may require manual data correction, adding hidden internal costs | Low; advanced capture accuracy and built-in lead enrichment significantly reduce costs associated with data quality |
| Integration and operational costs | Moderate to high; additional operational and IT resources may be needed for integration setup and maintenance | Moderate to high; integration setup can require extra technical support and incur costs | Low; smooth, native integrations reduce or eliminate IT intervention and additional overhead |
| ROI and value delivered | Moderate; effectively streamlines basic lead capture but limited engagement and enrichment reduce total ROI | Moderate; increased booth traffic via gamification, but limited scoring, nurturing, and follow-up capabilities negatively impact ROI | High; integrated, intelligent platform boosts engagement, accelerates pipeline, reduces costs, and clearly ties event activities to measurable sales outcomes |
Why does this analysis matter?
When choosing between event lead capture solutions, upfront price alone can mislead. Teams must carefully examine the total cost, hidden expenses, operational overhead, adoption challenges, and, ultimately, how effectively the platform boosts measurable ROI.
- iCapture’s straightforward capture abilities initially appear cost-effective, but additional fees for deeper integrations, data enrichment, and follow-up systems can quickly offset savings.
- Captello’s engaging booth activations may drive traffic but can significantly inflate operational and hidden costs, reducing true ROI when lacking deeper qualification or automated nurturing capabilities.
- momencio’s comprehensive, unified approach not only eliminates hidden and incremental costs but actively improves adoption, data quality, sales acceleration, and ultimately ROI—ensuring the most value from your event investments.
A detailed cost-benefit analysis clearly illustrates that the total value delivered by momencio far outweighs what teams typically achieve with more basic platforms like iCapture or engagement-focused solutions like Captello.
Conclusion
Selecting an event lead capture solution is about more than comparing features or price alone. It is about finding a platform that actively solves your specific pain points, supports multiple stakeholders in your event strategy, and directly contributes to pipeline growth and measurable ROI.
In this comparison, we’ve evaluated iCapture and Captello in detail. Both platforms offer some advantages, with iCapture providing efficient, straightforward lead scanning, and Captello delivering engaging booth experiences. Yet, neither fully meets the increasingly sophisticated demands of today’s sales and marketing teams.
Both platforms struggle to provide essential elements such as intelligent real-time lead qualification, contextual data enrichment, automated nurturing, and deep analytics that clearly demonstrate the ROI of events. This means teams using these platforms often find themselves still investing additional resources in external tools, manual processes, and integration workarounds.
There are better alternatives that focus on what happens after the scan – enriching leads with intelligence and nurturing them through the sales cycle. If you find that neither iCapture nor Captello ticks every box – for instance, if you need both gamification and AI-driven lead enrichment and multi-touch nurturing – you might explore a more comprehensive lead capture software that combines capture with robust post-event engagement. Many exhibitors end up using a combination: a capture tool plus their CRM plus marketing automation. Newer solutions are aiming to unify these steps.
momencio stands apart by directly solving these critical shortcomings. It provides a comprehensive, intelligent platform that ensures event marketers can clearly demonstrate ROI, sales teams can confidently prioritize and close leads faster, and event operations enjoy a streamlined, frictionless workflow. With transparent, scalable pricing and a unified approach, momencio uniquely delivers both short-term effectiveness and long-term strategic value.
Ultimately, your event lead capture strategy should no longer settle for partial solutions or disconnected systems. Effective lead capture is a critical business function that deserves a thoughtful, powerful, and genuinely integrated approach. momencio provides precisely this, empowering event teams not just to capture leads but to confidently convert them into measurable revenue.
Pick the best lead capture tool
Choosing the right lead capture platform can transform your event strategy from a cost center into a revenue-generating machine. Rather than settling for incomplete solutions or piecemeal tools, explore how momencio can help you:
- Immediately improve lead quality and accuracy.
- Accelerate your sales pipeline directly from event conversations.
- Clearly measure and demonstrate the ROI of your event investments.
- Reduce operational complexity and hidden costs.
Schedule a personalized demo or reach out to our team today to discover exactly how momencio can empower your event strategy and drive meaningful, measurable results.
Your events deserve more. Your team deserves momencio.
FAQs
- Can iCapture or Captello directly measure event ROI in terms of pipeline generated?
- Neither iCapture nor Captello fully measure event ROI through the entire sales pipeline; they only track initial lead capture metrics, requiring additional tools or manual analysis to show revenue impact.
- How does momencio improve lead quality compared to iCapture and Captello?
- momencio uses AI-driven contextual enrichment and dynamic lead scoring, improving lead accuracy and prioritization significantly compared to basic scoring and manual tagging methods of other platforms.
- Do iCapture and Captello offer reliable offline lead capture functionality?
- Both iCapture and Captello provide offline capture features, but neither provides real-time error notifications, which momencio does to ensure no lead is lost during offline scenarios.
- Why is real-time CRM integration crucial for event lead capture solutions?
- Real-time CRM integration ensures immediate follow-up, reduces response time dramatically, and significantly increases lead-to-opportunity conversion rates compared to delayed manual entry.
- Is Captello’s gamification feature essential for booth engagement at trade shows?
- Captello’s gamification attracts booth visitors but often lacks strategic alignment with sales objectives; momencio offers more effective gamification tools that directly integrate engaging activities with real-time lead qualification, prioritization, and sales-driven outcomes.
