Nowadays is an AI-native platform focused specifically on venue sourcing for corporate offsites and retreats — its AI searches a database of 400,000+ venues, emails and calls them to negotiate rates, and compares proposals automatically. Programleaf is a full planning platform in its own right, with an AI Planner that generates tasks, vendor recommendations, budget guidance, and a risk register — plus a live, guest-facing program during the event itself, which Nowadays doesn't attempt. These two tools solve genuinely different parts of planning; here's how they compare.
Quick Comparison Table
| Feature | Nowadays | Programleaf |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | ✓ Basic plan — 1 city search, 5 RFPs | ✓ |
| Pricing model | Free Basic, then 10% service charge + $250 deposit (Explorer), custom Enterprise | ✓ Flat $79–129/month |
| AI-driven venue sourcing & negotiation | ✓ Signature feature — 400,000+ venue database | ✗ |
| AI event/preparation planning | Budget and travel cost estimation, vendor/contract coordination | ✓ Full prep plan — tasks, vendors, budget, risk register |
| AI program creation | ✗ | ✓ From brief, document, or photo |
| Registration & payment collection | ✓ Registration-page builder | ✓ Paid plans |
| Host-controlled live running order | ✗ No live event-day feature found | ✓ |
| Guest-facing live program | ✗ | ✓ Every guest's own phone |
| Guest app required | N/A — no live guest feature exists | ✓ None — any browser |
| In-app guest support | ✗ No guest-facing feature exists | ✓ Helpdesk chat bubble on the event page, no login |
| Role-based team collaboration | ✗ | ✓ 10 scoped roles |
| Setup time | Days — RFP process with venues takes time to close | Seconds — AI creates the event program and workspace from a brief, document, or photo |
| Best for | Sourcing and negotiating the venue for a corporate offsite or retreat | Planning and running the event program itself, once the venue is booked |
What Nowadays does well
Nowadays is a genuinely specialized AI tool for one specific, time-consuming part of corporate event planning: finding and booking the venue.
AI-driven venue sourcing and negotiation
Search across a database of 400,000+ venues, and Nowadays' AI does the outreach — emailing and calling venues, negotiating rates, and compiling comparable proposals side by side. For the tedious back-and-forth of sourcing a venue, this is a real time-saver.
Budget and travel estimation
Nowadays estimates costs across venue and travel as part of the sourcing process, and handles contract and payment coordination with the venue once a choice is made — plus a registration page for collecting attendee sign-ups.
Where Nowadays stops — before the event itself
No program, run of show, or live guest experience
Checked directly against official materials, press coverage, and product listings: nothing in Nowadays' feature set covers the event program, a run of show, or any live, real-time experience for attendees once the offsite actually starts. Its scope ends at booking the venue and collecting registrations — what happens in the room isn't something the platform touches.
No AI-generated program or task/vendor/risk planning
Nowadays' AI is applied specifically to venue negotiation and cost estimation — it doesn't generate a program, a broader task checklist, general vendor recommendations, or a risk register the way Programleaf's AI Planner does for the event as a whole.
What Programleaf adds
A full AI-generated preparation plan of its own
Describe your event and Programleaf's AI Planner generates a complete starting plan across nine structured sections — Run of Show, Vendors, Budget, Participants, Checklist, Communications, Risks & Contingencies, Weather, and Guest Experience — not just a task list. The budget section auto-totals spend by category, the Readiness Monitor scores what's actually locked down and flags what isn't, and full version history means you can experiment without losing a working draft. This is genuine planning depth, in the same category as what Nowadays does for venue sourcing specifically — just scoped to the whole event rather than one part of it.
A live program every guest can follow — something Nowadays doesn't have
From your phone, tap the current item and every guest's screen highlights it instantly. Push announcements, adjust the order, or launch a live poll — changes reach every connected device in real time. This is the part of the day Nowadays' scope stops short of entirely.
A direct line for attendee questions
Once attendees are on-site, Helpdesk gives them a chat bubble right on the event page to reach your team — no app, no email thread. It's another part of the day Nowadays' scope doesn't reach, and it's included on Programleaf's Premium plan.
Role-based team collaboration
Programleaf's role-based permissions give each collaborator exactly the access their job needs across 10 scoped roles, for coordinating the team running the event.
Which one should you use?
Use Nowadays if the hard part of your event is finding and negotiating a venue — a corporate offsite, retreat, or meeting where AI-assisted sourcing and rate negotiation genuinely saves time.
Use Programleaf for planning and running the event itself, once the venue question is settled — or for events that don't need a sourced-and-negotiated venue at all. It shines when you need to:
- Turn a raw idea into a complete head start in minutes — a full program, task checklist, vendor recommendations, budget guidance, and a risk register with mitigation plans
- Give every attendee a live, guest-facing program on their own phone — no app, no account
- Deliver a smooth, professional live experience with real-time highlighting and announcements
- Collaborate with your team using precise role-based access
For a corporate offsite where venue sourcing genuinely is the hard part, using both makes sense: Nowadays to source and negotiate the venue, Programleaf to plan and run the event once you're there.