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The calm operating system for hackathons

Hackathons, without the chaos.

Registration, QR check-in, teams, submissions, fair judging and announcements in one calm place your whole crew can run from their phones.

  • Demo needs no signup
  • Free for small events
  • No credit card

Why Ribat

Six tools in. One calm place out.

Most hackathons juggle a form builder, a spreadsheet, a group chat, an email tool, a check-in app and a judging sheet. Ribat replaces the pile with one workspace where every screen shares the same data.

How it works

From first sign-up to demo day

Ribat follows the shape of a real hackathon, so there is nothing to configure that you don't need.

  1. 1

    Create and publish

    Set your dates, tracks, questions and capacity, then share one link.

    About 10 minutes

  2. 2

    Register and check in

    People sign up in under a minute and walk in with a personal QR ticket.

    Works offline

  3. 3

    Build and submit

    Teams form around skills, then submit write-ups, links and demos on time.

    Deadlines enforced

  4. 4

    Judge and celebrate

    Judges score on their phones. You share results and the gallery in one click.

    Fair by default

Features

Everything the weekend needs

Built around the real rhythm of a hackathon: before the doors open, during the build, and after the demos.

  • Before the event

    Registration that fills itself

    A public event page with your own questions, a capacity limit and an automatic waitlist. Every attendee gets a QR ticket by email.

  • Before the event

    Teams without the scramble

    Invite codes, an open team browser and skill tags so solo hackers find their people.

  • During the event

    Check-in in seconds

    Scan tickets from any phone, even offline. Counts sync across every staff device.

  • During the eventEmail and Discord on Pro

    One message, every channel

    Post once to the participant portal, email and Discord, and see the delivery status of each.

  • During the event

    A run of show everyone follows

    Sessions in the event's timezone, with what's happening now at the top of every portal.

  • After the event

    Submissions with real deadlines

    Markdown write-ups, links, screenshots and video. The deadline is enforced on the server, not just hidden in the UI.

  • After the event

    Scorecards that save themselves

    Judges only see the projects assigned to them and score on any device. Every change saves instantly.

  • After the eventPro

    Know how it's going

    Registrations, arrivals, submissions and judging progress at a glance, in your event's timezone.

Fair judging on Pro

Fair results, even with a tough judge

Some judges hand out 5s, others hand out 9s. Ribat compares every score with that judge's own scoring before ranking, so no project wins or loses because of who happened to judge it.

  • Balanced assignments

    Every project gets the same number of reviews.

  • No conflicts of interest

    Judges are never assigned their own team.

  • Weighted criteria

    Decide how much impact, execution or design count.

  • Autosaving scorecards

    Scores save as judges go, on any device.

Live demo, no signup

Step inside a hackathon in full swing

Nebula Hack 2026 is mid-judging, with real-looking data in every screen. Open it as the organizer, a participant or a judge. Click anything: nothing you do is saved.

registered
178
checked in
141
projects
14
judged
71%
Explore the live demo

Opens in seconds. No account, no credit card.

  • For organizers

    A live control room

    • Live counts for sign-ups, arrivals and submissions
    • Bulk confirm, waitlist and CSV export
    • Reminders and results emails in one click
  • For participants

    The whole weekend in one link

    • QR ticket, schedule and announcements
    • Find teammates by skill
    • Submit with a live Markdown preview
  • For judges

    Focused, phone-first scoring

    • Only the projects assigned to them
    • Sliders that save as they go
    • Progress at a glance

Privacy and security

Private by default. Secure by design.

Participant data belongs to the people and the event, not the whole internet.

  • Locked down in the database

    Row-level security means every record is only visible to the people who should see it.

  • Signed QR tickets

    Tickets are cryptographically signed, and only organizers can check people in.

  • Opt-in public profiles

    Profiles stay inside the event unless a participant chooses to share theirs.

  • Respectful email

    One-click unsubscribe on event emails, plus data export and account deletion for everyone.

Pricing

Start free. Pay per event when you grow.

No seats and no subscriptions. Your organizing team and judges are always free.

  • Community

    Free

    Try Ribat on a small event with up to 50 participants.

    • Up to 50 participants
    • Registration with up to 3 custom questions
    • QR tickets and check-in
    • Teams and project submissions
    Start free
  • Pro

    For events over 100 people

    $199per event

    Everything you need to run a flagship hackathon, with no limits.

    • Unlimited participants
    • Email your attendees
    • Fair judging
    • Analytics and exports
    • Discord and your brand
    Start free, upgrade anytime

Compare plans in detail

FAQ

Questions, answered

Still curious? Email hello@ribat.site or read the documentation.

Can I try it before signing up?

Yes. Explore the live demo: a fully seeded hackathon with the organizer dashboard, participant portal and judge view, and every Pro feature switched on. No signup, nothing to install.

Who is Ribat for?

Organizers of hackathons and tech events with roughly 50 to 500 participants, from campus and community events to corporate ones. It works for in-person, online and hybrid events.

How much does it cost?

Community is free for small events: up to 50 participants, 3 registration questions and 3 judges, with announcements in the participant portal. Pro is $199 per event and unlocks everything: unlimited participants, email announcements and reminders, the normalised leaderboard, multi-round judging, analytics, CSV import and export, Discord, no Ribat branding and priority support.

Do participants need an account?

Registering only takes an email. To form a team, submit a project or get live announcements, participants create a free account with the same email and everything links up automatically.

What happens if the Wi-Fi drops at check-in?

Keep scanning. Scans are saved on the device and sync as soon as the connection is back, and staff can always look people up by name.

How does fair judging work?

Ribat spreads projects evenly across judges, never assigns judges their own team, and normalises each judge's scores before ranking. A tough judge and a generous judge end up counting equally.

Can judges score on their phones?

Yes. The judging view is built for phones and laptops, saves every score as you go, and only shows each judge the projects assigned to them.

Can I bring in people who registered somewhere else?

Yes. Paste a list of emails or upload a CSV on the People page, choose whether they're confirmed or pending, and optionally email everyone their QR ticket.

What about privacy?

Participant profiles stay inside the event unless someone opts in to a public profile. Every attendee can unsubscribe from event emails, and every user can export or delete their data at any time.

Your next hackathon can feel calm.

See it with real data in the live demo, then create your event in minutes. Start free and upgrade when it counts.