Event ticketing platforms sell and scan admission for concerts, conferences, classes and festivals, and take a fee on each paid ticket.
Vendors differ on who pays that fee, whether card costs are included and when the money reaches you. This guide ranks twelve products on setup effort, real cost per ticket, payout and exit terms, and independence.
Vendors can pay for visibility on this page. It never changes what an entry
says about a product, including the criticism, and we earn nothing when you click through to a
vendor. How that works.
In short
What event ticketing platforms do
An event ticketing platform lets an organiser publish an event page, sell tickets online, take payment, deliver scannable tickets and track attendance, charging a fee per ticket or per registration.
In this order: setup effort, what it really costs, how your data comes back out, whether
you can leave, and who each event ticketing platform is built for. One rule sits on top of those tests:
Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category, wherever the category has them; the established names follow from place 4 in their ranked order. Why those five, and why there is no
score out of ten, is on the how we work page.
Percentage plus fixed amount per paid ticket published; free events cost nothing
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Marketplace audience, with a service fee and processing fee
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Country is where the vendor is headquartered or contracts from, which is a
different question from where your data is hosted. Where the two tell different stories, the
entry says so.
Estonian ticketing with one fee, payment costs included and no buyer fees
Ranked #1 of 12 in Best Event Ticketing Platforms in 2026.
Published pricingEurope
Fienta Ticketing OÜ publishes a percentage per ticket with a minimum per order, and states that bank, card and invoice payment fees are inside it.
Free events keep registration, scanning and list export at no charge. Add seating or PayPal and the cost moves, so model your mix. Support is by live chat, and extra payouts can be requested between monthly runs.
What stands out
Payment fees included
No buyer fees
Monthly payouts
Where it costs you
Reserved seating and PayPal both carry surcharges outside the headline fee.
Standard payouts arrive monthly, so cash comes after the event rather than before.
Right for
Organisers wanting one transparent fee with payment costs already included
Wrong for
Events needing cash from sales before the event day
EstoniaPercentage fee per paid ticket published; free events at no charge
Heidelberg ticket shop, hosted per ticket or run on your server
Ranked #2 of 12 in Best Event Ticketing Platforms in 2026.
Self-hostablePublished pricingEurope
pretix GmbH of Heidelberg bills hosted organisers monthly by invoice, on a published percentage of each paid ticket that stops at a fixed cap, plus whatever the payment provider takes.
No monthly fee and no user limit apply. The licence file bars offering pretix to third parties as a service, so an agency cannot resell it. Only businesses and similar entities may sign up, not private individuals.
What stands out
Self-hosted option
Per-ticket fee
Unlimited users
GermanyPercentage per paid ticket with a cap, published; self-hosted editions available
Dublin-run ticketing for conferences with money paid straight to you
Ranked #3 of 12 in Best Event Ticketing Platforms in 2026.
Published pricingEurope
Team Tito Limited of Dublin charges a single published percentage per ticket, lower for charities and community groups, and caps the fee on very expensive tickets.
Funds go from your Stripe or PayPal account to your bank, so Tito never holds the money. That also means you must open a payment gateway before selling anything paid, and two separate fees apply. Reports export as CSV.
What stands out
Charity rate
Direct payouts
CSV export
IrelandFlat percentage per paid ticket published; free events cost nothing
London ticketing with prepaid credits, a pay-as-you-go rate and no payment handling
Ranked #4 of 12 in Best Event Ticketing Platforms in 2026.
Published pricingEurope
Zimma Ltd trades as Ticket Tailor from London. The cheapest route is buying ticket credits in advance, while pay as you go costs more per ticket.
It does not process payments itself, so every organiser connects Stripe, PayPal or Square and pays that provider separately. Seat reservations use an additional credit per seat. Free tickets are covered up to a yearly allowance.
What stands out
Prepaid credits
Charity discount
Own payment processor
United KingdomPer-ticket fee published; prepaid credits cheaper; free events up to a yearly allowance
Charity-owned ticketing with all features on one plan
Ranked #5 of 12 in Best Event Ticketing Platforms in 2026.
Published pricingEurope
Humanitix Scotland Limited is a Scottish charitable company, and its pricing page sends all profits to charity. A single plan carries every feature, including reserved seating, a scanning app, waitlists and resale through Tixel.
Charities and schools pay a lower rate and free events cost nothing. You are paying a higher rate for that mission, so check the sums on volume.
What stands out
Charity-owned
All features on every plan
Reserved seating
Where it costs you
The standard per-ticket cost is higher than several flat-fee rivals in this ranking.
The pricing page lists the rate in pounds for the UK, so other regions need their own check.
Right for
Organisers who want profits to fund charity and every feature included
Wrong for
High-volume sellers comparing on lowest cost per ticket alone
United KingdomPercentage plus fixed amount per paid ticket, published; free events cost nothing
US ticketing with a flat fee per ticket and no contracts
Ranked #6 of 12 in Best Event Ticketing Platforms in 2026.
Published pricingElsewhere
TicketSpice quotes a flat amount per attendee plus card processing, dropping the amount for tickets under a low threshold. Contracts and annual fees are ruled out on the pricing page.
Reserved seating, scanning and a box office app are listed. Marketing email and SMS are paid extras, and every comparison figure on the page is the vendor's own estimate, not a measured result.
What stands out
Flat per-ticket fee
Weekly payouts
Paid email and SMS add-ons
Where it costs you
The country of establishment is not given on the pages we read.
Email and text campaigns are priced as separate monthly add-ons with per-recipient charges.
Right for
US-based events selling many mid-priced tickets who want a flat fee
Wrong for
Organisers wanting a European entity or euro-first pricing
Not stated by the vendorFlat per-ticket fee plus card processing, published; no contracts
San Diego ticketing sold through a discovery call and a custom quote
Ranked #7 of 12 in Best Event Ticketing Platforms in 2026.
Pricing on requestNorth America
Ticketsauce.com, Inc. sells by discovery call, review of historical sales and a custom quote. By default all fees pass to ticket buyers.
Services include seating chart drawing, on-site staffing, a white-label app and device rental. Payments work in 47 countries, with an option to connect your own Stripe account. The pricing page calls its own fee middle of the road.
What stands out
Custom quote
On-site staffing
Own Stripe account
Where it costs you
No rate card is published, so cost is unknown until after a sales call.
Seating chart creation, staffing and scanner rental are separate services.
Right for
Venues and festivals wanting hands-on onboarding, staffing and white-label options
Wrong for
Small organisers wanting a price before talking to sales
United StatesQuoted per organisation; fees pass to buyers by default
Multi-country ticketing with a consumer marketplace and a buyer-paid fee
Ranked #8 of 12 in Best Event Ticketing Platforms in 2026.
Published pricingElsewhere
Billetto UK Ltd publishes a percentage plus a fixed amount per ticket, paid by the buyer by default. A Growth plan and custom rates are mentioned for larger events. Local sites exist across fourteen countries, and a POS system pairs with an Adyen terminal.
Payment methods shown for UK buyers are Visa and Mastercard only, so check that your audience pays that way. Refunds are set by you and arrive within five working days.
What stands out
Marketplace listing
Buyer-paid fee
POS hardware
Where it costs you
Payout waits until three to five working days after the event ends.
Point-of-sale needs an Adyen terminal and an optional printer bought outright.
Right for
Organisers in several European countries who value a consumer marketplace listing
Wrong for
Events that must pay suppliers from ticket income before the date
Not stated by the vendorPercentage plus fixed amount per ticket, published; no monthly fee
French ticketing group that also covers cashless payment and access control
Ranked #9 of 12 in Best Event Ticketing Platforms in 2026.
Published pricingEurope
WEEZEVENT SAS, registered in Dijon, is the group behind Weeztix, where Eventix visitors now land. Online ticketing carries a published percentage with a per-ticket minimum, and banking fees are included.
Access control is listed as free. Cashless wristbands, staff accreditation and CRM are separate products, so the full bill depends on how much of the event you hand over. Rates differ by currency, with pounds, dollars and francs listed.
What stands out
Cashless add-on
Access control
Group of brands
Where it costs you
Numbered seating, queues, resale and on-site booths are tailor-made, not priced publicly.
Paying out every fifteen days still means waiting during a long sales run.
Right for
Festivals and venues wanting ticketing, cashless and access control together
Wrong for
Small organisers who only need a plain online ticket shop
FrancePercentage per ticket with a minimum, published; free events at no charge
Event pages with a platform fee that a paid plan removes
Ranked #10 of 12 in Best Event Ticketing Platforms in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingNorth America
Luma Labs, Inc. runs a free plan with unlimited events and guests and a platform fee on paid tickets, added to the Stripe card fee. A monthly subscription billed annually removes that fee and unlocks tax collection on ticket sales.
Weekly invites are capped on each tier. It suits community gatherings more than venues, since reserved seating and box-office tools are not listed on the pricing page.
What stands out
Free plan
Platform fee
Weekly invite caps
United StatesFree plan with a platform fee on paid events; monthly plan removes it
Per-registration pricing in four tiers, with seating and a quoted top tier
Ranked #11 of 12 in Best Event Ticketing Platforms in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
Eventzilla bills per registered attendee across Basic, Pro and Plus, then a Scale tier priced monthly with no per-registration fee.
The seating plan designer starts at Pro and passing on all fees including processing starts at Plus, so a ticket seller needing both cannot stay on the cheapest tier. Payment processing is charged separately by your provider. Paid ticket types start at Pro.
What stands out
Per registration
Four tiers
Seating plan designer
United StatesPer-registration fee by tier, published; top tier from a monthly price
Marketplace audience, with a service fee and processing fee
Ranked #12 of 12 in Best Event Ticketing Platforms in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
Eventbrite, Inc. is a Delaware corporation based in San Francisco. Free events carry no platform fee, while each paid ticket carries a service fee and a payment processing fee per order, which buyers pay unless you absorb them. Pricing plans apply only in six countries, and promotion tools such as ads cost extra.
What stands out
Marketplace reach
Two fees
Ads add-on
United StatesPercentage plus fixed amount per paid ticket published; free events cost nothing
An event ticketing platform lets an organiser publish an event page, sell tickets online, take payment, deliver scannable tickets and track attendance, charging a fee per ticket or per registration. The differences that matter are rarely in the feature list, so this is
the order we would work through them.
01
Decide whether you need a published price
11 of the 12 tools here publish what they cost; the other 1 quote per organisation. The ones you can compare without a sales call: Fienta, pretix, Tito, Ticket Tailor, Humanitix, TicketSpice, Billetto, Weezevent, Luma, Eventzilla, Eventbrite.
02
Decide how much the jurisdiction matters
These 12 vendors are established in 7 countries across 3 regions (Europe 6, North America 4, Elsewhere 2). That decides whose disclosure law applies to what the vendor holds, wherever the servers are.
What an event ticketing platform really costs per ticket
Compare the full path from buyer to bank, not the headline rate. Fienta includes payment costs in its fee, while Ticket Tailor and Tito leave card processing to Stripe, PayPal or Square, and Eventbrite adds a service fee and a processing fee. Billetto and Eventbrite pass fees to the buyer by default, which changes the price your audience sees.
Model one realistic order of a ticket price you actually sell, at your real volume, and add seating or PayPal surcharges where they apply. Percentage fees reward cheap tickets, flat fees reward expensive ones, and caps such as pretix applies matter only for high-priced passes. TicketSpice and Eventzilla charge per attendee, so a large free-entry crowd changes the sum.
Who pays the fee by default, buyer or organiser
Whether card costs sit inside the fee or come on top
Surcharges for seating, PayPal or extra payment methods
When the money reaches you
Payout timing decides cash flow. Tito sends money from your payment gateway straight to your bank, Weezevent pays every fifteen days, Fienta pays monthly by standard schedule, and Billetto pays three to five working days after the event ends. An organiser funding a venue deposit or artist fee before the date needs earlier cash, or must hold the gateway account personally.
Ask who holds the funds, what happens when an event is cancelled and who bears refund costs. Billetto says booking fees can be refunded on request, but other vendors differ, and processing costs are set by the payment provider, so read each policy. Write the answers down before you sign.
Who holds the money between sale and payout
Payout schedule and any release conditions
Refund handling and whether fees are returned
Free tickets, charities and the small print on eligibility
Many events issue free or donated tickets, so the treatment of those matters as much as the paid rate. Ticket Tailor allows up to 5,000 free tickets a year, pretix grants a free quota that grows with paid sales, and Humanitix and Eventbrite charge nothing for free events. Charity discounts exist at Ticket Tailor, Tito and Humanitix, each with its own eligibility rules.
pretix accepts only businesses and similar entities, not private individuals. Check whether a free-event add-on is needed for premium features, as Eventzilla describes, and whether non-profit status needs an application. A conference organiser issuing many comp passes to speakers and sponsors should count those separately from the paid base before comparing quotes.
Free ticket quota per year and what exceeds it
Charity or non-profit rate and how to apply
Whether private individuals may sign up at all
Seating, scanning and leaving the platform
Reserved seating is where headline prices break down: Fienta adds a per-ticket charge, Ticket Tailor uses an extra credit per seat, Eventzilla starts its seating designer at Pro, and Weezevent offers numbered seating as a tailor-made service. Scanning apps are usually included, but check the offline mode and device needs.
For exit, confirm a CSV export of attendees and orders, as Tito and Luma describe, and ask what happens to tickets already sold if you leave mid-season. Self-hosting pretix is a real exit route for technical teams, within its licence limits. Run a test purchase and a test scan before committing, so you see the buyer side and the door side, not just the organiser dashboard.
Reserved seating cost and which tier unlocks it
Scanner app, offline scanning and hardware needs
Export of attendees and orders in CSV or API form
What goes wrong most often when buying event ticketing platforms
Comparing percentage rates without adding the payment processor, so Ticket Tailor or Tito look cheaper than they are.
Choosing a marketplace such as Eventbrite or Billetto for reach, then discovering the audience bought from your own mailing list anyway.
Planning a seated show on a base tier and finding the seating module sits in a higher tier or a quote.
Ignoring payout timing until a supplier deposit is due before the first ticket revenue arrives.
07
Frequently asked questions
7 answers
What are the best event ticketing platforms in 2026?
Fienta leads our ranking of 12. Fienta Ticketing OÜ of Tallinn charges one published percentage per ticket sold, with a minimum per order, and says card, bank link and invoice payment costs sit inside it.
Buyers pay only the price you set. Reserved seating costs extra per ticket and PayPal carries its own surcharge, so a seated venue pays more than the headline. Standard payouts run monthly.
Which event ticketing platforms publish their pricing?
11 of the 12, with the pricing model each one publishes:
Fienta: Percentage fee per paid ticket published; free events at no charge.
pretix: Percentage per paid ticket with a cap, published; self-hosted editions available.
Ticket Tailor: Per-ticket fee published; prepaid credits cheaper; free events up to a yearly allowance.
Humanitix: Percentage plus fixed amount per paid ticket, published; free events cost nothing.
TicketSpice: Flat per-ticket fee plus card processing, published; no contracts.
Billetto: Percentage plus fixed amount per ticket, published; no monthly fee.
Weezevent: Percentage per ticket with a minimum, published; free events at no charge.
Luma: Free plan with a platform fee on paid events; monthly plan removes it.
Eventzilla: Per-registration fee by tier, published; top tier from a monthly price.
Eventbrite: Percentage plus fixed amount per paid ticket published; free events cost nothing.
The other 1 quote per organisation.
Is there a free event ticketing platform?
Luma offer a free tier or a free self-hosted edition.
Where are these event ticketing platform vendors established?
In 7 countries across 3 regions: Europe 6, North America 4, Elsewhere 2.
Fienta: Estonia.
pretix: Germany.
Tito: Ireland.
Ticket Tailor: United Kingdom.
Humanitix: United Kingdom.
TicketSpice: Not stated by the vendor.
Ticketsauce: United States.
Billetto: Not stated by the vendor.
Weezevent: France.
Luma: United States.
Eventzilla: United States.
Eventbrite: United States.
Which event ticketing platforms can you host yourself?
pretix. The other 11 are hosted by the vendor only.
What should you use instead of Fienta?
pretix and Tito are the next two on this page. pretix is for Heidelberg ticket shop, hosted per ticket or run on your server; Tito is for Dublin-run ticketing for conferences with money paid straight to you.
Who should not buy Fienta?
Events needing cash from sales before the event day. Reserved seating and PayPal both carry surcharges outside the headline fee..
If your event ticketing platforms product belongs among these 12, tell us what it does and who it is for. Inclusion is an editorial call; what a listing is and is not is set out under software advice.
