Best Eventbrite Alternatives (2026): 10 Ticketing Platforms Compared

The best Eventbrite alternatives in 2026 are Eventist for paid events that want a flat fee and the scheduling, check-in and marketing tools Eventbrite leaves to other apps, Ticket Tailor for a plain checkout with the lowest flat fee on prepaid credits, TicketSpice for US organizers who want a 99-cent flat fee, Humanitix for community events that like where the profit goes, and Zeffy for registered nonprofits. Below, ten sites like Eventbrite are compared on fee model, payout timing, who owns the attendee data and what each is actually built for, followed by an honest note on when Eventbrite is still the right choice.

Key takeaways

• Eventbrite's fee is a percentage plus a fixed amount per ticket (3.7% + $1.79 in the US, 3.5% + C$1.29 in Canada, plus 2.9% processing), so it grows with your ticket price; every flat-fee Eventbrite alternative charges the same on a $20 ticket as on a $200 one.
• Eventbrite competitors split into three kinds: flat-fee checkouts (Eventist, Ticket Tailor, TicketSpice, Eventzilla), percentage marketplaces (Universe, Showpass, Luma, Humanitix) and free-for-nonprofit tools (Zeffy).
• Payout timing is a hidden cost: platforms that run on your own Stripe or Square account pay out on a rolling schedule, while marketplaces often hold funds until after the event.
• Whoever owns the buyer relationship decides what you can export and who gets marketed to next; on a marketplace, the buyer is also the marketplace's customer.
• Eventbrite remains the right choice when its discovery marketplace is genuinely driving your sales, which is rarer outside the largest cities than its pitch suggests.

Top picks at a glance

• Best overall Eventbrite alternative for paid events: Eventist, a flat $0.85 CAD per general admission ticket, no subscription, scheduling, POS, check-in and marketing included.
• Best plain checkout: Ticket Tailor, $1.00 per ticket pay-as-you-go or $0.82 down to $0.40 on prepaid credits.
• Best for US organizers who want a flat fee: TicketSpice, 99 cents per ticket plus processing, with US-based support.
• Best for registered nonprofits: Zeffy, no platform or processing fee, funded by optional buyer tips.
• Best free event pages: Luma, free for free events with a 5% fee on paid tickets.

How we compared these Eventbrite alternatives

• Fee model: flat per ticket, percentage, subscription or tip-based, and whether payment processing is charged on top.
• Payout timing: rolling payouts to your own processor account versus a hold until after the event.
• Data ownership: whether the attendee list is yours to export and email, or shared with a marketplace.
• What is included beyond the checkout: scheduling, check-in, point-of-sale, marketing, staff tools.
• Fit by audience: which kinds of events the platform is built for, and where it is based.

The 10 best Eventbrite alternatives in 2026

1. Eventist: best overall for paid events that want a flat fee and the operations tools included

Who it is for: Organizers running paid events from about 100 to 20,000 attendees, especially festivals, competitions, conferences, concerts and studio events, who are tired of a fee that scales with ticket price and of running the event itself from five other apps.

What it does well: Eventist charges a flat fee per ticket rather than a percentage, and the fee buys the whole platform: general admission, VIP and reserved seats from an interactive seat builder, ticket tiers, early-bird and coupon discounts, promoter referral links, deposit and instalment payment plans and ticket transfers. QR check-in runs from any phone, door sales run through a built-in point-of-sale, abandoned-cart recovery and SMS reminders follow up with people who did not finish buying, and the checkout embeds on your own website. Beyond the sale it adds what Eventbrite never had: multi-stage and multi-track scheduling with conflict checks, interactive venue maps, staff and volunteer roles with task boards, and live judge scoring for competitions. Payments run through your own Stripe or Square account and pay out on the schedule you choose. Every account includes a named support person. The event ticketing software page walks through the checkout side in detail.

What to watch: There is no consumer discovery marketplace on Eventbrite's scale and no resale marketplace, so discovery is your job. Attendees use a web portal rather than a native app, and the platform is a better fit for small to mid-size events than for stadium on-sales. Pricing is in Canadian dollars, which suits Canadian organizers and works fine for US ones through Stripe.

Pricing: As of September 2026, general admission events are $0.85 CAD per paid ticket, the festivals and conferences package is $4.99 per ticket with bulk pricing from $2.99, and the competitions package is $9.99 per ticket. Free events are free, there is no monthly subscription or setup fee, and the fee can be absorbed or passed to the buyer. Processing is Stripe at 2.9% + 30 cents or Square at its own rate. The full breakdown is on the pricing page.

2. Ticket Tailor: the plainest checkout, cheapest on prepaid credits

Who it is for: Organizers who want a low flat fee on a straightforward ticket sale, will buy credits in advance to get the lowest rate, and bring their own audience.

What it does well: Ticket Tailor is a British platform with a flat per-ticket fee, a free check-in app, seating charts and a clean checkout that connects to your own Stripe or Square account so money lands with you on a rolling schedule. Free tickets are free up to 5,000 a year, and registered charities get a 50% discount.

What to watch: It is a checkout, not an operations tool: no scheduling, no point-of-sale, no staff roles. Support is UK-based, and the lowest advertised rate only applies once you have bought a large block of credits up front.

Pricing: $1.00 CAD per ticket pay-as-you-go, or $0.82 down to $0.40 per ticket on prepaid credits (100 to 20,000 credits), with no monthly fee required. Processing is charged by your own processor on top.

3. TicketSpice: a 99-cent flat fee with strong page building, for US organizers

Who it is for: US organizers, attractions and seasonal events that want a flat fee, a highly customizable ticket page and support in a US time zone.

What it does well: TicketSpice charges a flat 99 cents per ticket, drops to 49 cents on tickets under $5, and pairs that with a drag-and-drop page builder, conditional questions, timed entry and a box-office app. Support is US-based, and the price does not change as your ticket price rises.

What to watch: Pricing is in US dollars and the product is aimed at the US market, so Canadian organizers deal with conversion and support hours. Scheduling, staff and crew tools are not part of the product.

Pricing: 99 cents per paid ticket (49 cents for tickets under $5) plus payment processing at 2.9% + 30 cents, with no contracts or annual fees. Free events are free.

4. Humanitix: a fair percentage with the profit going to charity

Who it is for: Community organizers, schools and charities that want a mainstream ticketing platform and like that its profits fund children's charities.

What it does well: Humanitix is a nonprofit itself, offers the standard checkout features (tiers, discount codes, seat maps, a check-in app) and charges a lower percentage than Eventbrite with a further reduced rate for registered charities and schools.

What to watch: It is still a percentage, so the fee grows with ticket price, and there is no point-of-sale or operations layer. Support is Australian-based for North American customers.

Pricing: 2.1% + $0.99 CAD per paid ticket (1% + $0.99 for registered charities) plus payment processing. Free events are free.

5. Universe: self-serve with a path to Ticketmaster distribution

Who it is for: Organizers who want a simple self-serve checkout today and the option of Ticketmaster's distribution later, and who do not mind a marketplace in the middle.

What it does well: Universe, founded in Toronto and now owned by Ticketmaster, offers a self-serve event page, reserved seating, discount codes and an option to list on Ticketmaster's network. Free events are free.

What to watch: The marketplace shares the buyer relationship, higher tiers move to a higher percentage, and Ticketmaster's brand is a mixed asset with independent audiences. The Universe alternatives roundup goes deeper.

Pricing: 2% + $0.79 per ticket, capped at $19.95, on the Launch plan, and 2.5% + $1.99 on Grow, plus processing, as published on Universe's pricing page in September 2026. Free events are free.

6. Luma: the best free event pages, with a percentage on paid tickets

Who it is for: Community groups, meetups and creators whose events are mostly free and who want a beautiful page and calendar with almost no setup.

What it does well: Luma's event pages, calendars and RSVP flow are the nicest in the category, free events cost nothing, and the newsletter and calendar-subscription tools keep an audience warm between events.

What to watch: Paid tickets carry a 5% fee, billing is in USD, and there is no reserved seating, point-of-sale or operations tooling. The Luma alternatives piece covers the paid-event gap in detail.

Pricing: Free events are free; paid tickets are 5%, or the Luma Plus plan is $59 USD per month billed annually.

7. Zeffy: no fees at all for registered nonprofits

Who it is for: Registered charities and nonprofits running fundraisers, galas and community events who want to keep every dollar.

What it does well: Zeffy, based in Montreal, charges nonprofits nothing: no platform fee and no processing fee, funded by an optional tip the buyer adds at checkout. Ticketing, donations, raffles and memberships are all included.

What to watch: For-profit organizers cannot use it, and the event-operations side (scheduling, staff, seat maps) is thin.

Pricing: Free for registered nonprofits, with 100% of the ticket price paid out.

8. Eventzilla: a flat-fee basic plan for registration-heavy events

Who it is for: Conferences, training and mid-size events that need registration forms and a seating designer at a predictable per-ticket cost.

What it does well: Eventzilla's basic plan is a flat $1.50 per ticket in USD, GBP, CAD, AUD or EUR, with unlimited free registration types; the Pro and Plus tiers add the seating plan designer, multi-session agendas and the option to pass all fees to attendees, and an annual plan removes per-registration fees entirely.

What to watch: The interface is dated compared with newer tools, the percentage tiers are where the useful features live, and payment processing is separate.

Pricing: $1.50 per ticket on Basic, 1.9% + $1.50 on Pro and 2.9% + $1.50 on Plus (C$1.50 and 2% + C$1.50 in Canada), plus processing; annual plans from $1,999 per year with zero fees per registration.

9. Hi.Events: open-source ticketing, self-hosted for free or hosted for 1.25% + $0.60

Who it is for: Technical organizers and small ticketing businesses who want to own the stack, or anyone who wants the lowest hosted checkout fee and can live with a lean feature set.

What it does well: Hi.Events is open source under AGPL; you can host it yourself for free or use the hosted version, where the fee is added at checkout and paid by the buyer by default. Free events are free, and you can add your own service fee on top.

What to watch: It is a checkout and attendee list, not an event-operations platform, and self-hosting means you run the servers, backups and payment setup.

Pricing: Hosted at 1.25% + $0.60 per paid ticket, buyer-paid by default, with no monthly fee; self-hosted is free, with paid licences from €499 per year to remove branding and unlock commercial use.

10. Showpass: Canadian, with a discovery listing and tiered pricing

Who it is for: Venues, seasonal attractions and organizers in Western Canada who want a Canadian vendor with a marketplace listing and hardware scanner support.

What it does well: Showpass is headquartered in Calgary, bills in CAD, lists events on its own discovery marketplace, and supports assigned seating maps, ticket bundles and on-site POS hardware on its higher tiers.

What to watch: Payouts are processed the Monday after the event, assigned seating and bundles need the Professional tier, and the percentage grows with ticket price. The Showpass alternatives roundup covers when it fits.

Pricing: 1% + $0.59 per ticket on Essential, or 2.5% + $1.69 plus 2.9% + $0.30 processing on Professional.

When Eventbrite is still the right choice

Eventbrite is still the right call in two situations. The first is when its marketplace genuinely sells tickets for you: in large US and UK cities, for general-interest consumer events, a meaningful share of buyers arrive from Eventbrite's own search and recommendations, and the fee buys that traffic. Check your Eventbrite analytics for the share of sales attributed to Eventbrite discovery before you decide. The second is when you run free events only, where Eventbrite costs nothing and its reach is pure upside. Everywhere else, a percentage fee is paying for a marketplace that is not delivering, and one of the alternatives above will cost less and do more. Run your own numbers in the Eventbrite fee calculator.

Comparison table

How to choose an Eventbrite alternative

If your tickets cost more than about $30, a flat fee wins. On a $50 ticket Eventbrite's Canadian rate is $3.04 before processing; Eventist is $0.85, Ticket Tailor $1.00 and TicketSpice 99 cents.

If you run the event, not just the sale, pick the platform that includes scheduling, check-in, staff and marketing so you stop paying for and reconciling five tools. That is the case for Eventist over every pure checkout on this list.

If you are a registered nonprofit, Zeffy costs nothing and Humanitix and Ticket Tailor both discount.

If your events are free, Luma's pages are the best in the category and cost nothing, and Eventbrite itself is free too.

If discovery is really driving your sales, stay on Eventbrite for those events and move the rest. The ticketing platform comparison beyond the fee scores the same platforms on scheduling, check-in, marketing and support.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best alternative to Eventbrite?

For most paid events, Eventist is the best Eventbrite alternative in 2026: a flat $0.85 CAD per ticket instead of a percentage, no subscription, and scheduling, check-in, point-of-sale and marketing included. Ticket Tailor is the best plain checkout, TicketSpice the best flat fee for US organizers, Zeffy the best for registered nonprofits and Luma the best for free events.

Is there a free alternative to Eventbrite?

Yes. Zeffy is free for registered nonprofits with no platform or processing fee. Luma, Eventist, Ticket Tailor, Humanitix and Eventbrite itself are all free for free events; the fees only apply when you sell a paid ticket. Hi.Events is open source and free if you host it yourself.

Which sites like Eventbrite are cheaper?

On a $50 ticket, Eventbrite's Canadian service fee is $3.04 before processing. Eventist is $0.85, TicketSpice 99 cents, Ticket Tailor $1.00, Hi.Events $1.23, Eventzilla $1.50, Humanitix $2.04 and Universe $1.79, all before processing. Only Ticket Fairy and Ticketmaster-scale fees run higher than Eventbrite.

How much does Eventbrite charge per ticket?

As of September 2026, Eventbrite charges 3.7% + $1.79 per paid ticket in the US and 3.5% + C$1.29 in Canada, plus 2.9% payment processing on the order, with free events free. The fee is passed to the buyer by default.

Do Eventbrite alternatives pay out before the event?

Platforms that run on your own Stripe or Square account, including Eventist, Ticket Tailor, TicketSpice and Hi.Events, pay out on a rolling schedule as tickets sell. Eventbrite pays after the event by default, and Showpass pays the Monday after the event.

Can I move my attendee data off Eventbrite?

Yes. Eventbrite lets you export attendee lists, and every platform here will import a CSV of past buyers. The bigger question is who owns the relationship going forward: on a marketplace the buyer is also the marketplace's customer, while on a flat-fee platform the list is yours to export and email at any time.

The right Eventbrite alternative depends on your ticket price, whether you run free or paid events, and whether the marketplace is actually selling for you. If you want a flat fee and the operations tools in the same platform, start with the Eventist events platform; Canadian organizers should also read the Canada-specific Eventbrite alternatives roundup, and anyone weighing the two directly can read Eventist vs Eventbrite.