Brown Paper Tickets Alternatives (2026): 8 Platforms to Move To Now That It Is Closing

Brown Paper Tickets is being retired: its website now carries a notice that the platform is winding down and points organizers to Events.com. If you sold through Brown Paper Tickets, you need a new home before your next on-sale, and this is the moment to choose on merit rather than on inertia. The best Brown Paper Tickets alternatives in 2026 are Eventist for organizers who want a flat fee and the operations tools in one place, Events.com if you want the path of least resistance, Ticket Tailor for a plain checkout, Zeffy for registered nonprofits and TicketSpice for US organizers. Below, eight Brown Paper Tickets replacements are compared on fees, migration effort, payout timing and what each does beyond the checkout.

Key takeaways

• Brown Paper Tickets charged a buyer-paid 6% + $1.99 per ticket in Canada; most of its alternatives charge less, and several charge a flat fee that does not grow with ticket price.
• Events.com is the official successor and the easiest migration, but it is a per-ticket fee platform with promotion add-ons, not a flat-fee one, so compare before you follow the redirect.
• Export your Brown Paper Tickets attendee and sales history now, while the site is still up; every platform here imports a CSV.
• Payout timing changes with the platform: the flat-fee tools on your own Stripe or Square account pay out as tickets sell, while marketplaces hold funds until after the event.
• If you liked Brown Paper Tickets for its fairness, the closest match in spirit is a flat fee with a person to call, not the largest marketplace.

Top picks at a glance

• Best overall Brown Paper Tickets alternative: Eventist, a flat $0.85 CAD per general admission ticket, no subscription, scheduling, POS and check-in included.
• Easiest migration: Events.com, the successor Brown Paper Tickets points to, from $1.95 per ticket plus processing.
• Best plain checkout: Ticket Tailor, $1.00 per ticket pay-as-you-go or $0.82 to $0.40 on prepaid credits.
• Best for registered nonprofits: Zeffy, no platform or processing fee.
• Best for US organizers wanting a flat fee: TicketSpice, 99 cents per ticket plus processing.

What to do before Brown Paper Tickets closes

1. Export everything: attendee lists, order history and sales reports for every past event, as CSV. Once the site is retired, they are gone.

2. Note your fee-passing settings and ticket types so you can rebuild them elsewhere without guessing.

3. Confirm any outstanding payouts and refunds are settled before you stop selling there.

4. Pick a replacement from the list below, set up one upcoming event on it, and point your website and social links at the new page.

5. Email your past buyers from the new platform so the next on-sale lands in a list you own.

How we compared these Brown Paper Tickets alternatives

• Fee model and who pays it: flat or percentage, buyer-paid or organizer-paid, and whether processing is on top.
• Migration: whether the platform imports a CSV, and how much of the setup is self-serve.
• Payout timing: rolling payouts on your own processor account versus a hold until after the event.
• Beyond the checkout: scheduling, check-in, point-of-sale, staff tools, marketing.
• Fit: which kinds of events and organizers the platform is built for.

The 8 best Brown Paper Tickets alternatives in 2026

1. Eventist: a flat fee, with the rest of the event included

Who it is for: Community events, festivals, competitions, concerts and studio events that want a fair, flat fee and would rather not run the schedule, the door and the crew from three other apps.

What it does well: Eventist charges a flat $0.85 CAD per general admission ticket instead of a percentage, and the fee buys the whole platform: tiers, early-bird and coupon discounts, promoter links, payment plans, ticket transfers, reserved seating from a visual seat-map builder, QR check-in from any phone, a built-in point-of-sale for door sales, abandoned-cart recovery and SMS reminders, e-sign waivers, multi-stage scheduling, interactive venue maps and staff roles with task boards. Payments run through your own Stripe or Square account and pay out on the schedule you choose. Importing your Brown Paper Tickets CSV takes a few minutes, and every account includes a named support person. The event ticketing software page walks through the checkout.

What to watch: No consumer discovery marketplace and no native attendee app; it suits small to mid-size events better than stadium on-sales.

Pricing: As of September 2026, $0.85 CAD per paid general admission ticket, $4.99 for the festivals and conferences package (bulk from $2.99) and $9.99 for competitions. Free events are free, with no subscription or setup fee, and the fee can be absorbed or passed to the buyer. See the pricing page.

2. Events.com: the official successor, for the path of least resistance

Who it is for: Organizers who want to follow Brown Paper Tickets' own recommendation and keep the switch as simple as possible.

What it does well: Events.com is the platform Brown Paper Tickets directs organizers to, with a self-serve setup, ticketing in USD and CAD, event listings and paid promotion tools (boosted listings and managed ad campaigns) alongside the sale.

What to watch: It is a per-ticket fee platform with a fee that varies by ticket price, plus Stripe processing, and the promotion features are paid add-ons. Compare it against a flat fee before you assume the redirect is the best deal.

Pricing: Per-ticket fees from $1.95, capped at $14.95 for tickets over $700, plus Stripe processing at 2.9% + 30 cents, in USD and CAD, per Events.com's pricing page in September 2026.

3. Ticket Tailor: a plain checkout at a flat fee

Who it is for: Organizers who want a low flat fee on a straightforward sale and bring their own audience.

What it does well: A flat per-ticket fee, seating charts, a free check-in app and a checkout on your own Stripe or Square account; free tickets free up to 5,000 a year and a 50% discount for registered charities.

What to watch: No scheduling, point-of-sale or staff tools, and UK-based support.

Pricing: $1.00 CAD per ticket pay-as-you-go, or $0.82 down to $0.40 on prepaid credits, plus your processor's fee.

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

Who it is for: Community organizers, schools and charities who want a standard checkout and like where the profit goes.

What it does well: Tiers, discount codes, seat maps and a check-in app at a lower percentage than Eventbrite, with a reduced rate for registered charities.

What to watch: Still a percentage, no point-of-sale, Australian-based support.

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

5. TicketSpice: a 99-cent flat fee for US organizers

Who it is for: US organizers, attractions and seasonal events that want a flat fee, a customizable page and US-based support.

What it does well: 99 cents per ticket (49 cents under $5), a drag-and-drop page builder, timed entry, reserved seating and a box-office app.

What to watch: USD pricing and a US-focused product with no operations layer.

Pricing: 99 cents per paid ticket plus 2.9% + 30 cents processing, no contracts.

6. Zeffy: free for registered nonprofits

Who it is for: Charities and nonprofits that sold fundraisers and galas through Brown Paper Tickets and want to keep every dollar.

What it does well: No platform fee and no processing fee, funded by an optional buyer tip; ticketing, donations, raffles and memberships included.

What to watch: Nonprofits only, and thin on event operations.

Pricing: Free for registered nonprofits.

7. Eventbrite: the marketplace, at a percentage

Who it is for: Consumer events in large cities where Eventbrite's discovery measurably sells tickets.

What it does well: The biggest self-serve marketplace and the most familiar checkout.

What to watch: Fees scale with ticket price, Eventbrite owns the buyer relationship and payouts default to after the event; the Eventbrite alternatives roundup covers the trade.

Pricing: 3.7% + $1.79 per paid ticket in the US, 3.5% + C$1.29 in Canada, plus 2.9% processing. Free events are free.

8. Hi.Events: open source, the lowest hosted fee

Who it is for: Technical organizers who want the lowest fee or to own the software.

What it does well: Open source under AGPL, hosted with the fee paid by the buyer by default, free events free, self-hosting free.

What to watch: A lean checkout rather than an operations platform.

Pricing: Hosted at 1.25% + $0.60 per paid ticket, buyer-paid; self-hosted free, commercial licences from €499 per year.

Comparison table

How to choose a Brown Paper Tickets replacement

If you want the least possible change, Events.com is built for you, and it is worth five minutes with its fee table first.

If you liked Brown Paper Tickets because the fees felt fair, a flat fee is the modern version of that promise: Eventist at $0.85, TicketSpice at 99 cents and Ticket Tailor at $1.00 all charge the same on a $15 ticket as on a $150 one.

If you are a nonprofit, Zeffy is free and Humanitix discounts.

If your event has a schedule, a crew and a door, Eventist is the only platform here that includes those tools rather than sending you to buy them separately. The ticketing platform comparison beyond the fee scores each option on what it includes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Brown Paper Tickets shutting down?

Yes. Brown Paper Tickets' website now states that the platform is being retired, and it directs organizers to Events.com. Export your attendee lists and sales history while the site is still reachable.

What is the best replacement for Brown Paper Tickets?

For most organizers, Eventist: a flat $0.85 CAD per general admission ticket with scheduling, check-in, point-of-sale and cart recovery included, on your own Stripe or Square account. Events.com is the easiest migration as the official successor, Ticket Tailor is the best plain checkout, and Zeffy is free for registered nonprofits.

What did Brown Paper Tickets charge?

In Canada, a buyer-paid 6% + $1.99 per ticket. On a $30 ticket that was $3.79 added to the buyer's price, more than Eventbrite's Canadian rate and several times a flat-fee platform.

How do I move my attendees off Brown Paper Tickets?

Export each event's attendee list and order history as CSV from your Brown Paper Tickets account, then import the CSV into your new platform. Email past buyers from the new platform before your next on-sale so the list becomes yours.

Will my payouts change on a new platform?

Probably for the better. Platforms that run on your own Stripe or Square account, including Eventist, Ticket Tailor, TicketSpice and Hi.Events, pay out as tickets sell rather than after the event.

A platform closing is a nudge to choose the one you would have picked anyway. If that is a flat fee with the rest of the event included, start with the Eventist events platform; for a wider field, read the Eventbrite alternatives roundup.