Overview

Eventbrite brings event publishing, ticket sales, promotion and attendee management into one service for organizers and event-goers. It suits organizers who want event discovery and on-site check-in alongside ticketing, especially for free events. Paid-ticket charges are the key trade-off.

Its reach spans classes, concerts and festivals. Attendees can discover events, register and access tickets in a mobile app, while organizers can promote events and review results.

Key features

Publishing and promotion

Organizers can create event pages and use marketplace visibility, email campaigns, Facebook and Instagram ad tools, promo codes and smart audiences to reach potential attendees. Reporting helps assess results, and AI event creation is among the ticketing tools. Advanced form customization is useful for more tailored registrations, though paid-ticket fees can make this a costly choice for events with many low-priced tickets.

Attendee access and event-day operations

The attendee app supports discovery, registration and ticket access on iPhone and Android. The separate Organizer app scans QR tickets, checks in attendees and supports on-site ticket sales on iOS and Android. Check-in and badge printing make Eventbrite more useful on event day than a ticket checkout alone.

Integrations, security and support

The app marketplace includes more than 100 apps, and documented integrations include Mailchimp and Zoom. Zoom integration is limited to online, non-recurring events and does not support government Zoom accounts. Eventbrite states that it complies with PCI DSS 4.0.1 Level 1 as both merchant and service provider; organizers can also enable authenticator-app multi-factor authentication. Help Center and email support are offered, with 24/7 chat support for paid events.

Pricing

Free event publishing is free. It includes unlimited event publishing, and free tickets have no ticketing fees; free events can be any size. That makes the free option an unusually strong fit for organizers whose events do not charge admission, but it does not remove the fees on paid tickets.

Eventbrite Premium is 69.00 USD per month, billed at $69 per month or $708 per year (save $120). It is an optional subscription with up to 2,000 marketing emails per day and $20/month in EB Ads credits; availability varies by country. It may suit organizers who will use those marketing tools, but the subscription is separate from paid-ticket charges.

Eventbrite Pro starts at $15/month, with pricing for existing subscribers and email limits retained under their current plan. It is no longer available to new subscribers. The pricing page describes up to 10,000 daily marketing emails, so existing customers may have a higher email limit than Premium, but new organizers cannot choose this plan.

Paid ticketing has no subscription price listed. US fees are 3.7% + $1.79 service fee per paid ticket and 2.9% payment processing fee per order. Fees apply only to paid tickets; buyers pay by default, or organizers can absorb them. Account for both fees when setting ticket prices or estimating net revenue.

Platforms

Eventbrite supports web, iOS, Android and API access. The attendee and Organizer apps cover mobile ticket access and event-day operations on iPhone and Android.

Who it's for

Eventbrite is a strong fit for organizers of free or paid public events who want event discovery, promotional tools and check-in in one service. Free events avoid ticketing fees and have no stated size limit. Organizers focused on paid admissions should compare the per-ticket and per-order charges against their ticket prices and volume; those who need an unavailable Pro subscription should also look elsewhere.

Pros and cons

Pros: Unlimited free event publishing and no ticketing fees on free tickets make it practical for events that do not charge admission.
Pros: Marketplace promotion, social ad tools, email campaigns and smart audiences combine audience outreach with reporting.
Pros: Separate attendee and organizer apps cover ticket access, QR scanning, check-in and on-site sales.
Cons: Paid US tickets incur both a per-ticket service fee and a per-order processing fee, which can weigh heavily on low-priced tickets.
Cons: Pro is closed to new subscribers, and Premium's daily marketing email allowance is up to 2,000.
Cons: Zoom integration excludes recurring events and government Zoom accounts.

Alternatives

Zoho Backstage is worth considering when a fixed free-plan allowance is a better fit: its free tier caps events at 100 attendees each, 300 RSVP invites, three sessions, three speakers and one event day per event.

AlignMint is aimed at eligible organizations with up to $100K in annual donations; its free plan includes one user and 10 GB of storage.

Humanitix offers free events with no ticket fee, so it is another option for organizers whose events are free.

Kindest Events has a Kickstart tier with three admin seats and a 5% platform fee waived for the first $50K of the first year; core integrations may incur third-party fees.

RegFox charges $0.99 + 1% per paid registration on its Standard plan, with the paid-event fee capped at $4.99 per registrant; it may suit organizers who value that cap.

RunSignup has no processing fee for a $0 cart, making it an alternative to consider for free events.

TicketSpice charges $0.99 per online ticket over $5 and $0.49 per online ticket at $5 or under; compare those per-ticket charges with Eventbrite's fees when pricing admission.

Zeffy is a free option that includes event ticketing and fundraising alongside donation forms, donor management and email tools.

For broader comparisons, browse nonprofit event management software, event website builders, event management software, event badge printing software and event registration software.

Verdict

Choose Eventbrite if you want event discovery, promotion, ticketing and mobile check-in together, particularly for free events where ticketing fees do not apply. For paid events, look elsewhere if its per-ticket and per-order fees erode your margins or if you need a plan unavailable to new subscribers.

	Eventbrite	Xtag
Free plan	Yes
Paid from	$15/mo
Platforms	Android, api, iOS, Web	Android, api, iOS
Free plan	Yes
Paid from	69 /mo
Ticketing	Yes
Check-in app	Yes
Badge printing	Yes
Payment processing	Yes
Form customization	advanced
Onsite check-in		Yes
Badge customization		Yes
QR or barcode support		Yes
Attendee data import		Yes
Printing mode		onsite
Platform support		ios

Eventbrite vs Xtag

Eventbrite

Xtag