The 8 Best Eventbrite Alternatives in 2026 (Compared by Real Fees)

Eventbrite is where most organizers start. It's familiar, attendees trust the checkout, and free events cost nothing. But if you sell paid tickets, you eventually do the math: on a $50 ticket, Eventbrite's 3.7% + $1.79 service fee plus 2.9% payment processing adds up to about $5.09 per ticket — more than 10% of the price. Sell 500 tickets and roughly $2,500 of your revenue goes to fees. And by default, you don't receive your money until after your event ends.

That math is why "Eventbrite alternatives" is one of the most-searched phrases in event technology. This guide compares the eight best options in 2026 — with real fee numbers, not marketing language — for organizers running fundraisers, festivals, races, conferences, workshops, association events, and corporate gatherings.

The quick comparison

All numbers are US pricing as of August 2026, calculated on a $50 paid ticket with the organizer absorbing fees. Most platforms let you pass fees to attendees instead.

The cheapest per-ticket options are the budget ticketing tools (Ticket Tailor, TicketSpice). The most expensive are the enterprise suites that won't publish prices. The interesting middle is where platforms like Sunfish Events sit: meaningfully cheaper than Eventbrite while offering more registration capability than the budget tools, not less.

How we compared

Five things matter to almost every organizer, whatever the event type:

Real cost per ticket. Platform fee plus processing, including what happens on free events. Branding control. Whether registration lives on a page that looks like your event or on a marketplace that looks like the platform. Registration power. Conditional questions, audience-specific pricing, add-ons, group registration, waitlists. Day-of tools. Check-in that works when venue Wi-Fi doesn't. When you get paid. Rolling payouts versus money held until after the event.

1. Sunfish Events — best overall for organizers who want lower fees and more registration power

Fees: $1.49 + 1.5% per paid ticket, plus standard Stripe processing (2.9% + $0.30). Free events are free. No monthly fee, no contract.

Sunfish Events is a registration-first platform built for organized events of every kind — fundraisers and galas, festivals, races, conferences, workshops, association meetings, and corporate events. The premise is simple: you shouldn't have to choose between Eventbrite's fees and a bare-bones budget tool.

On cost, the difference from Eventbrite is straightforward: about $1.10 less per $50 ticket, which compounds to roughly $550 saved on a 500-ticket event — and the gap widens on higher-priced tickets. Payouts flow through Stripe as sales happen, rather than arriving after your event ends.

On capability, Sunfish covers ground that usually requires enterprise pricing: fully branded registration pages on your own look and feel with no marketplace pushing attendees toward other events, conditional registration forms that show follow-up questions based on earlier answers, member and audience-specific pricing with automatic early-bird windows, add-ons for merchandise, meals, sponsorships, and donation line items, an attendee self-service portal that eliminates "can you change my ticket?" emails, abandoned-cart visibility and recovery, invite lists, campaign emails, waitlists, and offline-capable check-in that runs in any browser and keeps working when the venue Wi-Fi drops.

Honest trade-offs: There's no consumer marketplace — you drive your own traffic (which is also why there's no marketplace competing for your attendees). There's no native badge printing; events that need physical badges at the door will want a badging partner. And there's no attendee-networking mobile app of the Whova variety.

Best for: organizers selling paid tickets who want Eventbrite-level polish, deeper registration control, and a lower bill.

2. Ticket Tailor — best rock-bottom fees for simple events

Fees: about $0.75 per ticket pay-as-you-go, dropping toward ~$0.25 with prepaid credits, plus Stripe processing. Up to 5,000 free tickets per year at no cost, and a 50% discount for registered charities.

Ticket Tailor is the value leader, and it's earned its reputation. If your event needs straightforward ticket sales — a few ticket types, a clean page, money direct to your Stripe account — it's hard to beat the price. The trade-off is depth: conditional form logic, audience-specific pricing tiers, attendee self-service, and integrated check-in workflows are thinner than registration-first platforms. Simple events won't miss them; conferences, galas, and membership organizations usually do.

Best for: small and simple ticketed events where the lowest fee wins.

3. TicketSpice — best flat-fee ticketing for high-volume events

Fees: $0.99 per ticket ($0.49 for tickets under $5), plus 2.9% + $0.30 processing. Free events cost $0.99/ticket unless you've hosted paid events. Extras cost extra: email blasts at $0.02/email, custom domains at $150/year.

TicketSpice's flat 99-cent fee is compelling for high-volume, lower-priced ticketing — festivals and fairs especially. The page builder is flexible, and the platform is proven at scale. Watch the add-on pricing: capabilities that are bundled elsewhere (email campaigns, custom domains, drip messaging) are metered separately, so quote your real total, not just the headline fee.

Best for: high-volume general-admission events where a flat fee beats a percentage.

4. RegFox — best for form-heavy registration

Fees: $0.99 + 1% per registrant (capped), plus processing.

RegFox is TicketSpice's sibling (both from Webconnex), aimed at registration-style events — conferences, camps, courses — rather than ticket sales. Its form builder is genuinely powerful. If you're comparing it to Sunfish, the differences are in the surrounding workflow: attendee self-service, member pricing automation, and integrated offline check-in. We've written a full RegFox comparison if you're weighing the two.

Best for: registration-heavy events with complex forms.

5. Humanitix — best if you want your fees to fund charity

Fees: 2.1% + $0.99 per paid ticket (1% + $0.99 for charities and schools), plus 2.9% + $0.30 processing. Free events are free.

Humanitix is a nonprofit ticketing platform that donates 100% of its profits to children's causes — and its pricing is competitive even before the feel-good factor. On a $50 ticket it runs about $3.79 all-in, in the same range as Sunfish. Feature-wise it covers ticketing well; deeper registration workflows (conditional logic, member tiers, attendee portals) are lighter.

Best for: organizers — especially nonprofits — who want solid ticketing and love the mission model.

6. Whova — best if you need an attendee networking app

Fees: the event app and registration license is quote-based — third-party sources report typical costs in the low-to-mid four figures per event — plus 3.4% + $0.30 processing when using Whova's payout system.

Whova's strength is the attendee experience layer: a mobile app with networking, agendas, community boards, and gamification that multi-day conferences genuinely use. Its weaknesses are cost opacity — you can't find a price without talking to sales — and the fact that if you don't need the app, you're paying for a suite where registration is not the star. Attendees also have mixed feelings about the app's notification volume.

Best for: multi-day conferences where attendee networking is a core requirement.

7. Cvent — best for enterprise event programs

Fees: quote-based annual subscription, typically five figures.

Cvent is the enterprise standard: venue sourcing, approval workflows, massive integration catalogs, and the compliance features large organizations require. It's also a heavy implementation with pricing to match. If you're running a corporate event program with dedicated staff, it earns its keep. If you're one organizer running events, it's a freight train for a grocery run — see our Cvent alternatives guide.

Best for: enterprises with dedicated events teams and procurement departments.

8. Splash — best for branded corporate marketing events

Fees: free tier for basic use; paid plans are quote-based.

Splash approaches events as a marketing channel — beautiful branded pages, guest-list management, and CRM integrations aimed at demand-generation teams. It's less of a ticketing engine (many Splash events are free or invite-driven) and more of a brand-experience tool for companies running event programs at scale.

Best for: marketing teams running branded corporate event series.

When you should just stay on Eventbrite

An honest guide says this part out loud. Eventbrite remains the right choice if marketplace discovery matters to you — if a meaningful share of your attendees find your event by browsing Eventbrite, that discovery has real value no alternative fully replaces. It's also perfectly good if you only run free events (free is free) or if checkout familiarity to consumers outweighs fee savings for your audience. If none of those describe you — you drive your own audience, you sell paid tickets, and you'd rather keep the 10% — you're the person the alternatives exist for.

How to switch without losing attendees

Migration fear keeps more organizers on Eventbrite than fees keep them happy. The practical path: run your next event on the new platform while your Eventbrite history stays put, export your attendee lists (you own them), and point your links, socials, and email list at your new registration page. Sunfish offers concierge migration — we'll rebuild your next event on Sunfish for you, side by side with your current setup, so you can compare before committing. Book a demo and mention migration.

FAQ

What is the cheapest Eventbrite alternative?
On pure per-ticket cost, Ticket Tailor (from ~$0.25–0.75/ticket plus processing) and TicketSpice ($0.99 flat plus processing) are cheapest. Among full-featured registration platforms, Sunfish Events is the value leader at $1.49 + 1.5% plus processing — about 20% less than Eventbrite on a typical $50 ticket, with more registration capability than budget tools.

Which Eventbrite alternatives have no monthly fee?
Sunfish Events, Ticket Tailor, TicketSpice, RegFox, and Humanitix are all pay-per-ticket with no required subscription.

Can I use my own domain and branding instead of a marketplace page?
Yes — that's a core reason organizers switch. Sunfish Events, TicketSpice, RegFox, and Splash all put registration on fully branded pages. Eventbrite hosts your event on its marketplace, where attendees see Eventbrite's brand and other events.

What does Eventbrite actually charge in 2026?
For US paid tickets: a 3.7% + $1.79 service fee per ticket plus 2.9% payment processing per order. Free events are free. By default, organizers are paid out starting three days after the event ends. Full breakdown in our Eventbrite fees guide.

What's the best Eventbrite alternative for nonprofits?
Humanitix if mission alignment leads your decision; Sunfish Events if your fundraiser needs member pricing, sponsor and table add-ons, and gala-grade registration. Ticket Tailor's 50% charity discount also deserves a look. See our nonprofit registration guide.

What's the best Eventbrite alternative for conferences?
For registration-led conferences, Sunfish Events or RegFox; if attendee networking apps are essential, Whova. Our conference registration guide covers the decision in depth.

Fee data verified August 2026 from each platform's published pricing. Platforms change fees — check current pricing before deciding.