How Much Does Eventbrite Really Cost?

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Event Planners need robust software solutions when organizing yoga classes, painting workshops, music festivals, community events, and any other event that needs registration or ticket sales. Once you find the event software and ticketing platform that works best for your business or non-profit organization needs, you deserve to know how much it’s going to cost.

This article will compare the cost of Eventbrite to Event Espresso ticketing fees because they are very different.

Eventbrite fees scale upwards, depending on the ticket fee, the number of attendees, and the event page features you want to use. They charge a significant commission on your ticket sales and their service fee increases depending on the package you’ve selected, the number of sold tickets, and the price per ticket.

These charges leave a lot of people wondering – how much does the Eventbrite fee really cost?

On the other hand, Event Espresso has fixed fees or flat fees no matter how many tickets you sell. Event Espresso can save the event planner 100% of the Eventbrite commission fees because we don’t charge any commission fees, and we provide so many features in flexible packages.

Therefore, you can avoid ticket commission fees entirely and other surprises, even as your events become more valuable and popular with your audience. Once you purchase Event Espresso, everything is at your fingertips for 12 months without any ticket commission fee. Credit card fees still apply. 

However, with Event Espresso, you can use your own payment gateway account and get paid directly, instead of using Eventbrite’s account and letting them hold on to your money for a long time and taking their fees from your ticket sales.

So here’s the breakdown of the Eventbrite fee, how much the Eventbrite service fee really costs, and how Event Espresso can save you money.

Eventbrite Pricing Structure

Eventbrite’s pricing structure includes three different options that come with various price tags. These options charge the event organizer or attendee (ticket buyer) with a fixed fee per event ticket sold, a percentage of sales, and an additional payment processing fee which they don’t include on the pricing page of their website.

• Essentials – This is the bare minimum package that only provides only one ticket type. When you subscribe to this package, you can’t sell tickets through the event page of your website – only on Eventbrite’s and their partners’ websites. The checkout forms aren’t customizable, and customer service and customer support are limited to an online help center – no phone representatives.

The total cost of Eventbrite’s bare-bones ticket commission package is 2% of sales and $0.79 per sold ticket, plus Eventbrite payment processing fees.

• Professional – The professional package is Eventbrite’s middle-of-the-road option for basic events. Features include selling tickets on your site, customized forms, and their offered essentials.

However, you’re still stuck with online-only customer service. The ticket sale commission prices for their almost mandatory professional package jump to 3.5% of sales and $1.59 per ticket sold, plus payment processing fees.

• Custom – This is their all-inclusive business package. The cost of these services is not listed on their website and will need to be negotiated for larger clients.

Once you’ve decided on which package will work, you can start planning your event using their software. Organizers have the choice to either pay these costs out of their pockets or pass the fees onto their attendees resulting in higher cost of ticket prices, attendance, lower turnout, and less overall revenue.

A note about cashflow timing too. When you accept payments through the Eventbrite platform, you are using their payment accounts, which means they receive payments on your behalf. They hold on to your money until the event is over, or even longer, and take their fees from your ticket revenue.

This means you don’t get your money until the event is over. This makes it difficult to pay for hosting the event and inhibits your cash flow and growth. With Event Espresso though, you use your own payment gateway to get paid directly and get your money immediately after each ticket sale.

This gives you access to your money right away to use to pay bills and grow your event. Using Eventbrite gives them control of your money.

The Price Tag on Your Next Event Using Eventbrite

Below are a few examples of real-time pricing, showing you how much Eventbrite event costs for similar events.

The Acting Masterclass

You’re an actor who has decided to host a masterclass twice a year to earn extra money. The three-day masterclass costs an intimate class of 25 students with ticket pricing for $100 each to attend. Your network has grown over the years through working in different acting workshops, on shows, and being involved in the acting community. You elect to go with the Essentials Package that Eventbrite offers.

If your class were full during both of the offered sessions, you’d make $5000 in total. After Eventbrite’s 2% total sales and $0.79 per ticket in ticket commissions, you would only take home $4495 – paying $140 in Eventbrite fees for their most basic package*.

The equivalent to this would be subscribing to Event Espresso’s Personal package, which would cost you a total of $79.95 and allow you to organize additional events throughout the year without any extra ticket commission fees for every paid ticket*. Event Espresso would save you $60 each year. Plus, you’d get to sell tickets using your own brand on your own website.

The Networking Conference

Imagine you’re planning a networking conference with an accomplished guest speaker next month. You’ve decided you need to promote this event via your website, so you’ve chosen Eventbrite’s Professional Package.

After mulling over the cost analysis, you’ve decided to set the ticket price at $75 for general admission. The American Airlines Center’s Admiral Meeting Room is your venue and comes equipped with 200 theater-style seats.

If you sell out every seat, you’d see $15,000 in revenue. However, not before Eventbrite administered its fees. The Professional Package takes 3.5%, and an additional $1.59 per event ticket sold in ticket commission. When it’s all said and done, your smaller event could cost you $843 in Eventbrite fees – meaning your take-home would be $14,157*.

Planning this very same event through Event Espresso’s Everything License for $300 would save you a total of $543*. And if those savings weren’t enough, you could hold multiple functions throughout the year and save thousands without sacrificing any features.

The Brewer’s Festival

You’ve decided to host a massive brewer’s festival inviting 20 different purveyors from all over the country. The venue you’ve chosen can hold up to 5,000 guests. Tickets cost $50 for entry to the festival.

You need the tools that come with Eventbrite’s Professional Package; therefore, you elect to pay the 3.5%, and $1.59 per ticket sold in just ticket commission. Lady Luck is on your side as you’ve sold 3,000 tickets!

However, you end up paying a jaw-dropping $10,020 in Eventbrite service fee*. That’s a free beer for everybody that attends the festival!

By comparison, if you elected to use Event Espresso’s software, you’d spend $300 and have access to the Everything License for 12 months. That’s an immediate savings of $9,720 with the best Eventbrite alternative and potentially more throughout the year*.

With Event Espresso, You Can Save 100% of Your Ticket Commission Fees

After exploring how much you can save, what do you get with Event Espresso?

For starters, you’ll experience convenient flexibility by paying a fixed annual fee between $80-$300 for the features you need with unlimited events and unlimited ticket sales. Not only will you save instantly on your first paid event, but you’ll rack up revenue as you organize more events throughout the year.

The bigger the event and the more tickets you sell the more profitable you are with Event Espresso compared to how much Eventbrite costs. Here are the package choices Event Espresso currently offers:

• Their most basic service, the Personal Support License, is anything but “basic.” For $79.95 a year, users gain access to powerful event management with included features like form customization and unlimited ticket types all on your own WordPress website.

Additionally, those utilizing this package don’t pay any percentage commission or per-ticket fees but can purchase add-ons for extended functionality – making personalization a breeze and affordable.

• For more in-depth event planning features, the Everything Support License can be purchased for $299.95 annually. The Everything Support includes 66 core features, no additional fees, and 35 premium add-ons, making sure every event is meticulously unforgettable.
• The Developer Support License costs $299.95 for an entire year of use with no hidden percentage fees or per-ticket charges. Purchasing this package gives users access to Event Espresso’s powerful event management platform, with 66 included core features on up to five websites.

This option is perfect for web agencies and enterprise companies managing multiple sites at a time. Overall, the pricing structure allows flexibility, optimal planning, generous scaling, unlimited events, and unlimited ticket sales.

Clients utilizing Event Espresso’s software praise the forward-thinking approach that eliminates additional fees without losing intuitive functionality like seamless refunds, complete customization, waitlists, promo codes, multiple ticket types, and much more.

Conclusion

Organizing events can cost quite a bit, whether you’re hiring guest speakers, using technology, catering food and beverage, or even paying out of pocket for an event managing software for WordPress.

Arranging smaller events requires delicacy when performing a cost analysis, so it’s imperative to reduce non-essential overhead to bring more significant returns on your investment. Organizing a small event shouldn’t cost the majority of your earnings.

In contrast, it’s absurd to shell out thousands of dollars when hosting more substantial events with higher ticket prices. Your business or event’s success shouldn’t fall victim to costly event management.

Planning events should be a fixed cost, one that doesn’t put you over budget or scale with your success. The next time you’re bringing people together, think twice about paying those Eventbrite fees and instead invest in yourself and your business with Event Espresso or its sister company Event Smart.

Check out a live demo showcasing how Event Espresso could save you thousands of dollars on your next event planning. Or Contact us with any questions.