Creating and managing your own event is a stressful proposition. There are a
thousand little things you need to plan and manage and it’s both demanding
and time-consuming.
There’s a reason that event coordinator ranked as one of the top ten most
stressful jobs in 2019. To cut down on the stress, the pros make the most of all
the tools at their disposal. You should too.
Using an event management solution streamlines the ticket selling process. It
also gives your event the added benefits of greater visibility, seamless event
check-in, a dedicated payment portal, and real-time data collection tools.
What is Eventbrite (Event Management Solution)?
Eventbrite is one of the most recognizable event management and ticketing
solutions. The web-based event management platform lets individuals and
organizations host almost any size event.
Using Eventbrite streamlines the process of event ticketing, event registration,
and organization. The user-friendly interface lets you upload advertising
media and provides you with a dedicated payment portal.
As one of the leading event management platforms, Eventbrite also acts as a
hub for people looking for events. A combination of SEO, tagging, and the
ability to browse hosted events lets you attract more attendees.
Eventbrite's prices start at 2% + $0.79 per ticket sale, and they provide you
with a comprehensive pricing calculator, so you know costs in advance.
While Eventbrite might have excellent brand recognition, it's not the only
quality event management solution out there and many people as of late have
left EventBrite for better alternatives.
If you feel like you want to join the masses of event planners seeking a better
platform, we've put together this list of five of the best alternatives to
EventBrite.
1: EventSprout (Top EventBrite Alternative)
EventSprout is the event management software that originally served as the
platform for the famous Warrior Dash obstacle racing company and many
other event organizations, from small to large. It's rock solid, proven in the trenches all over the U.S.
Since that time it's undergone tremendous improvement and expansion and
has many unique features that make it a very worthy EventBrite competitor.
For in-person events, it's unique in that you can both sell tickets as well as
track attendance in-person, even without an internet connection.
EventSprout isn't limited to in-person events, though. They have full living
streaming capability for online events and hybrid events as well as a direct
integration with Zoom.
With EventSprout, you can create an event landing page for event registration,
market your event, sell tickets online or in-person, track event attendees, and
access detailed event analytics at no cost to you as the event organizer ... all in
one place.
These powerful features, combined with a decade-long track record of success,
make EventSprout one of the top EventBrite alternatives.
EventSprout Pros & Cons
Pros
● EventSprout has an extensive set of event management features that
push it well beyond a ticketing platform, yet they still make it easy to create your event and landing page and manage your event from start to
finish.
● There are a ton of important integrations, such as Stripe for payment
integration and Zoom for online events and live streaming, as well as a
full suite of reporting tools.
● Amazing customer service. And for larger events, EventSprout is more
than willing to work with event organizers to customize the platform to
your specific needs, which is pretty much unheard of in the event
management software space.
Cons
● We're not perfect and we're striving every day to build the best event
management platform available. We'd love for you to give EventSprout a
shot and if there's anything that doesn't fit your needs, we invite you to
test our commitment to platform development and customer
satisfaction by reaching out to our team with your feature request.
EventSprout Pricing
EventSprout offers two pricing models: Self-Service and Full Service.
Self-Service is $1.00 + 2.5% per paid ticket and $0 for free tickets. To make
EventSprout free to use as the event organizer, you can elect to pass these fees
on to the buyer at checkout.
2: TicketTailor (EventBrite Alternative Runner Up)
Second on the list of top EventBrite alternatives is TicketTailor, an adaptable
and easy to use event management platform with a different approach to
pricing and data management than Eventbrite.
Hosting an event with TicketTailor gives you access to your own fully-
customizable box office to which you can apply your own branding. Set up is
quick and easy, and TicketTailor has excellent customer service.
You can customize the box office with your own favorite embedded elements,
such as WordPress plugins. Along with the traditional credit and debit card
payment system, TicketTailor also lets you accept Paypal and Stripe payments.
Your box office comes with its full suite of data analytics as well as multi-
lingual and multi-currency support.
TicketTailor is mobile-friendly, and you can embed your box office into your
website or social media pages.
Not only does TicketTailor not route your payments through a third party, but
they also don't capture your customer data. When you host an event through
TicketTailor, you keep complete ownership of your ticket buyer data.
TicketTailor Pros & Cons
Pros
● TicketTailor lets you create your own box office, virtually a mini
ticketing website. You can fully customize this box office with your
branding and embedded widgets.
● Taking Paypal and Stripe payments alongside credit and debit cards
gives you a range of flexible payment options.
● Unlike many other event management platforms, TicketTailor does not
collect your customer data. You keep complete ownership of it. If data
privacy is important to you, TicketTailor is a top EventBrite competitor.
Cons
● It would be nice to have more formatting options for embedded widgets,
such as different sizes, colors, and positions.
● Some customers report issues integrating the embedded TicketTailor
box office widget into web pages created with Squarespace.
● Currently, users are unable to refund customers directly from the
TicketTailor app.
TicketTailor Pricing
TicketTailor offers two pricing models. You can play in advance by purchasing
credits. These credits start at $ 0.52 per ticket, but this price decreases as you
buy more credits. The minimum buy is 100 credits.
There is also a pay-as-you-go model with a fixed price of $ 0.65 per ticket.
Your first five tickets are free when you create your event, and TicketTailor
offers a 20% discount for charities, B-corps, and PTAs.
When you create a ticket type in your box office, you also have the option to
pass on the costs listed above to your customers.
3: Eventbee
Third on our list of top EventBrite alternatives is Eventbee, which offers
innovative event management solutions with several exciting features that set
them apart from the competition.
When you host your event on Eventbee, you can use their Network Ticket
Selling feature to give your marketing greater reach.
You can sell tickets to your events directly through social media platforms like
Facebook. Eventbee also has an extensive range of partner websites and blogs
that you can use to advertise your event.
As the event manager, you can create your own interactive community to boost
your ticket sales. Event managers can further customize these communities
with forums to promote discussion, photo sharing, and member networking.
Eventbee offers many payment options, including Paypal, Braintree, Stripe,
and Authorize.net. You can also streamline on-site event management tasks
with their mobile app.
Eventbee Pros & Cons
Pros
● Eventbee has a vast number of partner websites and blogs that you can
use to advertise your event through their Network Ticket Selling feature.
● Event managers have the ability to create their own interactive
community around their event, complete with forums, networking
opportunities, and media sharing.
● Eventbee offers three levels of pricing, Basic, Pro, and Advanced, that
cater to different scales of events with additional features. These
features include discount codes and venue seating.
Cons
● The Pro and Advanced pricing models' benefits are not immediately
available on the Eventbee website without signing up first.
● Some customers report that the setup process isn’t as user-friendly as it
could be. If ease-of-setup is important to you, this isn't the best
EventBrite alternative.
● Customer services can only be contacted via email, and there is no direct
telephone contact number. If customer support is important to you, this
isn't the best EventBrite alternative.
Eventbee Pricing
Unlike many other Eventbrite alternatives, Eventbee offers a flat $1 service fee
per ticket sale. However, users can pay $1.50 for Pro support and $2.50 for
Advanced support.
4: Splash
Fourth on our list of best EventBrite alternatives is Splash, which offers event
hosts the opportunity to build their own website, even if they have no coding
experience at all. Using a no-code website builder, you can create your drag
and drop website and customize it with your own branding.
Event management and ticketing can be automated with Splash’s set and
forget emails, letting you spend more time on more important things.
Splash offers a whole range of automation options by using an API and a range
of pre-configured integrations. There's also a comprehensive guide to help you
get set up.
Event and customer data can be accessed and analyzed through custom
dashboards to help you create usable insights that improve your next event.
When your event attendees reach the venue, Splash’s check-in interface lets
you set up a self-service kiosk to streamline sign-ins.
Splash Pros & Cons
Pros
● Splash offers its users a range of on-site management features that help
streamline in-person events.
● You can automate your event marking using fire-and-forget emails, an
API, and a range of integrations.
● Even the least tech-savvy event planning team can create their own
branded website with Splash’s no-code website designer.
Cons
● While the use of an API does offer lots of automation options, there is a
learning curve to overcome before event managers can use it effectively.
This makes Splash a more technical EventBrite alternative.
● The email templates could benefit from the ability to both add more
fields and change the formatting.
● The data analytics could be expanded to include tracking an attendee's
attendance across events.
Splash Pricing
Instead of a per ticket price, Splash uses three levels of paid subscription,
Basic, Pro, and Enterprise, each with its own features.
The basic package starts at $9,500 per year, and the Pro starts at $19,500 per
year. The Enterprise package is scalable, and the price depends on the user's
need. Splash also offers a free membership so you can try their services before
committing.
5: EventZilla
Last on our list of top EventBrite alternatives is a cloud-based event
management platform called EventZilla, which integrates with popular social
media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to provide greater event
visibility.
Uniquely, EventZilla provides attendees with their own portal where they can
input their information and download their tickets. This reduces the event
organizer's workload while fostering engagement with their participants.
EventZilla provides event managers with a full suite of data analytics tools,
including after-event surveys with custom questions and real-time data on
ticket sales, revenue, and page traffic.
Paying for tickets is made easy with a flexible and secure range of payment
options, including PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.net, and Braintree.
EventZilla Pros & Cons
Pros
● EventZilla offers event management full social media integration to
extend the range of their marketing efforts.
● The EventZilla app contains a range of on-site management tools,
including ticket sales, mobile check-in, and custom name badg
e
creation.
● Multiple supported external payment gateways, such as PayPal and
Stripe, make paying for tickets more straightforward and secure.
Cons
● There are some issues with how the platform displays on mobile devices,
with add-ons not being appropriately shown or text being oddly
formatted.
● Custom logos and images uploaded by the user often don’t render
correlate on the web page or email templates.
● The dashboard layout does not make it easy to find specific events or
customer data. That's a big knock against EventZilla as an EventBrite
alternative.
EventZilla Pricing
EventZilla only has two pricing options. The first is a free option for events
with no attendance cost. If you are selling tickets for your event, EventZilla
charges a flat $1 fee per attendee.
Okay, So What’s the Best Eventbrite Alternative?
While we’re obviously biased toward EventSprout, we created this list as
objectively as possible. EventSprout isn’t the only Eventbrite alternative and
it’s certainly not the only quality Eventbrite competitor.
At the end of the day, event hosts and event planners are going to use the
platform they like best based on their own personal preferences. We’re
confident that if you give EventSprout a shot, you’ll see exactly why it’s the
best Eventbrite alternative. It’s free, so you have nothing to lose.
If you want to give EventSprout a test drive, create your first event here.