Eventbrite’s pricing dramas over the past year – and how Ticket Tailor still comes out on top (with examples)

If you’re an Event Creator who’s been following the ticketing world lately, you’ll know Eventbrite’s been on something of a pricing rollercoaster. In 2023, they hiked their fees and introduced a brand new “organiser fee” on top for anyone selling more than 25 tickets – which, let’s face it, is the vast majority! 

This meant extra costs for virtually everyone, including those hosting large-scale or frequent events, as well as organisers of free events, which no longer remained truly free. Sure, these fees could still be passed on to ticket buyers, but with costs skyrocketing everywhere, this felt like a lose-lose scenario.

In 2024, Eventbrite backtracked these pricing decisions (probably after hearing a collective groan from Event Creators), but the fact remains: their platform still costs more than many of the alternatives out there. The fact that they added these fees in the first place suggests a pattern – and who’s to say something similar won’t happen again?

If you’re wondering exactly how much you could save by choosing a cheaper alternative - we’ve crunched the numbers for you. In this guide, you’ll find a head-to-head comparison of Eventbrite’s 2025 pricing and Ticket Tailor’s costs for various event types, helping you make an informed decision as we head into the new year.

And yes, we know there’s more to ticketing than low fees. If you’re still weighing up your options, why not explore this more in-depth Eventbrite alternative comparison. 

Let’s go 👇.

A recap: What was the Eventbrite organiser fee? 

It was a new additional fee charged between September 2023 and September 2024 for publishing an event on Eventbrite, on top of all of Eventbrite’s other ticketing fees. It applied to all events with over 25 tickets (which is the overwhelming majority of all events on Eventbrite). 

Before this fee was introduced, it was free to publish your event on Eventbrite, but you’d pay various fees for each ticket sold. 

For example, if you were selling tickets in the United States before the organiser fee was introduced, you’d pay:

• 3.7% of the ticket price + $1.79 per sold ticket
• A payment processing fee of 2.9% of the total order
• An on-site fee of $1 per ticket for credit cards and cash

With the organiser fee (for an event with over 25 tickets) you’d pay:

• 3.7% of the ticket price + $1.79 per sold ticket
• A payment processing fee of 2.9% of the total order
• An on-site fee of $1 per ticket for credit cards and cash
• An organiser fee depending on the size of the event – there are one-off and monthly subscription options available for this fee, ranging from $9.99-$59.99 per event or $29 - $159 per month.

A recap: How much was Eventbrite’s organiser fee?

The Eventbrite’s organiser fee depended on the size of your event. You could choose to pay-as-you-go (so, a one-off fee for every event). Or to pay a monthly subscription. Here’s what those options looked like:

Flex plan (pay-as-you-go)

• Up to 100 tickets: $9.99 in the US, £7.99 in the UK
• Up to 250 tickets: $24.99 in the US, £19.99 in the UK
• Unlimited tickets: $49.99 in the US, £39.99 in the UK

Pro plan (monthly subscription)

• Up to 100 tickets: $29/month in the US, £19 in the UK
• Up to 250 tickets: $70/month in the US, £59 in the UK

Fast forward to today: What do the new Eventbrite prices actually mean for your events?

In a nutshell, Eventbrite has reversed the complication. Which, we have to admit, is a good thing for Event Creators everywhere. And yes, free events are free again.

So now you'll pay:

• A percentage-based fee per ticket sold
• A flat-fee per ticket sold
• Payment processing fees on the toral order
• On-site fees (if you sell tickets on the door)

All of the above fees vary based on your location, but you can check out Eventbrite's fee breakdown here.

Introducing Ticket Tailor – the (much) cheaper alternative to Eventbrite

That said, if you’d rather avoid any future pricing surprises and want a simpler, more affordable way to ticket your events, read on.

Ticket Tailor is the world’s leading independent ticketing platform and the #1 alternative to Eventbrite. Best of all, we’re much cheaper to use than Eventbrite for any and all types of event – no matter what its size – so you’ll spend less on fees and will have more money to make your events brilliant.

We’ve crunched the numbers so you can see exactly how much you’ll save by choosing Ticket Tailor instead of Eventbrite – you can see the results below. But first, here’s a quick intro to who we are and what we do! 

We are:

• A totally independent ticketing platform: which means we can keep our costs right down for Event Creators. Woohoo! 
• Packed full of amazing ticketing features: fully customisable box office pages, tons of marketing tools and integrations, scannable tickets with our slick ticketing app, free donations… and so much more. We’ve got all your ticketing needs covered 😌. See all Ticket Tailor features.
• Free for free events: If your tickets are free, then so are we to use. You can issue up to 2,000 free tickets each year. (And you still get access to our 24/7 customer support team who reply to everyone in under 5 minutes!)
• 100% free to sign up: It’s totally free to list your events on our platform. We just charge a small, flat fee per paid ticket. You won’t pay anything until you actually sell a ticket through our platform. (And you’ll pay nothing if your events are free.)
• Low-cost, with a simple flat-fee pricing structure: For paid tickets, you just pay us a small flat fee for each ticket you sell. That’s 22p/28c if you buy credits and Pay upfront, or 60p/75c if you Pay as you sell. That’s it. We don’t take a percentage of your ticket sales on top of this fee, and we have zero hidden costs. Calculate what you’ll pay in your local currency on our pricing page. 
• A proud B-Corp: which means, as a business, we meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. You can find out more about Ticket Tailor as a B-Corp here 👉

Intrigued? 😌 

Find out more about ticketing your events with Ticket Tailor 👉

Eventbrite prices vs Ticket Tailor – how much you’ll save (with examples)

We’ve crunched the numbers to show you exactly how much you will save by switching from Eventbrite to Ticket Tailor. To help paint the full picture, we’ve covered a range of event types in various different countries. The pricing comparisons below are based on using Ticket Tailor’s pricing and Eventbrite’s pricing, true as of December 2024. 

Note our calculations outside of the UK and Ireland do not include payment processing fees - see more details for how much Stripe, PayPal and Square charge on Ticket Tailor. See Eventbrite payment processing fees here.

Charity Fun-Run in Canada

To run a charity fun run or similar event in Canada, here’s what you’d spend with Eventbrite vs Ticket Tailor:

Tickets sold per year: 5,000
Average ticket price: $20
Eventbrite fees 3.5% + C$1.29 per sold ticket = C$9,950
Ticket Tailor fees $0.51 per ticket sold + $50% charity discount = C$1,275
Saving: $8,675

At Ticket Tailor we love Charity events, which is why we offer registered charities 50% off our fees, meaning as much of the money raised goes directly to good causes. When compared with Eventbrite’s high fees on $20 tickets, they’d take an additional £8.6k from the Event Creators compared to Ticket Tailor. Ouch. 

Note: This does not include the payment processing fees (see the links above for more detail)

Christmas Lights Show in the US

To run a Christmas lights show or similar event in the US, here’s what you’d spend with Eventbrite vs Ticket Tailor:
Tickets sold per year: 20,000
Average ticket price: $15
Eventbrite fees 3.7% + $1.79 per sold ticket = $46,900
Ticket Tailor fees $0.30 per ticket sold = $6,000
Saving: $40,900

Christmas lights shows can sell a huge number of tickets, which means even a small price difference can save you a lot of money when it comes to ticketing. In this example, where the average ticket price is $15, the Event Creator would save over $40,000 by switching to Ticket Tailor.
Note: This does not include the payment processing fees (see the links above for more detail)

Comedy Venue in the UK

To run an event at a comedy venue in the UK, here’s what you’d spend with Eventbrite vs Ticket Tailor:
Tickets sold per year: 12,000
Average ticket price: £15
Eventbrite fees 6.95% + £0.59 per sold ticket = £19,590
Ticket Tailor fees £0.27 per ticket sold = £3,240
Saving: £16,350

When you run recurring events, it’s so important to choose a ticketing platform with pricing that doesn’t run away with your profits. If you sold 12,000 £15 tickets across the year you’d be paying an eye-watering £16,350 more with Eventbrite than you would with Ticket Tailor to ticket an identical period of recurring comedy events. That’s no laughing matter.

For UK events, Eventbrite include the payment processing within their fees, so for a more accurate comparison, payment processing fees with Ticket Tailor using Stripe are 1.5% + 20p for standard UK cards, so in this example you'd need to account for £5,099.88. Therefore, the true saving is just over £11k.

Note: VAT not included in these calculations

Fall Festival in the US

To run a fall festival or similar event in the US, here’s what you’d spend with Eventbrite vs Ticket Tailor:
Tickets sold per year: 40,000
Average ticket price: $25
Eventbrite fees 3.7% + $1.79 per sold ticket = $108,600
Ticket Tailor fees $0.28 per ticket sold = $11,200
Saving - $97,400

Fall festivals are a firm family favourite in the US, and prove incredibly popular each year. With so many attendees to sell tickets to, you’ll want to make sure you’re using a ticketing platform that doesn’t let your costs sky-rocket for larger events that generate high levels of revenue. Case in point: this event example would generate $1,000,000 of revenue based on an average ticket price of $25. As you can see, you’d save almost $100,000 from choosing Ticket Tailor over Eventbrite to ticket your event – that’s a nice chunk of profits saved, we say!

Our fees were calculated based on a unit price of $0.28 per ticket - if you plan to sell more than 20,000 tickets, book a demo with our sales team to discuss the best possible pricing.

Note: This does not include the payment processing fees (see the links above for more detail)

Food Festival in the Canada

To run a food festival or similar event in Canada, here’s what you’d spend with Eventbrite vs Ticket Tailor:
Tickets sold per year: 10,000
Average ticket price: C$25
Eventbrite fees 3.5% + C$1.29 per sold ticket = C$21,650
Ticket Tailor fees $0.46 per ticket sold = C$4,600
Saving - C$17,050

Everyone loves a good food festival – so much so that tickets can sell out thick and fast. Looking at a bi-annual set-up where the average ticket price is $25, you’d save a tasty CAD$17,050 by using Ticket Tailor instead of Eventbrite. 

Note: This does not include the payment processing fees (see the links above for more detail)

Gala Dinner in the US

To run a gala dinner or similar event in the US, here’s what you’d spend with Eventbrite vs Ticket Tailor:
Tickets sold per year: 500
Average ticket price: $150
Eventbrite fees 3.7% + $1.79 per sold ticket = $3,670
Ticket Tailor fees $0.41 per ticket sold = $260
Saving: $3,410

Your attendee numbers don’t need to be in the thousands to make big savings by switching ticketing platform. Taking this US bi-annual gala dinner event as an example, you’d save $3,410 by selling 500 tickets through Ticket Tailor instead of Eventbrite. 

Note: This does not include the payment processing fees (see the links above for more detail)

IT Security Conference in Australia

To run an IT security conference or similar event in Australia, here’s what you’d spend with Eventbrite vs Ticket Tailor:
Tickets sold per year: 3,000
Average ticket price: A$350
Eventbrite fees 5.35% + A$1.19 per sold ticket = A$59,745
Ticket Tailor fees A$0.81 per ticket sold = A$2,430
Saving: $57,315

As Eventbrite takes a percentage of your ticket prices as a fee, it’s logical that your ticketing costs are going to rack up for events with more expensive tickets. Ticket Tailor, on the other hand, only charges a small flat fee per ticket – which stays the same, regardless of what the actual cost of the ticket is. The result? Big savings! For example, if you were running an IT security conference event with an average ticket price of $350, and you sold 3000 tickets across six months, you’d save a huge $57,855 by ticketing through Ticket Tailor instead of Eventbrite. 

Note: This does not include the payment processing fees (see the links above for more detail)

Music Festival in the UK

To run a music festival or similar event in the UK, here’s what you’d spend with Eventbrite vs Ticket Tailor:
Tickets sold per year: 20,000
Average ticket price: £70
Eventbrite fees 6.95% + £0.59 per sold ticket = £94,400
Ticket Tailor fees £0.24 per ticket sold = £4,800
Saving: £89,600

From Glastonbury to Leeds Fest; Bestival to Radio 1’s Big Weekend – The UK is known for its epic music festivals! So how do things fare up for festival organisers looking to ticket their British music events through Eventbrite? In short – pretty pricey. For a festival with 20,000 attendees with an average ticket price of £70, and a ticket sale period of six months, you’d be looking at £94,400 in Eventbrite fees. WIth Ticket Tailor, you’d pay a total of £4,800 for the exact same scenario. 

For UK events, Eventbrite include the payment processing within their fees, so for a more accurate comparison, payment processing fees with Ticket Tailor using Stripe are 1.5% + 20p for standard UK cards, so in this example you'd need to account for £25,000. Therefore, the true saving is just shy of £65k.

Note: VAT not included in these calculations

Pottery Workshop in Ireland

To run a pottery workshop or similar event in Ireland, here’s what you’d spend with Eventbrite vs Ticket Tailor:
Tickets sold per year: 600
Average ticket price: €40
Eventbrite fees 5.9% + €0.79 per sold ticket = €1,890
Ticket Tailor fees €0.46 per ticket sold = €276
Saving: €1,614

Running workshops in your area of expertise can be a lucrative money-earner – either as a side hustle or a full-time business. But when you’re a small operation, you’ll want to make sure you’re keeping your costs down to really maximise on those profits. The example above shows just how much of a difference your ticketing costs can make here. You’d save £1,614 by using Ticket Tailor instead of Eventbrite for a run of 24 recurring workshops at £40 per ticket. 

For Irish events, Eventbrite include the payment processing within their fees, so for a more accurate comparison, payment processing fees with Ticket Tailor using Stripe are 1.5% + €0,25 for standard European Economic Area cards, so in this example you'd need to account for €510. Therefore, the true saving is just above €1k.

Note: VAT not included in these calculations

Vintage Clothes Market in Australia

To run a vintage clothes market or similar event in Australia, here’s what you’d spend with Eventbrite vs Ticket Tailor:
Tickets sold per year: 9600
Average ticket price: $0
EB fees $0
TT $0
Saving $0

Not all events cost money to attend, of course! If you didn’t charge for entry to, say, a cool vintage clothes market in Australia 😎, it wouldn’t cost you a cent to ticket your event with either platform – so when it comes to free events it’s up to you to decide which platform offers the features, support and values you’re looking for. 

Explore all Ticket Tailor features

Final word – the impact of Eventbrite’s pricing changes for Event Creators

It’s simple really – Eventbrite’s reversal of their 2023 pricing changes is good news for everyone. It gives Event Creators more choice when it comes to choosing a ticketing partner. And who doesn’t love it when prices drop?  

Ultimately, which ticketing platform you decide is right for you is a very personal choice, but it always helps to be armed with all the facts before making any decisions. Especially when you’re keen to hold onto as much of your profits as possible, and to keep your ticket prices down for your valued attendees.

That’s a wrap! If you’re keen to learn more about event ticketing and maximising the success of your events, head over to the Ticket Tailor blog.