9 Ticketing Platforms for Conference, Concert, Sport & More

The global event industry is expected to cross $2.1 trillion by 2032 and the types of events with the highest growth include corporate events, sports, and music concerts. The top two sources of revenue for event organizers in 2032 would be sponsorships and ticket sales.

This means two things for event organizers.

First, you have to niche down and target a specific event market and industry. It is better to master one market fully than to serve multiple markets incompletely.

Second, you need to use a scalable event ticketing platform that grows with your business and helps you generate revenue for your events.

Not sure where to begin?

This article explores the best online ticketing services for different types of events that will prepare you for the future.

Best Online Ticketing Platforms for Different Event Types

Here is a list of the best online event ticketing platforms based on the event types they support:

1. TicketsCandy: Multipurpose for all Types of Events

TicketsCandy is a multipurpose all-in-one event ticketing platform that’s suitable for all types of events. It supports unlimited ticket types and unlimited events including multi-day events and recurring events.

It is free for event organizers making it an ideal platform for large events as you get to keep all your earnings. And if you want to run small, in-house private parties, you can keep them profitable as you don’t have to pay any fee.

The ease of use and pretty straightforward dashboard make TicketsCandy ideal for new event organizers and family events where you need a simple tool to create and sell event tickets without any mess and complications.

It doesn’t matter whether your event is small or large, single-day or multi-day, corporate or family, indoors or outdoors, or virtual or in-person, TicketsCandy has got you covered.

Here are the major features that make it the top ticketing app:

• Supports unlimited tickets and events
• Free for event organizers forever with no contracts
• You can sell tickets through a dedicated event page and via your website
• Ideal for beginners and non-techy event organizers
• Works for virtual, in-person, and hybrid events
• Suitable for all types of events across all sectors, niches, and markets
• Comes with a mobile app that gives you complete control over payments, ticket scanning, and analytics.

Price

TicketsCandy is free. It does not charge any monthly recurring fee, it does not charge a payment processing fee, and you don’t have to pay anything to the platform per sale. All the event organizers get full access to all the features without limitations (as there are no subscription plans).

You don’t need a credit card to sign up as an organizer.

This makes TicketsCandy an ideal platform for all types of events and organizers.

2. RegFox for Conferences

RegFox is an event registration and ticketing tool that is suitable for conferences, classes, and camps. It offers a wide range of features that make it easy to create and manage any type of event.

It is marketed as a ticketing platform for conferences and that’s due to its event CRM feature that helps you generate and nurture leads. Secondly, it has support for integrations and works with almost all the leading tools and apps.

If you want to create a business conference with sponsors, RegFox is a nice ticketing platform for you. Here are the key features you get with RegFox:

• Easy-to-use drag-and-drop event page builder that comes with customizable templates
• Event CRM is a decent feature that makes it ideal for business conferences
• Real-time analytics
• Attendee management and the ability to generate leads and nurture them
• The membership management feature lets you use RegFox for online classes and camps.

Price

RegFox charges $0.99 + 1% fee per ticket sale along with 2.99% credit card processing fee. This makes it expensive for small events.

The good thing is that fees are capped at $4.99 per ticket sale. This is the maximum fee you will pay per registration.

This means RegFox is suitable for high ticket prices where the minimum ticket price is above $100. If you have set a low ticket price, it will get expensive for you as well as your attendees.

3. ThunderTix for Musical Events

Are you planning to create a musical event or a concert? ThunderTix is the right ticketing platform for you. It is an event ticketing service that’s dedicated to performing arts and is more focused on musical events.

The core feature that makes it an ideal ticketing service for large musical events is custom seating based on your venue. This feature makes it easy to manage large musical events where you have to manage hundreds of seats.

If you are planning to create a fundraising art event without setting a fixed ticket price, you can do it with ThunderTix. It has a donation option where attendees can donate any amount they like with no minimum or maximum limit.

Here is a list of the major features offered by ThunderTix:

• A complete suite of tools and apps to help you create and manage musical events
• Support for online live-streaming
• Fundraising tool
• Mass email marketing
• Support for seating charts
• User control features and limited access to venue rentals give you full control
• Integrates with leading apps and tools including Zapier.

Price

It offers a tiered pricing structure with a starting price of $1 per ticket and a monthly minimum of $20 which goes to $1.75 for a high-tier package with a minimum of $175 fee.

So, you pay two types of fees:

1. Per ticket price of minimum $1 for every ticket sale
2. Minimum monthly fee starting from $20 per month.

This means if you do not sell any tickets for a given month, you will be charged the monthly minimum fee.

But these aren’t the only fees you pay, there are additional fees that you will be charged including:

• 1% of merchandise sale
• 2.5% of card processing fee for donations
• $0.1 per email that you send out to attendees
• Thermal ticket setup charges of $199
• $0.55 per seat for seating charts.

When you add up all these costs, it makes ThunderTix quite expensive. When you compare features with other ticketing platforms like TicketsCandy, you don’t get any extra, special features. The high price is a potential downside of ThunderTix.

4. Purplepass for Sport Events

Purplepass is a simple ticketing platform with an easy-to-use interface. It is ideal for sports events. It offers multiple event types including trackable coupon codes and assigned seating features.

The seating feature is what makes it a top event ticketing app for sporting events. You can customize your stage, build maps, use color-coded seating schemes, custom messaging, and much more. It gives you full control over seating and stage management which makes it easy to manage large indoor sporting events.

Additionally, Purplepass lets you rent a wide range of equipment that includes equipment for the venue such as scanners, boca printers, and cash drawers. You can also rent mobile equipment which includes mobile terminals.

Here is an overview of the primary features:

• It supports multiple event types
• Fully customized event pages
• Live streaming widget
• Stage and seating customization
• Thermal tickets and printing services
• Equipment renting
• Advanced tracking for sale attribution
• It supports integration
• It has a marketplace where you can promote your events.

Price

There are a lot of different types of prices that you have to deal with.

The online service fees are 2.5% + $0.99 per ticket sale with an additional 3% credit card processing fee. Box office credit card processing fee is 2.5% + $0.25 per transaction.

Other services like printing services and custom wristbands come at an additional cost. The good thing is that there is no monthly recurring fee and all users get access to all the features.

Overall, the pricing is a bit high. The only extra feature is seating and staging customization which is a need for indoor sports events.

5. Eventbrite for Small Local Events

Eventbrite is known for its marketplace where event organizers can list their events to reach their target audience. People use Eventbrite to find local events in their area based on their interests so it provides a nice platform to connect event organizers and potential attendees.

The event ticketing platform by Eventbrite is suitable for small local events that target a specific market segment. For example, small street parties, community-based social events, and interest-based events.

The event ticketing features are quite basic such as event pages, an app for event organizers, advanced analytics, and a marketing suite that includes promotion on the marketplace.

One standout feature that you get is Eventbrite ads that help you boost your event in the marketplace via targeted ads. An event ad increases the visibility of your event in the marketplace leading to a high number of sales as opposed to organic reach.

Major features include:

• You can create multiple types of tickets and events
• Ticket transfer feature
• Ability to reach potential attendees via Eventbrite ads
• Mobile app for event organizers to manage events efficiently
• Send up to 1,000 marketing emails per day to promote your event
• You can create custom order forms and customize the checkout process.

Price

Eventbrite offers 3 types of plans to event organizers:

1. Pay per event is the basic plan that charges you on the basis of tickets and events you create. If you want to sell up to 100 tickets, you will be charged $9.99 per event and for unlimited tickets, the price per event goes to $49.99.
2. The subscription plan lets you create unlimited events but you will be charged on the basis of tickets you sell. For unlimited tickets, you have to pay $159 per month.
3. The premium plan has custom pricing that offers 1:1 consultation and unlimited tickets.

This price does not include payment processing and service fees.

You are charged 3.7% + $1.79 per ticket sale as a service fee and a 2.9% payment processing fee.

If you do the math, it gets quite expensive especially if you add the cost of running Eventbrite ads. It works for high ticket priced events.

Otherwise, Eventbrite will significantly shrink your profit margin.

6. Ticket Tailor for Park and Museum Events

Ticket Tailor is a Certified B Corp ticketing platform that’s suitable for museums, parks, and other types of outdoor in-person events. It offers a seating chart and lots of integration coupled with a carbon-neutral platform that ensures minimal carbon emissions.

The notable feature that makes it an ideal event ticketing service for museums and outdoor park events is unlimited seating charts with customizable labels. This gives you full control over seat management which includes standing space and tables.

Other features are quite conventional and include:

• Unlimited tickets and events
• Password protected tickets
• Customizable checkout form with translation options
• Customizable event page templates
• WordPress plugin
• Multiple integration options
• Seat organization and management
• Mobile app for event organizers
• Offline payments with support for Stripe and PayPal
• Advanced security features like SSL protection.

Price

Ticket Tailor offers two types of plans to choose from:

1. Pre pay plan starts from $0.26 per ticket. The price is linked with the number of tickets you sell where more ticket sales lower per ticket price.
2. Pay as you go costs $0.65 per ticket.

Stripe is the primary payment processor used that costs you 2.9% + $0.30 payment processing fee for local payments.

So, you pay a flat fee per ticket sale as a platform fee and a payment processing fee for each transaction. The prices aren’t as high as some of the other ticketing apps like Eventbrite.

But these are still on the high side considering the fact that you have TicketsCandy which is totally free and does not charge anything to event organizers.

7. TicketSpice for Art Events

TicketSpice is another decent ticketing service that is an ideal choice for art events. It offers multiple event page templates that are all customizable and include categories like concerts, exhibits, festivals, and others.

There is, however, no standout feature. It offers you all the basic features that you get with any other ticketing platform such as event page builder, ticket scanning, box office app, timed entry tickets, and others.

You can create and manage any type of art event with TicketSpice be it in-person or virtual. You don’t get any equipment or seating charts with TicketSpice so it is more suitable for selling tickets instead of managing seating for large art events.

Here is an overview of the key features offered by TicketSpice:

• Presale tickets
• Event CRM for generating leads
• It offers a free text message ticket delivery service as opposed to email delivery
• Ability to live stream during an event or run pre-recorded content
• Ticket order management
• Event page builder with full control
• Ability to accept payments by check
• Conversion tracking for marketing campaigns and sale attribution.

Price

TicketSpice has a flat per ticket fee which is $0.99. You also have to pay 2.99% credit card fees which may vary depending on multiple factors.

There are no recurring charges and all the users get access to all the features.

It is relatively cheap and affordable when compared with the likes of Eventbrite, Ticket Tailor, RegFox, and ThunderTix as you don’t have to pay a subscription fee and you get all the features.

But TicketSpice is still more expensive than TicketsCandy which is totally free for event organizers. You can save $0.99 per ticket fee and a 2.99% credit card fee when you create your event with TicketsCandy.

8. Ticketbud for Festivals

If you want to run large in-person festivals and you need a beginner-friendly ticketing platform, you should try Ticketbud. It offers rental equipment that makes it easy to manage in-person events.

For example, you can rent an iPod Touch Mobile Device and iPhone SE for processing payments and ticket scanning at the gate. The equipment is optional and is quite helpful in managing large events.

Another notable feature is social selling which makes it easy to sell tickets on Facebook. The platform integrates seamlessly with the Facebook page and makes it easy to sell tickets there.

You can use Ticketbud for professional B2B events as well and it integrates and works with Salesforce making it suitable for businesses to generate and nurture leads.

Here is a list of the major features of the event ticketing service:

• Customizable event tickets with a ticketing widget
• Audience segmentation with Salesforce integration
• Thermal tickets
• Equipment available on rent
• Mobile app for managing attendees and accessing necessary tools on the go
• Ability to sell tickets offline using POS
• White label service to have full control over branding.

Price

Ticketbud has a flat per ticket fee which is 2% + $0.99 per ticket sale. And you also have to pay a 2.9% payment processing fee.

Rental equipment comes at an additional cost which includes rent and security deposit.

Overall, Ticketbud is expensive.

Though it doesn’t have any recurring fee and doesn’t bar features, it is still pricey and this is a reason it is more suitable for festivals that have a high ticket price.

9. Ticketleap for Parties

Ticketleap is a simple and easy-to-use event ticketing service that’s best suited to parties including private parties. This is because it offers password-protected events that are suitable for exclusive gatherings and membership clubs.

The features are quite basic as you get with any other platform. Since it has a simple dashboard and getting started with the help of event pages is quite easy (as they require minimal customization), it is most suited to beginners where you only need access to basic ticketing features.

It has a mobile app and you can also swipe credit cards at the gate. These features make it suitable for large-scale parties too.

The core features of the ticketing platform include:

• Customizable event pages with the ability to create your own theme
• Checkout questionnaire
• Tracking codes to track end-to-end ticket sales
• Email blast feature along with other marketing tools
• Free refunds.

Price

Ticketleap charges a flat fee per ticket sale which is $1 + 2% along with a 3% credit card processing fee. If your ticket price is less than $5, you pay a flat fee of $0.25 + payment processing fee.

There are no recurring fees and contracts which means you get access to all the features and tools irrespective of the number of events and tickets.

This makes it suitable for low-priced tickets. If the ticket price goes over $5, Ticketleap gets too expensive. The price is equivalent to other ticketing apps like Eventbrite and Ticket Tailor. You can only derive benefit if you use Ticketleap for private parties and private events where ticket sales are not the primary source of revenue.

Conclusion

Selling event tickets online and serving your target market gets easier when you have the right ticketing platform that offers all the necessary features at a reasonable price.

Since most businesses earn money from ticket sales, the ticketing app fee directly impacts revenue and profit. Higher fees reduce your revenue (something you don’t want, right?).

It is best to use a free online ticketing service that increases your margin and helps you boost ticket sales by passing the benefit to your customers.

TicketsCandy is the best, free, and multipurpose event ticketing service that’s suitable for all event types and markets. The features it offers work for all industries be it concerts, private parties, business conferences, trade shows, family events, or others.

You keep all the earnings from ticket sales which increases your business revenue.

Give it a try free of cost here.