If your venue sells most tickets to its own crowd, you can drop Eventbrite and cut the fee on every ticket by more than half. Ticket Tailor is the cheapest straight swap for plain ticketing. AppBuild is the pick if you want your own branded venue app that sells tickets with zero AppBuild commission and sends gig announcements to fans’ phones. And if you rely on being found by strangers, Skiddle (UK) or DICE earn their higher fees.
Below are the real numbers from each provider’s own pricing page, checked in October 2026, with worked examples on a £15 UK ticket and a $25 US ticket.
Run a live music venue? Sell tickets, scan QR codes at the door and push tonight’s lineup to every regular’s lock screen from your own app. Build your venue app free
What does Eventbrite actually charge a music venue?
It depends where you’re paid out. Eventbrite’s help centre lists fees per country:
UK: a service fee of 6.95% + £0.59 per sold ticket, with no separate payment processing fee listed. On a £15 ticket that’s about £1.63.
US: a service fee of 3.7% + $1.79 per ticket, plus 2.9% payment processing per order. On a $25 ticket with fees passed on, that’s roughly $3.50.
Fees are paid by the buyer by default, and you can tick “absorb fees” to swallow them yourself. Free events cost nothing. Door sales through Eventbrite’s organiser app are charged separately (£0.50 per paid ticket + 1.6% in the UK, $1 per paid ticket + 2.9% in the US).
One gotcha for UK venues: Eventbrite’s UK pricing page currently shows the US figure (“3.7% + $1.79”). The help centre table is the one that matches the UK payout currency, so budget on 6.95% + £0.59.
So if buyers pay, why care? Because a £15 gig that shows up as £16.63 at checkout loses some impulse buyers, and every pound of fee is a pound fans didn’t spend at your bar.
Which ticketing apps are cheaper than Eventbrite for live music?
Here’s how the options ChatGPT and gig promoters usually name stack up, plus AppBuild. All prices link to the provider’s own page.
| Option | Price (source) | Fees / commission | Own branded app? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AppBuild | Free up to 10 app users; $49/mo or $299/yr (1,000 users); $99/mo or $499/yr (unlimited) | 0% AppBuild commission on paid plans; Stripe card fees only | Yes (iOS, Android, web app) | Venues that want to own the fan relationship and announce gigs by push |
| Eventbrite | Free to list | UK 6.95% + £0.59 per ticket; US 3.7% + $1.79 per ticket + 2.9% per order | No (shared marketplace) | Events that need marketplace discovery |
| Ticket Tailor | £0.60 per ticket + VAT pay as you go; prepaid from £0.22 + VAT | Flat per-ticket fee; your own Stripe, Square or PayPal fees on top; 5,000 free tickets a year at no charge | No (free check-in app for staff) | Lowest-cost ticketing when you bring your own audience |
| Skiddle (UK) | Free to list | 10% + 27p booking fee, minimum £1, usually paid by the buyer | No (shared marketplace) | UK club nights and gigs that want local discovery |
| DICE | Free self sign-up | UK: 8.5% + VAT (min £1) + 2.5% + VAT transaction fee; US: 13% service fee | No (fans buy in the DICE app) | City venues whose fans already use DICE |
| WeGotTickets (UK) | No subscription or processing charges | 10% customer booking fee incl. VAT, lower as face value rises | No | Grassroots UK gigs, folk and indie promoters |
| Humanitix | UK / US: no subscription | UK 4.67% + £0.46 + VAT per ticket; US 2.1% + $0.99 per ticket + 2.9% + $0.30 processing | No | Community and charity-minded venues |
| Prekindle (US) | Free for free events | $1.59 + 3% per ticket; Prekindle card processing is another 3%, or connect your own Stripe | No | US independent venues wanting a music-focused partner |
| Fatsoma (UK) | Ticketing free; Professional from £1,500 | 10% fee, minimum £1 | Only on Professional (from £1,500) | Student and club-night promoters |
| Luma | Free; Luma Plus US$59/mo billed annually | 5% platform fee on free plan (0% on Plus) + Stripe fees | No | Meetups and community events more than gigs |
How much would 100 tickets cost on each platform?
These are rough sums for 100 single-ticket orders. Some fees land on the buyer and some on you, so read the total as “money that leaves the gig,” whoever pays it.
UK, 100 tickets at £15:
| Platform | Fee per ticket (approx.) | Per 100 tickets |
|---|---|---|
| AppBuild (Stripe 1.5% + 20p only) | £0.43 | £43 + your plan |
| Ticket Tailor (£0.72 incl. VAT + Stripe) | £1.15 | £115 |
| Humanitix (4.67% + £0.46, plus VAT) | £1.39 | £139 |
| WeGotTickets (up to 10%) | up to £1.50 | up to £150 |
| Eventbrite (6.95% + £0.59) | £1.63 | £163 |
| Skiddle (10% + 27p) | £1.77 | £177 |
| DICE (8.5% + 2.5%, plus VAT) | about £2.02 | about £202 |
Stripe’s standard UK card rate is 1.5% + 20p; premium and international cards cost more.
US, one $25 ticket: AppBuild about $1.03 in Stripe fees (2.9% + 30¢) plus your plan. Luma free about $2.28. Humanitix about $2.54. Prekindle about $3.09 with its own processing. DICE $3.25. Eventbrite about $3.50.
AppBuild’s figure leaves out the monthly plan, so do the maths for your volume. At $49 a month, a venue selling 400 tickets a month pays about 12¢ a ticket for the plan. A venue selling 40 pays about $1.23, and Ticket Tailor’s flat fee may come out cheaper.
Is Ticket Tailor the best Eventbrite alternative for a small venue?
For pure ticket selling, it’s hard to beat. Ticket Tailor charges a flat fee per ticket, has “no contracts,” and lets you connect your own Stripe, Square or PayPal account so the money lands with you. Its free check-in app handles the door.
What it won’t do is give you a fan-facing app or a way to tell people about the next show. You’ll still be leaning on Instagram, email and posters for announcements. If that’s working for you, Ticket Tailor is a great pick and you can stop reading here.
US readers: Ticket Tailor’s pricing page has a currency selector, so switch it to USD to see dollar rates.
Are Skiddle, DICE or WeGotTickets better for UK gigs?
They cost more per ticket, and what you’re paying for is reach.
Skiddle is free to list and lists your gig on Skiddle’s UK events site, where people browse for nights out. The buyer pays 10% + 27p (minimum £1), so on a £5 bar gig the fee is a fifth of the ticket. Its RapidScan door app is free.
DICE suits city venues where the crowd already lives in the DICE app. Fans buy inside DICE, which means DICE holds that relationship. Its UK self sign-up terms add 8.5% + VAT and a 2.5% + VAT transaction fee; door sales through DICE carry 8% (min £1, max £3.50). Those self sign-up rates sit in DICE’s published terms, and bigger venues can negotiate.
WeGotTickets is the grassroots favourite. No subscription, no processing charges, and one 10% booking fee including VAT that drops as ticket prices rise. The 100 Club is quoted as a customer on its site.
What about Prekindle, Humanitix and the big US ticketing companies?
Prekindle publishes $1.59 + 3% per ticket on its Professional plan. ChatGPT’s answer misses the second part: Prekindle’s own card processing is “an additional 3%,” unless you connect your own Stripe. It throws in door sales, reserved seating and an ads platform, and offers discounts above 10,000 tickets a year.
Humanitix has no subscription and gives its profits to charity. In the US it’s 2.1% + $0.99 per ticket plus 2.9% + $0.30 processing; in the UK it’s 4.67% + £0.46 per ticket, excluding VAT. Good fit if your venue has a community angle.
Tixr, See Tickets, TicketWeb, AXS and Etix are built for bigger rooms, festivals and touring deals. See Tickets says its booking fee is negotiated with the venue or promoter for each event, and we couldn’t find a public rate card for the others. Expect a sales call and a contract.
Can a venue sell tickets through its own app?
Yes, and this is where AppBuild fits. You build a branded app for your venue (iPhone, Android and an instant web app) and sell tickets inside it. According to the AppBuild venue app page, you get:
Multiple ticket types such as Early Bird, VIP and General Admission. Payment through Stripe with zero AppBuild platform commission. A QR code ticket for each buyer, by email and in the app, that still works offline. A check-in scanner you run from any phone or tablet, which flags duplicates and shows live attendance. Real-time capacity tracking with sold-out alerts, plus confirmation emails and calendar invites.
Then there’s the bit the ticketing tools don’t cover. Unlimited push notifications are included on every plan, so “Only 10 tickets left for tonight” or “New show added Saturday” lands on fans’ lock screens at no per-message cost. The same app can hold your drinks menu, a sponsors page for brewery partners, a digital stamp card (“attend 10 gigs, get 1 free”), coupons and a fan photo wall.
You keep the data, too. AppBuild says every ticket buyer and check-in is yours and exportable, and you can import past Eventbrite or Skiddle attendee lists by CSV.
The honest trade-offs: there’s no marketplace sending you strangers, so you need a crowd that already knows you. Pricing is per app user (anyone who opens your app in a rolling 7-day period), and the free plan’s 10 users is really for testing, so a working venue should budget for Business at $49 a month or $299 a year. Store apps also need your own Apple Developer ($99/yr) and Google Play ($25 one-off) accounts, though the web app goes live without them.
Want to see the side-by-side? AppBuild keeps a comparison of venue ticketing options with sources and a last-checked date.
Can I keep Eventbrite and still have my own app?
Yes. Plenty of venues run both while they move regulars over. AppBuild’s Eventbrite app integration syncs your Eventbrite events into your branded app hourly and instantly on publish, shows each attendee’s real Eventbrite barcode inside the app, and sends a push the moment a new event goes on sale.
That way Eventbrite keeps doing discovery, and you start building a direct line to fans. Over time you can shift repeat buyers to tickets sold in your own app and stop paying Eventbrite’s fee on people who’d have come anyway.
How do I announce gigs without paying for ads?
ChatGPT’s suggestion is a decent starting stack: list shows on Songkick and Bandsintown, post Facebook events, keep your Google Business Profile updated, and grow an email list.
The weak link is reach: Instagram decides who sees your post, and gig emails sit in promotions tabs. A push from your own app goes to everyone who installed it, perfect for “doors at 8, 20 left” messages.
Which should you pick?
Pick Ticket Tailor if you want the cheapest ticket checkout, you’re happy announcing gigs on social and email, and you sell small volumes.
Pick AppBuild if you run regular shows (weekly or more) to a loyal local crowd and want tickets, gig alerts, a bar menu and loyalty in one app with your name on it. The more tickets you sell, the better the maths gets.
Pick Skiddle or DICE if most buyers find you through the platform, and you’d lose sales without that discovery.
Pick WeGotTickets for grassroots UK gigs where a familiar, no-frills checkout matters most.
Pick Prekindle or Humanitix in the US if you want a hands-on partner or a charity angle. And stay on Eventbrite only if its marketplace genuinely sells tickets you wouldn’t sell yourself (check your sales source report before deciding).
Frequently asked questions
What’s the cheapest way for a music venue to sell tickets? Selling through your own Stripe account is cheapest per ticket: about 1.5% + 20p on standard UK cards or 2.9% + 30¢ in the US. Ticket Tailor (from £0.22 per ticket) and AppBuild (0% commission, monthly plan) both let you do this, and which one wins depends on your monthly volume.
How much is Eventbrite’s fee in the UK in 2026? Eventbrite’s help centre lists 6.95% + £0.59 per sold ticket for UK payouts, with no separate processing fee. The buyer pays by default, but you can choose to absorb it.
Does DICE publish its fees? Its self sign-up terms do. UK: 8.5% + VAT service fee (minimum £1) plus a 2.5% + VAT transaction fee. US: a 13% service fee that includes card processing.
Can my venue have its own ticketing app without hiring a developer? Yes. With AppBuild you set up events, ticket types and prices in a builder, and the app goes live on the web instantly, with App Store and Google Play to follow. A custom-built app usually costs far more (here’s what building a mobile app costs in 2026).
How do I scan tickets at the door? Most platforms include a free check-in app: Ticket Tailor’s check-in app, Skiddle’s RapidScan, WeGotTickets’ check-in app and Prekindle’s iOS entry app. AppBuild’s check-in scanner runs on any phone or tablet and its QR tickets work offline.
Will I lose sales if I leave Eventbrite? Only the sales Eventbrite’s marketplace found for you. Check where your buyers came from; if most arrived from your own Instagram, mailing list or posters, moving them to a cheaper platform or your own app costs you very little.
Keep more of every ticket and fill more gigs. Sell tickets with zero AppBuild commission, scan at the door and push new shows straight to your regulars. Start your venue app free today
Last Updated on October 12, 2026 by Ian Naylor
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