Eventbrite is one of the best-known ticketing platforms. The AttendBeacon event platform is younger and smaller, and built in the EU for community and business events. Both sell tickets and check people in at the door. They differ in how they charge, who holds the money and how new attendees find you.
At a glance
| Topic | AttendBeacon | Eventbrite |
|---|---|---|
| Free tickets | An event where every ticket is free is free, at any size | No ticketing fees |
| Paid tickets | No fee per ticket. Free up to 1,000 participants, then €500 per event, excluding VAT | In the Netherlands, €0.49 per ticket up to €10.01, or 2% + €0.49 above (Essentials) |
| Ticket money | Paid into your own Mollie or Stripe account | Collected by Eventbrite and paid out after the event |
| Finding new attendees | No marketplace: you bring your own audience | A marketplace where people look for things to do |
| Check-in | A scanner in the browser of any phone, also offline | The Eventbrite Organizer app for iPhone and Android |
What it costs
Eventbrite's pricing page for the Netherlands says you can publish unlimited free events at no cost. Its article on ticketing fees confirms that free tickets carry no ticketing fees, for you or for your buyers.
For paid tickets, the same article lists the Netherlands under its legacy packages:
- Essentials: a €0.49 service fee per sold ticket up to €10.01, or 2% + €0.49 above that.
- Professional: €0.99 per sold ticket up to €10.01, or 4% + €0.99 above that.
Other countries have other rates, and the article asks you to check your own pricing in your organisation settings. By default your buyers pay these fees on top of the ticket price. You can choose to absorb them instead, and then they come off your payout.
An example: 300 tickets at €25 on the Essentials rate. That is €0.99 per ticket, or €297 in service fees, paid by your buyers by default.
The AttendBeacon pricing page works per event, not per ticket:
- An event where every ticket is free is always free, at any size.
- Any other event, with free or paid tickets, is free up to 1,000 participants.
- Above that, you buy a one-off licence of €500 per event, excluding VAT.
- There is no fee per ticket, no add-on and no subscription.
Your payment provider, Mollie or Stripe, charges its own fees per payment. AttendBeacon takes nothing from the ticket price.
Who holds the money
Eventbrite's article on payouts explains its default set-up. Eventbrite collects the payments, deducts its fees and sends your payout three business days after your event ends. If you are new to Eventbrite, your first payout comes after the event. After your first event, you may be able to choose an earlier payout schedule.
With AttendBeacon, attendees pay through your own Mollie or Stripe account. AttendBeacon never holds ticket money and takes no cut of it. When it reaches your bank follows your provider's payout schedule.
The trade-off is set-up. You need a Mollie or Stripe account of your own, and you connect it yourself. On Eventbrite, payments work from the start.
Reach: where Eventbrite is stronger
This is Eventbrite's biggest advantage. Its overview for organisers describes a marketplace where millions of people look for things to do, with recommendations based on their interests and location. It also offers ads that promote your event on Eventbrite.
AttendBeacon has no marketplace. Your event page can be found through search engines and shared anywhere, but people come because you reach them. If many of your buyers find you while browsing Eventbrite, that matters more than any fee.
On the day
Eventbrite has its own check-in app, Eventbrite Organizer, for iPhone and Android. It scans the QR codes on tickets and can sell tickets at the door.
The AttendBeacon scanner runs in the browser of any phone with a camera, so volunteers install nothing. It keeps working when the venue's network drops, and sends its scans once the connection is back. Several doors can each have their own rules and capacity. See phone check-in for a 300-person conference for a full plan.
Attendees get the event app at the event's own address, with the ticket and the agenda, also offline. The same app is also in the App Store and on Google Play: one app for every event, opened with the event's code.
Data and languages
AttendBeacon runs in the EU regions of Microsoft Azure. Microsoft is a US company, and the sovereignty page lists exactly what leaves the EU, and why. The workspace, the event app and the emails come in 11 languages, and each event sells in one of 38 currencies.
We did not find where Eventbrite hosts its data on the pages we checked, so we leave that comparison out.
Use both
You do not have to choose. The integrations page describes a link that brings Eventbrite orders into AttendBeacon as they come in. You keep selling on Eventbrite and run the door, the app and the agenda in AttendBeacon. The link is new and has not yet run with a real Eventbrite account, so try it on a small event first.
Moving an earlier event? AttendBeacon's import recognises Eventbrite's exports. You review everything before it is created, and nobody is emailed.
Who should switch, and who should not
Consider AttendBeacon if:
- You run a community event, a meetup or a conference with an audience of your own.
- Fees per ticket add up, for your buyers or for you.
- You want ticket money in your own account from the first sale.
- Hosting in the EU matters to you or to your attendees.
Stay with Eventbrite if:
- Many of your buyers find your events on Eventbrite itself.
- You would rather not set up a payment account of your own.
- Your team relies on Eventbrite's ads or email tools.
Eventbrite is a trademark of its owner. AttendBeacon is independent of Eventbrite and is not affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by it.