Conference ticketing fees explained (2026 numbers)

How do conference ticketing platforms charge?

The model, not the headline number, decides what you pay. A 3.7 percent fee sounds smaller than $0.85 per ticket until you put a $299 conference ticket into both formulas. Percentage models are built for $25 gig tickets and become expensive the moment your prices look like business prices.

Caps are the detail people miss. Tito's 3 percent stops at about $27 a ticket, RegFox's fee stops at $4.99 on the Standard plan, and pretix stops at about $16.50. On a $599 ticket, RegFox's cap is the difference between $6.98 and $4.99 per registrant.

What does payment processing cost on top?

Where processing goes differs. Checkout Page uses the organizer's Stripe account. Tito, Ticket Tailor and pretix support organizer-controlled gateways. Luma also pays into the organizer's connected Stripe account. Humanitix can use its default gateway or a connected Stripe account, and RegFox supports Webconnex Payments plus third-party gateways. Check the exact configuration rather than inferring it from the platform name.

Eventbrite publishes 2.9 percent processing per order with no fixed component, which is slightly cheaper per order than a standard Stripe rate on a single ticket. That difference is small next to a $12.85 platform fee, but it is real, and it is a reason to compare total cost rather than one line.

Who pays the fee, you or the buyer?

Run the arithmetic on a $299 ticket sold through Eventbrite with its service fee passed on. The service fee alone adds $12.85, making $311.85 before Eventbrite's separate per-order processing charge and any taxes. The final checkout total depends on the order and event setup, so inspect a real test order rather than predicting it from the headline percentage.

Absorbing works the other way. Price the ticket with fees inside and the advertised number can match the checkout total. Whether that improves completion or expense approval is an assumption to test, not a result established by this site.

Unexpected fees at the final step can create avoidable surprise. If you pass a fee on, disclose it next to the ticket price and measure checkout completion. This site does not have evidence that one presentation always costs more conversions than another.

What do ticketing fees cost at three conference sizes?

300 tickets at $299 (a mid-size B2B conference)

The arithmetic behind the platform-fee rows: Eventbrite charges 3.7 percent of $299, which is $11.06, plus $1.79, so $12.85 per ticket and $3,855.90 across 300. Luma's 5 percent is $14.95 a ticket and $4,485 in total. The Humanitix row isolates its published US service component of 2.1 percent plus $0.99, or $7.27 a ticket and $2,180.70 before payment processing. Humanitix's US fee guide gives its default combined checkout fee as 5 percent plus $1.29 per paid ticket: $16.24 a ticket and $4,872 across 300. Ticket Tailor's flat $0.85 comes to $255 before processor fees.

Gross sales are $89,700. If they land evenly across three Checkout Page billing periods, each period is about $29,900 and Scale totals $717. If all sales land in one period, the applicable tier is $499 for that period. The $2,691 processing illustration assumes 300 payments at 2.9% plus $0.30; actual gateway rates and order counts differ.

Be honest about where a per-ticket fee still wins: Ticket Tailor's $255 beats $717 of Scale, because $0.85 a ticket is genuinely cheap at 300 tickets.

120 tickets at $75 (a one-day workshop or local summit)

Gross sales are $9,000. Eventbrite takes 3.7 percent of $75, which is $2.78, plus $1.79, so $4.57 a ticket and $547.80 in total. Luma's 5 percent is $3.75 a ticket and $450. Humanitix's service component is $2.57 a ticket and $307.80 before processing; its default combined US fee is $5.04 a ticket and $604.80. Tito's 3 percent is $2.25 and $270, pretix rounds its product fee to $1.88 and totals $225.60, RegFox is $1.74 and $208.80, and Ticket Tailor is $0.85 and $102.

If $9,000 lands evenly across two Checkout Page billing periods, each exceeds the $3,000 Free limit and Scale totals $198. Processing is about $297 only if there are 120 separate payments at the illustrative 2.9% plus $0.30 rate. Group orders or a different gateway rate change it.

1,000 tickets at $599 (a large annual conference)

Gross sales are $599,000, and this is where percentage models get expensive. Luma's 5 percent is $29.95 a ticket and $29,950. Eventbrite's service fee is about $23.95 a ticket and $23,953 before processing. Tito's 3 percent is $17.97, under its illustrative $27 cap, so $17,970. pretix rounds its product fee to $14.98 and totals $14,980. Humanitix's service component is $13.57 a ticket and about $13,569 before transaction-level rounding and processing; its default combined US fee rounds to $31.24 a ticket and totals $31,240. RegFox hits its $4.99 cap, so $4,990. Ticket Tailor is $850 before processor fees.

Checkout Page charges nothing per ticket. Spread the sales over at least four months and that is about $149,750 a month, which is Scale at $699 a month, or $2,796 in total. If the money lands faster than that, Unlimited at $9,990 a year covers any volume, which is still less than half Eventbrite's $23,953 on this single event.

Run your own numbers in the ticketing fee calculator, or read the side-by-side breakdowns on the comparison pages.

When is a per-ticket fee cheaper than a subscription?

Break-even depends on the exact comparison. Against Ticket Tailor's standard $0.85 rate, $99 equals about 117 tickets, though prepaid credits may be lower. Against Eventbrite's standard US service fee on a $75 ticket, $99 equals about 22 tickets. Checkout Page tiers depend on billing-period sales volume, so use both ticket count and sales timing.

Free events are the other case worth checking, and the answers vary. Eventbrite, Tito, Ticket Tailor, Humanitix and Luma list free events as free. RegFox charges $0.99 per registrant even when the registration is free, so a 500-person free community day costs $495. pretix gives you the first 500 free tickets a year, then about €0.50 each.

When does a flat monthly plan win?

Two details change the total. Nonprofits and educational organizations get 50 percent off paid plans, so the $99 Scale tier becomes $49.50. New accounts start with a seven-day Scale trial with no card required and up to $3,000 in trial sales. Confirm the current trial terms on the pricing page before relying on them.

One possible sequence is to build on Free, move to Launch when branding or tracking features are required, and use the applicable Scale tier as sales volume rises. Plan changes, billing periods and overage rules should be confirmed before launch; do not assume a higher tier applies only for a calendar month.

Which costs are not on the pricing page?

Payout timing. Eventbrite pays after the event by default, with scheduled pre-event payouts for eligible accounts. Humanitix can use its post-event default gateway or a connected Stripe account. Checkout Page, Luma, Tito, Ticket Tailor and pretix can route payments to an organizer-controlled processor. None guarantees a bank date; settlement, verification, reserves and the processor schedule still apply.

Refunds. Ask whether the platform fee is returned when you refund a ticket, and whether processing is. If neither comes back, a 5 percent refund rate on a $89,700 conference quietly costs you a few hundred dollars.

Currency conversion. International attendees paying in their own currency generate an FX spread somewhere. Check who charges it and at what rate, especially if you price in USD and sell into Europe.

Add-on plans. Luma pricing lists Plus at $69 month to month or $59 a month billed annually ($708 paid upfront), removing the 5 percent platform fee. A three-month campaign can therefore cost $207 month to month, while an organizer using Luma throughout the year may prefer the annual commitment. Eventbrite Pro email marketing starts at $15 a month. RegFox's Professional plan is $499 a month billed annually, and its Premium and Professional fee is $1.99 plus 1 percent capped at $5.99, higher than Standard's cap.

What should you ask a ticketing vendor before signing up?

Ask before you build the event, not after. Rebuilding tiers, registration questions and embeds two weeks out is the expensive part, not the fees.

Once the platform is settled, the number that matters most is your list price. How to price conference tickets works through it with examples, and conference ticket tiers covers how to stage those prices across the selling window.