Every ticketing platform leads with one friendly-looking number — "just 2%", "99¢ a ticket", "no fees for free events" — and then quietly stacks a second fee, a per-ticket charge, and a payment-processing cut on top of it. By the time the money reaches your bank account, the headline rate and the real rate are two different things. A ticketing fee calculator exists to close that gap: feed it your ticket price and it tells you what each platform actually keeps. This guide gives you the method behind the calculator, a verified snapshot of what the major platforms charge, and worked examples so you can run the numbers on your own event before you commit.
What a ticketing fee is actually made of
Before you can compare platforms, you need to know that a "ticketing fee" is almost never one number. On most platforms it is three:
- A service fee — the platform's own cut, usually a percentage of the ticket price plus a flat amount per ticket (for example, "2% + $0.99").
- A payment-processing fee — the card charge, often around 2.9% + $0.30, sometimes bundled into the service fee and sometimes billed separately.
- Optional add-ons — instant payouts, premium support tiers, or "boost" features that carry their own charges.
So the real cost of selling one ticket looks like this:
(service % × price) + service flat fee + (processing % × price) + processing flat fee
Two variables move that total more than anything else: the ticket price (flat fees hurt cheap tickets far more than expensive ones) and whether you absorb the fee or pass it on to the buyer. Any honest calculator has to account for both.
What each platform charges (verified July 2026)
The figures below were read from each platform's own public pricing page on 15 July 2026. Ticketing pricing changes often, and several of these companies revise their fees more than once a year, so treat this as a snapshot and re-verify before you rely on it. Where a platform bundles processing into its rate, that is noted.
- Eventbrite — a service fee of roughly 3.7% + $1.79 per ticket, plus about 2.9% payment processing, on paid tickets (observed July 2026).
- TicketSpice — about $0.99 per ticket plus payment processing around 2.99% + $0.30 (observed July 2026).
- SimpleTix — approximately $0.79 + 2% on its published paid-ticket pricing (observed July 2026).
- Ticket Tailor — a pay-as-you-go model at roughly $0.65 per ticket, with processing handled through your own Stripe or PayPal account (observed July 2026).
- TicketLeap — around $1.00 + 2% service, plus about 3% processing (observed July 2026).
- Universe — about 2% + $0.99 per ticket, plus processing (observed July 2026).
- Stripe — the underlying card rate many platforms pass straight through, commonly 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (observed July 2026).
These are the numbers, not a ranking — because which one is cheapest depends entirely on your ticket price, as the next section shows.
Everlage sits in a different column of the spreadsheet. Instead of taking a percentage of every ticket, it runs on a flat subscription with no per-ticket commission — you still pay your payment processor's standard card fee, but Everlage does not add its own cut on top of each sale. Whether that works out cheaper than a per-ticket platform depends on how many tickets you sell; you can see the current subscription pricing on the Everlage pricing page and drop it straight into the math below.
Worked examples: a $20 ticket and a $50 ticket
Fees stay abstract until you attach them to a real ticket price. Here are two, using round hypothetical numbers and the observed July 2026 rates above.
A $20 ticket
On a percentage-plus-flat platform, the flat fee does the damage. Take Eventbrite's observed structure: 3.7% of $20 is $0.74, plus the $1.79 per-ticket fee, plus roughly 2.9% processing ($0.58) — about $3.11, or 15.5% of a $20 ticket. The same $1.79 flat fee that barely registers on a concert ticket is nearly a fifth of the price on a cheap community event.
A $50 ticket
Now the percentage matters more than the flat fee. That same structure on a $50 ticket is 3.7% ($1.85) + $1.79 + 2.9% ($1.45) — about $5.09, or roughly 10% of the ticket. The dollar cost went up, but the rate fell, because the flat fee is now spread across a bigger number.
This is the single most important insight a fee calculator gives you: flat per-ticket fees punish low-priced tickets, and percentage fees punish high-priced ones. A platform that looks cheapest for a $75 workshop can be the most expensive option for a $10 community fundraiser. Always run the math at your price, not the platform's example price.
Absorb the fee or pass it on?
Every platform lets you decide who sees the fee. Absorbing means the buyer pays the round number on the ticket ($20) and the fee comes out of your revenue. Passing it on means the buyer pays $20 plus the fee ($23.11) and you keep the full face value. The fee itself is identical — what changes is your headline price and your net.
Passing fees on protects your margin but can dent conversion when the total jumps at checkout; absorbing keeps the price clean but quietly lowers what you take home. There is no universal right answer, and it is worth its own decision framework — we walk through it in absorb or pass on ticket fees. For calculator purposes, just remember that the "who pays" toggle never changes the fee, only where it lands.
Methodology and sources
Every figure in this article was observed on a single day — 15 July 2026 — by reading each platform's publicly listed pricing. We did not use any private rate cards, and we hold no volume, difficulty, or traffic estimates for these terms; the goal here is fee accuracy, not market sizing. Because ticketing companies change pricing frequently, we date every figure and recommend re-checking the source page before you make a decision on it.
In the interest of full disclosure: Everlage is our own platform, and we have included it above rather than pretending to be a neutral third party. We have described its model — flat subscription, no per-ticket commission — without quoting a competitor's exact number for it, and we have linked every competitor claim to the place we read it: the company's own pricing page. For a deeper breakdown of one platform's structure, our pillar guide Eventbrite fees explained does the full math, and the cheapest ways to sell tickets online ranks the options by scenario.
FAQ
Which ticketing platform has the lowest fees?
There is no single answer — it depends on your ticket price. Flat-per-ticket platforms are cheapest for higher-priced tickets, while low-percentage platforms win on cheap tickets. Run your actual price through the formula above before deciding.
Are ticketing fees paid by the organizer or the attendee?
Either, depending on how you configure the event. Most platforms let you absorb the fee (you pay it) or pass it on (the buyer pays it at checkout). The fee amount is the same; only who sees it changes.
Do free tickets have fees?
Usually not a service fee — most platforms are free for free events. But if you collect any payment, even a donation, payment-processing fees still apply. Always confirm on the platform's current pricing page.
Is a flat subscription cheaper than per-ticket fees?
It can be, once you sell enough tickets. A per-ticket fee grows with every sale; a flat subscription does not. The break-even point depends on your volume and price — divide the subscription cost by your per-ticket saving to find how many tickets you need to sell to come out ahead. Everlage's pricing page has the current subscription figure to run that comparison.
A fee calculator is really just a habit: before you pick a platform, do the same arithmetic for each one at your real ticket price, with your real volume, and with your absorb-or-pass-on choice locked in. Do that, and the "cheapest" platform stops being a marketing claim and becomes a number you can defend. When you are ready to compare a flat, commission-free model against the per-ticket platforms above, see Everlage's pricing and run your event through the math.
