How much does event ticketing software actually cost?.

Percentage fees. The platform takes a cut of every ticket, often with a fixed amount added on. The fee grows with your ticket price, so a $60 ticket costs you twice as much as a $30 one even though the platform did the same work. Percentage models are common on large marketplaces that also promote events to their own audience.

Flat per-ticket fees. One fixed amount per paid ticket, whatever the price. Your cost is easy to predict: tickets sold times the fee. It works out cheaper as your ticket price goes up, and relatively expensive on very cheap tickets.

Subscriptions. A monthly or yearly charge, sometimes with lower per-ticket fees on top. These suit venues running events every week. For someone putting on four shows a year, you pay in the quiet months too.

Card processing is charged by the payment processor on every card payment, on top of any platform fee. It is usually a percentage plus a fixed amount per payment, and the rate depends on your country and the buyer’s card. Some platforms bundle it into their own fee, which makes comparison harder. Always check whether a quoted fee includes processing.

Then decide who carries the cost. Most platforms let you either absorb fees (the buyer sees one clean price and you take home a little less) or pass them on (the buyer sees the ticket price plus a fee at checkout). Passing fees on protects your margin, but a surprise charge at checkout is one of the more common reasons people abandon a purchase. If you pass fees on, show them early.

Here is a US example with round numbers. You sell 300 tickets at $40, which is $12,000 in ticket sales. Buyers average two tickets per order, so that’s 150 card payments.

Platform A, 5% per ticket: $2 per ticket, or $600 in total.

Platform B, flat $0.99 per ticket: $297 in total.

Card processing applies either way. At a US rate of about 2.9% + 30¢ per payment, that’s roughly $348 plus $45, around $393. So your all-in cost is about $993 on the percentage platform and $690 on the flat one.

The gap depends on price. At $20 a ticket, 5% is $1, about the same as the flat fee. At $10, the percentage model is cheaper. If most of your tickets sell for under $20, run these numbers before switching anywhere, including to us.

Hardware. Some systems expect dedicated scanners, card readers or ticket printers, bought or rented. Check whether staff can scan from ordinary phones.

Payout timing.Money that sits with a platform until weeks after your event is money you can’t spend on the venue deposit or the headliner. Ask when you get paid and whether the platform holds buyer funds in its own account.

Refunds.Find out whether the platform fee comes back when you refund a ticket. Often it doesn’t, and that’s true of ours too.

Paid tiers for basics. Exports of your own customer list, extra team logins or custom branding are sometimes locked behind a higher plan.

Jamrats charges a flat $0.99 per paid ticket, in your local currency. Events with a total capacity of 200 or fewer pay 50¢ per paid ticket instead. There is no monthly fee, no setup fee and no percentage.

Card processing is Stripe’s standard rate for your country, deducted from each sale, and we don’t mark it up. You choose who pays the Jamrats fee for each ticket type. By default you absorb it, so buyers see one price, and you can switch any ticket type to pass it on.

Staff check people in with the Jamrats Organizer app or a browser on any phone, so there’s no hardware to buy. Money goes straight to your own Stripe account. By default you’re paid 3 business days after your event, and faster schedules are available once approved. The full breakdown is on our fees page.