Meetup Alternatives: 6 Event Ticketing Apps to Maximize Ticket Sales

As event organizers, we face many challenges in hosting successful events and maximizing ticket sales. From event promotion and attendee management to ticketing and payment options, there are so many moving parts to keep track of. And while Meetup may have been a go-to platform in the past, it can often leave us feeling limited and frustrated.

That’s why in this article, we’ll be exploring six event ticketing apps that can help maximize ticket sales for your events.

Whether you’re looking to streamline your ticketing process, or you need a robust event ticketing solution, these Meetup alternatives are worth checking out.

Top Meetup Alternatives

What is Meetup?

Meetup is an online platform that facilitates face-to-face meetings for people with similar interests. It offers members the opportunity to connect with others in their area who share the same interests, from book clubs and hiking groups to workshops and seminars. 

With Meetup, members can create and join groups, sign up for events, or even organize their own meetups. 

It provides an online discussion forum and calendar, so members can stay up-to-date with what’s happening in their community. Meetup tries to bridge the gap between online and offline socializing and make it easier for people to meet in person.

Features of Meetup

• Group-based: Event organizers can create and manage their own groups on Meetup, where members can RSVP and attend events. This feature is useful for building a community of attendees with similar interests.

• Attendee tracking: Meetup allows event planners to track attendance by seeing who has RSVP’d to their events and manage the guest list accordingly. Meetup’s platform is designed to make attendee tracking super easy as it is designed to be a community-building platform.

• Advertising: Event organizers can promote their events to members of their group as well as to the wider Meetup community, increasing visibility and attracting more attendees.

• Payment options: Event organizers can collect payment for their events through PayPal on Meetup, managing the financial aspect of their event.

• Communication: Meetup provides various communication tools such as messaging and emailing, allowing event organizers to communicate effectively with attendees.

• Performance monitoring: Meetup provides analytics for event organizers to track the performance of their events, such as RSVPs, attendance, and feedback, allowing them to measure the success of their events and improve for future events.

• Mobile access: Meetup provides a mobile app for both iOS and Android, allowing event organizers to manage their events and communicate with attendees on the go.

But Meetup was not designed for event ticketing.

Meetup’s founders created a platform for networking and community-building in real life. But, with the addition of paid group memberships, Meetup found its way into the event ticketing space.

So Meetup could absolutely work for your ticketing needs.

But once you’re hosting events where Meetup’s limitations like lack of seat booking, tiered ticket pricing, and more, become a hindrance, you need an alternative.

So, let’s look at the more robust Meetup alternatives that you should consider for selling your event tickets.

Top Meetup Alternatives of 2023

While Meetup offers a great set of features for building communities, it lacks the efficiency and feature set required for full-fledged event ticketing.

That’s why we’ve shortlisted six popular event ticketing apps for you to pick from. Most tools have a free option so you can try them before finalizing one.

1. Evey Events

Are you tired of using event ticketing apps that strip you of control and ownership of your events? Say hello to Evey, the app that puts you in the driver’s seat.

Unlike other apps, Evey doesn’t host your event on another platform or use your customer data for marketing. It simply makes selling tickets a breeze.

With Evey, your event is accessible right from your Shopify dashboard, giving you complete control over your data. Evey runs on top of the Shopify page editor, allowing you to design your event pages exactly as you envision them, while still maintaining your brand’s unique look and feel.

Customizing your tickets has never been easier. With Evey, you can match your tickets to your brand, create different ticket types such as seated, tiered, or multi-day events and issue tickets in various formats like PDF, Apple Wallet Pass, or calendar tickets.

Evey also makes it easy to keep your attendees informed. With the ability to send custom messages via email and SMS, you can stay connected with your attendees without ever leaving Shopify.

And if you’re already using other apps like Klaviyo, MailChimp, Zoom, and Shopify POS to market, host, and sell event tickets, don’t worry. Evey seamlessly integrates with all of them, making your life even easier.

Features of Evey

• Fully customizable tickets: Create a variety of ticket types for your events – from seated, tiered, and multi-day events, to virtual events and more. This level of customization will make your events stand out and give your attendees a unique experience.

• Ticket delivery methods: Deliver tickets in multiple formats—PDF, Apple Wallet Pass, or calendar tickets—giving you the flexibility to choose the best option for your event. Plus, you can also send custom messages to your attendees via email or SMS.

• Integration with other tools: Integrates with other apps like Klaviyo, MailChimp, Zoom, and Shopify POS. Imagine having all the data and information from different platforms in one place, it’s like a dream come true.

• Attendee Management: Evey’s dashboard allows you to manage sales, attendees, and check-ins with ease. Plus, you can use its mobile apps for check-in, making it a breeze for you and your attendees.

• Top-Notch Customization Tools: Evey’s customization tools are top-notch, giving you complete control over how your tickets look and how your events are presented. It’s like having a personal designer in your pocket, you can make your events look as good as they feel.

Evey pricing plans

Evey offers three pricing plans—Lite, Standard, and Professional.

Get started with selling more event tickets right from your Shopify store. Try Evey today!

2. Eventbrite

Eventbrite is a popular online platform that offers a comprehensive solution for event organizers to plan, promote, and manage their events. With its user-friendly interface and robust set of features, Eventbrite has become a go-to option for many event organizers who are looking for an alternative to Meetup.

Eventbrite provides organizers with the tools they need to create and share their events, manage tickets and registration, and even analyze event performance to make informed decisions for future events. Whether you’re organizing a small gathering or a large conference, Eventbrite is an excellent option to consider.

Features of Eventbrite

• Flexible Ticket Types: Eventbrite offers a range of ticket types, including free, paid, and donation-based options, that can be tailored to the specific needs of your event. This allows you to offer different options for in-person or online events, and to set up different ticket prices for early bird, standard, or VIP options.

• Unlimited Listings in Marketplace: With Eventbrite, you can list an unlimited number of events on the platform. This means that you can create multiple event pages and promote them all through Eventbrite’s marketplace, reaching a wider audience and increasing the visibility of your events.

• Integrated Email and Social Media Marketing Tools: It offers integrations with email and social media marketing tools, allowing you to easily promote your events to your existing audience, as well as reach new attendees. This feature helps you to quickly share your event on social media, send email invitations, and create targeted marketing campaigns to reach your desired audience.

• Seamless Attendee Checkout Experience: Eventbrite offers a smooth and streamlined checkout experience for attendees. This feature allows for easy ticket purchase and registration, making the process of buying a ticket, less complicated and more enjoyable for the attendee.

• Payouts Before Your Event Happens: If you use Eventbrite Payment Processing, you can receive payouts before your event happens, giving you access to the funds you need to plan and execute your event.

• Detailed Analytics and Reporting: Detailed analytics and reporting allow you to track attendance, ticket sales, and other key metrics for your event. This feature gives you the ability to see how your event is performing and make data-driven decisions, as well as to understand your audience and improve your event’s performance over time.

Eventbrite pricing

Eventbrite charges a fee per ticket along with the payment processing charges. 

If the ticket is free of cost, Eventbrite will not charge any fees. You can also choose to absorb the fees or pass it on to your customers. This may increase the per-ticket cost for your customers while giving you the full revenue you expect.  

Let’s take an example of a $10 event ticket sold on Eventbrite. We’ll absorb the fees to understand the total amount. 

If you sell 100 tickets for this event, the expected revenue is $1,000. 

After the Eventbrite fees, the amount would go down to $876. This comes to $124 in Eventbrite fees.

However, these lower fees are for the Essentials package as you see in the above screenshot. If you go for the lower, Professional package, the fees are even higher at $219.

This is excluding the taxes and payment processing fees you will be charged on your sales. As you sell tickets for higher-priced events, the percentage fee eats up into your total revenue.

If you’re considering Eventbrite for your event ticketing needs, be sure to check out Evey Events as well. Our comparison between Eventbrite vs Evey will help you weigh the pros and cons of each platform and determine which one is the best fit for your specific event.

3. Eventbee

Eventbee is an event management and ticketing platform designed to help event organizers create, launch and manage their events. It offers a suite of tools to build an event page, sell tickets, manage registrations and collect payments. It also provides a custom event page builder, industry-leading ticketing and registration options, analytics and reporting, and mobile check-in capabilities. 

Eventbee is designed to make event production easier, faster, and more efficient while providing a secure and reliable platform to ensure a successful event. It is used by event organizers of all sizes, from small local events to large-scale corporate events.

Features of Eventbee

• High level of customization: Offers a fully customizable event page that allows users to modify the page as per their preferences or branding style guidelines. It also allows HTML and CSS styling on the page to give you granular control over the design, ensuring that the event page aligns with the user’s branding and style guidelines.

• Comprehensive attendee management: Provides tools for tracking and managing attendees, including sorting and collecting information, such as emails and phone numbers. Additionally, it offers a Real-time Check-in Android App to scan tickets at the door, ensuring smooth event check-ins.

• Strict data privacy: Has a strict data privacy policy, which ensures that there is no cross-marketing or sharing of attendee information. Users can trust that their attendee information will be kept safe and secure.

• User-friendly ticketing and registration: Provides a user-friendly platform for creating customizable event pages and selling tickets, as well as handling payments, processing, ticket handling, and attendee tracking. This makes it easy for event organizers to manage all aspects of their event from one central location.

• Limited integration options: This does not offer integration with other services, which may be a limitation for some event planners.

• No built-in marketing and promotion features: Does not offer any built-in social media promotion features, so event organizers may need to take on the task of marketing their event on their own. However, this allows for more flexibility in terms of the marketing strategy.

Eventbee Pricing

Eventbee offers flat fee pricing that’s much better than Eventbrite. 

Irrespective of the price of the ticket, you get charged a maximum of up to $3.5/ticket depending on the pricing tier you’re in.

So if you sell 3200 tickets with Eventbee, you’ll save over $13,000 compared to Eventbrite. If you’re concerned about the pricing of Eventbrite, Eventbee can be a solid choice. 

Eventbee is another event ticketing platform that’s worth considering along with Eventbrite. Check out our comparison article Eventbrite vs Eventbee to see how these two platforms compare in terms of features, pricing, and more.

4. RSVPify

RSVPify is an innovative event management platform that combines the convenience of digital RSVPs with the power of custom event management. With RSVPify, you can easily create a custom event website, design email invitations, track guest RSVPs, and manage seating and meal preferences. You can easily keep track of RSVPs and guest lists, send automated reminders, and more. 

RSVPify also allows you to easily collect payments for events, create custom forms and surveys, and manage seating arrangements. Whether you’re hosting a birthday party, a wedding, a corporate event, or any other type of event, RSVPify has the tools you need to make it run smoothly.

Features of RSVPify

• Event Creation: The event creation process with RSVPify is designed to be simple and straightforward. You can create a professional and customized event page in minutes, with the ability to upload images, add descriptions, and choose a ticketing option for your event. The platform is geared more toward RSVP tracking than customizability, but it still offers a user-friendly interface for creating and managing events.

• Attendee Management: RSVPify’s attendee management system is geared more towards tracking RSVPs than collecting detailed information from guests. You can add attendees manually or import them from a CSV file and see at a glance which guests have RSVP’d yes, no, or maybe. This makes it easy to keep track of who is attending your event, but it may not be suitable for events that require a lot of detailed information about guests.

• Event Calendar: RSVPify has a native event calendar that allows invited guests to choose the dates for appointment-based events. It’s a great feature that allows you to keep track of all your events, and it’s particularly useful if you’re hosting multiple events and need to stay organized.

• Email Interaction: RSVPify offers a great way to interact with previous contacts through email, it allows you to import contact lists using a CSV or Excel file for external contacts. This feature makes it easy to invite guests and keep track of their RSVPs.

• Automated Reminders: RSVPify has an automated reminder feature that helps you send out emails to your invited guests. This feature is especially useful for events that require guests to RSVP, as it helps you keep track of who’s coming and who’s not.

• Customizable Event Page: RSVPify helps you design a page on its website that’s dedicated to your event. The marketing messaging, theme, layout, and colors can be fully customized to stand out and be memorable. This feature is great for event planners who want to create a unique and professional event page that reflects their brand.

• Analytics: RSVPify offers interactive dashboards with beautiful analytics that are easy to use for even first-time users. The analytics reports have a modern feel and are pleasant to browse through. This feature is great for event planners who want to keep track of the performance of their events and make data-driven decisions.

• Fast payout: Unlike other event ticketing tools, RSVPify has one of the fastest payouts in the industry. Event organizers can get payouts 

Also check: RSVPify Alternatives: The 6 Best Apps for Event Ticketing

RSVPify pricing

• Personal Use: This plan is designed for individuals and small groups who want to use RSVPify for life’s celebrations such as weddings, birthdays, bar and bat mitzvahs, showers, and graduations. It starts at $19/month.

• Business & Nonprofit: This plan is designed for businesses and nonprofits who want to use RSVPify for events such as galas and fundraisers, meetings, small conferences, launch events, holiday parties, shows and performances, and reunions. It starts at $39/per month. Nonprofits may be eligible for discounts on premium plans.

• Enterprise: This plan is designed for large-scale events such as marquee events, conferences, teams and agencies, and large-scale events. It starts at $5,988/year and offers users the full suite of powerful tools with RSVPify.

Wondering how RSVPify stacks up against Eventbrite? Our article Eventbrite vs RSVPify: Which platform is right for your event? will help you compare the two platforms and decide which one is the best fit for your event needs.

5. Ticketmaster

Ticketmaster is one of the most popular event ticketing platforms used by event planners and venues around the world. It provides a comprehensive ticketing solution with features like easy ticket purchasing, secure payment processing, detailed reporting, and more. With Ticketmaster, you can easily manage the entire ticketing process from start to finish. 

For event planners, Ticketmaster offers a range of features that make it easier to host and manage events. It makes ticket sales and distribution easier with streamlined ticketing processes, customizable ticket types, and advanced ticketing options. 

Plus, its built-in analytics and reporting tools provide real-time insights into event performance, so you can get an up-to-date view of their ticket sales and make data-driven decisions. Ticketmaster also offers robust security features, such as secure payment processing, to protect event planners and their guests. 

Features of Ticketmaster

• Seat Mapping & Scaling: With Ticketmaster, you can easily configure and save your venue configurations and frequently used price levels into template events for easy reuse. This allows you to hit the ground running for all future builds and events, and instantly get a visualization of the potential revenue generated from allocating values to your price levels.

• Holds: Ticketmaster helps reduce the risk of errors by allowing you to easily add production and promoter holds and kills to event templates. If a hold needs to be modified after creating the event, Ticketmaster enables you to update on the fly.

• Offers: Ticketmaster allows you to easily create custom offers and presales or build them from self-service templates. You can also streamline all future events by configuring offers ahead of time in a template.

• Guaranteed Real Tickets: Ticketmaster guarantees that all tickets, whether standard or resale, are real and accounted for so that you can get into your event.

• Transparent Ticketing: Ticketmaster will always let you know which available seats are standard and which are resale, and if they aren’t the official ticketing partner for an event, they’ll tell you who is.

• Reliable Refunds: Ticketmaster ensures that the seats you buy are the seats you get. If they aren’t or if your event is canceled, you can get your money back.

Are you torn between using Ticketmaster or Eventbrite for your event ticketing? Check out our comparison article Eventbrite vs Ticketmaster: What’s the difference? to learn about the key differences and similarities between the two platforms and make an informed decision.

Ticketmaster pricing

Ticketmaster’s pricing structure is only visible while you’re on the final page for selling your tickets. However, it’s a known fact that Ticketmaster charges an extremely high fee along with some added demand-based pricing features.

This can lead to customers paying much higher costs for the ticket while the event organizer does not greatly benefit from these raised costs. 

While both platforms have high per-ticket fees, Eventbrite costs are lower overall.

Looking for a ticketing platform with lower per-ticket fees? Evey can be a perfect choice. 

6. Ticketbud

Ticketbud is a ticketing platform that makes it easy for anyone to create, promote, and sell tickets to their event. With Ticketbud, you can easily manage your event, customize your ticketing page, and even check in guests using their mobile phones.

It offers features such as ticket types, discounts, access control, event pages, and more. Ticketbud also offers a suite of features that make it easy to run your event, including the ability to track sales and attendance, manage ticket types, and customize email confirmations.

The platform is easy to use and can be integrated with a variety of payment processors, including PayPal and Stripe. TicketBud also supports mobile ticketing and has numerous marketing tools to help event organizers promote their events. Its low service fees make it an attractive option for event organizers who are looking for a reliable and cost-effective ticketing solution.

Features of Ticketbud

• White Label Solution: Ticketbud offers a white label solution that allows customers to customize the entire customer experience through checkout for their own brand. This includes a setup fee, and ensures a seamless and personalized ticketing experience.

• Payment Processing: With this event ticketing platform, customers have the flexibility for faster payouts, international currencies, and mobile Point of Sale. It also integrates with leading payment processing solutions like Salesforce, Event Protection, and Zapier. 

• Point-of-Sale and Offline Sales: Its Point of Sale hardware solution allows customers to accept payments at the door. This includes processing all major credit cards in seconds, as well as managing all data through Ticketbud’s reporting. Customers also have access to a mobile Point of Sale solution that collects the full face value of the ticketing with no merchant processing fees. 

• Flexible Payment Terms: Ticketbud is the only event ticketing platform that offers daily, weekly and monthly payouts. This means customers don’t have to wait until after their event ends to get paid. 

• Audience Segmentation and Link Tracking: This platform provides customers with powerful link tracking that allows them to build custom URLs to track the efficiency of their ads, partnerships, paid media and other promotional channels. Customers can also analyze their event page traffic using Google Analytics integration or implement their own third party tracking solution. 

• Promotion Tools: Ticketbud offers a Facebook Pixel integration which allows customers to build and promote their event using the largest social platform in the world. It also allows customers to build a look-alike audience for their event with just a few clicks. 

• Reporting: This platform provides customers with robust reporting features to measure the performance of their marketing campaigns and ticket sales. 

Ticketbud Pricing

• Free tickets: No fees for organizers or attendees

• Paid tickets: 2% + 0.99c fee per ticket sold along with 2.9% for transaction and payment processing.

To put this in perspective, if you sell 100 tickets at $47 each, you’ll have to either absorb or pass on $3.14 in ticketing fees.

If you choose to pass on the fees to customers, you will not pay additional fees with Ticketbud and pocket the full amount. 

But if you choose to absorb the fees, you’ll earn $4386 instead of $4700.

Explore the pros and cons of Eventbrite and Ticketbud with our in-depth comparison article. Discover which platform offers the features you need to make your next event a success.

Take your event ticketing to the next level

Event ticketing tools are essential for event planners to streamline their processes and improve customer experience. From custom ticket types and delivery methods to attendee management and integrations, each platform offers a unique set of features to help you plan and execute a memorable event. 

Evey Events, Eventbee, and RSVPify are some of the best Meetup alternatives available in the market and are worth considering for your next event. Remember to evaluate your event needs and budget before making a final decision, and always test out the platform with a free trial before committing. 

Get started with selling more event tickets right from your Shopify store. Try Evey today!

You’re now all set to take your events to the next level with a Meetup alternative that fits your needs just right. Happy Event Planning!