Eventbrite Fees in 2026: What Eventbrite Charges Per Ticket
Short answer: Eventbrite fees in the US are 3.7% + $1.79 per paid ticket, plus 2.9% + $0.30 payment processing. That is $3.41 in fees on a $20 ticket, $5.39 on a $50 ticket and $8.69 on a $100 ticket — roughly 17.1%, 10.8% and 8.7% of the ticket price. Below is the full fee breakdown by ticket price, a fee calculator, how the fees compare to self-hosted ticketing, and the answers to the questions organizers ask most.
Eventbrite fees at a glance (2026, US)
Two charges hit every paid ticket. Both come out of what the buyer pays:
| Fee | Rate | Who charges it |
|---|---|---|
| Service fee | 3.7% + $1.79 per paid ticket | Eventbrite (platform fee) |
| Payment processing | 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction | Payment gateway (Stripe / PayPal) |
| Free events | $0 — no fees | — |
| Who pays it | By default the attendee; can be passed to the organizer | — |
| Payout timing | Typically within 5 business days after the event | — |
The service fee is Eventbrite’s per-ticket charge. Processing is the standard cost of taking card payments — you pay something like it on any platform, including a self-hosted one. The platform fee on top is the part you avoid when you own your ticketing.
What Eventbrite costs per ticket: $20, $50, $100 worked out
| Ticket price | Service fee (3.7% + $1.79) | Processing (2.9% + $0.30) | Total fees | % of ticket | You receive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $20 | $2.53 | $0.88 | $3.41 | 17.1% | $16.59 |
| $50 | $3.64 | $1.75 | $5.39 | 10.8% | $44.61 |
| $100 | $5.49 | $3.20 | $8.69 | 8.7% | $91.31 |
Scale it to a real event: 500 tickets at $30 is $15,000 in sales, and roughly $2,035 a month in combined fees — about $24,400 a year. On cheaper, higher-volume tickets the percentage is worse, not better.
Eventbrite fee calculator
Use your own numbers — this is the same math as the tables above:
Total fees on this event: $2,035.00
Effective rate: 13.6%
Yearly (same volume every month): $24,420
How Eventbrite fees compare to self-hosted ticketing
“Free” and “paid” are the wrong way to compare ticketing costs — the right question is total cost over a year. Eventbrite’s cost is almost entirely variable: a per-ticket fee that grows with every ticket sold. Self-hosted ticketing (WordPress + WooCommerce, which is what Venuera is built on) flips that: costs are mostly fixed — hosting and optional add-ons — plus your payment gateway’s standard rate, with no per-ticket platform fee on top.
| Eventbrite | Self-hosted (Venuera) | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform fee | 3.7% + $1.79 / ticket | $0 — none |
| Processing | 2.9% + $0.30 | Your gateway rate (typ. 2.9% + $0.30) |
| Fixed cost | $0 | Hosting, a few hundred $/year |
| $30 × 500 tickets / mo | ≈ $2,035/mo | ≈ $585/mo processing + hosting |
| Yearly difference | ≈ $17,400 kept in this scenario | |
Self-hosting can be more expensive for a single tiny event, because its small fixed cost is paid whether you sell 5 tickets or 500. But the break-even comes fast: once you sell more than a few dozen paid tickets a month on an ongoing basis, the per-ticket fees overtake the fixed costs, and the gap widens every month after. Variable-heavy models punish success; fixed-heavy models reward it.
Money is not the whole picture. Self-hosting also returns things that never appear on an invoice: data ownership (every buyer in your own list, GDPR-handled), a branded checkout, and the full WooCommerce ecosystem of coupons, gateways and add-ons. The trade-off is that you handle discovery yourself — though built-in Schema.org Event markup helps your events rank in search.
Related: how the same fees play out across platforms in event ticketing fees compared, and what to move to in the best Eventbrite alternatives for WordPress.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Eventbrite charge per ticket?
In the US in 2026: a 3.7% + $1.79 service fee per paid ticket, plus 2.9% + $0.30 payment processing. On a $20 ticket that is about $3.41 combined, on a $50 ticket $5.39. Free events carry no fees.
Does Eventbrite charge fees for free events?
No. Events that are free to attend are free to list and run — Eventbrite charges only on paid tickets.
Who pays the Eventbrite service fee — the organizer or the attendee?
By default the attendee pays the fees on top of the ticket price, so the organizer’s revenue is untouched. Organizers can absorb the fees instead and list a single all-inclusive price — that changes who pays, not how much.
Is Eventbrite free?
It is free to create an event and free for free events. Any paid ticket carries the service fee plus processing, so “free” only holds until you sell something.
When is Eventbrite cheaper than self-hosting?
For a single very small event, Eventbrite’s zero fixed cost can win. Once you sell regularly, per-ticket fees overtake the fixed cost of self-hosting and the gap grows each month.
What does self-hosted ticketing actually cost?
Hosting (a few hundred dollars a year), your payment gateway’s standard processing rate, and any optional add-ons you choose. There is no per-ticket platform fee — that is the entire difference.
See what you’d keep: Venuera is a free, WooCommerce-first event ticketing system for WordPress. Build the event, design the ticket, sell through your own checkout and scan guests in at the door — no per-ticket fees, no third-party platform. Get the free core · Explore the add-ons.