Ticketing software
Most ticketing software looks the same on the sales page, and differs in the three places you only reach after you have committed.
Ticketing software is the category of event software used to sell entry, manage capacity and check attendees in. Products in it differ far less in what they can do than in how they charge, where the money lands first, and how much of your own data you can take with you if you leave.
The questions that matter
Start with the money. Event ticketing software is usually paid for per ticket sold, as a percentage, as a monthly amount, or as a mixture. Work out what your actual last season would have cost under each model rather than comparing headline rates.
Then ask where the money lands. Some platforms collect on your behalf and pay you afterwards, which means your takings sit with them between the sale and the payout. Others let the money go straight into your own account. That difference matters most in the weeks you most need the cash.
The questions people forget
Can you get your buyer list out again, in a form you can read, whenever you want? Software that makes leaving hard is telling you something about its confidence. Ask before you start, not when you are already three seasons in.
And what happens at the entrance without a network? A lot of ticketing software pricing looks fine until you realise the door needs a reliable connection you do not have. A hall with thick walls is a common and entirely predictable failure.
Tips for choosing ticketing software
Work the pricing model through against your own year: the number of events, the tickets per event and your average ticket price. Add what your payment provider charges, and any booking fee the buyer pays on top. Only then do you see what a ticketing system really costs you, and only then can you put two providers side by side fairly.
Then look at four practical points: does the money go straight into your own account, does scanning at the door work without a network, do the online shop and the box office sell from the same stock, and how long does the contract run? If you want to sell under your own name, also ask whether the sales page carries the provider's brand.
Where Passavo stands on this
The charge is a flat amount per month and nothing per ticket sold. There is a free ticketing software tier with a ceiling of paid tickets per event, so you can run a real event through it before deciding anything.
Payments run through your own provider account and arrive there directly. Your orders and tickets stay in your own account, and we never use your buyers' details for anyone else's events.
Also searched for as
- event ticketing software
- event software
- ticketing tools
- admission software
Common questions
Can we try it with a real event first?
Yes. The free plan carries a ceiling of paid tickets per event, which is enough for a genuine evening rather than a demonstration.
What happens to our data if we stop?
They stay yours. You can step back to the free plan at any time, your orders and tickets remain in your account, and nothing is used for anyone else.
What pricing models are there for ticketing software?
Three: an amount or a percentage per ticket sold, sometimes with a booking fee for the buyer; a subscription at a fixed amount per month; or a mix of the two. Paying per ticket works out cheaper when you sell little, a subscription once you sell regularly.
Can we use ticketing without the provider's brand name on it?
With Passavo our mention disappears from your paid events on the Pro plan, and from Growth you sell on a subdomain of your own name. A small mention stays on free events.