Conference registration comes down to four questions: what a high-priced delegate ticket costs in fees, what you can ask at registration, how the data reaches your other systems, and when you get the money for venue deposits. These are the platforms conference organizers shortlist, with each one's published fee and what it is good at.
Fees and features from each platform's own pricing pages, checked September 2026. We make Hi.Events, so it is listed first and labelled. Every figure for the others is sourced on its comparison page.
Registration questions per ticket type, invoices with your own numbering plus offline payment for bank transfers, speakers and an agenda by room on the event page, a REST API and webhooks, team access limited per event, single sign-on on request, and card payments in your own Stripe account as tickets sell.
Worth knowing: Delegates cannot book individual sessions from the agenda, and there is no call for papers, abstract review or badge printing inside the product. Check-in runs in a phone browser rather than a native app.
Used mainly for technology and B2B conferences, with an embeddable widget you can style with your own CSS, a read and write API, and a 3% fee capped at €25 a ticket.
Worth knowing: Fees cannot be passed on to buyers.
Popular for meetups and tech events, with a free plan at 5% on paid tickets, a subscription that removes the fee, and guest messaging by email, SMS and WhatsApp.
Worth knowing: Fees cannot be passed to the buyer.
A large consumer marketplace, a broad feature set with custom questions, a public API and webhooks, and a free organizer check-in app.
Worth knowing: Payouts arrive after the event by default.
Open source from Germany and used by conferences, with a hosted fee of 2.5% capped at €15 a ticket, more than 40 payment providers and an API.
Worth knowing: Hosted pricing is published in EUR only.
A service fee capped per ticket in the US and UK, with add-ons and custom questions on the entry plan, and a GraphQL API and webhooks.
Worth knowing: Funds are released 48 hours after the event on Universe Payments, then withdrawn on request.
A not-for-profit platform with every feature on every plan and lower rates for charities, not-for-profits and schools.
Worth knowing: Payouts arrive after the event on the default gateway.
Published standard fees, cheapest first on a $400 ticket once card processing is counted.
| Platform | Published fee | Card processing | All-in on $400 | When you're paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hi.Events | 1.25% + $0.60 | Charged on top | $17.50 | As tickets sell, on your own Stripe payout schedule |
| Universe | 2% + $0.79 | Charged on top | $20.79 | After the event with Universe Payments, 48 hours after it ends; on your Stripe schedule with Stripe Connect |
| Humanitix | 2.1% + $0.99 | Charged on top | $21.29 | After the event, within about five business days; earlier by request or with your own Stripe account |
| pretix | 2.5% (max $16.30)* | Charged on top | $21.90 | As tickets sell, directly into your own payment provider or bank account |
| Tito | 3% | Charged on top | $23.90 | As tickets sell, into your own Stripe or PayPal account |
| Eventbrite | 3.7% + $1.79 | Charged on top | $28.19 | After the event by default, sent three business days after it ends |
| Luma | 5% | Charged on top | $31.90 | As tickets sell, on your own Stripe payout schedule |
Standard published rates, excluding negotiated, nonprofit and subscription pricing. Where card processing is charged on top, the all-in figure adds the platform's own stated rate or a standard 2.9% + $0.30. * No published rate in this currency. Converted from the platform's published rate at approximate exchange rates (1 USD ≈ €0.92, £0.78 and A$1.55); the vendor may price differently, or not sell, in this currency.
The features that tend to decide it for this kind of event, platform by platform.
| Platform | Pass fees on to buyers | Embed checkout on your site | QR check-in app | Custom checkout questions | Agenda or lineup on the event page | API and webhooks | Single sign-on (SSO) for your team |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hi.Events | Yes | Yes | Yes, in any phone browser | Yes | Lineup and agenda by room | REST API and webhooks | OIDC, on request (no SAML) |
| Tito | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Schedule via Activities, session choice in beta | Yes | Not stated |
| Luma | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | On Luma Plus only | OIDC, Enterprise plan only (no SAML) |
| Eventbrite | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Agenda and lineup sections | Yes | Not stated |
| pretix | Payment provider fees only | Yes | Yes, pretixSCAN | Yes | Not stated | Yes | Self-hosted only, via an auth plugin |
| Universe | Yes, except in eight European countries | Yes | Yes, BoxOffice | Yes | Not stated | GraphQL API and webhooks | Not stated |
| Humanitix | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Agenda and lineup sections | Read-only API; no webhooks documented | Not stated |
Shortlists for other kinds of event
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