7 Platforms: The Best Way to Sell Tickets Online in 2025

Running an event is hard work. Selling tickets shouldn’t be. Too many organizers get bogged down by complex platforms, wrestling with hidden fees, and losing control of their brand on crowded marketplaces. The default is often a platform like Eventbrite, but that means handing over your customer relationships and valuable data to a third party. We think there’s a better way. This guide skips the generic advice and shows you how to find the best way to sell tickets online, focusing on strategies that put you in control.

You’ll learn how to set up your own online box office—a dedicated page that lists your events and integrates a seamless checkout flow. This approach gives you direct ownership of your brand and customer data, a huge advantage over being just another listing in a marketplace. We'll also demystify payment processing and explain why a tool like Stripe Connect is the best choice for small businesses to accept payments directly and securely, without the typical hassle or delays.

This is a no-fluff, practical guide to help you sell out your next event, maximize revenue, and build an independent ticketing operation. Let's get started.

1. Why You Need Your Own Digital Box Office (Not Just a Marketplace Listing)

Before picking a platform, you need to decide where your customers will buy tickets. The default choice for many is a big marketplace like Eventbrite, chasing its built-in audience. For small and medium-sized events, this is often a strategic mistake. The single best way to sell tickets is by establishing your own branded digital box office.

Think of it as renting a stall at a noisy flea market versus opening your own boutique shop. A marketplace like Eventbrite lists your event right next to your direct competitors, strips away your branding, and imposes its fee structure. You're just a temporary tenant on their property.

A dedicated digital box office, on the other hand, is a space you control entirely. It’s a page on your website (or a custom-branded page from a white-label ticketing service) that lists only your events. It becomes your permanent home online.

The Power of Full Ownership

Operating your own box office gives you complete control over the entire customer experience. You own the branding, the messaging, and the crucial attendee data.

• Your Brand, Front and Center: From the first ad to the final checkout confirmation, the experience is yours. No third-party logos, no distracting links to other events.

• Direct Customer Relationships: When attendees buy from you directly, you get their email addresses. This data is gold. You can build a loyal community and announce future events to people who already trust you. On a marketplace, that relationship belongs to the platform.

• No Competitive Distractions: On a marketplace, a potential buyer is one click away from a dozen similar—and possibly cheaper—events. Your own box office keeps their focus squarely on you.

Key Insight: A marketplace rents you an audience; your own box office helps you build one. The long-term value of a direct customer relationship far outweighs the short-term exposure of a crowded listing.

The Financial Advantage: Getting Paid Now

A huge benefit of the direct approach is controlling your money. Instead of waiting for a platform's payout schedule, you get paid as you sell tickets. This is usually handled by a payment processor, and for small businesses, Stripe Connect is the gold standard.

Stripe Connect is a product that lets a software platform (like Ticketsmith or Ticket Tailor) process payments on your behalf while sending the funds directly into your own Stripe account and then to your bank. You don't need to be a developer to use it; the ticketing software handles the integration. The result? You get paid as tickets sell, not weeks after your event ends. This dramatically improves cash flow, letting you pay for venue deposits and marketing with revenue you've already earned. It’s the secure, professional, and financially smart way to operate.

2. Eventbrite

For organizers seeking a powerful, all-in-one platform with a built-in discovery network, Eventbrite remains a dominant force in the ticketing world. It’s an end-to-end solution designed to handle everything from event creation and promotion to onsite check-in and post-event analytics. Unlike a white-label service, Eventbrite is a marketplace, meaning it offers the significant advantage of putting your public events in front of a massive, built-in audience actively searching for things to do.

Think of it as setting up a pop-up shop in a bustling, high-traffic shopping mall. While you trade some brand control for visibility, the potential for new customer discovery is immense. This makes it an especially compelling option for public-facing events like concerts, festivals, workshops, and community gatherings where reaching a broad, local audience is a top priority.

The Power of a Mature Ecosystem

Eventbrite's strength lies in its comprehensive feature set and mature ecosystem. The platform has refined its tools over many years to address nearly every aspect of the event lifecycle, providing a reliable and streamlined experience for both organizers and attendees.

• Audience & Discovery: Your event is listed on Eventbrite's consumer app and website, making it discoverable to millions of users. This organic reach can be a powerful marketing channel on its own.

• Integrated Marketing Tools: The platform includes built-in email marketing capabilities and integrations for social media advertising, such as Eventbrite Ads, which help you target potential attendees on platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

• Robust Onsite Management: The Eventbrite Organizer app is a reliable tool for mobile ticket scanning, real-time attendance tracking, and selling tickets at the door, ensuring a smooth entry process for your guests.

Key Insight: Eventbrite is a powerful choice when your primary goal is discovery. The trade-off in branding and direct data ownership is often balanced by the platform's ability to put your event in front of a new and relevant audience, which is a key part of how to sell event tickets effectively.

The Financial Advantage: Simplicity and Trust

Eventbrite simplifies the financial side of ticketing by acting as the merchant of record. It handles all payment processing, which means you don't need to set up your own account with a provider like Stripe or PayPal. While this means you don't receive funds instantly as you would with a Stripe Connect setup, the payout schedule is reliable, typically initiated 5 days after your event concludes.

The fee structure is transparent, with clear pricing tiers and the flexibility for organizers to absorb the fees or pass them on to the ticket buyer. Crucially, ticketing for free events is always free, making it an excellent, no-risk choice for community meetups or complimentary workshops. This trusted and straightforward financial model removes a significant layer of administrative work, allowing you to focus more on creating a great event experience.

3. Universe

Universe positions itself as the scalable solution for event creators, serving as Ticketmaster’s self-service platform. It’s designed to grow with you, starting with tools simple enough for a local workshop but powerful enough to eventually syndicate your event onto the main Ticketmaster network. This dual nature makes it a strong contender for organizers with long-term ambitions who need a reliable platform today.

Think of Universe as a powerful entry point into professional-grade ticketing. It provides the core functionality to create a branded event page, embed a ticket widget directly onto your own website or Facebook page, and manage sales without the overwhelming complexity of enterprise systems. It effectively offers a taste of the big leagues while keeping the process accessible for smaller organizers.

The Power of Scalability

The primary advantage of Universe is its built-in growth path. You can start small, managing a single event with straightforward ticketing, and as your needs evolve, the platform offers more advanced features through its tiered plans. This scalability is a key differentiator in a crowded market.

• Embeddable Widgets: Sell tickets directly from your own website or social media pages. This keeps attendees within your branded environment, reducing friction and distraction during the checkout process.

• Unlimited Ticket Types: Easily create multiple ticket tiers, like Early Bird, VIP, or General Admission. You can also add merchandise or other add-ons directly to the ticket-buying flow, increasing your average revenue per attendee.

• Ticketmaster Syndication: For organizers who reach a certain scale, the Pro plan offers the option to list and sell tickets on Ticketmaster.com, tapping into a massive, high-intent audience without changing your primary ticketing provider.

Key Insight: Universe provides a strategic bridge between independent ticketing and major distribution. It’s one of the best ways to sell tickets if you want a platform that can support your event's growth from a small gathering to a large-scale production.

The Financial Advantage: Flexible Payment Processing

Like other modern ticketing platforms, Universe puts you in control of your finances by offering flexible payment processing options. This ensures you manage your own cash flow and get paid as tickets are sold, not after the event concludes. The platform integrates with major processors, giving you a choice.

A standout feature is the support for Stripe Connect. This allows Universe to process transactions on your behalf while sending the funds directly to your own Stripe account and then to your bank. For a small event organizer, this direct deposit system is invaluable. It provides the immediate cash flow needed to cover marketing expenses, venue deposits, and other upfront costs using the revenue from ticket sales. It’s a secure, transparent, and financially empowering way to fund your event's success in real-time. Universe also offers its own native payment solution, Universe Payments, for those who prefer an all-in-one setup.

4. Ticket Tailor

For event organizers seeking a simple, low-cost, and brand-focused ticketing solution, Ticket Tailor offers a compelling alternative to commission-based platforms. Its model is built on transparency and affordability, making it an excellent choice for nonprofits, community events, and independent venues that want to keep costs predictable without sacrificing professional features. It’s a powerful tool that embodies the digital box office approach, giving you full control over your event presentation.

Unlike platforms that take a percentage of every ticket sold, Ticket Tailor uses a flat-fee, pay-as-you-go pricing model. You can either pay a small fee per ticket or pre-purchase ticket "credits" at a discount to lower your costs even further. This structure is often significantly cheaper, especially for events with higher-priced tickets where percentage fees can quickly add up.

Control Your Brand and Your Money

Ticket Tailor champions the white-label philosophy, allowing you to create a seamless, branded experience for your attendees. You can customize your event page with your own colors and logos and even host it on your own custom domain. This ensures that from the moment a customer lands on your page to the final checkout, the focus remains entirely on your event, not the ticketing platform.

• Flexible Payment Processing: You connect your own payment processor, including Stripe, PayPal, or Square. This means you get paid directly and instantly as sales are made, which is a huge advantage for managing cash flow.

• No Commission, Ever: The platform never takes a cut of your ticket revenue. You only pay the small, flat per-ticket fee, and you have the option to absorb this cost or pass it on to the buyer.

• Robust Features: Despite its simple pricing, Ticket Tailor offers sophisticated features like detailed seating charts, attendee check-in apps, and the ability to sell add-ons like merchandise or drink vouchers.

Key Insight: Ticket Tailor's flat-fee model makes it one of the best ways to sell tickets affordably while maintaining complete brand control. You get the benefits of a dedicated digital box office without the high costs often associated with them.

Is Ticket Tailor Right for You?

This platform is ideal for organizers who already have an established audience and don't need the built-in marketplace traffic of a larger platform like Eventbrite. Its strength lies in providing the tools to sell directly to your community. If your primary goal is to build long-term customer relationships and maximize revenue by minimizing fees, Ticket Tailor is a top-tier choice. For a deeper dive into how it compares to other platforms and its specific features, you can explore detailed platform comparisons and learn more about the advantages of this ticketing model.

Pros:

• Highly cost-effective, especially for higher-priced tickets.

• Transparent, predictable flat-fee pricing.

• Excellent branding control with white-label and custom domain options.

• Direct and immediate payouts via your own payment processor.

Cons:

• Lacks a built-in marketplace for event discovery.

• Advanced integrations with CRMs like HubSpot may require an additional monthly fee.

5. TicketSpice

TicketSpice carves out a niche for itself by offering one of the most powerful and customizable ticketing engines on the market, paired with an exceptionally low, flat-rate fee structure. It is an ideal platform for organizers managing complex events like festivals, attractions, conferences, and seasonal activities who require more than a simple "buy now" button. The platform is designed to give you complete control over your event page and checkout flow, functioning as a robust digital box office rather than just another marketplace listing.

This approach focuses on building your brand and owning the customer journey. Instead of sending buyers to a crowded directory where they can be distracted by competitors, you present a clean, professional ticketing page that reflects your event's identity. This direct-to-consumer model is crucial for fostering loyalty and retaining valuable attendee data for future marketing efforts.

Unmatched Customization and Flexibility

The core strength of TicketSpice lies in its drag-and-drop page builder. This tool allows you to create highly specific and intricate purchase flows without needing to code. You can easily implement features that are often cumbersome on other platforms.

• Complex Ticketing Logic: Easily set up timed entry, capacity limits for different time slots, season passes, and bundled ticket packages. This is perfect for museums, haunted houses, or multi-day conferences.

• Powerful Upsells and Add-ons: Increase your average order value by offering merchandise, VIP upgrades, parking passes, or donations directly within the checkout process. The system is designed to maximize revenue per attendee.

• On-Site Box Office: TicketSpice offers a native box office app for on-site sales and check-in, ensuring a smooth experience from online purchase to event entry. Sales made through the app even have a reduced per-ticket fee.

Key Insight: TicketSpice empowers organizers to build a checkout experience as unique as their event. Its flexibility in handling complex ticket types and upsells makes it a powerful tool for maximizing revenue and operational control.

Transparent Pricing and Fast Payouts

TicketSpice's pricing model is a significant draw for many organizers. They charge a flat $0.99 per ticket, regardless of the ticket price, plus standard payment processing fees. This makes it incredibly cost-effective for events with mid-to-high ticket values. You also have the choice to absorb this fee or pass it on to the buyer.

Crucially, the platform supports direct payment processing through providers like Stripe and Authorize.net. By using a feature like Stripe Connect, ticket revenue is deposited directly into your bank account on a weekly basis. This rapid payout schedule is a game-changer for managing cash flow, allowing you to use ticket sales to cover upfront event costs. This direct financial control, combined with its customization features, makes TicketSpice a top contender for the best way to sell tickets for sophisticated events.

Website: https://www.ticketspice.com

6. SeatGeek Marketplace

While building your own digital box office is the gold standard for long-term growth, there are specific scenarios where leveraging a large consumer-to-consumer marketplace like SeatGeek makes strategic sense. This platform is particularly effective for selling tickets to high-demand, mainstream events like major concerts, professional sports games, or popular theater shows where a vast, ready-made audience is actively searching for seats.

Think of SeatGeek not as a tool for building your own event brand, but as a powerful channel for liquidating inventory for events you're not organizing yourself, or for reaching a massive audience when demand outstrips your direct marketing reach. Its primary function is resale, connecting individual sellers with a huge pool of buyers who trust the platform's brand and fan guarantees.

The Power of a Massive, Transaction-Focused Audience

The core strength of SeatGeek is its enormous user base and slick mobile experience, which is optimized for quick, secure transactions. It excels at getting your tickets in front of millions of motivated buyers who are often looking for last-minute deals or sold-out events.

• Simple Listing Process: You can list your tickets by simply uploading the PDF file or, in many cases, a screenshot of a valid mobile QR code. The workflow is designed for speed and simplicity.

• Transparent Pricing: In the US, SeatGeek displays "all-in" pricing to buyers by default. This transparency builds trust and can increase conversion rates, as buyers aren't surprised by hidden fees at checkout.

• Guaranteed Transactions: The platform’s integrated fan guarantees protect buyers from fraudulent tickets, which makes them more comfortable purchasing from individual sellers. This trust is crucial for facilitating a successful sale.

Key Insight: A secondary marketplace like SeatGeek is a tactical tool for reach and liquidity, not a strategic platform for brand building. It’s the best way to sell tickets when your primary goal is a quick, secure sale to the widest possible audience.

The Financial Model: Fees and Payouts

Understanding the financial structure is essential. SeatGeek operates on a commission model and has a specific payout timeline that differs significantly from direct payment processing.

Sellers pay a 10% commission on the total sale price of the ticket. While this fee is straightforward, it's a key factor to consider when pricing your listing. The more significant consideration for many is the payout schedule. Funds are typically processed and sent to you after the event has taken place, which can impact your cash flow if you need the revenue upfront. This is a stark contrast to the instant payouts offered by systems using Stripe Connect. If you're looking for more control over your ticketing and financial data for your own events, you can learn more about how ticketing platforms integrate direct payments. For one-off resale, however, SeatGeek's managed payment system provides a reliable and secure, albeit delayed, process.

7. StubHub

While our primary focus is on building your own direct sales channel, it's crucial to understand the role of major secondary marketplaces. StubHub is the largest ticket resale platform in the United States, and for certain types of events, it represents a powerful channel for distribution and market validation. Knowing how to leverage it can be a strategic advantage, even if it isn't your main box office.

Think of StubHub not as your storefront, but as a specialized consignment shop for high-demand goods. It's a place where market forces of supply and demand dictate price, and the audience is actively searching for sold-out or hard-to-get tickets. For an event organizer, this is less about community building and more about maximizing revenue on premium inventory or offloading guaranteed-but-unsold seats.

The Power of Market Reach and Liquidity

StubHub's primary advantage is its massive, built-in audience of motivated buyers. Listing tickets here exposes them to a national pool of consumers, offering unparalleled reach when demand outstrips your direct supply.

• Deep Liquidity: For popular concerts, sports, or theater, tickets on StubHub can sell exceptionally fast. The sheer volume of traffic means your listings get seen by people who are ready to buy immediately.

• Brand Recognition & Trust: Buyers trust the StubHub brand and its FanProtect Guarantee, which protects them from fraud. This trust can translate into a willingness to pay premium prices, which benefits the seller.

• Dynamic Pricing Tools: The platform provides data and tools to help you price tickets based on real-time market value. You can see what similar tickets are selling for and adjust your pricing to stay competitive or maximize profit.

Key Insight: StubHub is a tool for market-based pricing and broad distribution, not for building direct customer relationships. Use it strategically for high-demand inventory, not as your primary ticketing solution.

The Financial Model: Fees and Payouts

Unlike a direct-to-fan model with Stripe Connect, StubHub operates on a commission-based structure. It's free to list tickets, but the platform takes a percentage of the final sale price from the seller. This fee can be variable, impacting your net revenue.

The payment process is also different. Payouts are not instant. StubHub typically processes payments to sellers after the event has successfully taken place, ensuring the buyer's experience is protected. This delay can impact cash flow compared to the immediate deposits you receive when selling through your own box office. While effective for reaching a huge audience, it’s a trade-off that places control over pricing and customer data firmly in the hands of the marketplace.

Website: https://www.stubhub.com

Top 7 Ticketing Platforms Comparison

Product	Implementation complexity	Resource requirements	Expected outcomes	Ideal use cases	Key advantages
Ticketsmith	Very low — no-code, minutes to launch	Minimal — basic branding assets and internet; pre-launch feature limits	Fast event launch, brandable pages, predictable payouts (promised)	Local workshops, pop-up chefs, small-to-midsize creators (up to ~5k)	Extremely fast setup, flat-fee transparency, creator-focused UX
Eventbrite	Low–medium — guided setup with templates and AI	Moderate — promotional assets, optional ad spend, onsite scanning hardware	Broad discovery, integrated promotion and onsite tools, scalable operations	Public events seeking audience discovery, medium–large events, nonprofits	Large marketplace, strong integrations, reliable mobile scanning
Universe	Low — self-serve with embeddable listings	Moderate — optional Pro services for Ticketmaster distribution	Scalable primary ticketing with upgrade path to Ticketmaster	Creators who may scale to larger shows or want Ticketmaster syndication	Simple upfront pricing, embeddable listings, flexible payment options
Ticket Tailor	Low — straightforward setup, white-label support	Low–moderate — can use own processor; some integrations may cost extra	Predictable low-cost billing and strong branding control	Nonprofits, recurring events, venues and attractions seeking low fees	Transparent, flat/usage pricing and strong white-label options
TicketSpice	Medium — highly configurable with drag-and-drop builder	Moderate — setup for custom flows; may use multiple processors	Flexible complex purchase flows, low per-ticket fees, quick payouts	Attractions, conferences, seasonal events needing custom upsells	Very flexible product configuration and low flat fees
SeatGeek Marketplace	Very low — simple seller workflow to list tickets	Low — ticket files/screenshots; acceptance of delayed payout timing	High sell-through for popular events; payouts after event completion	Resale of sports, concerts and theater tickets to a large buyer base	Large buyer audience, integrated buyer guarantees, clear seller fee
StubHub	Very low — easy listing tools with dynamic pricing options	Low — prepare delivery/fulfillment details; use platform tools	Wide exposure and fast sales for in-demand tickets; variable fee impact	Resale of high-demand tickets requiring maximum buyer reach	Deep liquidity, brand recognition, dynamic pricing and protections

The Takeaway: Own Your Platform, Own Your Success

We've explored a range of powerful tools, from marketplace giants like Eventbrite to specialized solutions like TicketSpice. But after diving deep into the features, fees, and philosophies, the single most important lesson is this: the best way to sell tickets is to take direct ownership of the entire process. Success isn't about getting lost in a crowded marketplace; it's about building your own brand, your own audience, and your own sales engine.

The core of this strategy is shifting your mindset from being a temporary listing on someone else's platform to becoming the destination yourself. Marketplaces like Eventbrite or SeatGeek offer exposure, but it comes at a steep cost. You pay high fees, surrender your branding, and ultimately train your attendees to look for their brand, not yours. This approach caps your growth and keeps you dependent on a third-party algorithm for visibility.

Building Your Own Box Office

The most sustainable path forward is creating your own branded online box office. This is your central hub, a dedicated space on the internet where your audience can find all your events, learn about your brand, and purchase tickets directly from you.

Think of it this way: a marketplace is like renting a small booth at a massive, noisy flea market. Your own box office is like opening your own beautiful, curated storefront on Main Street. The benefits are immediate and profound:

• Brand Consistency: Your logo, your colors, your voice. Every touchpoint reinforces your identity, building trust and recognition.

• Direct Audience Relationship: You own the customer data. You can build your email list, understand attendee behavior, and market future events directly to a warm audience without a middleman.

• Simplified Experience: Attendees aren't distracted by competing events or confusing third-party branding. They land on your page, find your event, and buy a ticket. It’s clean and focused.

The Power of Direct Payments with Stripe Connect

Equally critical to owning your platform is owning your revenue stream. This is where your choice of payment processor becomes a strategic decision, not an afterthought. For small to medium event organizers, there is no better choice than a system built on Stripe Connect.

Unlike traditional payment models where a ticketing platform collects all the revenue and pays you out later (often after the event), Stripe Connect facilitates a direct transaction. The money flows from the ticket buyer’s card directly to your Stripe account, with the ticketing platform’s fee deducted automatically.

This seemingly small technical detail has massive implications:

1. Immediate Cash Flow: You get paid as you sell tickets, not weeks or months later. This is a game-changer for managing upfront event costs like venue deposits, marketing spend, and vendor payments.

2. Total Transparency: You see every transaction, every fee, and every payout in your own Stripe dashboard. There are no hidden charges or confusing financial reports.

3. Enhanced Security: You’re leveraging the world-class security and reliability of Stripe, one of the most trusted payment infrastructures on the planet.

Choosing the Right Partner for Your Platform

With this foundation of owning your brand and your payments, selecting the right tool becomes much clearer. Your goal is to find a partner that empowers this vision, not one that compromises it.

• For organizers who need ultimate simplicity and want an all-in-one solution to build their box office and manage sales, a platform like Ticketsmith is purpose-built for this modern approach.

• If your primary concern is a predictable, flat-rate cost structure, Ticket Tailor offers a compelling model that scales with your needs.

• For those running complex events with intricate ticketing logic and seating arrangements, the powerful features of TicketSpice provide the necessary control.

The best way to sell tickets isn't a secret tactic or a single piece of software. It's a strategic decision to stop renting and start owning. Build your own home online, foster a direct line of communication with your attendees, and ensure your revenue flows directly and instantly into your account. By focusing on these principles, you're not just selling tickets for your next event; you're building a resilient, profitable, and independent event business for the long term.

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Ready to stop renting space in a crowded marketplace and build your own branded box office? Ticketsmith provides the tools you need to create a beautiful event page, sell tickets directly to your audience, and get paid instantly with Stripe Connect. See how easy it is to take control of your ticketing at Ticketsmith.