Eventbrite fees on a $40 ticket, worked out
By Kelsey Gilbert-Kreiling | Co-founder, Eventually
The short answer: On a $40 ticket, Eventbrite's published US fees come to about $4.43: a $3.27 service fee (3.7% plus $1.79) and about $1.16 in payment processing (2.9%). That's roughly 11% of the ticket price. If you absorb the fees, you keep about $35.57 per ticket.
Rates are from Eventbrite's pricing page as of September 2026. Fees change, so check the page before you plan around them.
The $40 ticket, line by line
Ticket price: $40.00
Service fee: 3.7% of $40 is $1.48, plus $1.79, for $3.27
Payment processing: 2.9% of $40 is $1.16
Total fees: $4.43, about 11.1% of the ticket
What you keep if you absorb fees: $35.57
Two details change the math. Processing is charged per order rather than per ticket, so the exact amount shifts depending on what else is in the order. And the service fee applies to paid tickets only, so free registrations carry no service fee.
If you pass the fees to guests
Eventbrite's default is for buyers to pay the ticket fees. In that case, you receive the $40, and your guest sees the service fee and processing added at checkout, bringing a $40 ticket to roughly $44.50.
The math doesn't disappear. It moves to the last step of checkout, where the price your guest expected goes up.
What it adds up to
One ticket is small. A schedule isn't.
One class of 15 guests: $66.45 in fees
A monthly workshop of 30 guests: 360 tickets a year and $1,594.80 in fees, of which $1,177.20 is service fees
A weekly class of 15 guests: 780 tickets a year and $3,455.40 in fees, of which $2,550.60 is service fees
Group orders
The service fee applies to every paid ticket. Processing applies once to the order. Four $40 tickets in a single order come to $13.08 in service fees and $4.64 in processing, for $17.72 total.
Which part of the fee would go away
Payment processing exists with any tool. Squarespace Payments and Stripe charge processing too, so it's fair to set that part aside when comparing.
The service fee is the part tied to the platform. On a weekly class of 15, that's $2,550.60 a year. Eventbrite's plan comparison lists the same per-ticket service fee across its standard plans, and its Pro subscription, starting at $15 a month, adds email marketing volume rather than lowering ticket fees.
What the fee pays for
Eventbrite's fee buys real things, including a marketplace where people browsing for something to do can find your event.
In our customer interviews, hosts kept landing in one of two places: selling classes like products through an online store, or selling every event like a music festival through platforms built for discovery. Discovery is worth paying for when you need strangers to find you.
So the useful question is where your guests come from. If a meaningful share find you on Eventbrite, the fee may be doing its job. If they come from your newsletter, your Instagram, or your regulars, you're paying a per-ticket fee on people you brought in yourself.
How Eventually prices the same ticket
Eventually is event ticketing for calendar-centric businesses, built as a Squarespace-first extension. It charges a flat monthly subscription with no per-ticket fees and no percentage of ticket revenue.
Your $40 ticket sells on your own Squarespace site, and payment goes through your Squarespace Payments or Stripe account at their standard processing rates. The subscription costs the same at 15 tickets or 780. A tool, not a tax.
What to do right now
If you sell on Eventbrite today: Download last year's payout reports and add up the service fees separately from processing.
If you pass fees to guests: Buy a ticket to your own event and look at the total on the final screen.
If you're not sure where guests come from: Add a "How did you hear about us?" question to your next event.
If you run a regular schedule: Multiply $3.27 by the tickets you sold last year. Compare that number with a flat plan.
The bottom line
$3.27 is easy to ignore on a single ticket. Across a year of classes, it's rent, supplies, or a paid assistant.
Run the number for your own events. Then decide whether it's paying for guests you wouldn't have found on your own.
Keep reading:
→ The Real Cost of Eventbrite Fees for Small Events
→ Eventually vs Eventbrite: An Honest Comparison for Squarespace Users
See it in action:
Keep the $3.27
Flat monthly pricing, no per-ticket fees, and checkout on your own Squarespace site. Get started at eventuallyticketing.com.