Independent organisers, unfiltered
Every alternative out there holds your funds, hides your brand behind theirs, or hands you a second job as your own IT support. TimbaTicket doesn't do any of that.
Figures for the alternatives above verified directly from each platform's own pricing page on 24 August 2026 (checked via a screenshot for the platform whose site blocks automated checks). WordPress plugin figures from two leading plugins' own pricing pages, same date. Figures can change — tell us if something looks out of date.
| Feature | Eventticket | Ticketsailor | WordPress plugin | TimbaTicket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fee per ticket | ~3.7% + $1.79 + 2.9% processing (paid tickets) | £0.60 (+VAT) pay-as-you-go, from £0.22 (+VAT) prepaid | $129–$599/year licence + your processor's fees | £0.60 → £0.45 → £0.35, no % cut |
| Money lands in your own account instantly | partial | partial | ||
| Your branding on pages & emails | partial | |||
| Fee gets lower as you sell more | partial | |||
| QR check-in (anti-duplicate, multi-device) | partial | partial | partial | |
| Disposable door-staff logins | ||||
| No hosting/maintenance required | ||||
| No separate payment processor to set up |
Real risks organisers run into with each option — not hypothetical.
Your money sits with them until they pay out — not the moment someone buys a ticket. And their marketplace branding sits on top of yours, so buyers see their name first, you second.
Cheap per-ticket fees, but you're still the one setting up and maintaining your own Stripe, PayPal or Square account separately — and door check-in uses one shared login, not a disposable one scoped to a single event.
You're not just buying a plugin — you're now responsible for hosting, security updates and plugin conflicts on your own WordPress site. Miss a licence renewal on some of these plugins and you're charged an extra 1–3% per transaction on top of what you're already paying your payment processor.
A ticket that's just a screenshot or a PDF can be shown twice — nobody catches it until someone's turned away at a door that's already full. Payments by bank transfer or cash mean reconciling by hand, with no receipt and no real-time view of what's actually sold.
No hidden fees or percentage cuts. You choose whether to absorb the per-ticket fee or pass it to buyers at checkout.
Core selling features, no monthly fee
£0.60 per ticket
Branding, unlimited events & reports
£0.45 per ticket
Advanced analytics, white-label & priority support
£0.35 per ticket
An organiser selling ~90 tickets across 3–4 monthly events saves roughly 83% to 84% in platform fees compared to standard legacy commissions.
Eventticket holds your money in their own system before paying out. TimbaTicket connects directly to your Square account — every payment lands in your balance immediately, no payout delays. Eventticket also charges a flat percentage per ticket. TimbaTicket uses a per-ticket fee that gets lower as you sell more, and you can choose to pass it to buyers.
Most platforms take a cut and hide your brand behind theirs. TimbaTicket is built around your identity: upload your logo once and your colours are automatically extracted and applied to your event pages, confirmation emails, and QR tickets. You also get disposable door-staff logins that expire after one event, so you don't need to share your main account.
No — TimbaTicket is designed specifically for London's independent event organisers: dance schools, Latin salsa and bachata promoters, fitness instructors, workshop hosts, and anyone running recurring community events. If you run events under your own brand and want branded pages, instant payouts, and QR check-in without handing your data to a middleman, that's exactly who we built this for.
Ticketsailor is one of the cheaper alternatives — pay-as-you-go tickets cost £0.60 per ticket (+VAT), or from £0.22 (+VAT) if you buy credits upfront. But you still need to connect your own Stripe, PayPal or Square account separately, they don't apply your branding to your ticket pages or emails automatically, and door check-in uses a shared app login rather than a disposable, event-scoped access pass. TimbaTicket connects directly to the Square account you already use, extracts your brand automatically, and gives every event its own door-staff login that expires on its own.
Plugins like the popular WordPress ticketing add-ons charge an annual licence (roughly $129 to $599 a year) on top of whatever your payment processor already takes — and on some of them, if your licence lapses, you're charged an extra 1 to 3% platform fee per transaction on top of that. You're also now responsible for keeping your own WordPress site secure, updated and online — if the site goes down or gets hacked, so does your ticketing. TimbaTicket has nothing to install, host or patch: you sign up, connect Square, and you're selling.
It's free, but it's not safe. A ticket that's just a screenshot or a PDF can be duplicated and used twice — nobody catches it until someone's turned away at the door. Payments by bank transfer or cash have to be reconciled by hand, with no automatic receipt and no real-time view of what's sold. And anyone with access to the spreadsheet can see and edit your event's financial data — there's no way to give door staff a scan-only view. TimbaTicket replaces all three risks with signed, non-duplicable QR tickets, automatic payment confirmation through Square, and door logins that only ever show a scanner, never your books.
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