Organizing a successful event isn’t just about great speakers, fun activities, or an eye-catching venue. It all starts with how your audience goes through the ticketing journey. For small business owners, especially those who run workshops, networking events, webinars, or community meetups, finding the right event ticketing system can make or break the entire experience.
Here are the top 5 event ticketing systems small business owners should consider. Let’s explore what makes each of them stand out and what the best features they come with.
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1. Dreamcast
Best for: Businesses that want a scalable event ticketing system to host networking events, conferences, trade shows, workshops, and more.
Why Dreamcast?
Dreamcast’s event ticketing system has been gaining popularity among small business owners and event organizers because of its powerful stack of features. The small business event ticketing platform provides you with full control over the ticketing process without needing a developer or a large team.
Speaking of a team, you manage the on-ground team through an on-spot management tool. This integrated tool allows you to add and manage event volunteers at different zones, while providing control over who can access the zones.
From setting up events, creating ticket tiers, to designing badges, customizing branding, and managing attendees, all in one place. The platform is built to adapt to unique event needs and ensure scalability. That means, you get full support for events like networking mixers, workshops, hybrid summit, or an in-person festival with thousands of guests.
With Dreamcast’s platform, you get the full branding flexibility to create your event pages however you want. You want to add more ticket categories? You have it. You want to change the look of your ticketing page? You have it also.
It supports various payment gateways, so you can have a choice to integrate your preferred one. The platform becomes even more valuable when users find it easy to use. You don’t have to be techy in organizing your event and successfully managing it.
Plus, the back-end dashboard helps track real-time attendee stats, ticket sales, and engagement metrics.
Key Features of Dreamcast:
- Custom-branded ticketing pages: You can create customized event pages by controlling the design and look, from logos and color schemes to unique event URLs.
- Multi-category ticketing: Every guest can be registered and identified by a category. You can create ticket categories with a specific price to give guests different options to buy their tickets for.
- Easy RSVP and Reminders: Guest communication throughout the event journey can make or break the event. With a small business event ticketing platform, you can ensure all guests are well informed via WhatsApp and emails.
- M-badge designing for digital check-ins: M-badges are a great digital check-in method. You can use its event badges system to customize the look of m-badges with your own branding. No more printed passes or long queues, just scan and go.
- Real-time ticket sales & engagement tracking: The Dreamcast’s ticketing system for small events is designed with data in mind. It monitors the real-time sales and behavior. Therefore, ticket sales, revenue, and attendee insights are all tracked in real-time.
2. Luma
Perfect for: Community leaders, creators, and small businesses who want to run low-key, community-driven events.
Why Luma?
Luma is another great option if you are looking for a ticketing system for small events. Built for creators and small businesses, it becomes a good choice for small businesses to host free or paid virtual events, community discussions, workshops, and casual networking gatherings.
It provides a simple, intuitive interface built for everyone, even for the newbies, with features like RSVPs, email invites, calendar syncing, and guest follow-ups.
So, you are not only selling tickets but also making lasting connections with your audience. With the quick customization tools, you have the power to create event pages in minutes. Keeping RSVPs and follow-ups in minutes is another great way to automate guest management without using the complicated systems.
While supporting events for small event organizers, Luma could limit in scaling where scalability is needed. For someone who is just starting out, Luma can be a small business event ticketing platform to make your events look professional. The built-in tools and clean dashboard are there to help you create and manage the events.
Key Features of Luma:
- Easy RSVP and waitlist management: Making guest confirmations simpler. The platform can help create a waitlist and notify guests when slots open up.
- Post-event feedback forms and insights: Manage post-event engagement with valuable insights.
- Schedule personalized emails and follow-ups: You can schedule personalized emails before and after the event.
- Payment integrations with popular gateways: Make the payments secure with minimal setup and process.
3. Townscript
Best for: Small businesses and event organizers looking for a ticketing platform to host local events, fests, workshops, and community meetups.
Why Townscript?
Townscript serves well for SMBs in setting up an event and managing tickets for it. It offers everything a small event organizer needs from creating a custom event page to tracking registrations in real time.
It supports multiple payment gateways, taxes, and event categories, making it uniquely positioned for the small event market. This small business event ticketing platform is great for running college fests, fitness events, local workshops, or even marathons and festivals.
Where it might fall short is in providing the customizations and engagement analytics. White-labeling event page and branding options are limited. Also, the Townscript’s UI might feel less intuitive. Therefore, it couldn’t work for businesses who is looking for a strong branding option and ensure a strong identity.
What really adds to the Townscript’s ticketing system for small events is the seamless attendee ticketing, real-time analytics, and go-to control over registrations and sales.
Key Features of Townscript:
- Supports various payment systems: Making it easier for a wider audience to pay for their tickets.
- Tax invoice generation: Issuing invoices that can comply with taxes. Therefore, it saves you the headache of tax invoicing.
- Real-time monitoring and data analytics: Track the sales and registrations on the go.
- Manage Discounts with options like early birds and promo codes: You can create time-limited discounts and enable promo codes for specific attendees.
4. Eventbrite
Best for: Businesses running public events, workshops, and meetups with a broad audience reach.
Why Eventbrite?
Eventbrite is another popular name when it comes to small business event ticketing platforms. Helping range of events, it’s a solid choice for small businesses. From easy interface to features like team access, automated reminders, and custom branding, it is a comprehensive event tech solution.
You could feel limited in white-labeled pages, custom workflows, and detailed attendee insights. Setting up is simple, and the platform does a lot of heavy lifting for you. Therefore, you don’t have to be a tech expert to launch an event.
Key Features of Eventbrite:
- Branded event pages and customizations: Even though Eventbrite hosts your ticketing page, this small business event ticketing platform can customize the event banner, colors, and descriptions to fit your brand identity.
- Guest reminders and emails: Manage the confirmation and reminder emails to reflect good communication.
- Real-time analytics and dashboard: Eventbrite provides data dashboards to provide you with insights into attendee trends, revenue, and engagement.
- Group pricing models: You can also accept and create group pricing models to encourage team or family registrations.
5. Partyful
Best for: Small businesses hosting weddings, parties, pop-up shops, or private networking.
Why Partyful?
If your event vibe leans more toward casual, creative, or social, Partyful is the high-style option for you. Designed with a social-first approach, it helps organizers create beautiful event pages, send RSVP invites, and even collect payments with minimal hassle.
It can be a good option for small business owners, community clubs, and entrepreneurs looking to host an event.
Partyful can help manage the guest list and real-time RSVP updates. Therefore, it is a good option for small business owners with simpler needs.
Key Features of Partyful:
- Modern event pages: You can create event pages that look clean, visually appealing. This can be special for personal events and creative businesses.
- RSVP limits and guest caps: Comply with event capacity by limiting the guest count. Partyful allows you to set limits on RSVPs and close registrations once the cap is reached.
- Guest messaging and updates: Update guests with schedule changes and a friendly reminder.
- Real-time updates: The platform reflects the real-time updates and changes as per guests and their activities.
Final Thoughts
Event ticketing has evolved far beyond just printing out tickets or scanning QR codes. Today’s ticketing platforms for event organizers offer end-to-end solutions for registration, payment, engagement, and analytics.
Consider these five small business event ticketing platforms to get smart ticketing solutions tailored for businesses like yours.
Whichever platform you choose, remember: a seamless ticketing experience is the first step toward a successful event.
