Still deciding where to host? See our platform guide. This page assumes your event is on Eventbrite.
What Eventbrite does
- Free events at no cost. Eventbrite charges no fees on free events, and you can publish as many as you like.
- Paid tickets. A 3.7% + $1.79 service fee per ticket and a 2.9% payment processing fee per order, paid by buyers by default. You can choose to absorb them.
- Tracking links. Make one per partner or campaign from the Marketing menu, and see views and sales for each, with an attendee report per link.
- Promotion. Email campaigns with Eventbrite Pro, from $15 a month, and Eventbrite Ads for sponsored placement on Eventbrite, in select markets.
- Running the day. An organizer app with mobile check-in, and reporting.
If you're selling tickets to the public, that's hard to beat with anything you'd build around it.
What Talk adds
- Ways in, each with its own code. A page link, QR codes with print files (SVG, PNG, PDF and EPS), an email address people register by writing to, share cards, personal invitations, and a kit for each speaker and partner with their own link and QR code. Every registration records the one it came through, plus any UTM tags.
- Who brought whom. Every registrant gets their own share link, and the leaderboard counts registrations per kit and per person.
- A page for each registrant, with their calendar file, their join link, questions for you and their own share link. Reminders arrive in their own email thread, so replying "cancel" works.
- Your CRM, on your own account. Registrants, their way in and whether they came go to HubSpot, Salesforce or Marketo, or to your own systems by signed webhook and CSV.
- Discount codes per way in. Talk makes the codes on your Eventbrite event, one per way in, and counts each one from Eventbrite's sales.
- No tracking pixels. Talk counts visits, QR scans and registrations per way in. It doesn't put pixels in emails or follow people around the web.
What syncs between Eventbrite and Talk
- Eventbrite to Talk. With Eventbrite connected (one click, or a private token), the attendee list is read back: people who registered on Eventbrite join your list, cancellations there cancel here, and check-ins mark who came.
- Talk to Eventbrite. Talk doesn't add attendees to Eventbrite. After registering in Talk, people are shown your Eventbrite page to get their ticket there, and a place cancelled in Talk has to be cancelled on Eventbrite too.
- Made in Talk first? Create it on Eventbrite, free or with a ticket price, and publish it in one step. Publishing again sends the changes.
- No connection? Paste the link and track your ways in. After the event, paste Eventbrite's attendee export to mark who came.
Eventbrite stays the record of tickets. Talk's numbers are registrations per way in, which is the question tracking links answer for paid events, asked for free events and for print as well.
When you need neither
A free session for a team or a group you already email doesn't need ticketing or a promotion layer. A calendar invite, or a form you already have, will do. Eventbrite earns its place when you sell tickets or want its marketplace. Talk earns its place when partners, speakers and print do much of the promotion and you want to know which of them worked.
Feature by feature
| Feature | Eventbrite | Programmable Talk | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Event page and registration | Yes | Yes | Eventbrite, Organizer pricing |
| Sell paid ticketsTalk takes no payments | Yes | No | Eventbrite, Organizer pricing |
| Results per tracking linkEventbrite: views and sales. Talk: visits, scans and registrations | Yes | Yes | Eventbrite Help, Set up promotional tracking links |
| Email campaignsTalk: invitations and reminders | With Eventbrite Pro | Yes | Eventbrite, Organizer pricing |
| Sponsored placement on the platformEventbrite Ads, in select markets | Partly | No | Eventbrite, Organizer pricing |
| Mobile check-in | Yes | Yes | Eventbrite, Organizer pricing |
| Reporting | Yes | Yes | Eventbrite, Organizer pricing |
Pricing
| Eventbrite | Programmable Talk | |
|---|---|---|
| Free events | No fees | No fees: Talk takes no payments |
| Paid tickets | 3.7% + $1.79 per ticket, plus 2.9% processing per order; buyers pay by default | Not sold in Talk; tickets stay on Eventbrite |
| Subscription | Eventbrite Pro email from $15 a month (optional) | Starter $19 a month, Pro $39 a month; a year costs 10 months' price, after a 14-day trial with every feature, no card |
Using both, you pay Eventbrite's ticket fees as now, and a Talk plan.
Who should choose which
Eventbrite on its own is enough when
- You sell tickets to the public and the Eventbrite marketplace brings you buyers.
- A tracking link per partner or campaign tells you what you need.
- You want one tool for the page, payment and check-in.
Add Programmable Talk when
- Much of your promotion is print, slides, stands or speakers, where a QR code or a kit tells you more than a link.
- You run free events and want to know which channel filled them.
- Registrants, and whether they came, need to reach your CRM.
You may need neither when
- It's a free session for people you already reach, and a calendar invite will do.