What to Look for in Online Festival and Event Management Software
-
by
Riley Manning has worked as a travel and entertainment writer for more than 10 years. Today, he writes about unique events and the technology that helps make them happen.
Every time you manage an event or festival is a unique experience. As you go through the different stages of planning, marketing, and managing an evolving set of logistics, your event may begin to feel like a living, breathing thing.
After all, you’re juggling many moving parts that are specific to your event, such as venues, catering, equipment, staffing, third-party vendor contracts, marketing, planning and administration, and—perhaps most importantly—getting tickets into the hands of event goers.
That’s why you need online festival and event management software that will bring your patrons a streamlined, efficient, customizable ticketing experience that drives attendance and maximizes revenue.
The right digital ticketing software can provide tools to get the most out of ticketing and promotion for any event, from a small local food and drinks festival to a multi-day rock concert. Having access to intuitive, adaptable event software can help manage everything from ticket pre-sales to post-event tasks like reconciliation.
With the ever-rising popularity of contactless purchasing options, online festival and event management software can also provide your patrons with the ticketing experience they prefer.
That said, what should you look for when investing in event software? You may be tempted to go all-in for a digital ticketing app with a familiar name like Eventbrite. But alternatives may offer more premium functionality at a lower price point.
Name recognition doesn’t always equal a better user experience. Before making this important decision, learn more about the software features that help create a superior event ticketing and management experience.
Table of Contents:
- Pre-Event Features to Get the Most out of Ticket Sales
- Marketing and promotion play a critical role in your budget
- Instant payouts make a world of difference
- Day-Of Features You Need in Online Festival and Event Management Software
- Software Features for When Your Event Is Over
Pre-Event Features to Get the Most out of Ticket Sales
As anyone who’s managed an event can attest, early momentum plays a big part in the success of an event or festival.
Ticketing software should give you the tools to build that all-important pre-event buzz and maximize ticket pre-sales.
Marketing and promotion play a critical role in your budget.
After all, the amount of tickets you sell relies directly on creating a sense of excitement about your festival or event and getting patrons to click on your event page. Your festival software should allow you to build a promotional page that puts all the focus on your event without unnecessary clutter or cross-brand advertising.
SimpleTix is an Eventbrite alternative that offers a customizable event page where you control the colors, logos, photos, and other branding. Already have your own page? Connect to it using our ticketing widget. Unlike Eventbrite, SimpleTix doesn’t clutter your page with logos, links and advertisements, and we offer you full control over the attendee data you collect.
Instant payouts make a world of difference.
When you’re on a strict budget, you need revenue in your hands as quickly as possible. Your online festival and event management software should give you the most functionality for your money and—crucially—pay out your ticket proceeds immediately.
SimpleTix offers more premium functionality at a lower price point than apps like Eventbrite. For instance, SimpleTix offers festival mode features like the ability to create unlimited ticket types, such as early bird pricing, discounts for children, veterans’ discounts, or bundle pricing for multi-day festivals. It’s easy to create these multi-day ticket options for your festival patrons, customize seating charts and reserved seating, and feature addons like concessions and special parking.
With apps like Eventbrite, you’ll pay extra for many of these features, there’s no cap on the fees they may charge, and you could wait weeks to receive a payout for your ticket pre-sales. With SimpleTix you pay just $0.79 + 2% per attendee, and payouts happen the instant a ticket is sold.
Other critical pre-event software features include:
- Ticket holders have multiple contactless payment options, with Square and Stripe functionality.
- Ticket holders can easily change ticket details such as time and date with the new SimpleTix Attendee app.
- Checkout may include ticket holder surveys to segment attendance—for instance, whether or not they’ve received a COVID-19 vaccination.
Day-Of Features of Online Festival and Event Management Software
Mobile ticketing allows for faster check-in once attendees arrive at your event. With SimpleTix, ticket purchasers have several options for scan-and-go entry using QR codes, including saving a photo of their ticket, downloading it to a digital wallet, or even printing it out.
Color-coding for different types of tickets allow easy identification for your staff, which can help tremendously when processing several combinations of multi-day festival tickets or bundles.
If an attendee wants to purchase an on-site ticket, SimpleTix is compatible with Square and Stripe payment options. Square takes Apple Pay and Android Pay, chip cards, and contactless payments, which speeds up the process versus cash payments. If someone loses their ticket, our software allows your staff to easily check them in manually using the Organizer app.
During your event, SimpleTix makes it easy to track attendance versus ticket sales.
Software Features for When Your Event Is Over
The best online festival and event management software provides value long after your event ends. Once the dust settles, you’ll need to determine if you’ve met your revenue goals and gauge if attendees felt satisfied by their experience.
SimpleTix provides some key features to help with your post-event needs:
- Send satisfaction surveys to event goers to help determine what you did right and what can be improved for next time.
- Stay connected with your patrons by sending them advertisements and promo codes for upcoming events.
- Review revenue goals by connecting SimpleTix with Quickbooks accounting software, so you can automatically integrate ticket sales data with account information for your post-event reconciliation.
For any type of festival big or small, SimpleTix offers online festival and event management software to streamline ticketing and help you meet all your event management goals. Switch to SimpleTix to give your attendees a great ticketing experience with a tool that meets their expectations.
SimpleTix has offered an affordable, premium event ticketing platform that outperforms Eventbrite and similar apps for over 12 years. Compared to the competition, SimpleTix offers better options at a better price point. To learn more, call us at +1 (855) 550-3670 or email us at support@simpletix.com.
Latest News
Related Articles
Eventbrite’s New Owner Just Cut Staff: What It Means for Event Organizers...
-
by
Eventbrite's New Owner Just Cut Staff: What It Means for Event Organizers in 2026 If you run events and use Eventbrite, the last 30 days have been noisy. In March 2026, Italian software holding company Bending Spoons completed its $500 million acquisition of Eventbrite, taking the platform private. In April, new leadership announced staff cuts and a shift to operating with what they called "a leaner team." Here's what actually changed, what it could mean for your events, and why a lot of organizers are quietly evaluating their options. The quick version of what happened December 2025: Bending Spoons announced the acquisition March 2026: Deal closed at roughly $500 million. Eventbrite is now a private company, no longer publicly traded April 13, 2026: New Eventbrite leader Andrea Parodi announced staff cuts and a new product roadmap Headcount trend: Eventbrite went from 866 employees at the end of 2023 to 636 at the end of 2025 — and the latest cuts bring it lower Bending Spoons isn't new to this playbook. They've acquired Vimeo, WeTransfer, Evernote, and AOL in recent years. Each acquisition has followed a similar pattern: buy the product, cut a significant portion of the workforce, consolidate operations. That's the backdrop. Now the organizer question: what does it mean for you? What organizers should actually be watching 1. Support quality Fewer people usually means slower replies. If you've ever been 48 hours out from doors opening and needed a fast answer from support, you know how much that matters. Watch your response times on tickets opened after April 2026 and compare them to what you got in 2024-2025. If things slow down, that's not a one-off — it's the new steady state. 2. Product direction New ownership always means a new roadmap. Parodi's announcement talked about faster event creation,...
How to Connect Square to SimpleTix and Start Selling Tickets
-
by
How to Connect Square to SimpleTix and Start Selling Tickets If you need square ticketing that works for online sales and the box office, you do not need a messy setup. You need a way to connect Square to SimpleTix and manage online and onsite ticket sales in one workflow. Square can make sense for organizers who already use Square hardware or want to accept gift cards and catalog upsells. Meanwhile, SimpleTix gives you the ticketing layer: timed entry, season passes, reserved seating, check-in tools, and simple pricing at $0.79 + 2% per ticket, with no contracts or subscriptions. Why use square ticketing with SimpleTix The main reason is simple. You get Square for payments and POS tools, plus SimpleTix for event ticketing. That matters if you sell more than basic admission. For example, you might need season tickets, timed entry, Flex Passes, or onsite scanning. You may also want online checkout and in-person sales to work together instead of feeling patched together. Common use cases include: Farms and agritourism spots selling timed admissions and add-ons Attractions that need re-entry or multi-use passes Venues that sell online, at the door, and through staff devices Festivals handling rushes at gates and box office windows Organizations already using Square hardware for in-person sales If that sounds familiar, this is the kind of square ticketing workflow worth setting up. What you can do after you connect Square Once connected, you can use Square with SimpleTix for POS, gift cards, and catalog upsells. On the SimpleTix side, you also get tools built for ticketing, including: General admission with timed entry and capacity management Reserved seating with interactive seat maps Season tickets for GA and reserved events Flex Pass with attendee photo verification Promo codes, BOGO offers, and quantity discounts Waitlists and abandoned cart recovery...
Get Paid to Share SimpleTix: Introducing the Ambassador Referral Program
-
by
Get Paid to Share SimpleTix: How the Ambassador Referral Program Works We just launched the SimpleTix Ambassador Referral Program. If you already use SimpleTix and tell other event organizers about it, you can now earn $100 for every qualified referral. No application. No waiting. If you've sold 100 or more paid tickets on SimpleTix, you're already in. How it works The program is built around a unique referral link tied to your account. Here's the step-by-step: 1. Grab your referral link If eligible, log into your Manager Portal. Scroll to the footer and look for Refer & Earn $100. That's where your unique link lives. 2. Share it with other event organizers Trade shows, industry groups, LinkedIn, local organizer communities, group chats — anywhere you talk shop with people who run events. The key detail: referrals only get credited when someone signs up through your link. Word-of-mouth is great, but the link is what gets you paid. 3. Earn $100 when they qualify When a referred organizer sells 50 or more paid tickets through SimpleTix, they're qualified. Our team will reach out to you directly to arrange your $100 payout. There's no cap on how many referrals you can make. Who qualifies You're automatically enrolled if you've sold 100+ paid tickets on SimpleTix. No application form, no approval process. If you're eligible, your referral link is live right now in your Manager Portal. Track your referrals in real time Every click and signup from your link is tracked in your dashboard. You can watch each referral move through three stages: Signed Up — they created an account through your link Event Published — they set up their first event Qualified — they've sold 50+ paid tickets, and you've earned your payout Full transparency, no black box. Why we built this...