Eventbrite vs Humanitix (vs PromoTix): Which Event Platform Will Help Drive More Ticket Sales In 2026?

If you're comparing Eventbrite and Humanitix for your event ticketing needs, you're probably wrestling with a choice between the market leader's massive reach and a charity platform's ethical appeal. But here's what most comparisons miss: while both platforms handle ticketing well, they take different approaches to the challenge that keeps event creators up at night: selling tickets profitably.

The questions you should be asking to find your ideal platform are:

• Do you want a ticketing processor or a platform with integrated marketing tools that actively drive sales?
• Are you willing to pay premium fees for brand recognition and marketplace access?
• Is choosing an ethical platform enough, or do you need specific tools that increase revenue?
• Would you rather have marketplace discovery or proven marketing features like ambassador programs?
• Are you looking for basic ticketing or a complete event success system?

In short, here's what we recommend:

👉 Eventbrite is the established marketplace leader with strong brand recognition and a vast network of 90 million ticket buyers. It offers comprehensive event management tools, AI-powered features, RFID capabilities through partnerships, and extensive integrations. With fees of 3.7% + $1.79 per ticket plus 2.9% per order, you're paying premium prices for distribution (6.6% + $1.79 per ticket), brand trust, and a mature platform with enterprise support options. While it offers marketing tools including Eventbrite Boost for advertising, the platform's strength lies in its marketplace reach rather than active sales-driving features.

👉 Humanitix is the feel-good alternative that donates 100% of profits to education, healthcare, and other charitable causes while charging slightly lower fees on their standard plan (USD events are 5% + $1.29). It provides solid ticketing functionality with strong accessibility features, virtual event capabilities, and responsive human support. While the charitable model is admirable and fees can be lower than Eventbrite, it focuses on ethical ticketing rather than sophisticated marketing tools that actively drive sales.

Both platforms serve their niches well. But if you're an event creator who needs powerful marketing tools built into your ticketing platform, especially for youth sports, music festivals, music venues, or events where family members watch remotely, there's a third approach worth considering.

👉 PromoTix was built by an event creator who spent 16 years producing festivals and understood what the industry actually needed: a marketing platform first, ticketing second. Originally an Eventbrite Spectrum partner providing marketing tools to Eventbrite customers, PromoTix evolved into a full ticketing solution with patented event management technology including viral contest pages and ambassador programs. At 3% + $1.49 per ticket (compared to Eventbrite's 3.7% + $1.79), it's positioned as a middle-price-point solution that delivers exceptional value through included features like RFID technology, resale marketplace, and Spotify insights for music events. With an 80% close rate from Eventbrite leads and events as large as the 80,000-attendee Open Championship Series and World Championship Cheerleading competition, PromoTix focuses on specific verticals where marketing tools make the difference.

If you want to explore a platform built by event creators for event creators, check out PromoTix’s approach to event profitability here.

Table of contents:

• Eventbrite vs Humanitix vs PromoTix at a glance
• The fundamental problem: Different approaches to ticket selling
• Eventbrite's marketplace reach and enterprise capabilities
• Humanitix's charity model serves a specific mission
• PromoTix: From Eventbrite partner to marketing-first platform
• Fee structures reveal different value propositions
• Marketing capabilities: Where platforms truly diverge
• Virtual and hybrid events for modern audiences
• Customer support reflects company philosophies
• Eventbrite vs Humanitix vs PromoTix: Which fits your needs?
  

Eventbrite vs Humanitix vs PromoTix at a glance

The fundamental problem: Different approaches to ticket selling

Eventbrite operates as a comprehensive event marketplace and management platform. 

With 90 million active buyers and sophisticated discovery algorithms, they focus on connecting events with audiences through their ecosystem. The platform provides robust event management infrastructure including AI-powered tools for event creation, RFID capabilities through partnerships, and enterprise support options. Their Eventbrite Boost advertising and marketplace placement help with discovery, though you're competing with millions of other events by using it.

Humanitix approaches ticketing as a force for good.

By donating 100% of profits to charitable causes, they've created an ethical ticketing alternative that appeals to value-driven organizers and attendees. The platform offers solid functionality with particular strength in accessibility and virtual events, backed by human support. Their focus is on making ticketing better for humanity, not necessarily on providing advanced marketing tools.

PromoTix emerged from a different frustration entirely.

Founder Will Royall spent years as an event promoter and festival producer who experienced firsthand how ticketing platforms promised marketing help but never delivered. Starting as an Eventbrite Spectrum partner providing marketing tools to Eventbrite customers, PromoTix understood what event creators actually needed. That's why the platform evolved into a full ticketing solution but kept marketing at its core, with patented technology for viral contests and ambassador programs. 

This marketing-first heritage shows in everything from their 6,500+ ambassador network to their focus on verticals like youth sports (their biggest market) where family engagement drives sales yet typically remains flat. Unique strategies like this have raised the “spectator per athlete KPI” in youth sports from 2.1 to 2.8, leading to 33% more revenue.

Eventbrite's marketplace reach and enterprise capabilities

Eventbrite's primary value proposition centers on scale and discovery. 

Their marketplace drove nearly 30% of paid ticket sales in 2022, leveraging 90 million active ticket buyers to provide organic discovery for events, although in our studies most of that traffic was Google searches that hit the Eventbrite event page where the customer already knew about the event. We estimate the amount of new discoveries from the actual marketplace to around ~5% of sales.

At 3.7% + $1.79 per ticket plus 2.9% per order, you're paying premium fees that reflect the platform's position as the industry standard. A $50 ticket costs attendees an extra $5.09 in fees. For a 500-person event, that's $2,545 in fees. Significant, but potentially justified if the marketplace drives substantial ticket sales for your event.

The platform offers more than just marketplace exposure. Eventbrite Boost enables integrated advertising across social channels, while AI features help create marketing copy and event descriptions faster. For virtual events, Eventbrite provides secure Online Event Pages with attendee authentication, time-restricted content, and unique password-protected URLs for each registrant - but if you’re streaming on a partner site, the streaming link remains unsecured.

Source: Eventbrite

Enterprise capabilities include RFID/NFC support through partnerships for cashless payments and access control, extensive API integrations, and dedicated sales support for larger accounts. However, standing out in their crowded marketplace often requires additional investment in Eventbrite Ads or external marketing, and the platform can display competing events on your event page.

Humanitix's charity model serves a specific mission

Humanitix deserves recognition for creating a sustainable nonprofit ticketing model that's contributed over $16.5 million to charitable causes. 

This isn't just marketing, it's a fundamental reimagining of how ticketing platforms can create social impact. The platform charges less than Eventbrite on most plans (5% + $1.29 per ticket USD), with further discounts for nonprofits and schools. 

Every booking fee goes toward education, healthcare, food security, and other vital causes, which can resonate with value-conscious audiences.

Functionally, Humanitix delivers solid ticketing with standout features in accessibility and virtual events. Their Virtual Event Hub creates landing pages for online events with embedded streaming from platforms like Zoom and YouTube, unique access links tied to tickets (limited to one device at a time), and resource distribution capabilities. The platform's "Humans not Bots" support philosophy means real people handle inquiries without automated chatbots.

Source: Humanitix

However, Humanitix's focus on ethical ticketing means limited investment in advanced marketing tools. 

While they offer email campaigns and social media templates through Canva integration, they lack the sophisticated features like ambassador programs or viral marketing tools that actively drive ticket discovery and sales. For events where the charitable angle aligns with your brand values, this trade-off makes sense.

PromoTix: From Eventbrite partner to marketing-first platform

PromoTix's origin story explains its unique position in the market. 

After producing festivals for 16 years and owning a concert venue, founder Will Royall understood that high fees weren't the only problem. Ticketing platforms simply didn't help sell tickets. Starting as an Eventbrite Spectrum partner providing marketing tools to Eventbrite customers, PromoTix had insider knowledge of what event creators actually needed. 

This led to developing a complete platform that treats marketing as the core feature, not an afterthought. The result is patented technology that includes viral contest registration pages that build marketing databases before tickets even go on sale.

At 3% + $1.49 per ticket (compared to Eventbrite's 3.7% + $1.79), PromoTix positions itself as a middle-price-point solution, but delivering exceptional value through included features that competitors charge extra for. The platform reports an 80% close rate when converting Eventbrite customers, with users experiencing up to 22% more ticket sales using their marketing features.

Source: PromoTix

The platform excels in specific verticals: youth sports (its largest market), music festivals, venues, nightclubs, religious gatherings, and beauty pageants. These are events where family members often purchase tickets to watch remotely, where ambassador programs thrive, and where viral marketing drives sales. The platform’s largest client sells more than 1.5M tickets annually across multiple venues, demonstrating the platform’s ability to scale on an enterprise level.

Unique features include:

• Ambassador network with 6,500+ existing influencers and GPS tracking for physical promotions
• RFID technology optimized for 3,000+ attendee events with access control, cashless payments, and sponsor activation
• Resale marketplace where organizers control the secondary market and earn additional fees
• Spotify insights for music events to inform booking decisions
• Promotional materials printing with dynamic QR codes for each ticket
• Event branded mobile apps for iOS and Android without the need for expensive developers
• Secure streaming gateway with "digital front gate" preventing link sharing
  
  

Fee structures reveal different value propositions

Eventbrite's 3.7% + $1.79 per ticket plus 2.9% per order represents premium pricing for premium access. 

You're paying for brand recognition, marketplace exposure, and a mature platform with extensive capabilities. For large events that benefit significantly from marketplace discovery, these fees can be justified. However, for events relying primarily on their own marketing, you're paying premium prices for features you may not fully utilize.

Source: Eventbrite

Humanitix's 5% + $1.29 per ticket on USD events reflects their nonprofit model. 

Lower fees mean more money stays with organizers while still funding charitable causes. For nonprofits qualifying for their 1% + $0.99 rate, it's particularly compelling. The value proposition is ethical and financial; you save money while supporting good causes.

Source: Humanitix

PromoTix's 3% + $1.49 per ticket strikes a deliberate balance. 

It's less than Eventbrite but more than some budget platforms, reflecting the value of included marketing tools, RFID capabilities, resale marketplace, and agency-level support. The professional plan's 0% service fee option (subscription-based) works well for events selling thousands of tickets, potentially turning ticketing from a cost center into a revenue stream when organizers add their own service fees.

Source: PromoTix

For a 500-ticket event at $50 per ticket:

• Eventbrite: $2,545 in fees (not including payment processing)
• Humanitix: $1,895 in fees (not including payment processing)
• PromoTix: $1,495 in fees (not including payment processing)

👉 PromoTix is less expensive and includes marketing tools, RFID capabilities, and dedicated support that would cost thousands extra elsewhere.

Marketing capabilities: Where platforms truly diverge

Eventbrite provides discovery through its marketplace, where personalized recommendations and search help attendees find events. 

Eventbrite Boost enables integrated social media advertising (requiring additional ad spend), while AI tools help generate marketing copy faster. Email campaigns, promotional codes, and social sharing are standard. However, with millions of events competing for attention, organic discovery is challenging without strong SEO or an existing following.

Humanitix offers functional but basic marketing tools. 

Email campaigns work well for reaching past attendees, social media templates through Canva help maintain brand consistency, and standard promotional codes enable discounting. The Virtual Event Hub provides a professional landing page for online events. What's missing are tools that actively drive new ticket discovery: no ambassador programs, viral mechanisms, or sophisticated referral tracking.

PromoTix takes a fundamentally different approach, although it also has a basic marketplace and tools, it builds advanced marketing into the platform's DNA. 

The viral contest tool doesn't just engage, it builds large marketing databases of interested attendees with names, emails, social media follows, shares, and phone numbers for you before and after tickets go on sale. The ambassador program goes beyond basic referral tracking:

• Recruiting module with access to 6,500+ existing ambassadors ready to promote
• GPS verification of physical poster and flyer distribution
• Automated commission calculation and settlement
• Social media post tracking and analytics
• Social media content library for distribution to influencers
• Task organization module
• Rewards module including auto-guest list management

For music events, Spotify insights analyze what your audience actually listens to, informing booking decisions that drive sales. The platform's origin as an Eventbrite Spectrum partner providing marketing tools means these aren't afterthoughts, they're the core features that everything else was built around.

This tool helps you to spend money on the right artists, and also see which artists you may be getting a deal on regarding the booking fee from the agent. It can save you tens of thousands in miss-spent artist booking fees, and make sure the artists you do spend money on will sell tickets for you.

Source: PromoTix

Virtual and hybrid events for modern audiences

Post-pandemic, virtual capabilities aren't optional, they're essential for reaching broader audiences.

Eventbrite adapted by creating secure Online Event Pages that require attendee authentication. 

Each registrant receives unique, password-protected URLs, with options for time-restricting content access. While not native streaming, these security features provide more protection than basic link sharing. The platform integrates with external streaming services like Zoom and YouTube - but the original links on the streaming platforms remain unsecured if they get shared.

Humanitix built a comprehensive Virtual Event Hub that serves as a landing page for online events. 

Unique access links tied to tickets (one device at a time) prevent casual sharing, while embedded streams from various platforms maintain flexibility. The hub can distribute resources and materials, making it particularly effective for workshops and conferences.  This works similar to Eventbrite’s tool.

PromoTix created an in-house streaming platform with what they call a "digital front gate," which is technology specifically designed for events where family members purchase streaming access. 

Each ticket generates a unique, single-session URL. If someone tries sharing their link, the new viewer gets blocked with a message that someone else is already using that ticket and that they need to buy their own. For youth sports, beauty pageants, and performances where remote family viewing drives significant revenue possibly across state lines, this security and feature is crucial. The platform's hybrid event patent enables selling in-person and virtual tickets in the same checkout flow.

Many event creators who have watched their virtual events see thousands of viewers when they only sold hundreds of tickets, switch to PromoTix to lock down viewership and monetize every view.

Source: PromoTix

Customer support reflects company philosophies

Eventbrite provides tiered support based on your event type and spending. 

Free events get email support only. Paid events receive 24/7 chat support. Enterprise accounts get phone support and dedicated account management - yet their enterprise definition is much larger than the typical business using the platform. The model scales efficiently but can feel impersonal for most organizers needing help as you’ll never get someone on the phone.

Humanitix proudly offers "Humans not Bots" support to all users equally. 

No automated chatbots, no tiered access, just responsive human assistance regardless of event size. This egalitarian approach reflects their nonprofit values and creates genuine goodwill, though response times can vary during peak periods.

PromoTix provides what they call "agency-model level support" with dedicated Client Success Managers for professional accounts and Ambassador Program Managers that help craft strategy, recruit, and run your ambassador marketing program to ensure its success. 

This isn't typical ticketing support, it's having a named contact who knows your events, understands your market, and proactively helps optimize your success. They also provide growth and marketing strategy helping you to grow ticket sales, sponsorship opportunities, and more. It’s a true partnership with aligned interests. For organizers in PromoTix's target verticals (sports, youth sports, music, venues, and theaters), this specialized knowledge proves invaluable.

Eventbrite vs Humanitix vs PromoTix: Which fits your needs?

The choice depends on your specific situation, market, and priorities.

Choose Eventbrite if:

• You need marketplace exposure and brand recognition
• Your events benefit significantly from organic discovery
• You're willing to pay premium fees for the industry standard
• Your marketing strategy relies on paid advertising through Eventbrite Boost
• You don’t need a high level of customer support
• You don’t need any creative marketing tools
  
  

Choose Humanitix if:

• You're a nonprofit, school, or charity qualifying for discounted rates
• The ethical angle of supporting charitable causes aligns with your values and audience
• You need ticketing with excellent accessibility features
• Your audience actively seeks out ethical purchasing options
  
  

Choose PromoTix if:

• You're in sports, music, venues, theaters, nightclubs, religious events, beauty pageants
• You want to secure your virtual live streams to make sure every viewer purchased a ticket
• You want advanced marketing tools (viral contests, ambassador programs, branded mobile apps)
• Mid-tier pricing with exceptional value through included features makes sense
• RFID capabilities for 3,000+ person events would benefit your operations
• You prefer dedicated support and growth consulting from people who understand your market
  
  

The reality is each platform serves different needs effectively. 

Eventbrite offers brand recognition at premium prices. Humanitix provides ethical ticketing at competitive rates. PromoTix delivers marketing-first ticketing for growth with specialized features for specific verticals at a value based price point.

For events that need sophisticated marketing tools integrated with ticketing, particularly in youth sports, music events, venues, and family-viewed events, PromoTix's origin story as an Eventbrite partner turned competitor provides unique advantages. Their 80,000+ attendee events and customer who sell more than 1.5 million tickets in a year prove the platform scales, while their 80% close rate from past Eventbrite customer leads suggests they're solving real problems.

Ready to launch your first event with PromoTix? Signup and create your first event for free to start selling tickets today..