An honest comparison
Eventbrite and Ticket Tailor are general-purpose ticketing tools. Popup Pal starts with the part markets, fairs and trade shows depend on most: managing traders and collecting stall payments, without a platform taking a slice of what your traders pay you.
Popup Pal takes 0% of your stall money and adds no per-stall fee. Stripe bills its own processing to your account, exactly as it does for any business using Stripe.
| Popup Pal | Eventbrite | Ticket Tailor | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stallholder pricing | Plans from £9.99 a month, excluding VAT, priced by capacity: active events, confirmed stalls per event and team size. Popup Pal takes 0% of stall money and adds no per-stall fee; Stripe’s processing is charged separately, at cost, on your own account. | Not a core stallholder workflow. Organisers typically collect pitch fees through a separate system. | Not a core stallholder workflow. Organisers typically collect pitch fees through a separate system. |
| Stall / exhibitor management | Built in: application forms, applications inbox, trader invoicing (online, cash or bank transfer), insurance and certificate tracking with expiry reminders, pitch assignment. | Not a core feature. Typically handled outside the platform with forms and spreadsheets. | Not a core feature. Typically handled outside the platform with forms and spreadsheets. |
| Per-ticket fee | 4.5% + 59p + VAT per paid ticket, with card processing included, on every plan. Free tickets carry no ticket fee, and you do not need a subscription to sell tickets at all. | In the UK, 6.95% + £0.59 per ticket as a single combined fee covering payment processing, plus VAT unless you supply a VAT number. Same fixed 59p as us; the percentage is the difference. | A flat fee per ticket, no percentage — 60p + VAT pay-as-you-sell, or from 22p + VAT on prepaid credits. Card processing is charged separately by Stripe or PayPal on top. |
| Buyer accounts required | Never. Guest checkout; a secure order link is the buyer’s key. | Guest checkout available; the experience encourages an Eventbrite account and app. | No buyer accounts; guest checkout. |
| Payout timing | Ticket takings go to your own Stripe account and pay out on your Stripe schedule. Stall payments go the same way, tracked against each invoice: by card on every paid plan, and by Pay by Bank on Max. | Funds are typically held and paid out after the event on standard plans. | Money goes to your own payment provider (e.g. Stripe or PayPal) as sales happen. |
| Floor plan / pitch allocation | Visual floor plan editor with drag-and-drop pitch assignment, included. | Seat maps for reserved seating; no trader pitch allocation. | Seating charts for reserved seating; no trader pitch allocation. |
Where does that leave ticket fees overall? Against Eventbrite the comparison needs no arithmetic: the fixed part is the same 59p, and our percentage is 4.5% against their 6.95%. We are cheaper on every ticket, at every price, and the gap widens as the price rises.
Against Ticket Tailor it depends on your ticket price, and we would rather say so than let you find out later. They charge a flat fee with no percentage, but card processing is extra. Adding typical Stripe rates to their side, we come out cheaper below roughly £5.40 a ticket — which is where most market, fair and gate tickets sit — and they come out cheaper above it, more so on their prepaid credits. If you sell £20 tickets and nothing else, they are the cheaper ticketing tool.
What the fee comes with is the real difference: trader applications, stall payments, floor plans and the gate are part of the same platform, not separate tools you buy and join together yourself.
Competitor details describe typical publicly advertised plans as at July 2026 and vary by country, plan and payment provider. Always check current pricing pages before deciding. If we have something wrong, tell us and we will fix it.
When Popup Pal is the right choice
- You want one predictable subscription with nothing taken from your stall money
- Your event has stallholders, exhibitors or traders to manage
- You want ticket takings in your own Stripe account as sales happen
- Your buyers won’t tolerate account sign-ups for a day ticket
- You run the gate from phones, not hired hardware
When it might not be
- You need reserved seating with numbered seats. We don’t do seat maps
- You rely on a marketplace’s discovery audience to sell tickets for you
- You can’t use Stripe in your country. Popup Pal ticket sales require a Stripe account
- You need Pay by Bank or repeating event series on our smallest plan. Series need Pro or above, and Pay by Bank is a Max entitlement
Our own plans differ by capacity, not capability: Max lifts every limit, and everything below it still carries the whole toolkit.