Sway vs AXS: which ticketing platform for your event?
Compare Sway and AXS on who pays the fees, when you get paid, and organiser tools. On Sway the buyer pays 3% + €0.30 and you receive the full ticket price.
| Feature | Sway | AXS |
|---|---|---|
| Fees paid by the buyer | 3% + €0.30 per paid ticket, VAT included. No fees on a free ticket. | Fees not published as a single public rate; ask them for a quote. Buyer-facing service fees, order fees and venue charges vary by event. |
| Fees paid by the organiser | No extra commission: you receive the price you set (e.g. a €20 ticket → €20) on a standard card. | Contractual. Ask them for a quote. No public figure to quote here. |
| Payout timing | The money reaches your account within a week, even before the event. Sway does not hold your ticket money. | Their payout calendar is contractual; ask them. On Sway the money reaches you within a week, even before the event. |
| Marketing tools | Automatic notifications to people who follow you; email and custom push on paid plans; an ambassador programme (personal codes, credits, rewards); Meta and TikTok pixels; Swapy, your team's AI assistant, free on every plan. | Marketplace inventory, apps and door entry for arenas and major shows. Not a scene app with line-ups and set times like Sway. |
| Discovery / audience | The Sway app and site, focused on raves, clubs and electronic festivals: search by genre, city and artist, with line-ups and set times. | A large public ticket marketplace for arenas and tours, not an electronic-music discovery app. |
| Niche | Electronic music (techno, house, raves, festivals). Tickets in 16 currencies. | Arenas, tours and major venues, including the US. Sway is built for electronic music and sells tickets in 16 currencies. |
| Site and photos | A site on your own domain from the Studio plan, fed by your Sway events. Photo galleries per event. | Marketplace event pages and official apps. Sway offers a site on your own domain from the Studio plan, fed by your events. |
AXS is a large international ticket marketplace used by arenas, tours and major venues, including in the United States. Sway is an app and a ticketing platform built for electronic music: line-ups, set times, door check-in, and organiser tools in one place.
Both can sell a paid ticket. The difference sits in what is published about the fee, when the money reaches you, and whether you want a venue box office, a large marketplace, or a scene app with line-ups and discovery.
The AXS notes below match what is public in November 2026. AXS does not publish a single public organiser rate comparable to Sway. Buyer-facing service fees, order fees and venue charges vary by event; the organiser contract is not on a public pricing page. If your contract says something else, your contract wins.
What is public about the fees
On Sway, the buyer fee is published and the same on every standard plan: 3% + €0.30 per paid ticket, VAT included. On a €20 ticket the buyer pays €0.90 and you receive €20.00 on a standard card.
AXS does not publish a single public figure you can check the same way as Sway's 3% + €0.30. Ask them for a quote on a €20 ticket, or on a US-dollar ticket if you sell there.
In the US, the price a buyer sees on Sway is all-in: the event page shows the price with fees included. In US dollars the service fee is 4.5% + $0.35 per paid ticket.
Tools, discovery and the scene
Sway puts together what an electronic-music team needs: tickets (early bird, promo codes, pay-in-instalments), order control (resend, refund), door check-in and offline scanners, guest list, line-up and set times, sales insights, photo galleries, ambassadors, and Swapy to ask how a night is selling or to draft a campaign. Creating a page and an event is free. Email campaigns, custom push notifications and discovery boosts are growth tools on paid plans. Swapy is free on every plan, Basic included.
AXS is built as a large venue and tour marketplace: inventory, apps and door entry for arenas and major shows. It is not a discovery app organised around electronic-music line-ups the way Sway is.
When to choose Sway, and when to stay on AXS
Sway makes sense if you want a published buyer fee, the full ticket price in your account within a week — including before the event — and ticketing, check-in, line-up, galleries, ambassadors and an assistant in one place, on an app ravers use to find electronic events.
AXS can be the better fit if you need arena or tour distribution on that marketplace, or your venue already sells there.
Both can be the right fit. It depends on your contract, where people already buy, and what you want to keep: the ticket price, the cash-flow calendar, or a particular discovery network.
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See also what Sway does for promoters, for an event and pricing. Nearby comparisons: Sway vs Shotgun, Sway vs DICE, Sway vs Eventbrite, Sway vs Ticketmaster, Sway vs Eventim.
Frequently asked questions
Does AXS publish a public ticket fee?
How do Sway fees compare to AXS?
When do I get paid on Sway and on AXS?
Is AXS a discovery app like Sway?
I already sell on AXS. Can I move to Sway?
Does Sway work outside Europe?
Last reviewed 5 November 2026
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