Comparison

Sway vs Eventbrite: which ticketing platform for your event?

Compare Sway and Eventbrite: who pays the fees in Belgium and France, organiser tools and discovery. On Sway the buyer pays 3% + €0.30 and you receive the full ticket price.

November 5, 2026· 6 min read

Feature	Sway	Eventbrite
Fees paid by the buyer	3% + €0.30 per paid ticket, VAT included. No fees on a free ticket.	By default, Ticketing Fees are paid by the buyer. Belgium (legacy packages): Essentials 3% + €0.49 per sold ticket; Professional 4% + €0.99. France (same row as Finland, Greece, Italy and Portugal): Essentials 3.5% + €0.49; Professional 5.5% + €0.99. Eventbrite also mentions a payment processing fee “where applicable”: the Belgium and France rows in the legacy table only list the service fee, so that processing fee is not added here. VAT on these amounts is not stated.
Fees paid by the organiser	No extra commission: you receive the price you set (e.g. €20 → €20) on a standard card.	If you pass fees on, you receive the face price. If you tick “Absorb fees”, the fees are deducted from your sales at payout.
Payout timing	The money reaches your account within a week, even before the event. Sway does not hold your ticket money.	Eventbrite describes scheduled payouts (bank transfer or cheque). The exact calendar for Belgium or France is not public enough to cite here.
Marketing tools	Automatic notifications to your followers; email and custom push on paid plans; ambassadors; Meta and TikTok pixels; Swapy, free on every plan.	Eventbrite highlights a public page, a consumer app, SEO, automated social notifications, and email / CRM / ads integrations. Details vary by package (Essentials, Professional, Premium).
Discovery / audience	The Sway app and site, focused on raves, clubs and electronic festivals.	The Eventbrite marketplace and app, for every kind of event, with public listing.
Niche	Electronic music. Tickets in 16 currencies.	General, worldwide.
Site and photos	A site on your own domain from Studio. Photo galleries per event.	A custom URL is mentioned on some packages. Galleries are not compared here.

Eventbrite is a general ticketing platform and marketplace: conferences, workshops, concerts, fundraisers. 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 pass fees to the buyer by default. Eventbrite also lets you absorb them (they are then taken from your payout). On the public rates read on 5 November 2026, Sway’s fee is lower than the Eventbrite service fee published for Belgium and for France. Eventbrite still makes sense if people already find you there, or if your event is not an electronic night.

Eventbrite’s fees vary by country. The amounts below match their public rates in effect in November 2026. An account can have other terms: always check your fees in your Eventbrite organisation settings.

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 Sway’s service fee is 4.5% + $0.35 per paid ticket. Eventbrite publishes other rates for the United States; this page does not copy them, to avoid mixing US rates with the European rates above.

A worked example on a €20 ticket

For the buyer, on one ticket, using only the published service fee (no unconfirmed payment-processing fee, no unconfirmed VAT):

Sway: 3% × €20 + €0.30 = €0.90. The buyer pays €20.90. You receive €20.00.
Eventbrite Belgium, Essentials: 3% × €20 + €0.49 = €1.09.
Eventbrite Belgium, Professional: 4% × €20 + €0.99 = €1.79.
Eventbrite France, Essentials: 3.5% × €20 + €0.49 = €1.19.
Eventbrite France, Professional: 5.5% × €20 + €0.99 = €2.09.

On a €15 ticket, Belgium Essentials is €0.94 versus €0.75 on Sway.

If you absorb fees on Eventbrite, you lose those amounts on every ticket, and the buyer pays €20. On Sway, the buyer pays the fee (€0.90 at €20) and you receive €20.

Tools, discovery and the scene

Sway puts together what an electronic-music team needs: tickets (early bird, promo codes, pay-in-instalments), orders (resend, refund), door check-in and offline scanners, guest list, line-up and set times, 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, custom push and boosts are growth tools on paid plans. Swapy is free everywhere, Basic included.

Eventbrite is a large marketplace, with a consumer app and strong public listing for every kind of event. This page does not say Eventbrite “brings you no fans”. For a workshop, a conference or a non-scene event, their catalogue makes sense. For a rave or a club night with a line-up and set times, Sway is built around that format.

When to choose Sway, and when to stay on Eventbrite

Sway makes sense if you run electronic nights, you want a published buyer fee below the Eventbrite packages we read for Belgium and France, the full ticket price within a week — including before the event — and check-in, line-up, galleries, ambassadors and an assistant in one place.

Eventbrite makes sense if your event is not (only) an electronic night, if people already find you on their marketplace, or if you need tools tied to their Professional / Premium packages (for example a seating plan). If you absorb fees to show an all-in price, work out what that takes off each ticket before you compare.

Both can be the right fit. It depends on the type of event, the payout country, and what you want to optimise: the extra the public pays, your cash flow, or a general marketplace.

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Frequently asked questions

Is Eventbrite more expensive than Sway for the public?

On the service fees published for Belgium and France, yes. At €20: €0.90 on Sway, versus €1.09 (Belgium Essentials), €1.19 (France Essentials), and more on Professional. A payment processing fee where applicable may be added on Eventbrite; it is not quantified here for Belgium and France.

Who pays the fees on Sway and on Eventbrite?

On Sway, only the buyer pays the service fee, and you receive the price you set. On Eventbrite, the buyer pays by default; you can absorb the fees, which are then deducted from your payout.

When do I get paid?

On Sway, the money reaches your account within a week, even before the event. Eventbrite talks about scheduled payouts (bank transfer or cheque). Their exact calendar for Belgium or France is not public enough to cite here.

Do Eventbrite and Sway both have a discovery app?

Yes. Eventbrite has an app and a marketplace for every kind of event. Sway has an app and a site focused on raves, clubs and electronic festivals, with line-ups and set times.

I already sell on Eventbrite. Can I move to Sway?

Yes. We can put your next event online for you, free to start. Check your Eventbrite fees in your organisation settings: they vary by country and package.

Does Sway work outside Europe?

Sway sells tickets in 16 currencies, including US dollars (4.5% + $0.35 per paid ticket, with the displayed price all-in). The euro fee stays 3% + €0.30.

Last reviewed 5 November 2026

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