Sway vs Shotgun: which ticketing platform for your nights?
Compare Sway and Shotgun 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 | Shotgun |
|---|---|---|
| Fees paid by the buyer | 3% + €0.30 per paid ticket, VAT included. No fees on a free ticket. | 2.75% of the transaction amount, with a minimum of €0.30. Shotgun says this does not change the price shown on your ticketing page. |
| Fees paid by the organiser | No extra commission: you receive the price you set (e.g. a €20 ticket → €20) on a standard card. | A “commission” defined in Shotgun’s terms as fees the organiser pays to Shotgun. Rates “are agreed” between you and Shotgun. The amount is not published. |
| Payout timing | The money reaches your account within a week, even before the event. Sway does not hold your ticket money. | By default the event balance is transferred **24 hours after the event ends**. A manual transfer is possible before then. Transfers usually take 2 to 3 business days. |
| 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. | Shotgun provides an organiser workspace (Smartboard, banking, ticket refunds). This page does not list tools Shotgun does not document in the same public way. |
| 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. | Shotgun has a consumer app for finding nightlife events. |
| Niche | Electronic music (techno, house, raves, festivals). Tickets in 16 currencies. | Nightlife (clubs, raves, gigs), especially France, Belgium and Europe. |
| Site and photos | A site on your own domain from the Studio plan, fed by your Sway events. Photo galleries per event. | Not compared here. |
Shotgun is widely used for nightlife ticketing in France, Belgium and the rest of Europe. Sway is an app and a ticketing platform built for electronic music: line-ups, set times, discovery, and organiser tools in one place.
Both add a service fee for the buyer. On that point, Shotgun is usually cheaper for the public. The difference for you, the organiser, sits elsewhere: a commission set in your Shotgun contract (the rate is not published), when the money reaches your account, and the tools you have to fill the room.
This page compares what both platforms publish. The Shotgun figures below match their public rates in effect in November 2026. If your contract says something else, your contract wins.
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.
A worked example on a €20 ticket
For the buyer, on a one-ticket order:
- On Shotgun: 2.75% × €20 = €0.55 (above the €0.30 minimum).
- On Sway: 3% × €20 + €0.30 = €0.90. The buyer pays €20.90.
For the organiser:
- On Sway, you receive €20.00.
- On Shotgun, you receive €20.00 minus the commission in your contract. Without that rate, nobody can say which total is cheaper for you.
On a €15 ticket the buyer-side gap goes the same way: about €0.41 on Shotgun versus €0.75 on Sway. Shotgun stays cheaper for the public. If your Shotgun commission is zero, the organiser-fee argument drops away: what remains is being paid before the night, and Sway’s tools.
Tools, discovery and the scene
Sway puts together what an electronic-music team needs before and on the night: 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.
Shotgun is already how a lot of nightlife tickets are sold, with an app where people look for nights out. This page does not claim that either app “brings you no fans”. They are two different networks.
When to choose Sway, and when to stay on Shotgun
Sway makes sense if you want the full ticket price, the money before the night, and ticketing, check-in, line-up, galleries, ambassadors and an assistant in one place — on an app ravers use to find electronic events.
Shotgun makes sense if your crowd already buys there, if their nightlife app is how people find you, or if your priority is the lowest fee for the buyer. It also makes sense if your contract has no commission (or a very low one): in that case, do not lean on an organiser-fee argument this page cannot put a number on.
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 DICE, Sway vs Eventbrite.
Also: Sway vs Paylogic, Sway vs ticket.io, Sway vs Weeztix, Sway vs Ticketmaster, Sway vs Stager, Sway vs Universe, Sway vs Cooltix, Sway vs TIXR, Sway vs Ticketclub, Sway vs OneTicket, Sway vs Resident Advisor, Sway vs XCEED\n
Frequently asked questions
Is Shotgun cheaper than Sway for the public?
Who pays the fees on Sway and on Shotgun?
When do I get paid?
Does Sway have a discovery app like Shotgun?
I already sell on Shotgun. Can I move to Sway?
Does Sway work outside Europe?
Last reviewed 5 November 2026
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