Sway vs Universe: which ticketing platform for your event?

Universe is a ticketing platform used by organisers in several countries, with a strong presence in Canada in Sway's event sample. 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 Universe notes below match what is public in November 2026. Fees vary by country and plan. You can pass them to the buyer or absorb them. Free events stay free. On the public Belgium Starter rates, the service fee is €0.75 + 2% per ticket, capped at €9.95, plus 2% processing. On the public Canada Starter rates, the service fee is CAD $0.59 + 2% per ticket, capped at CAD $14.95, plus 3% processing. With Universe Payments, the balance is available 48 hours after the event; advances are not part of that public setup. If your contract or plan says something else, that document wins.

What the published rates mean on a ticket

On Sway, the buyer fee is 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. In US dollars the published fee is 4.5% + $0.35, with the displayed price all-in.

On Universe's public Belgium Starter rates, €0.75 + 2% on a €20 ticket is €1.15 before the separate 2% processing line. On the public Canada Starter rates, CAD $0.59 + 2% on a CAD $20 ticket is CAD $0.99 before the separate 3% processing line. You can pass these fees or absorb them. The exact processing base is set in your Universe 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 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.

Universe is event ticketing with country-based plans and a choice to pass or absorb fees. With Universe Payments the organiser balance is available 48 hours after the event, without advances. 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 Universe

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.

Universe can be the better fit if your crowd already buys there, you organise in a country where that checkout is familiar — Canada, in much of Sway's sample — or you want a plan that lets you pass or absorb fees on a widely used general ticketing site.

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 TIXR.