What is the best event platform for a nonprofit?
For nonprofits, the best event platform is the one that leaves the most money in the organization after fees. Zeffy is $0 with no platform or processing fee for registered nonprofits, GlowOS starts at $29/mo and takes 2% to 5% plus Stripe on tickets, and Eventbrite charges 3.7% + $1.79 per paid ticket plus 2.9% payment processing.
| Platform | Best for | Starting price | Cut of a paid ticket or dues payment | Key strength |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GlowOS | Chapters and associations that run recurring events and collect dues | $29/mo for up to 100 members | 2% to 5% depending on plan size, plus Stripe. Dues renewals after the first year carry no commission. | Events, membership, newsletter and check-in in one system, with AI agents that draft and an organizer who approves every send |
| Wild Apricot | Established associations that want one long-standing all-in-one | $66/mo for up to 100 contacts | No per-transaction fee from Wild Apricot. Your payment provider still charges. | A deep, mature membership feature set built over more than a decade |
| Eventbrite | Public, ticketed, one-off events that need discovery traffic | $0 to publish free events | 3.7% + $1.79 service fee per paid ticket, plus 2.9% payment processing per order | A large public marketplace that can put your event in front of strangers |
| Join It | Small groups that mainly need a clean membership database | $29/mo Starter | 3.0% Starter, 2.0% Total, 1.5% Extra, plus Stripe | Straightforward membership records with Salesforce, Mailchimp and QuickBooks connections |
| Zeffy | Registered nonprofits whose main job is fundraising | $0 | $0. Funded by an optional tip the donor chooses at checkout. | The organization keeps the full donation, with no platform or processing fee deducted |
Sources, read July 31, 2026: Wild Apricot pricing, Eventbrite pricing, Join It pricing, Zeffy, GlowOS pricing.
How much do nonprofit event platforms take from each ticket?
On a $50 ticket where the organization absorbs the fees rather than passing them to the attendee, Eventbrite takes $5.09 and the organization keeps $44.91. On the GlowOS $129 plan at 2.5% plus Stripe's standard 2.9% + $0.30, the platform and processor take $3.00 and the organization keeps $47.00.
That is a difference of $2.09 per ticket, or $418 across a 200-seat gala. Both platforms allow fees to be passed to the attendee instead, in which case the difference shows up in the buyer's total rather than the organization's deposit.
Zeffy is the outlier. It charges no platform, transaction or processing fee at all and is funded by an optional tip the donor chooses at checkout, so a registered nonprofit keeps the full face value. The trade is that Zeffy is built around fundraising rather than around running a membership organization year-round.
Do nonprofits get discounts on event software?
Some vendors publish a nonprofit rate and some do not. Join It states a 10% nonprofit discount that stacks with its 10% annual-billing discount, Zeffy is free to registered nonprofits by design, and Wild Apricot's published pricing is the same for all organizations with discounts tied to prepay length rather than tax status.
Ask directly before you sign. Nonprofit pricing is frequently available on request even when it is not on the pricing page, and the answer costs one email.
What do nonprofits need from an event platform beyond ticketing?
- Donations alongside registration. The moment someone is already entering a card is the moment they are most likely to give more.
- Attendees that become members. A gala guest who never enters your member list is a one-time transaction instead of the start of a relationship.
- Check-in at the door. A volunteer with a phone should be able to scan arrivals and register walk-ups without a laptop and a spreadsheet.
- Sponsor and speaker tracking. Nonprofit events run on committed sponsors and confirmed speakers, and both need chasing.
- Follow-up that actually goes out. The thank-you and the receipt are what make next year's ask land.
How were these platforms evaluated?
Each platform was scored on five things a chapter organizer actually feels within the first quarter: total cost at 250 members, whether events and membership live in one system, what the platform takes from a paid ticket, what the member sees when they log in, and how much writing the organizer still has to do by hand.
Prices came from each vendor's own pricing page, read on July 31, 2026. Feature claims about GlowOS come from the product. Feature claims about other platforms are limited to what each vendor states publicly, because that is what can be verified.
Which platform should your nonprofit choose?
Choose Zeffy if fundraising is the organization's core activity and keeping every dollar of each donation outweighs everything else. Choose Eventbrite for a public benefit event where you need people who have never heard of you to find it.
Choose GlowOS if the event is one moment in a year-round community: a chapter, a foundation with recurring programming, or an association whose gala attendees should end up on the member roster. GlowOS carries registration, check-in, dues, the member portal and the follow-up in one system, and its commission on dues drops to zero after each member's first year.
What does Eventbrite charge nonprofits?
Eventbrite's published rate is 3.7% + $1.79 in service fees per paid ticket plus 2.9% payment processing per order, and free events cost nothing to publish. On a $50 ticket that is $5.09 in total fees if the organization absorbs them.
Is there a completely free event platform for nonprofits?
Zeffy charges registered nonprofits no platform, transaction or processing fee and is funded by an optional tip donors choose at checkout, so the organization keeps the full face value. It is built around fundraising rather than around running a membership organization year-round.
How much does GlowOS cost a nonprofit?
GlowOS starts at $29 a month for up to 100 members and $79 a month for up to 250, and takes 2% to 5% on tickets depending on plan size plus Stripe's standard processing fee. Dues renewals after each member's first year carry no commission.
Should the nonprofit absorb event fees or pass them to attendees?
Both are common and most platforms support either. Absorbing fees keeps the advertised ticket price clean, which matters for a benefit event where the price is part of the ask. Passing them through protects the amount the organization nets per seat.