What does a free event actually cost?

On Tolivi, nothing at all, with no features held back - the same ticket tiers, promo codes, live guest list and QR door check-in as a paid event. Elsewhere, check two things: whether payment processing still applies if you take donations or extras, and whether the guest list and check-in tools are gated behind a paid tier. That second one is usually the reason to list a free event in the first place.

Is there a monthly fee or a listing fee?

Not on Tolivi - ten percent a ticket is the whole price list, with no monthly fee, no listing fee, no contract and no minimum. It is worth asking elsewhere, because a subscription costs the same in a month when you ran no events, while a per-ticket cut costs nothing.

Can I pass the fee to the ticket buyer?

Yes. You can absorb the ten percent or add it at checkout. Absorbing keeps your advertised price honest and tends to convert better; passing it on protects your full face value but shows the buyer a higher number than your poster did.

Do my guests need to download an app?

No. They open your link, pay on the page, and the ticket arrives by email with a QR code you scan at the door. The app is for you as the organiser.

Is It Free to Sell Tickets Online?

The honest answer is that free events usually are genuinely free, paid tickets never quite are, and most of the confusion comes from platforms using the word “free” about two completely different things.

It is worth separating them before you commit, because the difference decides whether you can run a small free night without it costing you anything, and what you actually keep on the nights you charge.

Free events: usually free, but check one thing

Almost every ticketing platform lets you list and run a free event at no cost. Nobody is taking a percentage of nothing.

The thing to check is whether “free” also means free of features. On some platforms a free event gets you a listing and not much else, and the guest list, the check-in tool or the ability to message attendees sit behind a paid tier. That matters more than it sounds: the reason to put a free event on a platform at all is usually the guest list and the door, not the listing.

If you run a mix of free and paid nights, and most venues and community organisers do, this is the question that decides whether the free ones are worth putting through the same system.

Paid tickets: someone always pays the card fee

Once money moves, a card network takes a cut. No platform absorbs that permanently, so “free ticketing” for paid events always means one of three things:

The fee is passed to the buyer. You keep the face value and the ticket costs more at checkout than the price on your poster.
The platform charges you elsewhere. A monthly subscription instead of a per-ticket cut, which is cheaper at volume and worse if you run four events a year.
It is free up to a limit. A number of tickets, or a ticket price ceiling, after which normal rates apply.

None of those is dishonest. They are just different shapes, and the right one depends entirely on how often you sell and at what price.

The four things to check before you commit

Take these to any provider’s pricing page, ours included:

What does a free event actually cost? Including payment processing, if you take donations or optional extras.
Which features are gated? Specifically the guest list, door check-in and attendee messaging - the three that make a free event worth listing.
Is there a monthly or listing fee? A per-ticket cut costs nothing in a quiet month. A subscription does not care whether you ran an event.
Is there a fixed amount per ticket on top of the percentage? On a cheap ticket this is usually the largest cost, and it is the one quoted second. We worked that arithmetic through in what it actually costs to sell tickets online.

What Tolivi does

Free events cost nothing at all, and nothing is gated behind that. You get the same ticket tiers, promo codes, live guest list and QR check-in at the door as a paid event.

Paid tickets are ten percent. No fixed amount per ticket, no monthly fee, no listing fee, no contract and no minimum. You can absorb the ten percent or pass it to the buyer, and payouts go to your own bank account.

Your guests do not download anything either. They open your link, pay on the page, and the ticket arrives by email with a QR code you scan on the night.

If you are running a free night to see whether the format works before charging for it, that is exactly the case this is built for. Put one on and see what it does.