If you have ever asked a vendor what their event registration software cost is and been handed a "let's book a call" instead of a number, you already know the problem. Pricing in this category is deliberately hard to compare, because the three common models charge you for completely different things.
The good news: once you know the three models, the ranges are knowable. Here is the honest version, with real 2026 figures and the parts that tend to land on the invoice after you have signed.
The three ways registration software is priced
Almost every platform prices on one of three things. The sticker number matters less than which of these you are agreeing to, because each scales differently with the size of your event.
The trap is comparing a per-ticket rate against a subscription as if they were the same currency. They are not. A "cheap" 3 percent fee can quietly become your largest event-tech line item the moment you sell a few thousand tickets.
What each model actually costs in 2026
Per-attendee. The headline rates look tiny, then compound. Eventbrite charges 3.7 percent plus $1.79 per paid ticket, on top of a 2.9 percent payment-processing fee, which works out to roughly $3.11 on a $20 ticket, about 15.5 percent of the price.3 Whova charges 3.0 percent plus $0.99 per paid ticket.2 Leaner options exist: SimpleTix runs $0.79 plus 2 percent per ticket and charges nothing on free events.3
The important thing about per-ticket pricing is not the rate. It is what happens as you sell more. The fee scales with your success, and it lands hardest on exactly the events you worked hardest to fill.
What a per-ticket fee adds up to as the room fills
Illustrative, to show the shape of the cost: a ₹2,000 ticket at roughly 6 percent all-in. Same software, every row. Not a quote.
Subscription. Flat plans start low, around $10 to $24 per month for basic tools, but most capable event-management platforms sit in the $195 to $495 per month range.4 You are trading a variable per-ticket cost for a fixed one, which is a good deal precisely when your events are large.
Enterprise. At the top end the numbers jump. Mid-market platforms like Accelevents start around $5,000 per year, dedicated enterprise suites run $25,000 or more per year, and Cvent's average annual cost lands near $52,000, with a mid-market median closer to $19,550.25
So which is cheapest? It depends almost entirely on your attendance and ticket price. As a rough rule, per-ticket models win for small, infrequent, low-priced events; subscriptions win once you run several events a year or sell at volume; and flat per-event pricing wins when you want a number you can put in a budget before a single ticket sells. The one habit worth building is to run your own event through all three models at your expected sell-out before you sign, because the cheapest option flips fast as attendance grows.
The fees nobody puts on the quote
The pricing page is the optimistic version. Three costs routinely show up later, and they can dwarf the headline rate.
- Payment processing. Often around 2.9 percent plus a flat per-transaction fee, charged on top of the platform's own cut. On a per-ticket model you are effectively paying two percentages at once.3
- On-site badge printing and check-in. Outsourced badging for a mid-sized conference runs roughly $2,100 per event once you count printed stock and agency staffing.6 Many registration quotes quietly assume you handle this separately.
- Premium support, integrations and overages. The features that make the tool usable at scale, priority support, API access, extra admin seats, are frequently gated to a higher tier or billed as add-ons.4
Free, mid-market, and enterprise
Most platforms ladder their pricing across three broad tiers, and the jump between them is usually about control, not just capacity.
Free tiers cover a single small event with the vendor's branding on your pages and fees passed to attendees. Mid-market plans add your branding, more integrations and better support for a monthly fee. Enterprise unlocks custom domains, security review, a dedicated contact and a service-level agreement, which is where four and five-figure annual contracts appear.5 The honest question is not "which tier is cheapest" but "which tier gives me my own branding and my own data," because that line often sits higher than organizers expect.
Where Aurentex sits
Aurentex is built to sidestep the per-ticket trap entirely. Pricing is flat and quoted per event or on a simple monthly plan, so the number you agree to does not climb every time you register another attendee. There is no per-ticket cut, just a flat fee for the software. Registration, check-in and badging live in one platform on your own domain and branding, so the "hidden" add-ons above are part of the thing rather than surprises bolted on later.
We also let you prove it before you pay: your first two events run free, so you can compare the real number against whatever a per-ticket platform would charge at your sell-out, on your own event rather than a sales deck.