Top 5 Event Ticketing Platforms for Fundraisers in 2026

Selling tickets to a fundraising event is not the same as selling tickets to a concert. Your ticket buyers are also your bidders, raffle entrants and donors. Your "venue" might be a school hall run by volunteers. And every dollar lost to fees is a dollar that doesn't reach your cause.

This guide compares the five ticketing platforms fundraisers actually shortlist in 2026. To keep it honest, we've ranked them by their Trustpilot score rather than our own opinion.

Event ticketing platforms compared

‍

Short version: GalaBid leads on review score and is the only platform here where a ticket buyer is instantly registered for your auction, raffle and donations too. Zeffy is the pick for simple, zero-cost ticketing if you're a registered nonprofit in its supported countries. Eventbrite offers the biggest public marketplace but wasn't built for fundraising. Givebutter and Donorbox suit organisations already using them for other campaigns.

What fundraisers need from ticketing that general platforms don't provide

Before the reviews, the checklist that separates fundraising ticketing from general ticketing:

• One registration for everything. If your event has an auction or raffle, guests should be able to bid the moment they buy a ticket, not sign up again on the night.
• Table tickets. Galas sell tables. The purchaser needs to assign seats, invite their guests and manage their own list without emailing you spreadsheets (how GalaBid handles tables).
• Check-in built for volunteers. Search a name, tap, done.
• Custom questions for dietary requirements and seating preferences at the point of purchase.
• Fee flexibility. Absorb fees or pass them to buyers, your choice.
• Direct payouts. Money in your account, not held by the platform until after the event.

Now the platforms, in ranked order.

1. GalaBid: best for fundraising events

Trustpilot: 4.9

GalaBid's ticketing was built by its in-house team specifically for fundraisers, and it shows in one structural difference: when someone buys a ticket, they're instantly registered for everything else in your campaign. On event night they can bid in the silent auction, buy raffle tickets and make donations without a second signup. No other platform on this list does that.

The same applies on your side of the desk. Ticketing, check-in, auctions, raffles and donations all live in one campaign with one login and one dashboard. There's no stitching together a ticketing tool, an auction app and a donation page, no exporting guest lists between systems, and one set of reports to reconcile afterwards.

The table management is the other standout for gala organisers. Sell single tickets or table tickets; table purchasers assign their own seats, invite their own guests and handle transfers if someone can't come. Custom questions collect dietary needs and preferences at purchase. Check-in runs from any device with volunteer accounts, and reports give you everything needed for a seating plan.

Payments run through your organisation's own Stripe account. GalaBid never holds your funds, so ticket revenue is available to you on Stripe's normal payout schedule rather than after the event. Ticketing is free to use on the tip-funded plan, with paid options if you'd rather show no tip prompts.

Support is human: live chat 7 days a week and real fundraising experts rather than a bot.

Consider something else if: you're running a general-public event with no fundraising component and want marketplace discovery. That's Eventbrite's home turf.

2. Zeffy: best free ticketing for registered nonprofits

Trustpilot: 4.6

Zeffy's ticketing is genuinely free for registered nonprofits: no platform fee and no processing fee, with the platform funded by optional donor tips suggested at checkout. It covers the basics well, including e-tickets and check-in, and sits alongside Zeffy's donation, peer-to-peer, raffle and basic auction tools.

The trade-offs: you need to be a registered nonprofit in a country Zeffy supports (US, Canada, UK and Australia), funds flow through Zeffy's infrastructure before being paid out to you, and the event-night depth (table management, integrated bidding) is thinner than purpose-built event platforms. See our full GalaBid vs Zeffy comparison for the detail.

Best for: registered nonprofits running straightforward ticketed events on a zero budget.

3. Eventbrite: best for public discovery

Trustpilot: 4.2

Eventbrite is the biggest name in general event ticketing, and its strengths are real: an enormous public marketplace where people actively browse for events, polished event pages, marketing tools and a mature check-in app. If your fundraiser sells to the general public rather than your own supporter base, that discovery engine can genuinely sell tickets for you.

The costs are equally real. Eventbrite charges a service fee on every paid ticket plus payment processing, which adds up quickly across a few hundred gala tickets, and payouts typically arrive after your event ends, which matters if you have venue deposits to pay. There are no fundraising tools: no auctions, no raffles, no donation asks in the checkout. It sells tickets, and that's it.

Best for: public-facing events where marketplace discovery outweighs fees and the fundraising happens elsewhere.

4. Givebutter: best for casual events and P2P

Trustpilot: 4.2

Givebutter bundles ticketing with donation pages, peer-to-peer campaigns and basic auctions under a free, tip-funded model. It's a good fit for community-style events, fun runs and campaigns where the ticket is one part of a broader social fundraising push. For a structured gala with tables, seating and an auction program, it's lighter than the purpose-built options, and it's US-focused.

Best for: US community fundraisers combining ticketing with peer-to-peer campaigns.

5. Donorbox: best if you're already a Donorbox customer

Trustpilot: 3.9

Donorbox is a donation platform first, with strong recurring giving and donor management, and ticketing added as a feature. Its events module handles the basics, and if your donor data already lives in Donorbox, keeping ticketing in the same system has real workflow value. It charges a platform fee plus payment processing, so unlike the tip-funded options it always costs your organisation something.

Best for: organisations already running donations through Donorbox who want a lightweight ticketing add-on.

How to choose

Start with what happens after the ticket. If your event includes an auction, raffle or donation appeal, integrated registration is worth more than any fee difference: every extra signup step on event night costs you bidders, and every extra tool costs your team another login, another guest-list export and another report to reconcile. If the ticket is the whole transaction, a simpler tool is fine.

Selling tables? Table tickets with purchaser-managed guest lists and seat assignment narrow the field fast. Check the platform actually does this before you commit; most don't.

Do the maths on fees at your ticket price. A per-ticket service fee is negligible on a $10 ticket and painful on 300 tickets at $150. Tip-funded platforms cost your organisation nothing but show your buyers a tip prompt. Decide which trade-off suits your event and audience.

Check when you get paid. Some platforms pay out after your event; others pay as sales happen. If you have deposits and suppliers to pay before event night, cash flow timing matters as much as the fee percentage.

Go deeper

• Event ticketing and check-in on GalaBid
• Best event fundraising software for nonprofits
• GalaBid vs Zeffy: which one is right for you?
• The top raffle platforms for fundraising in 2026

FAQs

What's the difference between event ticketing and fundraising event ticketing?‍

General ticketing platforms sell a ticket and stop there. Fundraising event ticketing connects the ticket to everything else on the night: the buyer is registered to bid, enter raffles and donate without signing up again, and tools like table management and volunteer check-in are built in.

Which ticketing platforms are free for nonprofits?

‍GalaBid, Zeffy and Givebutter all offer free, tip-funded ticketing where optional contributions from ticket buyers fund the platform. Eventbrite and Donorbox charge fees on paid tickets.

Can guests use one ticket purchase to join the auction and raffle?

‍On GalaBid, yes: ticket buyers are instantly registered for all campaign activities. On the other platforms here, auctions and raffles (where offered) generally involve separate registration.

Should I absorb ticketing fees or pass them to buyers?

‍Either works; what matters is choosing deliberately. Absorbing fees shows a cleaner price and slightly reduces your net. Passing them on protects your margin but adds a line at checkout. Platforms like GalaBid let you choose per event.

Do these platforms handle table bookings for galas?

‍GalaBid has dedicated table tickets where purchasers assign seats and manage their own guest lists. On most general ticketing platforms, tables are improvised through ticket quantities and spreadsheets.

‍