Registration form on my site, or a ticketing platform?

The short version

• A form on your site suits workshops, classes, open days and member events. You own the list and the look.
• A ticketing platform suits big, public, paid or seated events, where its waitlist, scanning app and discovery help.
• A ticket plugin on WordPress, such as Event Tickets, sits in between: tickets on your own event pages.
• Compare the whole cost: the platform’s fees, the payment fees, and your time.
• Whatever you choose, keep one place where people sign up.

How do the options compare?

Features are as each vendor describes them on October 31, 2026. Check the vendor’s own pages before you decide, because they change.

How do I decide?

Work through these questions in order. The first “yes” usually settles it.

1. Do you need assigned seats? Eventbrite’s pricing page lists reserved seating. A plain form can’t do this well. Lean to a platform.
2. Will it sell out, with people waiting? Eventbrite’s waitlist page says that when a paid ticket is refunded, a spot opens for the next person on the waitlist. Event Tickets Plus also has a waitlist. Gravity Forms closes the form at the cap but has no built-in waitlist. If waitlists matter, use a platform or a ticket plugin.
3. Will hundreds of people arrive at once? A scanning app speeds up the door. Eventbrite describes its check-in app as free. Event Tickets Plus has its own app.
4. Do you need answers a platform can’t collect, such as file uploads, a different question set for each option, or a parent’s consent? A form is more flexible.
5. Is the event for your existing customers or members? A form on your site keeps them on your site, with your branding.
6. Do you want strangers to find it? Ticketing platforms are also listings sites where people browse for things to do. Your own event pages can appear in Google’s event results too; see event markup.

If none of these apply, a form on your website is usually the simplest choice.

How do the costs compare?

Don’t compare headline prices alone. Add up, for a typical event:

• Platform fees. Eventbrite’s pricing page says publishing free events costs nothing, and that fees on paid tickets are paid by buyers by default, though you can choose to absorb them. Check its page for the current rates.
• Payment fees. Every card payment carries a processing fee, whichever tool you use. See your payment provider’s pricing page.
• Plugin licenses. Gravity Forms, Event Tickets Plus and Events Calendar Pro are paid yearly licenses. The Event Tickets setup guide says Plus removes a 2% commission that the free version charges on Stripe and Square sales, so compare that against the license if you sell a lot.
• Your time. Building and testing a form takes longer the first time. A platform is quicker to start.

We won’t quote vendors’ fees here, because they change and vary by country.

What does a form on my site need to work well?

A form is only as good as its setup. Make sure it has:

• a cap and a closing date (see capping registrations);
• payment through a provider, not a card-number field (see taking payments for events);
• a confirmation email with the event details (see confirmation and reminder emails);
• saved entries you can export for the door list (see saving form entries).

Our guide to choosing a WordPress form plugin compares the main plugins.

Why does this choice matter?

The tool decides who owns the relationship. With a form, the registrant’s name and email arrive in your system, under your privacy policy. With a platform, they start with the platform and you export them. That’s fine for a one-off concert. For a monthly class, where the list is the business, it matters more.

It also decides the experience. A platform’s checkout is familiar and tested. A form can match your site and ask exactly what you need.

What are the common mistakes?

• Using both at once for the same event, so you have two lists that don’t add up.
• Picking a platform for a 20-person workshop, then paying fees and sending people off your site for no real gain.
• Building a form for a seated show, then managing seats by hand in a spreadsheet.
• Forgetting the export. Whatever you use, check you can download the attendee list before the day.
• Not reading the platform’s refund settings before you sell tickets.

What if I chose wrong?

You can switch between events, but not easily in the middle of one. If a form event is filling fast and you need a waitlist, close the form at the cap and collect a simple “notify me” list. Move to a platform for the next one.

How much does it cost, and how long does it take?

A simple website form takes an afternoon to build and test. A platform event can be live in under an hour. Ongoing costs are the fees and licenses above.

How does E-3 handle this?

Event sign-ups have come up about 168 times in our support records since 2019. When a client asks, we look at the size of the event, whether it repeats, and what they need to collect, and we’ll say if a ticketing platform is the better fit. If a form is right, we build it and test it on a staging copy first. See what we need to set up your registration.

Related questions

• How do I take payment for event registrations?
• How do I cap registrations and run a waitlist?
• How do I check people in on the day?
• Which events calendar should my website use?
• Back to the complete events and registration guide

Sources

1. Eventbrite pricing (Eventbrite)
2. Waitlist management (Eventbrite)
3. Event check-in app (Eventbrite)
4. Setting up Event Tickets (Nexcess docs)
5. Understanding Entry Limits in Gravity Forms (Gravity Forms docs)
6. Stripe Payment Collection Methods (Gravity Forms docs)