Why ticket a free event at all
- Headcount: know if 40 or 400 are coming before you staff the bar
- The list: every RSVP is a contact for your next paid event
- Check-in: scan QR at the door and see actual turnout vs RSVPs
- Follows: free-event attendees follow you and hear about the paid ones
- Capacity: cap it, and let the 'sold out' badge do marketing for you
How it works
Create the event, set the price to $0, publish. Guests 'buy' a free ticket with name and email, get a QR by email, and you scan it at the door like any other ticket. No Stripe, no checkout, no fee anywhere in the flow. Your dashboard shows RSVPs, check-ins, and no-shows like any paid event.
The free-to-paid ladder
Run the free Tuesday. Capture 80 emails. Follow rate of 40% gets you 32 followers. Announce the paid Friday; 32 people get an email. Repeat weekly. In three months you've got a few hundred followers who've been in your room and a paid show that sells without ads. That ladder is the whole point of free events.
Common questions
None. Not to you, not to the guest. We make money on paid tickets; free events are how you build the audience that buys them.
Yes — set a capacity. When it's reached, the event shows as sold out.
Yes — e.g. 'Free before 10pm' (cap 100) and 'GA $10'. Free tier costs nothing; paid tier is the standard $2.