Luma vs Eventbrite vs Ticket Tailor for Spiritual Events: Fees Compared

Organizing a tarot workshop, an astrology webinar, or a weekend retreat means choosing who handles your ticket sales. The choice isn't just about features - it's about how much of each ticket sale you actually keep.

Eventbrite is the default for many practitioners because it's familiar. It's also expensive at low event volume. Luma and Ticket Tailor both undercut it significantly, and the right choice depends on how much you sell per month.

All prices verified from official sources, June 2026.

Fee Structure at a Glance

Eventbrite breakdown: Service fee of 3.7% + $1.79 per ticket, plus 2.9% payment processing per order.

On a $50 ticket: (3.7% x $50) + $1.79 + (2.9% x $50) = $1.85 + $1.79 + $1.45 = $5.09 = 10.2% effective.

On a $100 ticket: (3.7% x $100) + $1.79 + (2.9% x $100) = $3.70 + $1.79 + $2.90 = $8.39 = 8.4% effective.

Eventbrite has no free plan for paid events. They take their percentage from every ticket sold.

Luma: The Free Plan vs Plus

Luma (lu.ma) charges 5% on paid tickets on the free plan, plus Stripe's processing at 2.9% + $0.30. On a $100 ticket, Luma Free costs you roughly $8.20 total - similar to Eventbrite, but with a cleaner event page interface and unlimited events and guests.

Luma Plus at $69/month (or $59/month billed annually) removes the 5% platform fee entirely. You pay only Stripe processing.

Break-even: when does Luma Plus pay for itself?

Luma Free costs 5% of ticket revenue. Luma Plus costs $69/month flat.

```
0.05 x monthly_revenue = 69
monthly_revenue = 69 / 0.05 = $1,380
```

At $1,380/month in ticket sales, the 5% Luma Free fee equals exactly $69 - the cost of Luma Plus. Above $1,380/month, Plus saves you money. Below it, Free is cheaper.

Two practical scenarios:

Scenario A - Monthly tarot workshop, 20 seats at $79:
```
Monthly revenue = 20 x $79 = $1,580
Luma Free cost = $1,580 x 0.05 = $79
Luma Plus cost = $69
Net saving with Plus = $79 - $69 = $10/month
```
Edge case. Barely breaks even.

Scenario B - Seasonal retreat, 15 seats at $200:
```
Monthly revenue = 15 x $200 = $3,000
Luma Free cost = $3,000 x 0.05 = $150
Luma Plus cost = $69
Net saving with Plus = $150 - $69 = $81/month
```
Clear win for Plus.

Ticket Tailor: Lowest Cost Per Ticket

Ticket Tailor charges per ticket, not by percentage. Pay-as-you-go: approximately $0.76 per ticket (£0.60). Stripe processing adds separately.

For high-ticket events (retreat at $200/person), Ticket Tailor's flat $0.76 per ticket beats every percentage-based model:

```
Ticket Tailor cost per $200 ticket = $0.76 + Stripe (~$6.10) = $6.86 = 3.4% effective
Eventbrite cost per $200 ticket = (3.7% x $200) + $1.79 + (2.9% x $200) = $14.99 = 7.5% effective
Saving vs Eventbrite = $14.99 - $6.86 = $8.13 per ticket
```

On 15 retreat tickets: $8.13 x 15 = $121.95 saved in fees versus Eventbrite. Per event.

Ticket Tailor also offers pre-purchased credit bundles that reduce the per-ticket cost to as low as $0.28 (£0.22) per ticket - a 60% reduction from the pay-as-you-go rate. For practitioners running regular events, this is the cheapest professional ticketing option available.

Both free events and paid events are supported. Free events (up to 5,000 tickets/year) cost nothing on Ticket Tailor.

All features are available on all Ticket Tailor plans. There are no feature tiers - you pay for tickets, not for functionality.

Alternatives at Lower Volume

For very small events (under 10 tickets, intimate workshops), two options worth knowing:

- SimpleTix: $0.79 per ticket flat
- Hi.Events: 0.75% + $0.40 per ticket (reportedly 78% cheaper than Eventbrite per their own data)

Neither is widely used in the spiritual practitioner space, but the economics are real if you're running workshops for small groups and want to avoid percentage-based models.

The Stripe Risk for Esoteric Events

Eventbrite, Luma, and Ticket Tailor all process payments through Stripe. This creates a category risk specific to esoteric businesses: Stripe's acceptable use policy flags "psychic services, astrology readings, and divination" as high-risk categories, with documented cases of account holds for merchants who describe their services in those terms.

This risk sits at the payment processing layer, not at the ticketing platform itself. Luma isn't flagging your lunar ritual workshop - Stripe might flag it depending on how you describe the event.

Practical mitigation: describe your events as "workshop," "retreat," or "educational event" rather than "ritual," "divination," or "psychic reading" in your event titles, descriptions, and Stripe account details. This is standard practice among spiritual practitioners using Stripe-dependent platforms.

For events where this risk feels unacceptable, Dodo Payments supports custom pricing and operates as a Merchant of Record - though it's not a native ticketing platform and requires more setup. See accept payments in your esoteric business for the full picture on payment processor risk.

Which Platform Fits Your Events

Free events or occasional small workshops: Luma Free. Clean pages, easy sharing, no fee on free tickets, 5% on paid.

Regular workshops with $1,000-1,500+/month in ticket revenue: Luma Plus at $69/month. The 0% platform fee recovers the subscription cost above the $1,380 break-even.

High-ticket retreats or regular event calendar: Ticket Tailor PAYG. Per-ticket flat fee significantly undercuts percentage models at higher ticket prices.

Discovery traffic matters and you're new: Eventbrite has a discovery engine that can surface your event to local searchers. This distribution value may justify their higher fees early on when you're building an audience. Once you have a mailing list and can drive your own traffic, the fee premium loses its justification.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Luma work for online events, not just in-person?

Yes. Luma handles both in-person and virtual events. For online workshops, Luma integrates with Zoom and can generate Zoom links automatically for registered attendees. This makes it a practical one-stop for webinar-style astrology classes or online tarot workshops.

What happens if I cancel a Luma Plus subscription mid-month?

Your Plus features remain active through the end of your billing period. Events created before cancellation keep their paid status. After cancellation, new events default to the free 5% fee structure. There is no penalty for cancelling - it's a standard monthly subscription.

Can I charge in currencies other than USD on these platforms?

Luma supports multiple currencies through Stripe. Ticket Tailor also supports multiple currencies. Eventbrite has currency support by country. For international retreat bookings where currency matters - EU participants paying in EUR, for example - Luma and Ticket Tailor both handle this without extra configuration.

How should I describe my event to minimize Stripe payment risk?

Use neutral, education-forward language: "Astrology fundamentals workshop," "Tarot reading techniques class," "Lunar cycle ceremony." Avoid: "psychic reading event," "divination session," "ritual." The practical test is whether your event description would read comfortably on a continuing education flyer. That framing generally keeps you in low-risk territory on Stripe's internal review.

Is Ticket Tailor's credit bundle worth buying in advance?

If you're running events consistently - say, at least one paid event per month - the credit bundle that brings your per-ticket cost to $0.28-0.50 can save meaningful money over time versus the $0.76 PAYG rate. The trade-off is paying upfront. For a practitioner with a reliable event calendar, pre-purchasing credits at the discounted rate makes financial sense. For someone running one-off events with uncertain frequency, PAYG is safer.