What are the best free event registration tools in 2026?

We looked at what an organizer of small and mid-size events (20–500 people) actually needs to take registrations, and checked each vendor's own pricing and help pages on 1 October 2026. Criteria:

1. What the free tier includes for registration: form, confirmation email, ticket, check-in, guest list export.
2. Cost when you charge for tickets: platform fee (percentage and fixed part) separately from payment processing.
3. Attendee friction: does a guest need an account or an app?
4. Day-of tools: QR check-in, door staff access, attendance data.
5. Page quality: how good the event page looks and previews in messengers.
6. Reach: does the platform bring new attendees (marketplace, discovery)?
7. Limits and lock-in: event caps, attendee caps, data export.

Disclosure. This guide is published by the team behind AnyEventTool. To keep it useful, the list is ordered by use case rather than by a single score, every entry (including AET) lists real cons, and we name other tools where they fit better. Prices change; follow the links and check current pricing before you decide.

Platform fees as published on the vendors' sites on 2026-10-01. Payment processing (for example Stripe US: 2.9% + 0.30 USD; Stripe Ireland, standard EEA cards: 1.5% + 0.25 EUR) is charged on top by the processor unless stated otherwise.

Worked example: 100 tickets at 20 USD in the US, one ticket per order. Processor-only (as with AET on Stripe): about 88 USD in fees. Luma free plan: about 188 USD. Eventbrite US: about 311 USD (processing calculated on the ticket price), by default added to the buyer's price.

Luma is the default choice for many tech and creator communities. On the free plan you get unlimited events and guests, check-in, ticket types, coupons, 500 invites or newsletters a week and reminders by email, SMS, push and WhatsApp. Pages and calendars look polished, and people can discover events through Luma's own listings.

The trade-offs appear with money and teams: paid tickets carry a 5% platform fee on the free plan (plus Stripe), and a dedicated check-in staff role requires Luma Plus (69 USD a month or 59 USD billed annually), which also removes the platform fee and adds Zapier and API access.

Eventbrite's strength is the marketplace: people browse it to find things to do, so a listed event can reach strangers. Free events are free to publish without limit. Paid tickets carry a service fee that depends on the country — in the US 3.7% + 1.79 USD per ticket plus 2.9% payment processing per order; in the UK 6.95% + 0.59 GBP per ticket. Fees are usually passed to buyers. When an organizer refunds a ticket, Eventbrite's fees are not refunded unless the event is cancelled or postponed. Reserved seating is available, with restrictions (for example, not for recurring events or events with a waitlist). Eventbrite Premium costs 69 USD a month (US) and adds promotion tools.

AET (made in Ukraine) combines the event page, registration, QR tickets, check-in, paid tickets, seat maps, a live quiz, subscribable calendars, a merch shop and communities. The organizer is the merchant: guests pay into the organizer's own plata by mono (Ukraine) or Stripe account, and AET takes 0% on every plan. The Free plan ($0) includes 3 new events a month and 10 AI generations a month (AI posters, AI quiz questions, brand styles); Pro costs 19 USD a month for 30 events and 100 AI generations.

Distinctive features: hide the venue, date or time until a set moment and reveal them only in registered guests' tickets (built for wartime safety in Ukraine); applications with approval and pay-after-approval links; a Kahoot-style quiz generated from your materials; 19 interface languages.

Honest limits: no discovery marketplace, no native mobile apps, no public API or Zapier, no SMS reminders, and a young product with a small team.

Google Forms is free with a Google account, everyone knows it, and responses land in Google Sheets. For a free gathering where you just need names and emails, it is often all you need. It is a form tool, not an event tool: there is no event page design, no native ticketing or payments, and no QR check-in. Third-party add-ons in the Google Workspace Marketplace can add payments or QR codes, at the cost of extra setup. Many organizers start here and move to an event platform when they need tickets or a door list.

Meetup is built around groups rather than single events: people search for groups by interest and city, join, and get notified of new events. The free Starter plan is limited to first-time organizers (1 group, 2 events a month, 10 people per event) and you cannot return to it after a paid plan. Meetup Standard starts at 29.99 USD a month (or 174.99 USD a year) with up to 3 groups and unlimited events and attendees; Meetup Pro for networks starts at 55 USD per group per month. Prices vary by location. Organizers can charge event fees or group dues.

Ticket Tailor charges a fixed fee per ticket instead of a percentage: 0.60 GBP + VAT per ticket pay-as-you-go, or from 0.22 GBP per ticket with prepaid credits. Free tickets have no fee for up to 5,000 a year. There is no subscription, the check-in app is free, charities get a 50% discount, and the first 5 sales are free. Seating charts are available but use credits even for free tickets. Payment processing (for example Stripe) is separate. A good choice when ticket prices are high enough that a percentage fee would hurt.

Tito is popular with developer conferences and community-run tech events for its clean checkout and organizer tools. Free events are free; paid tickets cost 3% (2.5% for charity, non-profit and community organizations), capped at 25 EUR per ticket, with Stripe or PayPal fees on top. It suits multi-day conferences with several ticket types and discount codes.

Humanitix is a not-for-profit ticketing platform: profits from its booking fees go to impact projects rather than shareholders. Free tickets have no fees. Paid tickets carry a booking fee passed to the buyer by default — for example 5% + 1.29 USD in the US (3.9% + 1.29 USD for not-for-profits) and 2.1% + 0.99 EUR in euro markets. A strong option for schools, charities and fundraisers.

If the event happens online, Zoom's webinar and event products combine registration with the video platform. Zoom Webinars start at 89 USD a month (66.67 USD billed annually) and Zoom Events at 149 USD a month (124.17 USD annually), for audiences up to 100,000. Payments for paid registration go through PayPal, or Stripe on the higher plans. It is not a free option, but for virtual events it saves you from linking a separate registration tool to your video tool.

Microsoft Forms plays the same role as Google Forms for organizations that run on Microsoft 365: quick registration forms and quizzes, results in Excel, sign-in with work accounts. Like Google Forms, it has no tickets, payments or check-in. Use it for internal events such as trainings and all-hands sessions; check current limits on Microsoft's site.

"Discovery" means the platform actively shows your event to people who do not follow you.

1. Is the event online? Use your video platform's registration (Zoom) or any tool plus a meeting link.
2. Do you need strangers to find you? Eventbrite (single events) or Meetup (recurring groups). Luma has discovery too.
3. Is the event free and small? Luma or Google Forms. Choose AET if you also want a quiz, hidden venue or a Ukrainian-language page.
4. Are tickets paid? Compare platform fees: AET 0% (you need your own mono or Stripe account), Ticket Tailor flat fee, Tito 3%, Luma 5% on free plan, Eventbrite per-ticket fee.
5. Do you sell specific seats? AET (seat maps on Free), Ticket Tailor (credits), Eventbrite (with restrictions).
6. Are you a charity? Look at Humanitix, Tito's 2.5% rate and Ticket Tailor's charity discount.