Luma in 2026: free vs Plus, every limit, and what to do with paid events

All rows from luma.com/pricing and help.luma.com, checked on 26 October 2026.

The most common misreading: "unlimited" on the free plan is true for events, guests and registrations, but sending is capped. If your audience lives in a newsletter or invite list, the 500-a-week limit is the first wall you hit, not the 5%.

1. Weekly sends, and no partial sends. A new calendar can send 15 invites or newsletters a week. Unlocking sends (a request Luma approves) raises it to 500; Plus gives 5,000. The counter resets every Monday at 00:00 UTC, adding guests directly counts as one send each, and a newsletter larger than your remaining limit fails entirely instead of sending to part of the list. A community of 1,200 people on the free plan can reach everyone only by splitting the list into tagged groups over three weeks — or by paying for Plus. (Send limits)

2. Import limit. Invites and contact imports draw from a separate import limit on people who are new to the calendar; it opens up as they register or follow, and removing contacts does not free it. You can request an increase. (Import limits)

3. Three admins. Fine for one organizer and two helpers, tight for a club with a rotating team. Event-level cohosts and managers are unlimited, so many teams work around it.

4. No check-in-only role. On the free plan, anyone who scans tickets needs a host or manager role and sees guest data. Plus adds a check-in manager role.

5. No tax configuration. If you must charge VAT or sales tax on tickets, the free plan cannot add it; Plus can (Luma still does not file or pay it for you). (Taxes and VAT)

6. Stripe only, in supported countries. Luma pays hosts through Stripe in 40+ countries. It cannot support Stripe accounts in India or in Stripe's "extended network" countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana, and it does not support PayPal or other processors. Your buyers can be anywhere. (Countries) Stripe itself does not support businesses in Ukraine (stripe.com/global, checked 1 October 2026).

7. No fee on top. Luma shows one all-in price and has no option to add its fee at checkout. To make buyers cover fees, you raise the ticket price yourself (see below). (Creating a paid event)

What is not a limit, despite what people assume: the number of events, guests or registrations; SMS and WhatsApp reminders (sent where available: SMS in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China and the Cayman Islands, WhatsApp in most other countries); check-in apps; waitlists; approval-required registration; coupons; Zoom integration.

Total fees the organizer pays in a month when absorbing every fee, one ticket per order, US cards with Stripe at 2.9% + 0.30 USD. Calculated with the same formulas as our ticket fee calculator, rates checked on vendor pages on 26 October 2026.

All amounts in USD. Stripe alone is 29.40, 88.00, 105.00 and 307.50 USD in the four columns; everything above that is the platform's share.

What the table says:

• At 600 USD a month, only Eventbrite costs more than Luma Plus. The free plan's 5% (30 USD) is about half of the subscription.
• At 2,000 USD a month, annual Plus, Tito and the free plan are within 41 USD of each other; Plus wins narrowly.
• At 7,500 USD a month, Plus is clearly the best Luma option, saving 316 USD against the free plan, and only AET is cheaper.
• Eventbrite and Humanitix look expensive here because the organizer absorbs fees. Both pass fees to the buyer by default, so the organizer keeps the full ticket price and the buyer pays more.
• AET is cheapest in every column because it adds nothing to Stripe; its free plan covers 3 new events a month, and a fourth needs Pro at 29 USD a month — still below annual Plus.

Stripe's fee is the same on every option with Stripe, so the comparison is the platform's share against the subscription.

On monthly billing (69 USD) the thresholds rise: 1,380 USD against the free plan, 2,300 USD against Tito, 81 tickets against Ticket Tailor.

Three rules that change the math:

• Per calendar. Two calendars selling tickets need two subscriptions; check the break-even for each.
• Not retroactive. Plus applies only to sales after activation, and earlier platform fees are not credited. Turn it on before tickets go on sale.
• No refund on cancel. You can cancel any time; Plus stays active to the end of the period and is not refunded. For a seasonal organizer, monthly Plus for the two busy months (138 USD) can beat the annual plan (708 USD).

The non-profit discount (40% off Plus) moves the annual break-even against the free plan to about 708 USD a month. A deeper look at Plus alone, with worked examples at 10, 20 and 50 USD tickets: Is Luma Plus worth it?

Luma always shows the full price and does not add fees at checkout, which buyers like and many jurisdictions now require. The consequence is that every fee comes out of your ticket price.

To net a target amount per ticket:

ticket price = (target + 0.30) ÷ (1 − platform fee − 0.029)

Luma's own help article suggests about 52.50 USD to receive 50 USD on the free plan. That covers the 5% platform fee but not Stripe: a 52.50 USD ticket nets 48.05 USD after both fees.

On Plus the price lift is only Stripe's share. If you also charge tax with Plus's tax configuration, the tax is added to the price guests see, so set the pre-tax price with this formula first.

Luma does not charge a refund fee, but when you refund, you return the full ticket price and the fees from the original sale are not returned to you. Luma's own example: a 50 USD ticket with 1.75 USD of card fees and 2.50 USD of platform fee costs the organizer 4.25 USD to refund in full. (Refunding a guest)

For a cancelled event of 100 tickets at 50 USD, the free plan costs you 425 USD to refund everyone; Plus or a 0% tool, about 175 USD. Refunds reach the buyer in about 5–10 business days. Luma does not refund automatically: a refund policy on your calendar is only a document for guests.

Other money details:

• Payouts follow your Stripe schedule, usually rolling (often the next business day, around 2 days in the US); Luma does not hold the money.
• Fee invoices: Luma can generate a monthly invoice of the platform fees it deducted, for bookkeeping or VAT.
• Paid waitlist and approval: guests authorize payment when they apply and are charged only when approved — no refund needed for those you decline.

If your events are free, the question is not fees but what the free plan includes.

Prices checked on vendor pages on 26 October 2026; Meetup and Partiful on 1 October 2026 (sources below). Feature sets differ a lot; the two that matter most for free events are reminders and check-in. Luma sends reminders by email, SMS, push or WhatsApp and has check-in apps on the free plan; AnyEventTool has a QR scanner in the phone browser but no automatic reminders. For the others, check reminders and check-in on the vendor's own pages before you depend on them.

Verdict for free events:

• Many free meetups, reminders matter: Luma's free plan is very hard to beat.
• You need strangers to find you: Eventbrite (marketplace) or Meetup (groups, but the free Starter plan is tiny).
• Casual social invites: Partiful.
• Seated, private or quiz events, a few a month: AnyEventTool Free — seat maps, a live quiz and a venue revealed only in tickets, but no automatic reminders.
• You want to own everything: Hi.Events self-hosted.

Meetups are usually small, frequent and cheap or free, which changes the ranking.

• Free monthly meetup, 30–150 people: stay on Luma free. Unlimited events and WhatsApp/SMS reminders cost nothing.
• Paid meetup at 10–15 USD, under 1,000 USD a month: Tito (3%) or AET (0%) cost less than Luma's 5%; Luma Plus does not pay off.
• Paid meetup at 25 USD or more: Ticket Tailor's flat 0.85 USD becomes cheaper than Luma's 5% above 17 USD a ticket, and Hi.Events' 1.25% + 0.60 USD above 16 USD.
• Weekly paid series over 1,180 USD a month: Luma Plus is reasonable if you value its reminders; AET is cheaper on fees but needs Pro for more than 3 new events a month.
• Seated talks, dinners or tables: Luma has no seat maps; AET (hall designer on Free), Ticket Tailor (extra credit per reserved seat) or Humanitix.
• Quiz or interactive night: Luma has no live quiz; AET includes one generated from your materials.
• Organizers in Ukraine, India or extended-network countries: Luma cannot pay out there. In Ukraine, AET with plata by mono; see event organizer money in Ukraine.

The full head-to-head is in AET vs Luma; the wider list with Partiful, Meetup and Eventbrite is in Luma alternatives.

Many organizers do not need to leave Luma at all — they need to stop selling tickets through it.

1. Keep the calendar. Your subscribers, newsletters and free events stay on Luma, where reminders and discovery work.
2. Sell paid events elsewhere. Create the paid event in the tool you chose and link it from your Luma calendar description or newsletter.
3. Never switch mid-sale. Finish events already selling on Luma; start the next one in the new tool.
4. Connect payments first. Your own Stripe account works with AET, Tito, Ticket Tailor and Hi.Events; Humanitix and Eventbrite process payments themselves.
5. Tell people once, clearly. One newsletter: "Paid tickets now at this link; free events stay here."

In AET you can paste a Luma event's text or link into Create event from source and get a draft page for 1 AI generation; missing details stay empty for you to fill. Guest lists and Luma subscribers are not imported automatically.

1. Free events only: Luma free. Upgrade only if 500 sends a week or 3 admins is too few.
2. Paid tickets under ~1,180 USD a month: don't buy Plus. Compare Luma's 5% with Tito (3%), Ticket Tailor (0.85 USD/ticket, better above 17 USD) or a 0% tool.
3. Paid tickets over ~1,380 USD a month, every month: Plus pays for itself against Luma free; annual billing saves 120 USD a year.
4. Seasonal sales: monthly Plus only in busy months, activated before sales open.
5. You need taxes on tickets, API, Zapier or check-in-only staff: Plus can be worth it below the fee break-even.
6. You cannot use Stripe in your country: Luma is not an option for paid events; use a tool with local payments.
7. Recalculate with your numbers in the ticket fee calculator — it includes Luma and Luma Plus.

• Free events with no-show problems. AET sends no automatic reminders; Luma sends them by email, SMS and WhatsApp for free.
• You need discovery. AET brings no audience; Luma, Eventbrite and Meetup do.
• More than 3 new events a month and you don't want a subscription. AET Free covers 3; Luma free covers unlimited events.
• You need a waitlist or promo codes. AET has neither yet; Luma has both on the free plan.
• You need native apps, API or Zapier. AET has a read-only MCP server for AI assistants but no REST API or Zapier; Luma Plus has both.
• You want a mature product. Luma is established with a large user base; AET is young, with a small team.

Luma: pricing (59 USD/month annually, 69 USD month to month, add-on sends); Luma Plus overview; send limits; import limits; creating a paid event; refunding a guest; payouts; supported countries; taxes and VAT; canceling Plus; SMS and WhatsApp; waitlist; non-profit discount; fee invoices.

Others: Tito — 3%, cap 25 EUR; Ticket Tailor — 0.85 USD pay-as-you-go, from 0.30 USD prepaid, 5,000 free tickets a year; Hi.Events — 1.25% + 0.60 USD; Humanitix — 5% + 1.29 USD in USD; Eventbrite — 3.7% + 1.79 USD + 2.9%; AnyEventTool. Checked 1 October 2026: Meetup Starter, Partiful fees, Stripe availability.

Calculations are ours, with Stripe US at 2.9% + 0.30 USD per order and one ticket per order, using the formulas of our ticket fee calculator. Prices change; if one has, write to support@anyeventtool.com and we will correct it with a date.