Luma vs Humanitix

How Luma compares to Humanitix for hosting events and selling tickets

If you want lower fees, money in your account as tickets sell, and tools to grow a community — calendars with subscribers, email and SMS, event chat — choose Luma. If you want the fees on your ticket sales to fund charity, Humanitix is built for that.

Pricing

Luma: Free events are free. For paid tickets, Luma Plus has a 0% platform fee — you pay only Stripe processing (2.9% + 30¢), so a $20 ticket costs $0.88 in fees. On the Free plan, paid tickets incur a 5% platform fee plus processing ($1.88 on a $20 ticket).

Humanitix: Free events are also free. In the US, paid tickets carry a booking fee of 5% + $1.29 per ticket, which includes payment processing. Registered charities and schools get a lower rate. On a $20 ticket that’s $2.29. By default the booking fee is added on top of your ticket price, so guests see $22.29 and you keep $20.

Who really pays the fee? Humanitix describes its fee as paid by the buyer, but ticket sellers in the US (under the FTC’s rule on ticket fees), the UK, the EU, and Australia have to show guests the full price upfront, fees included. Guests decide whether to buy based on that all-in price, so on every platform the fee comes out of the same total — what matters is how much of it you keep. On a $22.29 all-in ticket, you keep $20.00 on Humanitix, $21.34 on Luma Plus, or $20.23 on Luma’s Free plan.

Cash Flow: With Luma, funds are paid out to your Stripe account as guests purchase tickets, following Stripe’s standard rolling payout schedule (typically 2 days in the US) — or within minutes with Stripe’s Instant Payouts, for eligible accounts. You can use ticket revenue for venue deposits and vendors well before the event date. With Humanitix’s default payment gateway, payouts arrive within 5 business days after the event. You can request an early payout, subject to their approval, or connect your own Stripe account for faster access at an additional cost.

Pricing checked in September 2026. See Humanitix’s pricing page and booking fees article for their latest details and rates in other countries.

How They Compare

Humanitix is a not-for-profit ticketing platform: 100% of its profits go to charity, and it has donated more than $13.8 million so far. It started in Australia and also operates in the US, UK, and elsewhere. It’s popular with schools, charities, and community fundraisers, and covers the essentials of a ticketing platform — reserved seating, merchandise, donations at checkout, email campaigns, and buy-now-pay-later options like Afterpay.

Luma is built for hosts who run events regularly — meetups, dinners, workshops, conferences, and fundraisers too. Every event lives on a calendar that guests can subscribe to, so your next event reaches past attendees automatically. You can reach your community with email blasts, newsletters, SMS, and event chat, run paid memberships, and grow through discovery on Luma.

Both platforms cover the ticketing basics — multiple ticket types, promo codes, donation-based pricing, QR check-in, and guest list export.

Where Luma Shines

You keep more of every ticket: At the same all-in price guests pay, you keep more on Luma Plus than on Humanitix. On the Free plan, you keep more on tickets up to about $30.
Paid as you sell: Ticket revenue reaches your Stripe account on a rolling basis, not after the event.
Curate a paid guest list: Require approval works with paid tickets — guests’ cards are held when they apply and only charged if you approve them. Paid waitlists work the same way, so you can fill sold-out spots without chasing payments.
Paid memberships: Sell monthly, yearly, or one-time memberships that give members access to your events — recurring revenue, with Luma handling the billing.
Community tools: Calendars with subscribers, newsletters, SMS, and event chat keep your audience coming back between events.

Why You Might Choose Humanitix

Your fees fund charity – Humanitix donates all of its profits to charity, so every booking fee does some good. That’s a meaningful story to share with your guests.
Built for fundraisers and schools – A discounted rate for charities and schools, donations at checkout, and a platform that nonprofit audiences already trust.
Reserved seating – Seat maps for theaters and school halls. Luma doesn’t offer seat maps.

Migrating from Humanitix to Luma

Export your orders and attendees from Humanitix as a CSV and upload them to your calendar’s contacts on Luma.
Create your event on Luma — it takes under 2 minutes.
Connect your Stripe account on Luma to accept payments for ticketed events.
Share your new Luma event links, and set up a Luma calendar so guests can subscribe to all your future events.
For large migrations, contact support@luma.com — we’re happy to help.

FAQs

Does Luma offer a discount for nonprofits? Yes — nonprofits get 40% off Luma Plus.

Can guests donate on Luma? Yes — use donation-based or pay-what-you-want pricing with a suggested price, so supporters can give more than the minimum.

Will guests need to create a Luma account? Only if they want to join event chat; they can RSVP with just an email.