What Universe charges
Universe charges 2% + $0.59 on every paid ticket, plus card processing on top. Below: what that comes to over a year at three volumes, what is not in that number, and what the same job costs when you own it instead of renting it.
What Universe publishes
Starter/Standard: '2% + $0.59 per ticket' as rendered on pricing page (cap text partially rendered). Search snippets cite 2% + $0.79 (Starter) / 2.5% + $1.99 (Standard), service fee capped $19.95, processing uncapped - could not verify (help center 403); may be locale/currency-dependent rendering. Pro = custom. Organizer sets who pays (help article title).
Those are Universe's own published numbers, read on 21 September 2026. Vendors change pricing without announcing it, so check the live page before you sign anything — and check your own last invoice, which is the only number that is definitely yours.
A year of Universe fees, at three volumes
Worked straight off the published rate. Card processing is left out of every column, because it is charged whoever takes the money.
| A year of | Universe | Built and owned | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|
| 500 tickets at $252% of $25 + $0.59 = $1.09 a ticket, 500 times | $545a year | $54.50a tenth of what you pay them | $490.5090% of the bill |
| 2,000 tickets at $252% of $25 + $0.59 = $1.09 a ticket, 2,000 times | $2,180a year | $218a tenth of what you pay them | $1,96290% of the bill |
| 10,000 tickets at $252% of $25 + $0.59 = $1.09 a ticket, 10,000 times | $10,900a year | $1,090a tenth of what you pay them | $9,81090% of the bill |
We do not publish a price of our own, because it is worked out against yours: a tenth of what the platform costs you, with hosting, fixes and changes included. The volumes are illustrations at a stated price per ticket, not a promise about your business — send your own bill and the figure is exact.
What you would own instead
- The part you actually useMost of a platform like Universe goes unused. We rebuild the parts your business runs on and leave the rest out.
- The code and the dataYours, in your own account, exportable on any day for any reason.
- A price that does not scale with your takingsa tenth of what you pay now — hosting and changes included, and it does not grow with your takings.
When to stay put
- You use nearly all of itIf your team lives in every corner of Universe and the bill is small, replacing it is work for no gain.
- The fee is tiny against your marginRun the numbers above on your real volume first. If it is noise, leave it.
- It is the only place your customers can find youA marketplace that brings you buyers is selling you demand, not only software. That is worth paying for.
Universe pricing, asked and answered
What does Universe cost?
Universe charges 2% + $0.59 on every paid ticket, plus card processing on top. Starter/Standard: '2% + $0.59 per ticket' as rendered on pricing page (cap text partially rendered). Search snippets cite 2% + $0.79 (Starter) / 2.5% + $1.99 (Standard), service fee capped $19.95, processing uncapped - could not verify (help center 403); may be locale/currency-dependent rendering. Pro = custom. Organizer sets who pays (help article title).
What would Universe cost me over a year?
On 2,000 tickets at $25, Universe's published fees come to about $2,180 a year (2% of $25 + $0.59 = $1.09 a ticket, 2,000 times). Built and owned, that year is about $218 — a tenth of what you pay now — and you keep the $1,962 difference.
Who pays Universe's fee — me or my customer?
You can choose: absorb it out of your payout, or add it to what the buyer pays at checkout. Either way somebody is paying it every ticket.
Is card processing included?
No. Taking the money is a separate cost, normally around 2.9% + $0.30 an order, and it is charged whoever you use. The figures on this page leave processing out on both sides so the comparison is like for like.
Is there a cheaper alternative to Universe?
That depends on what you actually use it for. Most businesses use a small part of a platform like this — take the money, hold the record, send the confirmation, show the list. That part can be built once and owned, and we price it against your own bill: a tenth of what you pay now, instead of a share of every ticket forever. You keep the code and the data, and the old system keeps running beside it until the new one is proven.
What the others charge
Same category, same treatment — each one read from the vendor's own pricing page.
- What Eventbrite chargesEventbrite charges 3.7% + $1.79 on every paid ticket, plus card processing on top.
- What Etix chargesEtix doesn't publish its pricing — it is quoted per contract.
- What TicketSpice chargesTicketSpice charges $0.99 on every ticket, plus card processing on top.
- What Tixr chargesTixr doesn't publish its pricing — it is quoted per contract.
- What TicketLeap chargesTicketLeap charges 2% + $1 on every paid ticket, plus card processing on top.
- What ShowClix chargesShowClix doesn't publish its pricing — it is quoted per contract.
Reading on the same subject
- What maintaining custom software actually involvesSeptember 27, 2026 · Hosting, backups, security updates, monitoring, small changes and someone to call. What maintaining custom software involves and what to agree up front.
- How much do ticketing fees cost a small venue?September 21, 2026 · Work out what ticketing fees cost your venue: per-ticket charges, percentage components, payment processing, and what to pull from settlement reports.
Keep reading
Tell us what Universe costs you
Send your last invoice or just the rate you are on, and we will tell you what the same work costs built and owned — and say so plainly if you are better off where you are.
Hiro costs about a tenth of what you pay now, quoted against your own bill. Hosting, fixes and changes included, and no per-seat fees.