How to sell event tickets on your WordPress site (2026 guide)

If you asked me how to sell event tickets on a WordPress site, my first question would be whether you already run WooCommerce.

The answer changes the whole setup. Evenzo, the event plugin we build, lists WooCommerce as a required plugin, because every ticket it sells is a WooCommerce product going through a WooCommerce checkout. That’s a great fit for a store.

For a blog, a church site or a yoga studio’s brochure site with no shop, I wouldn’t install a whole store just to sell tickets to one event.

So this guide starts from the site you have. WordPress gives you three ways to sell tickets, and each one fits a different kind of site.

TLDR

On a WordPress site with WooCommerce, add a WooCommerce event plugin and sell tickets through your existing checkout. Without WooCommerce, a standalone plugin like Event Tickets handles Stripe and PayPal on its own. For one event a year, a form builder with a payment field is enough. Any of the three keeps you off per-ticket platform fees.

Three ways to sell event tickets on WordPress#

Not every WordPress ticket setup is the same. The right one depends on whether you have WooCommerce, how many events you run, and what you need on the day.

Approach 1: WooCommerce + an event plugin#

Best for: store owners who already use WooCommerce, or anyone who wants full control over payments, taxes and customer data.

A WooCommerce store already has payments, customer accounts, orders, coupon codes and email notifications. An event plugin adds the missing pieces: event dates, venues, calendars, QR check-in and printable tickets.

This is the most capable route because everything runs through WooCommerce’s checkout. Your Stripe or PayPal setup handles payments, your tax settings apply to tickets, and coupons just work. There’s nothing new to set up on the payment side.

Plugins that do this:

• Evenzo (free, WordPress.org) is our plugin, so factor in my bias. It adds events, seating charts, QR check-in, printable tickets, recurring events and speakers on top of WooCommerce, with Block Checkout and HPOS support.
• FooEvents ($129+/year) is the most established WooCommerce event plugin. It’s good for ticketing and check-in, with separate paid add-ons for seating, multi-day events and custom attendee fields.
• Event Tickets Plus ($149+/year) from The Events Calendar team connects their calendar to WooCommerce for payments. It has a large community and detailed documentation.

I compared every major WooCommerce event plugin in selling event tickets without Eventbrite if you want the full breakdown.

Approach 2: Standalone WordPress ticket plugins#

Best for: sites without WooCommerce that want the simplest possible setup.

These plugins handle everything themselves: their own checkout, payment connections and ticket delivery. No WooCommerce needed.

• Event Tickets (free + paid tiers) from The Events Calendar. The free version takes Stripe and PayPal through its built-in “Tickets Commerce” system. You can attach tickets to any post, page or event.
• Events Manager (free) by Marcus Sykes has been around since 2008. It supports registrations and basic ticketing with PayPal, with no WooCommerce needed for simple setups.

Standalone plugins are simpler to set up but less flexible. You won’t get WooCommerce’s coupon system, tax rules, multi-currency support, or the hundreds of extensions for payments and marketing. If your site has no shop and you run a few events a year, I think that trade is worth it.

Approach 3: Form builders with payment#

Best for: one-off events where you only need to collect registrations and money.

If you run one event a year and don’t need recurring tickets, calendar pages or check-in, a form builder can handle it:

• WPForms or Gravity Forms with Stripe or PayPal add-ons. Build a registration form with payment fields. It’s simple, but there’s no ticket, no QR code and no attendee list beyond the form entries.

That works for taking money. It doesn’t work for running an event with a door to manage.

What you need, whichever route you pick#

Every working ticket setup on WordPress needs a few things.

Required:

• A WordPress site with SSL (HTTPS). No exceptions, you’re handling payments.
• A payment gateway account (Stripe or PayPal, ideally both).
• A plugin that creates a unique ticket per order.
• Email delivery that works (your host’s email or an SMTP plugin like WP Mail SMTP).

Strongly recommended:

• Tickets with QR codes. Attendees expect a scannable ticket they can pull up on their phone.
• A mobile-friendly check-in page. Even small events go faster with scanning than with paper lists.
• WooCommerce, if you plan to run more than one or two events. The checkout and order management pay for themselves quickly.

Nice to have:

• Seating charts for reserved-seating venues.
• Recurring event support for weekly or monthly events.
• Custom attendee fields (dietary needs, t-shirt sizes, accessibility needs).
• Early bird and tiered pricing. My guide to 7 pricing strategies that maximize ticket revenue goes further.

What self-hosting saves#

Hosted platforms look simple until you add up a year. Eventbrite’s US pricing page lists a 3.7% + $1.79 service fee per paid ticket, plus 2.9% payment processing per order. Sell 500 tickets at $40 and the service fee alone comes to about $1,635.

Scenario	Eventbrite service fees	Self-hosted (WooCommerce + free plugin)
100 tickets at $25	~$272	$0 plugin cost + ~2.9% payment processing
500 tickets at $50	~$1,820	$0 plugin cost + ~2.9% payment processing
1,000 tickets at $50	~$3,640	$0 plugin cost + ~2.9% payment processing
4 events/year, 200 tickets each at $40	~$2,616	$0 plugin cost + ~2.9% payment processing

Payment processing (Stripe’s 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction) applies whether you use Eventbrite or self-host. The difference is that you don’t pay a platform fee on top of it. With a free plugin like Evenzo, the only ongoing costs are your hosting and your payment processor.

For a single small event, the savings might not be worth the setup time. For anyone running several events or selling more than a couple dozen tickets, I’d self-host.

Setting up your first event (the quick version)#

If you go the WooCommerce route, this is the 15-minute overview:

1. Install WooCommerce if you don’t have it. Connect Stripe or PayPal in WooCommerce > Settings > Payments.
2. Install an event plugin. For my full walkthrough of Evenzo, see how to run events directly from your WooCommerce store.
3. Create an event with a date, time, venue and capacity.
4. Add ticket products (General Admission, VIP, or whatever tiers you need) and set prices.
5. Publish. Customers buy tickets through your normal WooCommerce checkout and get their tickets by email.
6. On event day, open the check-in page in your phone’s browser and scan QR codes as people arrive.

The whole setup takes about 15 minutes if WooCommerce is already running.

Which approach should you pick?#

This is the choice I’d make in each case:

Already have WooCommerce? Use a WooCommerce event plugin. You get the most features with the least new setup, since payments, taxes and customer accounts are already in place.

No WooCommerce, and you don’t want it? Use Event Tickets from The Events Calendar. Its free Tickets Commerce handles Stripe and PayPal without WooCommerce.

Only need to collect money for one event? A form builder with Stripe works. Don’t over-engineer it.

Running events every week or month? WooCommerce + a full event plugin is worth the setup, even if it means adding a store. Recurring dates, attendee lists and proper tickets save hours every week.

Frequently asked questions#

Can I sell tickets without WooCommerce?#

Yes. Plugins like Event Tickets have their own checkout (Tickets Commerce) that handles Stripe and PayPal directly. You lose WooCommerce’s coupons, tax rules and extensions, but for simple events it works fine.

What payment gateways can I use?#

With WooCommerce, any gateway WooCommerce supports: Stripe, PayPal, Square, Authorize.net, Mollie and dozens of others. Standalone plugins usually support only Stripe and PayPal.

How do I handle refunds?#

WooCommerce handles refunds through your payment gateway. Process a refund in WooCommerce and the money goes back to the customer’s card. Standalone plugins vary, so check how a plugin handles refunds before you commit.

Do I need a special hosting plan?#

No. Any hosting that runs WordPress and WooCommerce works for ticket sales. If you expect big bursts of traffic when tickets go on sale, look for a host with server-level caching (Cloudways, Kinsta, WP Engine). For general speed advice, see my guide on why most WooCommerce stores feel slow.

Can attendees get PDF tickets with QR codes?#

Most dedicated event plugins make tickets with scannable QR codes, including FooEvents, Evenzo and Event Tickets Plus. In Evenzo the ticket is a printable page that customers can save as a PDF from the browser. Basic form builder setups don’t make tickets at all.

What about check-in on event day?#

Good event plugins include a browser-based check-in page. No app, no special hardware. Open the page on any phone, scan the QR code, and the ticket is checked right away. I covered the full check-in setup in running events from your WooCommerce store.

Start from the site you have#

Selling event tickets on WordPress is simple with the right plugin, and the right plugin depends on your site. With WooCommerce, you’re about 15 minutes from a working setup. Without it, Event Tickets gets you started for free, and a form builder covers a single event.

WordPress can sell tickets. The question I’d ask is whether you want to keep paying a platform fee for something your own site can do.

If you run WooCommerce and want seating charts, recurring events, QR check-in and pricing rules in one plugin, Evenzo is free on WordPress.org.

Running a raffle alongside your event? My charity raffle guide covers the legal side, and Raffle for WooCommerce handles the setup for free. Once ticket sales are live, protect your checkout from bots with my WooCommerce CAPTCHA comparison.