Event website builder guide: how to pick one in 2026

What an event website has to do

An event website has one main job: get the right people to register or buy a ticket before the date. A good one answers visitors’ questions fast:

• When and where: the date, start time and venue, on the first screen.
• One clear button to register or buy tickets, repeated down the page.
• The total price, mandatory fees included, before checkout starts.
• What happens there: the schedule, agenda, lineup, speakers or classes.
• Practical details: parking, hotels, accessibility and a refund policy.
• An email sign-up, so this year’s visitors hear about next year’s event.
• A phone-friendly checkout that someone can finish with a keyboard or a screen reader.

Ways to get an event website

The quick verdict: a general builder or WordPress plus a ticketing tool costs the least, while event platforms bundle the site and the ticketing. The big differences are the fee on each paid ticket, the contract, and what you can take with you.

1. A general website builder

Wix has Wix Events built in. Wix’s help center says it charges a 2.5% ticket service fee on paid tickets, which you can absorb or pass to the buyer (a $100 ticket becomes $102.50). Free tickets carry no fee; card processing is separate. Selling tickets needs a plan that accepts payments: Core is $29 a month billed yearly and Business $39. The Light plan can’t take payments.

Squarespace has no dedicated ticketing product. Its own guide says to create a service product for each ticket type and attach it to an Events page. Store sales carry a 2% transaction fee on Basic ($19 a month billed yearly, $25 billed monthly) and 0% on Core ($29 billed yearly, $39 billed monthly), plus card processing of 2.9% + $0.30. You can also embed a ticketing tool such as Ticket Tailor on either builder.

Builders are right for you if you want one site for your organization that also sells tickets. The trade-off is leaving: Wix scores 3/10 on our exit score and Squarespace 5/10.

2. Self-hosted WordPress

WordPress is free software you run on hosting you choose. The free plugin The Events Calendar, with 600,000+ active installs, adds event listings, calendar views and venue pages. The free Event Tickets plugin sells tickets through Stripe, PayPal or Square, but Liquid Web, which sells the paid versions, says it collects a 2% commission on ticket sales; the plugin’s changelog says an Event Tickets Plus license waives it on Stripe and Square. Liquid Web also sells a bundle that includes The Events Calendar for $350 for one site (billing period not stated) with “no per-ticket fees.”

Hosting is separate: Bluehost Starter is $3.99 a month on a 36-month term, then $9.99 a month. You own the files and the database, so WordPress scores 10/10 for leaving. We build on WordPress every week, so weigh our bias. See our WordPress review.

3. A ticketing platform

• Eventbrite: free events are free to publish. Paid tickets in the US carry a service fee of 3.7% + $1.79 per ticket plus 2.9% payment processing on the order, and buyers pay the fees by default. Eventbrite Premium is $69 a month or $708 a year for marketing extras. Event pages live on eventbrite.com, but a checkout widget can sit on your own site. Its draw is the marketplace: Eventbrite’s 2025 annual report says creators hosted nearly 4.6 million events there.
• Ticket Tailor: no subscription and “no contracts.” It charges a flat fee per paid ticket, but its pricing page showed that fee only in British pounds, so the fee is not published in US dollars. A custom domain is $8 a month and white label $49 a month, and registered charities get 50% off fees.

4. A dedicated event website builder

EventCreate builds a standalone event registration website with ticketing. Its pricing page lists nine priced tiers, from Free (one event, 50 attendees, 5% per paid ticket) to Enterprise at $500 a month (0% per ticket). Pro, for example, is $20 a month with a 1.25% fee and up to 200 attendees per event. Card processing is extra, and the rate isn’t published. The page says annual billing saves money, but its listed yearly prices equal 12 months at the monthly rate.

5. A conference and event management platform

• Whova: an event app plus registration and event web pages. Quote only. Free tickets carry no ticket fees.
• Cvent, including Splash: an enterprise suite. Quote only for both.
• Bizzabo: $17,999 a year base, or $499 per user per month billed yearly, with a 3-user minimum and an annual subscription.
• Accelevents: “starting from” $7,500 for one event or $13,500 for unlimited events; the billing period isn’t stated.

These suit multi-day conferences with apps, badges and many sessions.

The options side by side

The exit score, out of 10, measures how much of your site comes with you if you switch; see every score in our exit scores tool. We haven’t scored the event platforms. Ticket fees are a kind of transaction fee, and our event website cost guide adds them up over three years.

Which event website builder should you use?

There’s no single best event website builder. Based on the published prices and terms above:

• A free meetup or community event: Eventbrite costs nothing for free tickets, and neither do Wix Events or Ticket Tailor (up to a yearly cap of free tickets).
• A few small paid events a year, and you already have a site: embed Ticket Tailor, or use Wix Events at 2.5% if you’re on Wix.
• Classes, workshops or a yearly event your organization owns: WordPress with The Events Calendar keeps the whole site in your hands.
• Frequent events and no website yet: EventCreate, picking the tier that fits your attendee count.
• You need new buyers more than a site: Eventbrite’s marketplace, keeping its higher per-ticket fee in mind.
• A large multi-day conference: get quotes from Whova, Cvent and Bizzabo, and ask each one how you export your attendee data.

For weddings, The Knot and Zola offer free wedding websites; we didn’t research them for this guide. Our main best website builders list compares the general builders in more depth.

How to make an event website, step by step

1. Decide how you’ll sell tickets first. Free or paid, how many attendees, and how many events a year decide which tool and plan fit.
2. Register your domain name in your own name, so you keep it if you change platforms.
3. Set an all-in price and a refund policy before you build the page.
4. Build the core pages: home with date, place and button; schedule or lineup; venue and travel; FAQ; sponsors.
5. Buy a test ticket on your phone, and check that checkout works with a keyboard alone.

Event website design that turns visitors into attendees

Put the date, place and button on the first screen

Treefort Music Fest puts its dates and downtown Boise location in the header, with repeated “Buy Passes” buttons. DevNexus shows its dates and venue at the top, next to a “Register Now” button.

Show what people will get

CodeMash names its 150+ sessions, hands-on labs and free family programming. In Freeman research reported by BizBash in August 2025, 58% of attendees named networking as a reason to attend in 2024, up from 39% in 2021, so say who else will be in the room.

Answer the questions that stop a purchase

The Ann Arbor Art Fair links parking, Park & Ride and accessibility pages from its site, and Penland School of Craft links a cancellations and refunds policy in its footer. Our best event websites roundup has 13 real sites and one idea to copy from each.

The rules your event site has to follow

These are the main US rules for event websites as of October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice; ask a lawyer about your own event.

All-in ticket prices (FTC fees rule)

The FTC’s Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees has been in effect since May 12, 2025. For live-event tickets, any price you show must come with the total price, including all mandatory fees, shown more prominently than other pricing. Only government charges, shipping and optional add-ons can be left out, and those must be disclosed before payment (16 CFR Part 464). Misstating what a fee is for, or whether it’s refundable, is also unlawful.

The FTC’s FAQ says live-event tickets are for concerts, sporting events, music, theater and other live performances. It doesn’t mention conferences, classes or fundraising galas, so whether the rule covers those is unclear. The rule applies to anyone who offers or advertises tickets, including ticketing platforms (FTC FAQ).

State price rules

California’s SB 478, in effect since July 1, 2024, requires listed prices to include all mandatory fees. It covers most goods and services sold to consumers for personal use, event tickets included; purchases for business use aren’t covered, so a conference that companies pay for may fall outside it (California Attorney General). New York requires ticket sellers to show the total cost, including all fees, before a ticket is selected, and the price can’t rise during checkout (NY Arts and Cultural Affairs Law 25.07).

Galas and fundraisers

If a donor pays more than $75 and gets something back, such as a dinner, the charity must give a written statement of the deductible amount with a good-faith estimate of what the donor received. The IRS example: a $100 gift with a $40 concert ticket is $60 deductible. The penalty is $10 per contribution, up to $5,000 per event (IRS). In California, raffles are limited to qualified nonprofits and can’t be conducted over the internet. Our nonprofit website guide covers donation pages.

Email, accessibility and privacy

• Marketing email. CAN-SPAM requires a postal address and a working opt-out honored within 10 business days, and hiring a vendor doesn’t shift the responsibility.
• Accessibility. Justice Department guidance says businesses open to the public must make their online offerings accessible, and it lists unlabeled form fields and mouse-only navigation, common on registration pages (ADA.gov). City- and county-run sites face WCAG 2.1 AA deadlines in April 2027 or 2028. See our web accessibility entry.
• Privacy. California’s CalOPPA requires a posted privacy policy on commercial sites that collect personal information from Californians, which includes registration forms.

Pre-launch checklist

1. Your domain is registered in your name, at a registrar you control.
2. The first ticket price a buyer sees is the total price, with every mandatory fee included.
3. The refund policy is written down and linked near the button.
4. Date, time, time zone and venue address match on every page and on your ticketing page.
5. A test purchase works on a phone and with a keyboard alone.
6. You know how to export your attendee list, and you’ve tried it once.
7. A privacy policy is posted if you collect registrations.

Getting found after launch

Add event structured data to each in-person event page. Google’s Search Central docs say it makes events eligible for Google’s event experience in Search and Maps, if the event is open to the public at a physical location; name, start date and location are required (Google).

Then promote where your audience already is. In Eventbrite’s 2023 survey of organizers, a vendor report, US organizers used unpaid social media most (43%), then email (40%). Keep your email list healthy with our email deliverability guide. Our sister site, SEO PPC Management, covers Google Ads.

Where to go next

• How much an event website costs: true 3-year totals, with a 200-ticket fee example.
• Best event websites: 13 real conference, festival, gala, class and trade show sites.
• Best website builders: our main list of do-it-yourself builders.
• Glossary: domain name, transaction fees and web accessibility.

Website guides for other industries: Real estate, Law firms, Dental, Medical, Therapists, Contractors, Electricians, Restaurants, Schools, Salons, Churches, Artists, Vacation rentals, Nonprofits, Creators and courses. All industries.