Little Box Office vs Eventbrite
Which platform fits your venue?
Both Little Box Office (LBO) and Eventbrite provide highly capable ticketing tools for event organisers, but they operate on fundamentally different models. Eventbrite is a global marketplace focused on event discovery, making it a strong choice for one-off or free events looking to attract a new audience. Little Box Office is a dedicated white-label platform designed to support established venues, theatres, and festivals running ongoing event programmes.
Here is an objective look at how the two platforms compare, so you can decide which setup works best for your events.
The Quick Answer.
When to choose Eventbrite: Eventbrite is an enormous global marketplace focused on event discovery. It is an excellent choice for one-off, first-time, or free events looking to attract a new audience, as their platform actively puts your events in front of active ticket buyers. They also offer 24/7 chat support for paid events.
When to choose Little Box Office: LBO is designed specifically for established venues, theatres, and festivals running ongoing event programmes. Instead of waiting until after your event for your revenue, LBO pays your ticket revenue out in real time as sales occur, providing immediate operational cash flow. LBO also keeps the entire booking journey under your own venue's branding rather than a public marketplace, and operates with fees that are typically at least 39% lower on a standard order.
Comparison at a Glance.
Little Box Office
Theatres, arts centres, festivals, attractions, schools, and ongoing event programmes.
Real time, as tickets sell. Withdraw daily, weekly, monthly, or on demand at no extra cost, with no minimum.
Standard 4% rate. At least 39% lower on a typical order. Larger organisations pay lower rates.
White-label. Accounts can run on a littleboxoffice.com subdomain or on a full custom domains. Full CMS capability.
Phone and email, seven days a week. Human, responsive support from a team that knows your account.
Live data migration included at no charge. Historical migration scoped and costed transparently.
TicketSource
One-off, first-time and free events, especially where Eventbrite's marketplace discovery is valuable.
Default payout begins 3 business days after the event ends. Eligible organisers can choose weekly or twice-monthly schedules instead.
Standard UK service fee applies (typically 6.95% + £0.59 per paid ticket).
Runs on eventbrite.com, Eventbrite's own marketplace. A custom domain is available as a paid add-on (Eventbrite Boost).
Email support on the free tier, 24/7 chat on paid events. Priority phone support is reserved for Enterprise plans.
No dedicated migration service found for organisers moving from another platform; third-party import tools exist.
Features
Little Box Office
TicketSource
Theatres, arts centres, festivals, attractions, schools, and ongoing event programmes.
One-off, first-time and free events, especially where Eventbrite's marketplace discovery is valuable.
Real time, as tickets sell. Withdraw daily, weekly, monthly, or on demand at no extra cost, with no minimum.
Default payout begins 3 business days after the event ends. Eligible organisers can choose weekly or twice-monthly schedules instead.
Standard 4% rate. At least 39% lower on a typical order. Larger organisations pay lower rates.
Standard UK service fee applies (typically 6.95% + £0.59 per paid ticket).
White-label. Accounts can run on a littleboxoffice.com subdomain or on a full custom domains. Full CMS capability.
Runs on eventbrite.com, Eventbrite's own marketplace. A custom domain is available as a paid add-on (Eventbrite Boost).
Phone and email, seven days a week. Human, responsive support from a team that knows your account.
Email support on the free tier, 24/7 chat on paid events. Priority phone support is reserved for Enterprise plans.
Live data migration included at no charge. Historical migration scoped and costed transparently.
No dedicated migration service found for organisers moving from another platform; third-party import tools exist.
Managing Cash Flow: Real-Time vs. Scheduled Payouts.
Running a successful venue requires cash on hand.
By default, Eventbrite's standard payout process begins 3 business days after an event ends. While eligible organisers can apply for scheduled payouts (weekly or twice-monthly) prior to the event, this is an opt-in process and is subject to eligibility rather than being the default setup for everyone.
We believe your operational capital belongs in your bank account, not ours. Little Box Office operates on a real-time payout model. As tickets are sold, the revenue flows directly into the organiser's account without a holding period. For established venues managing ongoing supplier costs, talent bookings, and production expenses throughout a season, this provides immediate access to working capital long before the event takes place.
Which Platform is Cheaper?
When you turn over serious ticket volume, every percentage point impacts your bottom line.
TicketSource charges 7% + VAT on standard processing, or 4.5% + VAT if you connect your own Stripe account. While this percentage model is affordable for cheap community tickets, it scales up painfully for high-end events. LBO solves this by offering lower negotiated rates to clients with expensive tickets, or tiered pricing structures with different rates for different pricing bands.
Even on standard-priced tickets, Little Box Office is cheaper in both examples below when compared to TicketSource's standard payment processing and their Stripe integration.
Face value
£40.00
£100.00
LBO fees
£2.40
£5.70
Eventbrite fees
£3.96
£9.31
LBO savings
£1.56 (39%)
£3.61 (39%)
Order
Face value
LBO fees
Eventbrite fees
LBO savings
£40.00
£2.40
£3.96
£1.56 (39%)
£100.00
£5.70
£9.31
£3.61 (39%)
(Based on LBO's standard 4% rate. Larger organisations pay less, so they save more than shown here).
How we calculated this:
• LBO: 4% platform fee + 1.5% + £0.20 per order (standard UK Stripe processing). 4% is our starting rate for most clients; larger organisations are offered lower rates, so the real saving can be higher than this example.
• Eventbrite: 6.95% + £0.59 per paid ticket, as per Eventbrite's published UK service fee (September 2026). Eventbrite's fee is typically added to the ticket price by default, though organisers can choose to absorb it.
(Note: These are worked examples on the same face-value order, not a personalised quote, sourced from LBO and Eventbrite's UK pricing pages).
Branding and the Booking Journey.
Your booking page should look like your venue, not our software.
Eventbrite hosts event pages on its own marketplace at eventbrite.com. A custom domain is available, but it is offered as a paid add-on via Eventbrite Boost. Because it is a public marketplace, ticket buyers interact directly with the Eventbrite platform, and their data is part of the broader Eventbrite ecosystem.
LBO provides a dedicated white-label checkout experience. Most accounts run on a custom subdomain, and full custom domains are natively available. The venue retains full ownership of the customer data to build its own mailing lists, and the checkout process remains focused entirely on the venue's own events without third-party marketplace branding.
Support Channels.
Live events happen everyday of the week, which is why our phone and email support is available seven days a week. When you call us, you will not get stuck in an automated queue or told you need an Enterprise plan to speak to someone on the phone: you speak to a responsive team member who knows exactly how your venue is set up. Eventbrite offers email support on the free tier and 24/7 chat for paid events, with priority phone support reserved for Enterprise plans.
Already on sale on Eventbrite? No problem.
If you are already selling tickets on Eventbrite and want to move, you don't need to wait until your event is over to switch. While Eventbrite relies on third-party import tools to move data in, LBO includes a managed live data migration at no extra charge. Your existing events, orders, and seating plans can move smoothly while sales remain open. We work with you to handle the logistical heavy lifting so you can get back to the fun part of your job: putting on a brilliant show.