Little Box Office vs Skiddle
Which platform fits your venue?
If you are evaluating Little Box Office (LBO) and Skiddle, it is important to understand that they operate on two fundamentally different models. Skiddle is an event discovery marketplace, while LBO is a white-label ticketing platform.
Choosing between them generally comes down to one strategic question: Do you need a platform to help you find a new audience, or do you already have an established audience and want to take control of your revenue, cash flow, and brand?
Here is an objective look at how the two compare for UK venues and event organisers.
Comparison at a Glance.
Little Box Office
White-label ticketing software. You sell directly to your audience under your own brand.
Theatres, arts centres, festivals, schools, and venues with an established, repeat audience.
Real-time. Revenue lands in your account as tickets are sold, prior to the event.
100% venue ownership. LBO does not market to your attendees.
Standard 4% rate with much lower rates for larger businesses and premium tickets.
Live data migration included at no charge. Historical migration scoped and costed transparently.
TicketSource
Discovery marketplace. Events are listed on Skiddle.com to tap into their user base.
Club nights, raves, and one-off music festivals needing exposure to a new audience.
Post-event. Held until after the event, paid on a Tuesday/Thursday cycle.
Shared. Skiddle retains attendee data to market other events on their platform.
10% + 27p per ticket (subject to a £1 minimum).
No, Skiddle does not currently offer a built-in feature to import your existing events or customer orders into their system.
Features
Little Box Office
TicketSource
White-label ticketing software. You sell directly to your audience under your own brand.
Discovery marketplace. Events are listed on Skiddle.com to tap into their user base.
Theatres, arts centres, festivals, schools, and venues with an established, repeat audience.
Club nights, raves, and one-off music festivals needing exposure to a new audience.
Real-time. Revenue lands in your account as tickets are sold, prior to the event.
Post-event. Held until after the event, paid on a Tuesday/Thursday cycle.
100% venue ownership. LBO does not market to your attendees.
Shared. Skiddle retains attendee data to market other events on their platform.
Standard 4% rate with much lower rates for larger businesses and premium tickets.
10% + 27p per ticket (subject to a £1 minimum).
Live data migration included at no charge. Historical migration scoped and costed transparently.
No, Skiddle does not currently offer a built-in feature to import your existing events or customer orders into their system.
The Trade-Off: Marketplace Discovery vs. Cost & Control.
Skiddle's strongest asset is its audience. With millions of monthly visitors looking for nightlife and music events, listing on Skiddle puts your event in front of people actively searching for a night out. However, this exposure comes at a premium—typically 10% plus fixed fees per ticket. If Skiddle is actively driving sales you would not have otherwise made, that fee serves as a worthwhile marketing expense.
The tipping point for many venues comes when they build their own loyal customer base. If your audience is finding your events through your own website, social media, or mailing list, paying a 10% marketplace fee for tickets you generated yourself rapidly cuts into your margins. LBO's white-label model operates at a significantly lower rate (typically starting around 4%), allowing you to keep more revenue from the audience you own.
Managing Cash Flow: Post-Event vs. Real-Time Payouts.
Cash flow is a critical operational difference between the two platforms.
Skiddle operates on a post-event payout model, holding funds until after your event has concluded. As stated in their own words, this is "to have the funds if an event is cancelled or postponed." Once the event finishes, they run remittance on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and the money typically takes a further 2–3 days to reach your account. A £50 minimum threshold applies before any payout is made on that cycle. Same-day payment is possible, but it must be requested before 10am on a remittance day and carries a £10 + VAT fee.
We believe that your operational capital belongs in your bank account. Little Box Office operates on a real-time payout model. Ticket revenue flows directly into your account before your event happens, with no minimum threshold and no fee to withdraw on your own schedule. This gives you the financial flexibility to pay suppliers, manage costs, and run your operations smoothly.
Which Platform is Cheaper?
When you turn over serious ticket volume, your margins matter. Using LBO’s typical 4% platform fee alongside standard UK Stripe processing, LBO works out significantly cheaper than Skiddle's published booking fees.
Face value
£40.00
£100.00
LBO fees
£2.40
£5.70
Skiddle fees
£4.54
£11.08
LBO savings
£2.14 (47%)
£5.38 (49%)
Order
Face value
LBO fees
Skiddle fees
LBO savings
£40.00
£2.40
£4.54
£2.14 (47%)
£100.00
£5.70
£11.08
£5.38 (49%)
(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.
• Skiddle: 10% of face value + 27p per ticket, subject to a £1 minimum per ticket (sourced from Skiddle's Help Centre). Skiddle's published fee schedule does not state whether payment processing is included or charged separately; if it is separate, the real gap is larger than shown here. By default, Skiddle's fee is paid by ticket buyers, though promoters can elect to absorb it as a commission instead.
Already on sale with Skiddle? No problem.
If you are already selling tickets, you do not need to wait until your event is over or start ticket sales from scratch to switch platforms.
We know that migrating a box office can seem daunting. That is why LBO includes live data migration at no charge, so your existing events and orders can safely move across while your sales remain open. Before the switch, we work with you to confirm the exact fields, order history, access codes, seating plans, and customer permissions that need to move, ensuring both teams have a clear migration checklist. Migrating older, historical data from before you switch is scoped and costed separately, so you know the exact cost upfront.