Free event tools, compared on facts
You run a free founder breakfast, workshop or demo day of 20 to 120 seats in a room you already booked. Here is what each tool does and does not do for that one room. Facts as of September 2026, from each product's own published pages — check them before you decide, because pricing and features change.
We compare on facts we can point at, never on superlatives.
The question each tool answers
Most event tools answer one question: how do people find and sign up for events. Discovery, a page, a form, a ticket. That part is solved; a Google Form also solves it.
The unsolved part starts after the form. Free events run 40 to 60% no-shows across published studies, so a 40-seat room with 40 registrations gets 20 people. Nobody's tool chases the confirmation, releases the dead seat, or remembers next quarter who actually comes. The organizer does that by hand, in a spreadsheet and a pile of messages.
So the comparison below is not which page is prettier. It is which tool treats a seat as a commitment with a deadline, and which one keeps the record afterwards.
Tool by tool
FounderGather
This tool. Built for one booked room.- Price
- First event free. $19 per event after, one time.
- Confirms seats before the event
- Not yet. The confirm-your-seat email and its timed sweeps are planned; today you ask for confirmations yourself.
- Frees a dead seat to the waitlist automatically
- A cancelled or released seat is promoted to the waitlist in order, automatically, and the person is emailed.
- Show rate per person, across events
- Show rate per person across every event the community has run, organizer-only.
- Hard seat limit
- Hard limit enforced in the database; beyond it the same form joins the waitlist.
- Public discovery
- None. Your page reaches the link you share. Stated plainly.
- Sells tickets
- Never. We do not touch ticket money.
Luma
The default for startup meetups.- Price
- Free forever; 5% fee on paid tickets; Plus from $59/mo.
- Confirms seats before the event
- No confirmation step that chases a registrant for their seat.
- Frees a dead seat to the waitlist automatically
- Waitlists exist, but an unclaimed seat is not chased and released to the next person automatically.
- Show rate per person, across events
- Guest lists per event; no show-rate record per person across events.
- Hard seat limit
- Capacity limits available.
- Public discovery
- Strong: public event calendar and follower discovery.
- Sells tickets
- Yes, with a platform fee.
Meetup
Discovery-led, recurring groups.- Price
- Organizer subscription, paid monthly.
- Confirms seats before the event
- RSVPs are a click; no seat confirmation with release.
- Frees a dead seat to the waitlist automatically
- No automatic promotion of a waitlist when a seat frees.
- Show rate per person, across events
- Attendance per event for organizers; no per-person show rate across events.
- Hard seat limit
- Capacity limits available.
- Public discovery
- Strong, and it brings drive-by signups with it.
- Sells tickets
- Through the platform's own payment flow.
Eventbrite
Conference and ticketing software.- Price
- Free events free; paid tickets carry fees; paid plans above.
- Confirms seats before the event
- No confirmation chase for free seats.
- Frees a dead seat to the waitlist automatically
- Waitlist promotion is manual.
- Show rate per person, across events
- Order and attendance reports per event; no show-rate history per person.
- Hard seat limit
- Quantity limits available.
- Public discovery
- Strong: a public events marketplace.
- Sells tickets
- Yes — that is the core product.
RSVPify
Guest-list management for larger events.- Price
- From $39/mo.
- Confirms seats before the event
- Approval workflows exist; not a confirm-or-release seat hold.
- Frees a dead seat to the waitlist automatically
- Waitlist management is manual.
- Show rate per person, across events
- Guest lists per event.
- Hard seat limit
- Capacity controls available.
- Public discovery
- None by design.
- Sells tickets
- Yes.
Google Form + spreadsheet
The incumbent everywhere.- Price
- Free.
- Confirms seats before the event
- You chase confirmations by hand in the group chat.
- Frees a dead seat to the waitlist automatically
- You copy-paste from the waitlist when someone drops.
- Show rate per person, across events
- A fresh sheet per event; someone could build the show-rate column, nobody does it twice.
- Hard seat limit
- The form keeps accepting after the room is full.
- Public discovery
- None; you share the link yourself.
- Sells tickets
- Outside the form, by hand.
A note on fairness: Luma, Meetup, Eventbrite and RSVPify are good products doing what they were built for — discovery, communities, ticketing, guest lists. FounderGather is weaker at all of those, on purpose. We have no public event discovery, no ticket sales and no mobile app; registration and the door live in the browser.
How to choose
If you need strangers to discover your events, or you are selling tickets, use the tools built for that. Luma for a public meetup series, Eventbrite for a paid conference.
If you have a room, a free event, and a waitlist you manage in your inbox tonight, that is the gap FounderGather is built for: confirmations chased, seats released in order, and a show rate on record for the next event and the report upstairs.
| You need | Reach for |
|---|---|
| Discovery — new people find your events | Luma, Meetup, Eventbrite |
| Selling tickets | Luma, Eventbrite, Hi.Events (self-hosted) |
| A free event in a booked room, with the room actually full | FounderGather |
Try it on the next event
Free registration, a hard seat limit, a waitlist that promotes itself the moment a seat frees, and every attendee's show rate kept across your community's whole history. Your first event is free; publishing any event after that costs $19, one time, no subscription.
Registration is free for attendees. Always.