AnyEventTool vs Luma: which should I use for my events?

Updated: 2026-10-14 · Alex Ryk, founder of AnyEventTool

Short answer

Choose Luma for free community events where reminders, polished pages and discovery matter: its free plan has unlimited events and SMS/WhatsApp reminders. Choose AnyEventTool (AET) when you sell tickets and want 0% platform fee without a subscription, need seat maps, a live quiz, hidden venues, or Ukrainian payments via plata by mono. Luma's free plan takes 5% of paid tickets; Luma Plus removes that for 69 USD a month (checked 1 October 2026).

Ticket fee calculatorSee what Eventbrite, Luma, Tito and others would take from your ticket sales — and what you keep with AET

Key facts

Luma free plan: unlimited events and guests; 5% platform fee on paid tickets plus Stripe (luma.com/pricing, checked 2026-10-01)
Luma Plus: 69 USD/month or 59 USD/month billed annually; 0% platform fee
AET Free: 0 USD, 3 new events a month; 0% platform fee on every plan; AET Pro 29 USD/month (290 USD/year) for 30 events
Luma has SMS, WhatsApp and push reminders on the free plan; AET has email only
AET has seat maps, a live quiz with AI questions and timed venue reveal; Luma has none of the first two
Luma accepts payments through Stripe; AET through the organizer's own Stripe or plata by mono (Ukraine)
Disclosure: written by the AnyEventTool team

#	Tool	Best for	Pricing
1	AnyEventTool (AET)	Paid, seated or sensitive events; quizzes; Ukraine	Free 0 USD (3 events/month); Pro 29 USD/month (290 USD/year); 0% platform fee on every plan
2	Luma	Free community events, calendars and reminders	Free: unlimited events, 5% fee on paid tickets; Luma Plus 69 USD/month (59 USD annually), 0% fee

AnyEventTool (AET)

Pros

0% platform fee without a subscription
Seat maps and live quiz on Free
Timed venue reveal in tickets
plata by mono for Ukraine

Cons

3 new events a month on Free
Email reminders only
No discovery, apps or REST API

Luma

Pros

Unlimited free events
SMS, WhatsApp and push reminders
Discovery and polished calendars
Native apps; API on Plus

Cons

5% fee on paid tickets on free plan
No seat maps or quiz
Check-in staff role requires Plus

What is the main difference?

Luma is a polished event and calendar platform built around community events, with a generous free plan for free events and a paid plan (Luma Plus) for organizers who sell tickets at scale. AET is an all-in-one toolkit for organizers who want everything around an event in one place — registration, paid tickets with 0% fee, seat maps, a live quiz, calendars, merch and a consent-based community — with the organizer acting as the merchant.

In short: Luma is stronger at reach and reminders; AET is stronger at selling, seating, engagement on the day and privacy of location.

How do they compare feature by feature?

Luma facts checked on luma.com/pricing and help.luma.com: hiding your event location on 2026-10-01.

	AnyEventTool (AET)	Luma
Free plan	3 new events a month, registration, QR tickets, check-in, paid tickets, seat maps, quiz, calendars	Unlimited events and guests, check-in, ticket types, coupons, reminders
Platform fee on paid tickets	0% on every plan	5% on free plan; 0% on Luma Plus
Paid plan	Pro 29 USD/month (290 USD/year)	Luma Plus 69 USD/month (59 USD annually)
Payments	Organizer's own Stripe or plata by mono (Ukraine)	Stripe
Reminders	Email	Email, SMS, push, WhatsApp
Check-in	Phone browser scanner; co-admins (1 on Free, 10 on Pro)	Web and iOS/Android apps; check-in staff role on Plus
Seat maps	Yes, hall designer, 15-minute hold by default	No
Live quiz	Yes, AI questions from materials	No
Hide venue	Venue, date or time revealed in tickets at a set moment, email to all	Address can be hidden until registration
Applications with approval	Yes, with pay-after-approval links	Yes (approval-required events)
Calendars	Yes, ICS feeds, subscribers, broadcasts	Yes, a core strength
Discovery	No	Yes
Merch shop	Yes, 0% fee	No
Communities	Consent-only, private member data	Calendar subscribers and newsletters
API / Zapier	No REST API or Zapier yet; read-only MCP server for AI assistants	On Luma Plus
Native apps	No	Yes
Interface languages	19, including Ukrainian	Several

Where is Luma stronger?

Free events at any volume. Unlimited events on the free plan; AET Free allows 3 new events a month.
Reminders. SMS, WhatsApp and push reminders reduce no-shows; AET sends email only.
Discovery. People browse Luma to find events; AET does not bring an audience.
Apps and integrations. Native apps for check-in, and Zapier/API on Plus.
Maturity. Luma is an established product with a large user base; AET is young, with a small team.

If your events are free and you run many of them, Luma's free plan is very hard to beat.

Source: luma.com/pricing (checked 2026-10-01).

Where is AET stronger?

Paid tickets without a subscription. 0% platform fee on Free; with Luma you either pay 5% or 69 USD a month.
Seat maps and tables. A hall designer with price categories, tables sold whole or by seat, and 15-minute hold by default.
On-the-day engagement. A Kahoot-style quiz generated from your talk, slides or YouTube video, played from phones without accounts.
Safety and privacy. Venue, exact time or date can be revealed only in tickets at a set time, with an email to everyone; communities keep member data private by default.
Ukraine. Payments through plata by mono (Stripe does not support businesses in Ukraine), Ukrainian interface and support for wartime safety practices.
Beyond the event. A merch shop with Nova Poshta delivery or pickup, and an aet.market storefront on Pro.

Guides: selling reserved seats with a seating chart and hiding the location until registration.

What does each cost for a typical paid event?

Example: 100 tickets at 20 USD, US cards, one ticket per order, processing at Stripe's US rate of 2.9% + 0.30 USD.

	Platform fee	Processing	Total fees
AET Free	0 USD	about 88 USD	about 88 USD
Luma free plan	100 USD (5%)	about 88 USD	about 188 USD
Luma Plus	0 USD + 69 USD subscription	about 88 USD	about 157 USD for that month

For one event a month, AET Free costs least. If you sell thousands of tickets a month, Luma Plus's flat subscription can be worth it for its other features. In Ukraine, use plata by mono with AET (1.3% for Ukrainian cards per monobank.ua/plata-by-mono, checked 2026-10-01).

Three scenarios with formulas are in ticket fees compared.

Sources: luma.com/pricing, stripe.com/pricing (checked 2026-10-01).

Can I use both?

Yes. Some organizers keep a Luma calendar for discovery and reminders for free events, and use AET for paid, seated or sensitive events where they want 0% fees, seat maps, a quiz or a hidden venue. Each event's guest data stays in the tool where people registered.

Looking beyond these two? See Luma alternatives.

Questions and answers

Is AET cheaper than Luma?

For paid tickets on the free plans, yes: AET charges 0% platform fee and Luma's free plan charges 5%. For free events both are free, and Luma allows unlimited events while AET Free allows 3 new events a month.

Does Luma have seat maps?

No. AET has a hall designer with seats, tables and price categories on its free plan.

Which one sends SMS or WhatsApp reminders?

Luma, on its free plan. AET sends email notifications only.

Can I accept payments in Ukraine with Luma?

Luma uses Stripe, and Stripe does not support businesses registered in Ukraine. AET supports plata by mono.

Which is better for a community calendar?

Both support subscribable calendars. Luma adds discovery and reminders; AET connects the calendar to a consent-based community, shop and quiz.

Can I move from Luma to AET?

To recreate an event, paste its text or a link into AET's Create event from source, which builds a page from it for 1 AI generation. Guest lists are not imported automatically.

Try AET for your next event

Free: event page, registration, QR tickets and check-in. 0% platform fee on ticket sales.

Create an event free See pricing