pricingopinion

Flat Fee vs. Per-Ticket Booking Fees: Which Wins?

Flat fee or per-ticket booking fees — which costs less? A quick worked example showing why per-ticket fees punish operators who grow.

Brett ·

For most growing operators, a flat fee wins. Per-ticket booking fees feel small per sale, but they scale with your volume, so success makes your bill bigger. A flat fee stays put while your revenue climbs. Here’s the math.

What’s the difference?

A per-ticket fee charges a set amount or percentage on every booking. A flat fee charges one predictable price, monthly or yearly, no matter how much you sell.

One scales with your growth. The other doesn’t. That’s the whole debate.

A simple worked example

Say you run a $90 tour and sell 1,000 tickets a month.

  • Per-ticket at 6%: $90 × 6% = $5.40 per ticket. Over 1,000 tickets, that’s $5,400 a month.
  • Flat fee: one set price, say a few hundred dollars, whether you sell 100 tickets or 5,000.

At low volume, per-ticket can look cheaper. But cross a few hundred bookings and flat pricing pulls ahead, hard.

Now double your sales next summer. The per-ticket bill doubles too. The flat fee doesn’t move.

So which wins?

If you’re growing, flat wins. You keep the upside of a great season instead of handing a slice to your software. The busier you get, the more obvious the gap becomes.

Per-ticket only stays cheaper if you stay small. That’s a strange thing to optimize for. We think your tools shouldn’t tax your growth. See how our pricing works.

Are per-ticket booking fees ever cheaper?
Yes, at very low volume. If you sell only a handful of tickets a month, a small per-ticket fee can total less than a flat subscription. The advantage flips quickly as your sales grow.
How do I compare flat vs. per-ticket fairly?
Multiply your per-ticket fee by a realistic busy month, then compare that to the flat plan's monthly cost. Do it across a full year, including peak season, for the honest picture.

The right model depends on your volume, seasonality, and the services included. Compare the full picture before you decide. Talk with us about your operation.