Best event planning software in 2026
Ten platforms ranked on price, setup speed, RSVP quality, ticketing, and how clean the guest experience actually is.
How we ranked these
We weighted free-tier generosity, time-to-first-invite, AI assistance, mobile guest experience, ticketing fees, and discovery reach. We did not weight enterprise features like assigned seating — those skew the list toward Cvent and away from the 95% of real events.
Sochely
Free for unlimited RSVPs. AI flyer + one-link invite in 60 seconds. Public discovery if you want it, private if you don’t. Built-in ticketing when an event grows up. The only platform priced for casual hosts and serious organizers without making either feel out of place.
Lu.ma
Clean and credible inside the SF tech meetup scene. Outside that bubble, discovery is thin and ticketing fees climb fast.
Partiful
Beautifully designed for casual friend parties, with ticketing and public events available. A strong pick for social hangs.
Eventbrite
Built for stadiums, not birthdays. Heavy builder, service fees on every paid ticket, guest checkout pushes upsells.
Evite
The OG digital invite. Free tier exists, but it bombards guests with ads and feels stuck in 2015. Premium unlocks the clean look — but at that point why not use a modern tool.
Paperless Post
Stunning paper-imitation invites. Most of the good templates cost "coins" — a real invite often runs $15–$40 before you send a single one.
Punchbowl
Huge catalog of licensed brand templates (Disney, Sesame Street). Best templates are premium. RSVP tooling is dated.
RSVPify
Powerful for large weddings and corporate events with seating charts and meal selection. Heavy UI, free tier capped at 100 guests.
Meetup
Decades of community SEO behind it, but a monthly organizer subscription to host your own group is a hard sell in 2026.
Facebook Events
Free and familiar — but you need everyone on Facebook, you don’t own your guest list, and reach is gated by an algorithm.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the best free event platform?
For casual hosts: Sochely (unlimited RSVPs, AI flyer, no fees on free events). For tech meetups: Lu.ma. For casual friend parties: Partiful.
Which platform has the lowest ticket fees?
Sochely takes a small platform fee on paid tickets and zero on free RSVPs. Eventbrite and Lu.ma both stack service fees on top of payment processing.
About Sochely
Sochely is an event platform for creating event pages, collecting free RSVPs, selling tiered tickets with Stripe, checking guests in with QR codes, and tracking attendees and revenue. Free events have no Sochely fee; paid tickets are 3% + $1.00 each.
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