Event Tickets with Ticket Scanner vs Sugar Calendar – Events Calendar, Event Tickets, and Events Management Platform

Stop paying per-ticket fees. Own your entire ticketing workflow inside WordPress. Event Tickets with Ticket Scanner turns any WooCommerce product into a scannable event ticket — complete with QR code, downloadable PDF, and a built-in mobile ticket scanner for your team at the door. Unlike platforms like Eventbrite or Ticketmaster, you keep 100% of your revenue. Unlike other WordPress plugins, you get a visual seating plan designer and a ticket PDF designer included — not as expensive add-ons. Used by 1,000+ event organizers worldwide — from small community events to large concert venues. Rated ⭐ 4.9/5 on WordPress.org. Who is this for? Concert & festival organizers — sell general admission or assigned seats with interactive seat selection Theaters & venues — design your seating layout with drag & drop, let customers pick their seats Sports events & arenas — handle high volumes with offline fallback and team scanner access Clubs, spas, gyms & theme parks — sell multi-entry passes, family tickets, or memberships with expiration Community events & fundraisers — get started in minutes with the free version How it works — 3 steps Install the plugin and create a ticket list under “Event Tickets” Enable “Ticket Sales” on any WooCommerce product Customers receive a unique QR code ticket — scan and redeem at the entrance That’s it. No coding required. Watch the quickstart video 🎨 Visual Seating Plan Designer Create professional venue layouts without any design tools: Drag & drop seats, shapes, labels, and text onto your canvas Upload venue floor plans as background images Rotate, duplicate, and bulk-edit elements Color-code seat categories and pricing tiers Customers see a real-time interactive seat map during checkout Seats are automatically blocked during checkout and released on cancel/refund 🎟️ Ticket PDF Designer Design tickets that match your brand — not generic templates: Add your logo, custom colors, header and background images Position QR codes exactly where you want them Create event badges for staff and VIP passes Multi-page PDF support with attached documents Full bleed mode for edge-to-edge designs 📱 Built-in Ticket Scanner No extra app needed. The scanner runs in any mobile browser — or install it as a PWA: Scan QR codes with your phone camera — works on iOS and Android Install as PWA — add to home screen for instant launch without browser chrome Fullscreen mode — immersive scanning with a single tap Haptic feedback — vibration confirms valid/invalid tickets instantly Grant team members scanner access via Auth Tokens (no WordPress login needed) See ticket details, seat position, and venue map instantly after scan Voice output confirms valid/invalid tickets for fast processing Protection against fake tickets, double redemption, and brute-force attempts Supports hardware barcode scanners for high-traffic entrances Customizable theme color to match your brand 📲 Vollstart Wallet — All Tickets in One App Your customers can collect tickets from multiple shops in one free app: Vollstart Wallet at wallet.vollstart.com — a Progressive Web App that works on iOS, Android, and desktop Tickets are added with one click from the ticket page or order email QR code always available — even offline Privacy first — ticket data flows directly from your shop to the customer’s browser. Vollstart never receives or stores any data Learn more about security & privacy Enable it in Settings → Digital Wallets. Free for all users. 🎓 Congress & Attendee Portal Give ticket holders a private event portal — no extra login, no separate app. Assign a congress to any ticket product and buyers reach it straight from their ticket ID. Organize content into pages — a start page plus as many pages as you need (Speakers, Programme, Downloads, Sponsors …), with a sidebar on desktop and a hamburger menu on mobile Rich section types — formatted text, a day-by-day programme schedule, downloadable files, link lists, image galleries, single images, and embedded videos (paste a YouTube/Vimeo link or upload your own) Password-protect individual sections for VIP or speaker-only content Fast by design — the start page loads instantly and other pages are fetched on demand, so even congresses with dozens of speakers stay snappy Installable & offline-friendly — the portal ships as a mini Progressive Web App Time-controlled access — open the portal a set number of hours before the event and keep it available for a chosen number of days afterwards Recurring events — duplicate a congress as a “new edition” in one click Build it under the Congresses menu, assign it in the product’s Event Tickets tab, and optionally add a portal link to the order email. Included free. Powerful Ticket Types Single entry — classic one-time event ticket Multi-entry passes — allow multiple scans (configurable limit) Family tickets — generate multiple tickets per order item Memberships & season passes — set expiration dates Day chooser tickets — let customers pick their event date at checkout Purchase allowance codes — restrict who can buy specific products Built for WooCommerce Works with product variants (e.g., VIP vs. General Admission) Tickets auto-generate on order completion Refunded orders automatically recover and recycle ticket numbers Compatible with WooCommerce Subscriptions Works with WooCommerce PDF Invoices & Packing Slips WPML compatible for multilingual stores Free vs. Premium The free version covers everything you need to start selling tickets: ✅ Ticket generation with QR codes ✅ PDF ticket download (via link in email) ✅ Built-in ticket scanner ✅ Interactive seating plan designer ✅ Seat selection at checkout ✅ Multi-entry and family tickets ✅ Day chooser for date-based events ✅ Congress / attendee portal (pages, programme, downloads, media, password-protected sections) ✅ Webhooks for third-party integrations Premium adds professional features for larger events: 🔓 PDF ticket as email attachment (not just a link) 🔓 Team scanner access via Auth Tokens 🔓 Calendar invites (ICS files) in emails 🔓 Custom flyers and multi-page PDFs 🔓 CVV security check on tickets 🔓 Brute-force IP blocking 🔓 No ticket limits 🔓 Advanced shortcodes for ticket display and validation Get Premium Links Documentation Quickstart Video All Features Premium Plugin Support

We believe event management should be simple! Sugar Calendar is a powerful yet lightweight events management plugin for WordPress that makes it easy to create event calendars, manage event registrations, and sell tickets, without the bloat. With Sugar Calendar, you get just the features you need for handling events of all types without a complicated setup or slow interface. You can easily manage in-person, virtual, one-time, and recurring events with just a few clicks. Ready to unlock advanced event management features like recurring events, venues, RSVP system, frontend submissions, and much more? Get Sugar Calendar Pro Today → Key Features at a Glance The core free version of Sugar Calendar provides a comprehensive toolkit for creating a functional event calendar and managing basic event registration and ticketing right away. It’s the perfect starting point for straightforward event management. Simple Event Creation & Management New to event management? Our intuitive step-by-step guide walks you through creating your first event. From adding the event name and description to setting the duration, recurrence, and venue, we make the process seamless. Create events effortlessly within your WordPress dashboard using our clean, clutter-free interface. Define event details like dates and times (including all-day or multi-day options), and manage your events calendar entries just like standard posts. Calendar and List View Displays Showcase your events effectively with multiple display options. Embed a monthly event calendar view or an upcoming events list anywhere using Gutenberg blocks, Elementor widgets, or shortcodes. Visitors can easily switch between month, week, or day views for optimal browsing of your events calendar. Both calendar and list layouts are fully responsive (and even support an optional dark mode). Sell Tickets with Stripe Monetize your events without needing extra extensions! Sugar Calendar integrates directly with Stripe, enabling secure credit card payments for paid event registration. As a verified Stripe partner, we ensure a reliable payment integration for your event management needs This program recognizes software that meets Stripe’s strict quality requirements and provides users of Sugar Calendar and Stripe with the confidence they need to trust us both with their payment integrations. Multiple Calendars (Event Categories) Structure your events by organizing them into distinct calendars or categories. Create unique calendars for different event types, departments, or topics, and empower visitors to filter events, improving their experience with your events calendar. Migrating from The Events Calendar? Are you migrating away from The Events Calendar plugin and want an easy events management solution to migrate to? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. It’s as easy as a single click of a button to migrate all your events and other details in The Events Calendar plugin to Sugar Calendar. Calendar Feeds (iCal/Google Calendar Sync) Let your users subscribe to your events calendar in their personal calendar apps. Sugar Calendar provides iCal/ICS calendar feeds and offers attendees convenient “Add to Calendar” options for Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, Apple Calendar, or direct .ics download. Google Maps Integration Display a Google Map for your event venue/location on the event details page. Just enter the event address, and Sugar Calendar will show an interactive map, helping attendees easily find your event. Event Tags for Filtering Organize and categorize your events using customizable tags, similar to WordPress post tags. Assign relevant tags to events, allowing visitors to easily filter the events calendar on the frontend to find exactly what they’re looking for. This adds another layer to your event management strategy. Attendee Management & Export Keep track of attendees and ticket orders in your WordPress dashboard. For each event, you can view the list of attendees/ticket holders and their details. Need to share or analyze data? Export attendees or event lists to CSV with one click. Import/Export Events Migrate or back up your event data easily. Sugar Calendar can help export your events and other data by compiling a JSON file that can be downloaded to your computer. You can also import events from a JSON export file. Custom Date and Time Formats Customize how event dates and times are displayed to match your locale or preference. Choose from common date/time formats or use your own format – perfect for international sites. Dashboard Events Widget Get a quick overview of upcoming events directly from your WordPress dashboard. The handy widget keeps your schedule visible, ensuring efficient event management at a glance. (Pro users see enhanced details like venue and RSVP attendees.) Gutenberg Blocks & Elementor Widgets Seamlessly integrate your event calendar or events list anywhere on your site. Dedicated blocks for the Gutenberg editor and widgets for Elementor and other popular builders make adding your events calendar to pages, posts, or sidebars incredibly simple. Shortcodes are also available for other editors. Modern, Lightweight Design Sugar Calendar is optimized for speed and efficiency, ensuring it won’t slow down your site. The admin interface is intuitive and beautifully designed, making event management a breeze. Your frontend event calendar naturally inherits your theme’s styles and even supports dark mode for a seamless look. Translation Ready Fully localized and ready for translation. Sugar Calendar has already been translated into 10+ languages and can be easily translated into your language, so your events calendar can serve audiences worldwide. Sugar Calendar Pro Features Want to unlock more advanced event management capabilities? Sugar Calendar Pro (available with a premium license) includes all the free features plus many powerful enhancements to help you stay organized and grow your events: Advanced Event Registration & RSVP Management Take control of your guest lists with our sophisticated RSVP system, included as part of Sugar Calendar Pro via the dedicated RSVP Addon. This feature introduces a dedicated “RSVP” tab within the Sugar Calendar menu in your WordPress dashboard. This takes you directly to a comprehensive attendee management screen, where event organizers can effortlessly track guest responses, viewing a detailed list of everyone who has indicated they are “Going” or “Not Going” to an event. Recurring Events Schedule events to repeat automatically on a daily, weekly, monthly, or custom schedule. Save time by creating recurring events (including complex recurrence patterns like the first Monday of the month or every other Thursday) instead of manually duplicating events in your events calendar. Event Venues & Locations Create and manage reusable venue profiles. Store addresses, maps, contact details, and website links for each location. Assign venues to events to display rich location information (and a Google Map) easily, perfect for recurring events at the same place and enhancing your overall events management. Speakers Management Easily add speaker or performer profiles to your events. Include names, titles, bios, photos, and social links to highlight who will be featured, enhancing your event listings. Frontend Event Submissions Accept event submissions from your community or team without giving them backend access. Sugar Calendar Pro integrates with popular form plugins (WPForms, Gravity Forms, Formidable Forms) to allow frontend event submission forms. Visitors can submit events through a form on your site, and you can review/publish them at your convenience. Perfect for community calendars and user-submitted events. Event Duplication Clone any existing event with one click to use it as a template. This handy feature allows you to quickly duplicate events (including all details and settings) and then just make minor edits, instead of recreating similar events from scratch, saving you significant time in your event management workflow. Import Events from Google, Apple, Outlook, and other 3rd party Calendars Sugar Calendar Pro lets you import events from any 3rd party calendar with an ICS URL. It works with Apple, Google, Microsoft, and other calendars. All it requires is simply pasting the ICS URL in the import tool. Enhanced Dashboard Widget Pro users see more details in the dashboard widget, including event venues, assigned speakers/performers, and quick-access icons for recurring events and RSVP/ticket attendee lists, offering a richer overview for effective event management. Event Link (Custom Event URLs) Need to redirect an event to an external page or ticketing site? Pro allows you to set a custom URL for each event. Use this to link out to external event pages, third-party ticketing platforms, or any URL instead of the default event detail page for specialized event registration. Priority Support Get access to our top-notch support team with prioritized email support for Pro users. Need help or have questions? Pro license holders receive fast, dedicated support from the Sugar Calendar team via email Take Your Events to the Next Level! Experience effortless event management with powerful Pro features including recurring events scheduling, event venue management, frontend event submissions, and seamless calendar imports. Get Sugar Calendar Pro Today → Sugar Calendar Pro Addons Sugar Calendar also offers official addons to extend functionality even further. These addons integrate Sugar Calendar with other platforms and tools. If you purchase a Plus, Pro, or Elite license to Sugar Calendar, you get access to all current and future addons. RSVP – Enhance your event management capabilities with the integrated RSVP Addon. This addon allows you to monitor attendee responses (“Going” / “Not Going”) directly in the WordPress dashboard. This centralized system for event registration data allows for efficient tracking and management of guest lists, forming a vital component of the advanced events management tools available in Sugar Calendar Pro. Event Ticketing – Connects your events calendar to WooCommerce, allowing you to create tickets as WooCommerce products. Take advantage of WooCommerce’s payment gateways (PayPal, credit cards, etc.), cart system, and email receipts for your event ticket sales. Perfect if you want to use WooCommerce to manage checkout and payment processing for event registrations. Using Event Ticketing also removes the 3% Stripe fee in the lite version. Zapier – Connect your events and tickets to 8,000+ apps through Zapier. The Zapier Addon provides triggers for New Event, New Ticket Order, and New Attendee, so you can automate tasks and workflows. For example, automatically add attendees to a Google Sheet, sync events to Google Calendar, send notification emails via Gmail or Mailchimp when someone registers, and much more. Use Cases Sugar Calendar is a versatile events management platform trusted by users for efficient event calendar creation and event registration handling. It’s an ideal solution for: Event Organizers & Planners – Manage conferences, concerts, workshops, meetups, or fundraisers with ease. Easily handle event registration, sell tickets, and display comprehensive event details on a clean events calendar. Businesses & Non-Profits – Promote your upcoming events, classes, or fundraisers on a public event calendar. Easy enough for non-technical staff to add events, and convenient for visitors to find events by category or date. Educational Institutions & Tutors – Schedule courses, webinars, and training sessions with robust event management tools. Handle recurring classes or multi-day seminars effortlessly. Manage enrollment through event registration, RSVPs, or ticket sales. Community Groups & Clubs – Allow members to submit their own events (with approval) and maintain a community calendar. Great for clubs, sports leagues, open mic sessions, or local groups needing collaborative event management. Musicians & Venues – List upcoming shows and tours on a dedicated events calendar. Use the Google Maps integration to show where you’re playing with the exact location and details. Sell tickets directly from your site. Bloggers & Content Creators – Plan and show an editorial calendar or live stream schedule to your audience. Keep readers in the loop about what’s coming up. Whatever your niche, if you need a reliable system for displaying and managing events in WordPress, Sugar Calendar’s focus on clean design and efficient events management provides a superior event calendar and event registration experience. Additional Advantages Beyond the core features, Sugar Calendar offers significant benefits for your event management needs: Excellent Documentation – We provide extensive documentation and tutorials on our website to guide you through every feature. New to event plugins? Check out our step-by-step Getting Started guide, and you’ll be publishing events in minutes. For developers, our docs cover hooks, functions, and sample code for customizations. Active Development & Support – Sugar Calendar is actively maintained by the team behind popular plugins like WPForms, WP Mail SMTP, and AIOSEO. You can trust that we bring years of WordPress experience. We’re here to help in the support forums, and we listen to feedback for new event management features. Works With Your Theme – Sugar Calendar is designed to adopt your theme’s styles for calendars and event pages, so it looks like a natural part of your website. You can further customize styling via the built-in stylesheet or override templates in your theme. It’s developer-friendly if you want to tweak the design or layout. Internal Linking & SEO – The plugin outputs JSON-LD structured data for events (improving SEO for event listings, just like Google likes to see dates and venues). Plus, you can enable pretty URLs for event archives and utilize category pages for a hierarchical structure that search engines can crawl. What’s Next If you like our Sugar Calendar plugin, then consider checking out our other projects: WP Mail SMTP – The most popular WordPress SMTP and Email Log plugin (trusted by over 3 million sites). WPForms – #1 drag & drop online form builder for WordPress (trusted by over 5 million sites). OptinMonster – Get more email subscribers with the most popular conversion optimization plugin for WordPress. AIOSEO – The original WordPress SEO plugin to help you rank higher in search results (trusted by over 3 million sites). MonsterInsights – See the stats that matter and grow your business with confidence. Best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. SeedProd – Create beautiful landing pages with our powerful drag & drop landing page builder. Smash Balloon – #1 social feeds plugin for WordPress – display social media content in WordPress without code. WPCode – must have WordPress code snippet management plugin to help you future-proof website customization (trusted by 1.5 million sites). Duplicator – popular WordPress backup and migration plugin used by over 1 million websites. WP Simple Pay – #1 Stripe payments plugin for WordPress. Start accepting one-time or recurring payments without a shopping cart. PushEngage – Connect with visitors after they leave your website with the leading web push notification plugin. RafflePress – Best WordPress giveaway and contest plugin to grow traffic and social followers. TrustPulse – Add real-time social proof notifications to boost your store conversions by up to 15%. SearchWP – The most advanced custom WordPress search plugin to improve WordPress search quality. AffiliateWP – #1 affiliate management plugin for WordPress. Add a referral program to your online …