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Chobble Tickets vs Cheddar Up

Cheddar Up is a payment collection platform popular with PTAs, nonprofits, and community groups in the US. Here's how a small, open source ticketing alternative compares.

Pricing comparison

Cheddar Up has three plans: Basic (free), Pro ($20/month or $180/year), and Team ($48/month or $420/year). Ticketing with QR code check-in is a Team-only feature, so event organisers who want proper ticketing need the $420/year plan. On all plans, Cheddar Up charges a per-transaction convenience fee: 3.95% + $0.95 on Basic, or 3.59% + $0.59 on Pro and Team. These fees include Stripe payment processing and can be passed to payers or absorbed by the organiser.

Chobble Tickets is a flat £50/year regardless of how many tickets you sell, with no per-ticket platform fees. You pay Stripe's processing fees (1.5% + 20p in the UK) separately.

For the price comparison below, we use the Team plan ($420/year, approx. £335) since that's what's required for ticketing with QR codes.

Interactive cost calculator

Drag the sliders to see how costs compare at different volumes:

Total takings £2,000.00
Chobble Tickets Cheddar Up
Annual fee £50.00 £335.00
Platform fees £0.00 £0.00
Payment processing £0.00 £0.00
Total cost per year £0.00 £0.00
Cost per ticket £0.00 £0.00

Cheddar Up Team plan: $420/year (approx. £335) required for ticketing with QR codes. Convenience fees: 3.59% + $0.59 (approx. 47p) per transaction (includes payment processing via Stripe). Fees can be passed to payers or absorbed by the organiser. Chobble Tickets: £50/year flat + Stripe processing (1.5% + 20p). Source: cheddarup.com/pricing (March 2026).

Feature comparison

Cheddar Up is a general-purpose payment collection platform that added ticketing in 2023. Chobble Tickets is a purpose-built ticketing platform. Both serve community groups but take different approaches, so here's an honest breakdown:

Both platforms share some features:

  • Online ticket sales with payment processing via Stripe
  • QR code scanning for check-in at the door
  • Email confirmations to attendees after booking
  • Capacity management to prevent overselling
  • Free event support with no payment setup required
  • Multiple ticket types per event
  • Custom questions on the registration form
  • CSV data export
  • Waitlists for sold-out events
  • Apple Pay and Google Pay at checkout (via Stripe)

Cheddar Up has features Chobble Tickets doesn't:

  • General-purpose payment collection — collect money for dues, fundraisers, merchandise, group gifts, and more beyond just event tickets
  • In-person point-of-sale — sell tickets, merchandise, and concessions at the door with a Bluetooth card reader ($79) or Tap on Mobile (NFC), with all sales synced to your online dashboard
  • Volunteer check-in via Event Codes — share a code with volunteers so they can scan tickets or take payments using the Cheddar Up mobile app without needing your login credentials
  • eCheck payments (ACH) — accept bank transfers at lower fees (1.59% on Pro, $0.95 flat on Team), giving payers a cheaper alternative to credit cards
  • Sign-up forms and slots — create volunteer sign-up sheets, potluck coordinators, and other form-based collections alongside payment pages
  • Shipping labels — purchase and print USPS shipping labels directly from Cheddar Up for merchandise orders (Pro and Team)
  • Recurring payments — set up automatic recurring charges for tuition, dues, sports fees, or donations (Team only)
  • Group Page — a branded landing page where your community can access all your fundraisers, stores, events, and registrations in one place (Team only)
  • Brand Kit — customise your logo, colours, and footer across every collection page and email (Team only)
  • Account-wide dashboard — view total collected, total payers, top payers, and top collections across all your pages (Team only)
  • Report Centre — filter payments across collections, exclude refunds, and save custom reports (Team only)
  • Unlimited managers — invite volunteers with their own login credentials to create and manage collections without seeing financial details (Team only)
  • Nonprofit features — verified 501(c)(3) groups get a badge and can automatically send tax-deductible receipts with IRS language (Team only)
  • Free-text custom questions — add open-ended questions alongside multiple choice on registration forms (Chobble supports multiple-choice custom questions only)
  • Discount codes — create percentage or fixed-amount discount codes for collections (Pro and Team)
  • Scheduled access — set start and end times for collection pages with a countdown timer (Pro and Team)
  • Visitor reports — collect names and emails of page visitors for follow-up marketing (Pro and Team)
  • Native integrations — connects with Zapier, Google Sheets, Mailchimp, QuickBooks, Xero, HubSpot, WordPress, and more
  • Mobile app — native iOS and Android app for managing collections, scanning tickets, and taking payments

Chobble Tickets has features Cheddar Up doesn't:

  • End-to-end encryption — attendee data is encrypted at rest with hybrid RSA-OAEP + AES-256-GCM, not just stored in a database
  • Open source — every line of code is public under AGPLv3, no proprietary lock-in
  • Self-hosting option — run the platform on your own servers for free, with no licence fee
  • Flat annual pricing — £50/year with no per-ticket fees, no matter how many you sell
  • Apple & Google Wallet tickets — attendees can add tickets to their phone wallet
  • ICS calendar feeds — subscribers get automatic calendar updates
  • RSS feeds — syndicate your events to feed readers
  • Tiered ticket types via groups — create VIP, early bird, and other tiers using event groups with a shared capacity cap (max attendees per group)
  • Pay-what-you-want pricing — let attendees choose their own price
  • Daily/recurring events — per-date capacity with calendar picker and holiday blackouts
  • Webhooks — outbound POST on every registration for custom integrations
  • Public API — authenticated REST API with API keys for reading and editing event and attendee data (Cheddar Up has no API)
  • Embeddable ticket widgets — embed inline ticket sales on your own website (Cheddar Up offers embeddable buttons that link to their hosted page, but not inline checkout)
  • Custom email providers — use Resend, Postmark, SendGrid, or Mailgun so emails come from your domain, not the platform's
  • Customisable email templates — full control over confirmation emails with Liquid syntax for a fully white-label experience
  • Custom domain — get a nice yourname.tix.chobble.net subdomain instantly, or point your own domain — either way, not cheddarup.com
  • No marketing to your attendees — your audience stays yours, with no cross-promotion of competing events
  • Community Interest Company — run by a CIC, not a venture-backed startup

Data ownership

Cheddar Up is a proprietary, closed-source platform. Your event data lives on their servers, and there is no API to programmatically access it. Integrations are limited to what Zapier supports. The platform uses standard security practices and Stripe for payment processing, but does not offer end-to-end encryption of attendee data.

With Chobble Tickets, attendee data is encrypted at rest and stays under your control. The entire platform is open source, so you can self-host it and never depend on a third party. A full REST API and webhooks give you programmatic access to all your data.

When Cheddar Up might be the better choice

  • You need a general-purpose payment collection platform, not just event ticketing
  • You want in-person point-of-sale with a card reader for door sales and merchandise
  • You're a US-based PTA, sports team, or nonprofit that collects dues, fundraiser money, and event payments in one place
  • You want eCheck/ACH payments for lower transaction fees
  • You need recurring payment collection for tuition or membership dues
  • You want volunteer sign-up forms alongside your event pages
  • You need a native mobile app for on-site management

When Chobble Tickets is the better choice

  • You primarily need event ticketing rather than general payment collection
  • You want predictable, flat-rate pricing with no per-ticket fees
  • Privacy and encryption matter to you
  • You don't want a platform marketing to your attendees
  • You're a community group, charity, or school (£25/year)
  • You want Apple/Google Wallet, calendar feeds, or a public API
  • You value open source and the ability to self-host
  • You need an API or webhooks for custom integrations

Who owns Cheddar Up?

Cheddar Up was co-founded by Nichole Montoya and Molly DiCarlo in Denver, Colorado. The idea started in 2012 when Montoya found herself raiding her daughter's piggy bank for $4 for the school's pyjama day. After a year of prototyping and a spot at 500 Startups, Cheddar Up launched in 2013 as a way for groups to collect money online.

The company has raised approximately $2.7 million from investors including 500 Global, Foundry, and Zillionize. It has around 26 employees and remains a privately held company. In 2023, Cheddar Up was selected as one of four finalists in the Visa Everywhere Initiative.

Cheddar Up primarily serves US-based community organisations — PTAs, sports teams, Scout troops, booster clubs, and nonprofits — and has expanded from pure payment collection into event ticketing, forms, and point-of-sale.

Chobble Tickets is run by one person as a Community Interest Company (CIC) — a UK legal structure that locks the company's assets for community benefit. All of Chobble's code is public under AGPLv3, and the platform can be self-hosted by anyone without depending on Chobble as a company.

Pricing sources

The pricing information on this page was verified in March 2026. Fees may change — check the links below for the latest figures.