Chobble Tickets vs Pretix

Two open source projects, two approaches

Pretix and Chobble Tickets are both open source event ticketing platforms, but they target very different audiences. Pretix is built for large conferences, exhibitions, and enterprise customers, with a feature set to match. Chobble Tickets is built for smaller organisers who want something simple, affordable, and transparent.

Both sites share some features:

• Open source under AGPLv3
• Self-hosting option with no licence fee for core features
• Stripe payment processing
• Apple Pay and Google Pay at checkout (via Stripe)
• QR code scanning for check-in at the door
• API access for custom integrations
• Capacity management to prevent overselling
• Email confirmations to attendees after booking
• Free event support with no payment setup required
• Daily and recurring event support
• Refund processing
• Custom domain support
• Webhooks for custom integrations

The differences are in pricing, complexity, and who they're designed for.

Hosted pricing comparison

Pretix Hosted charges 2.5% of each ticket's price (excl. taxes), with no monthly or annual fee. That's great if you're selling a handful of tickets, but costs rise quickly at volume.

Chobble Tickets charges a flat £50/year regardless of how many tickets you sell or what you charge for them. No percentage cut, no per-ticket fees.

Interactive cost calculator

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

Self-hosted pricing comparison

Both platforms can be self-hosted, but the licensing models differ.

Chobble Tickets is fully open source with no license fee — you get every feature for free when you self-host. There's no "community vs enterprise" split. And because Chobble compiles to a single JavaScript file that runs on Bunny.net edge scripts with a Bunny.net edge database, there's no server to manage, no scaling to configure, and no database replication to maintain — it's all built into the Bunny platform.

Pretix offers a free Community edition, but its proprietary plugins (seating, lead scanning, POS, resellers, and more) require a Pretix Enterprise license starting at €499/year (approx. £420). The full-featured Enterprise Professional tier is €750/year, and Ultimate is €950/year. Self-hosting Pretix also means running a traditional server with Python, PostgreSQL, Redis, and a reverse proxy — infrastructure you need to manage, update, and keep online yourself.

Self-hosted cost calculator

Compare self-hosting costs — Chobble Tickets has no license fee:

When Pretix might be the better choice

Pretix is a mature, feature-rich platform with years of development behind it. Their features are documented across their shop, marketing, payment, check-in, and admin pages. Here's what Pretix offers that Chobble Tickets doesn't:

• Interactive seating plans — a graphical venue editor for custom layouts with seat-to-pricing mapping and seat blocking (enterprise plugin)
• Point of sale (pretixPOS) — an Android tablet-based cash register for on-the-door sales that syncs with the online shop in real time (enterprise plugin)
• Dedicated scanning apps — pretixSCAN for Android, iOS, Windows, and Linux with offline mode and multi-device sync, plus automatic badge printing after scan
• 15+ languages — full multi-language support so attendees see the checkout in their preferred language (German, English, Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, Turkish, and more)
• 30+ payment methods — Stripe, PayPal, Mollie, Adyen, Apple Pay, Google Pay, WeChat Pay, Alipay, Klarna, SEPA, Bitcoin (BitPay), bank transfer, and many regional methods
• Voucher and promo codes — percentage and fixed-amount discounts, time-limited, single or multi-use, tied to specific products, with seat reservation and exclusive product access
• Automatic invoicing — EU reverse charge support, ZUGFeRD invoices, and Peppol e-invoicing for B2B compliance
• Waitlists — automatic notifications when places open up, with manual and auto-assignment modes
• Product variations and add-ons — per-product variations (sizes, options) with add-on packages and bundled products (Chobble supports tiered ticket types via event groups with shared capacity, but not per-product variations or add-ons)
• Customer accounts and memberships — returning customer discounts, membership models, and member-only products
• Badge and name tag printing — auto-generate and print attendee badges at check-in using custom designs (enterprise plugin)
• Certificates of attendance — auto-generated certificates for checked-in attendees
• Lead scanning (pretixLEAD) — app for exhibitors to scan attendee badges and capture lead data (enterprise plugin)
• Exhibitor management — dedicated plugin for managing exhibitors at trade fairs and conferences
• Reseller network — offline ticket outlets with settlement/invoicing tools
• Campaign and affiliate tracking — built-in analytics with Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel integration
• Newsletter integration — MailChimp and Newsletter2Go connectors
• Zapier integration — connect to 5,000+ apps
• Advanced checkout questions — free-text, file uploads, and statistical overview per ticket type (Chobble supports multiple-choice custom questions)
• Check-in lists with permissions — multiple independent check-in lists per gate or area with custom fields at scan
• Digital content delivery — attach downloadable content to tickets
• Shipping — physical product delivery management
• Virtual event support — Venueless integration for hybrid and virtual events
• 160+ plugins — a plugin marketplace with 160+ official and third-party plugins extending every aspect of the platform
• Multi-event organisers — manage multiple events under one organisation with shared settings and branding
• Tax management — configure VAT rates per product and country

Note: many of Pretix's advanced features (seating, POS, lead scanning, badges, resellers, and others) are only available with a Pretix Enterprise licence starting at €499/year. The free Community edition includes core ticketing but lacks these plugins.

When Chobble Tickets is the better choice

If you're a smaller organiser — running community events, school fairs, local gigs, charity fundraisers — Chobble Tickets is simpler and cheaper. There's no percentage fee eating into your revenue, no complex plugin licensing to navigate, and no enterprise sales process.

The flat £50/year hosted plan means your costs are predictable. And if you self-host, it's completely free — no license tiers, no feature gates, no catches.

Feature comparison at a glance

Who builds Pretix?

Pretix was created by Raphael Michel, who started writing it in 2014 while working as a freelance developer in Heidelberg, Germany. The company behind it — pretix GmbH (formerly rami.io GmbH, renamed in 2025) — is owner-led with no external investors. Their website states the company has "grown organically through customers without any pressure by investors or creditors." The team has grown to approximately 28 people.

Pretix received a German federal government grant through the Prototype Fund (funded by the BMBF) in 2017–2018, but has no recorded private venture capital.

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 with no enterprise tier or feature gates, 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.

• Pretix hosted pricing — 2.5% of ticket price (excl. taxes)
• Pretix self-hosted/enterprise pricing — from €499/year (Enterprise Starter)
• Pretix on GitHub
• Pretix features — shop — ticketing and shop features
• Pretix features — check-in — scanning and on-site tools
• Pretix plugin marketplace — 160+ official and third-party plugins
• Chobble Tickets features
• Pretix company page — team and company information