Free Event Ticketing for Small Events (With QR Check-In)

Last updated: July 2026

Yes, free event ticketing exists for small events. You can publish a $0 event page, issue unique QR tickets, and check guests in single-use from your phone — no credits spent — as long as the event stays inside the free tier: free invites only, up to 100 guests, and a free account to run it. Larger or paid events move to a small flat per-event fee.

That is the honest shape of it. The door tools most organizers actually need — a public event page, QR tickets, and check-in that stops the same code getting scanned twice — are free for a genuinely small gathering. This guide covers what the free tier includes, where its limits sit, and how to publish one in minutes.

Is event ticketing really free for a small event?

Yes, for a small, free-entry event it costs nothing to publish. You create a free account, build the event, issue QR tickets, and publish for $0 — no credits, no card, no per-ticket cut. The flat-fee Event Tickets tool treats a small free event as its own tier so that hosting a community meetup, a workshop trial, or a birthday party never means paying a marketplace for the privilege.

The reason free ticketing is possible here is the same reason paid events stay cheap: the tool never processes your guests' payments. It issues each ticket as an unguessable QR code and validates that QR at the door. There is no money flowing through it to skim, so a free event genuinely costs the platform almost nothing to host — and it passes that on.

Free does not mean stripped down at the door, either. A free RSVP with check-in here includes the real single-use guarantee: the first scan admits your guest and marks the ticket used, and any repeat of that QR — a forwarded screenshot, a photo of a printout — shows up as already checked in. That is the part that matters, and it is not held back for paying events.

What are the limits of the free tier?

The free tier is scoped so it covers a real small event without becoming a loophole for large ones. Here is exactly where the lines are:

• A free account is required. You sign in to build and manage the event — this is not an anonymous, no-login tool. Your guests still need nothing (more on that below); the account is only for you, the organizer.
• Free entry only. A free event issues free tickets — there is no paid ticket tier on the free plan. You can still collect money your own way (cash at the door, an invoice), but the tool itself sells nothing.
• Up to 100 guests. Capacity on a free event is capped at 100 tickets. That comfortably covers most parties, classes, and community nights.
• Up to 3 live free events at once. You can have three free events published and live on your account concurrently. Finish or unpublish one and you free a slot for the next.
• A shorter hosting window. A free event's public page and tickets stay live for 3 months, rather than the full year a paid event gets. Long enough for a one-off; short enough that free events don't pile up forever.

Everything else — the QR tickets, the phone check-in, the single-use rule, the live attendance count, the shareable staff scan link — works the same on a free event as on a paid one. The free tier limits scale (size, paid sales, how many run at once, how long they linger), not the quality of the door experience.

How to set up free event ticketing, step by step

Publishing a free small event takes a few minutes:

1. Create your free account and build the event. Add the title, date, venue, and capacity (keep it at 100 or under for the free tier). Building and setting up the event is free regardless of plan.
2. Issue your QR tickets. Generate free tickets in bulk or add named guests. Each one gets its own unguessable code and QR — download them, print them, or share each as a link.
3. Publish for $0. With a free-entry event inside the 100-guest cap, publish without spending any credits. Your public event page goes live and every ticket becomes valid at the door.
4. Share the tickets. Send each guest their QR as an image, a printout, or a link. There is nothing for them to install — see how to sell tickets without an app for why that matters.
5. Scan them in. At the door, open the check-in screen — or hand a share link to a friend helping out — and scan each QR. Green admits, a used ticket is caught instantly, and your headcount updates live.

Do guests need an app or account for a free ticket?

No. The free-account requirement applies only to you, the organizer. Your guests receive a ticket with a QR code as an image, a printout, or a link, show it at the door, and you scan it. There is nothing for them to download and no account for them to create — the same friction-free experience a paid event gives.

Check-in runs right in your phone's browser camera, so you don't need a scanner app or extra hardware either. Point the camera at the QR and it validates instantly with a green pass or red fail and a beep. On any device without camera scanning, typing or pasting the ticket code runs the exact same single-use check, so it works everywhere.

Because the QR is single-use, a free QR ticket is just as tamper-resistant as a paid one. If someone forwards their ticket to three friends, the first scan wins and the rest are turned away as already used. You can go deeper on that in how to prevent duplicate or fake tickets.

What if my event grows past the free limits?

If your event outgrows the free tier — more than 100 guests, a paid ticket tier, or you want the full one-year hosting window — you move it to a flat per-event fee. You pay one fixed price to publish, tiered by capacity, from about $5 for a small event up to roughly $50 for a large or unlimited one. There is still no per-ticket cut and no subscription; the tool never holds your money, so you keep 100% of whatever you charge guests.

That upgrade is the natural path for anything with real volume or real ticket prices. A paid event unlocks capacity above 100, paid ticket tiers like General and VIP, and the year-long hosting window — without changing anything about how check-in works. If you are selling seats to a class, the walkthrough in how to sell tickets for a workshop or class covers the paid flow end to end.

The point of the free tier is to let a small, no-cost event stay no-cost — and to let you try the whole thing, door scanning included, before a single event ever costs you anything.

Free tier vs paid event: what changes

Here is how a free small event compares to a paid one on the same tool:

Capability	Free event	Paid event (flat fee)
Price to publish	$0	One flat fee, from ~$5
Capacity	Up to 100 guests	Up to unlimited (by tier)
Paid ticket tiers (VIP, etc.)	No — free entry only	Yes
Live events at once	Up to 3 concurrently	No cap
Hosting window	3 months	1 full year
Single-use QR check-in	Yes	Yes
Guests need an app/account	No	No
Platform takes a cut of sales	No	No

The door experience is identical across both columns. What you pay for on the paid tier is scale — bigger events, paid sales, more of them, kept live longer — not a better check-in.

Frequently asked questions

Is event ticketing really free?

Yes, for a small free-entry event. You publish a $0 event page, issue QR tickets, and check guests in from your phone without spending any credits. You do need a free organizer account, and the free tier caps the event at 100 guests with free entry only. Larger or paid events use a small flat per-event fee instead.

What are the limits of the free tier?

A free event is capped at 100 guests, offers free entry only (no paid ticket tiers), allows up to 3 live free events on your account at once, and keeps the public page and tickets live for 3 months rather than a year. Every check-in feature — single-use QR validation, phone scanning, live attendance — is included with no limits.

Do guests need an app or account for a free event?

No. Only you, the organizer, need a free account. Guests receive a QR ticket as an image, a printout, or a link, show it at the door, and you scan it. There is nothing for them to install and no account for them to create — the same as a paid event.

What if my event grows past the free limits?

Move it to a flat per-event fee — one fixed price to publish, from about $5, tiered by capacity. That unlocks more than 100 guests, paid ticket tiers, and the full one-year hosting window, all without changing how check-in works and without any per-ticket cut of your sales.

The bottom line

For a small gathering, free event ticketing covers everything that matters at the door: a public event page, unique QR tickets, and single-use check-in that stops anyone getting in twice — published for $0, with only a free organizer account required. Stay inside the free tier's 100-guest, free-entry limits and it never costs you a cent; outgrow them and a small flat fee scales it up without ever taking a cut of your sales. When you're ready, start with the flat-fee Event Tickets tool with free QR check-in.