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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Event Espresso

    Score9.9 out of 10
    N/AEvent Espresso headquartered in Utah offers an event registration and management platform supplying automated help for ticketing and ticket purchases, registration forms and pricing, promotions and correspondences (e.g. email), multiple attendee registration, and other features.

    $79.95

    per year

    Planning Center

    Score9.1 out of 10
    N/APlanning Center in Carlsbad offers modular church management applications, providing CRM, tithe management, event registration and attendance, and volunteer resource scheduling.

    $14

    per month

    Pricing
    Event EspressoPlanning Center
    Editions & Modules
    Personal Support License
    $79.95
    per year
    Everything Support License
    $299.95
    per year
    Calendar
    14+
    per month
    Check-ins
    14+
    per month
    Giving
    14+
    per month
    Groups
    14+
    per month
    Registration
    14+
    per month
    Services
    14+
    per month
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Event EspressoPlanning Center
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details—Prices increase based on the number of members and attendees.
    More Pricing Information
    Best Alternatives
    Event EspressoPlanning Center
    Small Businesses
    SignUpGenius
    Score7 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    CheckPoint
    Score8.5 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprises
    CheckPoint
    Score8.5 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Event EspressoPlanning Center
    Likelihood to Recommend
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    10.0
    (3 ratings)
    Support Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Event EspressoPlanning Center
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Event Espresso
    As far as I have found, Event Espresso has no peer. Yes, there are other WordPress plugins that provide for event registration, including a few available through Code Canyon, but none of them promise the rich feature set and robust support of Event Espresso. It seems to be the only real game in town, but luckily it's a good product. It's highly extensible, so it should scale well to any size or type of event. Through add-ons, it's doubtful there is an event scenario it can't handle. And because it runs on WordPress, you can incorporate it as part of your site--the plugin even does a good job of picking up design cues from your theme, or you can customize it using CSS.
    Incentivized
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    Planning Center
    Planning Center is incredibly helpful if you are in the business of putting on events, performances, or productions. In such situations, Planning Center will help you coordinate with a large group of people, clearly showing who is expected to do what during the order of a service. If you are planning a major event (a wedding service, a major birthday party, a work event, or any kind of production), Planning Center will foster both teamwork and clarity. The only scenario I can envision Planning Center not being helpful would be a more laissez-faire type of event, (like a "come and go" reception).
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Event Espresso
    • Instead of sending traffic to a third party, Event Espresso allows us to integrate our registration straight into our website.
    • Easy to set up, dependable platform, and a variety of payment channel alternatives.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Planning Center
    • Volunteer Management
    • Scheduling
    • File Hosting
    • Communication tools
    • Automated reminders
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Event Espresso
    • Integrating account creation with WordPress should be included in the core product, not an add-on. It's extremely frustrating to have to pay extra for that, especially when that add-on is not as flexible as it needs to be (for example, if someone is enrolling for a class on behalf of someone else).
    • The data visualization is a mess. That feature doesn't seem to ever work and it should be left out until it does.
    • The ability to show participant data on the front end is extremely limited. Event Espresso does provide a few hooks and some limited documentation on this feature, but I feel it should be more robust. Perhaps that can be a focus of future releases.
    Incentivized
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    Planning Center
    • Adding files to an item on a playlist can be hard to find outside of that set.
    • Previewing songs on import gives very limited info - can be hard to find the correct one.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Event Espresso
    No answers on this topic
    Planning Center
    Planning Center is very user friendly on both the front and back ends.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Event Espresso
    No answers on this topic
    Planning Center
    I've not needed to use Planning Center support. In the few instances that I would have thought would "require support," tips and notices popped up on screen letting me know what was happening. There are very VERY few issues that I've found with Planning Center. The interface has been intuitive and powerful, so I've not needed to use their support service.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Event Espresso
    I looked at EventBrite, but it wasn't customizable enough for our needs and didn't provide the level of integration with our website that I desired. I also looked at the ticketing system offered by The Events Calendar for WordPress (by Modern Tribe), but it too lacked the feature set we needed. Only Event Espresso offered all the features, customization, and integration we desired and needed.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Planning Center
    At one point, I was presented with both Asana and Trello as helpful tools to facilitate teamwork and collaboration amongst a large group of people. However, when it comes to putting on productions/services/events, Planning Center just seemed to have everything we need. I have never really once given thought to moving on from Planning Center. I'm sure Asana and Trello have much to offer, and I did briefly consider the, but Planning Center (for what we needed) was a grand-slam, home run.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Event Espresso
    • Event Espresso has literally changed the lives of our volunteer organization, saving hundreds of hours of time and eliminating the frustration of paper enrollment.
    • The add-ons allow you to accomplish just about any event registration goals you might have. It's an extremely powerful product.
    • Integrating the plugin into our website was a breeze, and it's approachable enough where volunteers can create the classes and conduct the online enrollment all in a web browser.
    Incentivized
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    Planning Center
    • Planning Center Services has become an irreplaceable part of our Sunday gathering preparation
    • Planning Center Music Stand is an invaluable tool for rehearsal and performance of songs each week
    • Planning Center Giving helped us establish easy ways for folks to give online during COVID and beyond
    • Planning Center Registrations helped us navigate attendance issues during COVID, and has always been our go-to for gathering information for Events
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots