Short answer. For a free meet-up or a workshop under 100 people, Luma or KonfHub’s free tier is hard to beat. For a paid event in India that needs rupee billing, UPI and a GST invoice, KonfHub is the most India-literate option we found. Sociana is a different tool: it suits a small occasion that still needs a branded app, such as a 150-person partner meet or a wedding with out-of-town guests, and it is not a self-serve ticketing page.
Disclosure. Sociana publishes this guide and is listed once, at position 8 of 8, labelled as our product. We compiled it on 19 Oct 2026 from public vendor pages linked below, without hands-on testing, and nobody paid for a place. Where another product is stronger we say so.
What counts as a small event here
We mean 50 to 300 guests, one to three days, one organiser who also handles tickets, and no procurement team. That covers community meet-ups, workshops, alumni evenings, a college fest, a regional chapter meeting and a family function with an RSVP list. For these, the cost of the tool should be close to zero when the event is free, and a small, predictable fee when it is paid. A platform that asks for a sales call before it shows a price is the wrong shape for this job.
How we chose
- Can a first-time organiser publish a page and take registrations in one sitting?
- What does the tool cost on a free event, and on a paid event of 100 tickets?
- Rupee billing, UPI and GST invoices, because most small organisers in India sell tickets priced in hundreds of rupees.
- Check-in on a phone at the door, without hiring hardware.
- Can you message guests on WhatsApp, or only by email?
- Is there a branded attendee app, or only a ticket page?
We placed Sociana last on purpose. For the self-serve job in the first bullet it is not the pick, and ranking it higher would be a favour to ourselves. Fees are what vendors publish on 19 Oct 2026, not quotes, and figures from aggregator sites are marked unverified.
The ranked list
| Rank | Product | Best for | Pricing as published (19 Oct 2026) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luma | Free community events and recurring meet-ups | Free plan with a 5 percent fee on paid tickets; Plus tier adds API and Zapier access | pricing |
| 2 | KonfHub | Paid events in India that need UPI, GST invoices and check-in tools | Free for free tickets up to 100 registrations; 2% + GST (Lite, UPI only, up to 300); 3.75% + GST (Silver, up to 2,500); 10 rupees per attendee over the cap | pricing |
| 3 | Zoho Backstage | Teams already on Zoho who want a free start and 0 percent commission | Free plan for 100 attendees; Essentials $99, Premium $208 and Ultimate $416 a month billed annually, or from $299 per event | pricing |
| 4 | Explara | Community organisers who want a long-running Indian ticketing platform | Starter $0, Growth $9 a month, Pro $25 a month; 4% of ticket value, plus 1% on Stripe | pricing |
| 5 | Eventbrite | Public ticketed events that need consumer discovery | Free events are free; paid tickets 3.7% + $1.79 plus 2.9% processing; Pro from $15 a month | pricing |
| 6 | Townscript | Workshops, runs and small conferences listed to a BookMyShow-adjacent audience | Commission-based; the pricing page could not be read in our review (unverified) | site |
| 7 | Nunify | Agencies and small teams that want a flat monthly plan | $24, $49 and $99 a month; 15-day trial on the top plan | pricing |
| 8 | Sociana (our product) | A small occasion that still needs a branded app and a team on site | Packages priced by scope, per occasion; see the pricing page | pricing |
Product notes
Luma, position 1
Stronger at: A free plan, a clean event page, calendars that people subscribe to, and guest messages that go out by email, SMS, push and WhatsApp.
Weaker for this job: A 5 percent fee on paid tickets is higher than KonfHub’s published rates; rupee billing and GST invoices were not verified; there is no persistent branded attendee app.
KonfHub, position 2
Stronger at: Rupee and GST pricing with a fee calculator, UPI, weekly settlements, a check-in app and kiosks, and no setup or annual fee. Community roots: AWS Community Days and developer meet-ups.
Weaker for this job: Ticketing comes first. The attendee app is a progressive web app rather than a store listing, and it carries no leaderboard or hospitality publishing.
Zoho Backstage, position 3
Stronger at: Zoho brand trust, a free plan, 0 percent commission ticketing and links to Zoho CRM and Marketing Plus.
Weaker for this job: White-label app only on the top tier, and no hospitality module is listed. Zoho describes WhatsApp event messaging on its site; paid plans start at US$99 a month billed annually (checked 24 Oct 2026).
Explara, position 4
Stronger at: Years in the Indian market, USD tiers from $0, and a large help centre. It also lists stay and travel as an add-on app.
Weaker for this job: App features are not described in detail on its pages, and the 4 percent ticket fee is above KonfHub’s mid tier.
Eventbrite, position 5
Stronger at: Discovery. It has about 89 million monthly users by its own count, a free tier for free events and an organiser app that scans tickets at the door.
Weaker for this job: Fees stack: 3.7% + $1.79 per ticket plus 2.9% processing is steep on a ticket of a few hundred rupees. Rupee billing was not verified. Eventbrite became a private company on 10 Mar 2026.
Townscript, position 6
Stronger at: BookMyShow group distribution, plus an organiser app with check-in and a virtual product called Townhall.
Weaker for this job: Its pricing and product pages are a client-side application, so we could not read fees. There is no attendee engagement app.
Nunify, position 7
Stronger at: Published monthly plans of $24, $49 and $99, with the $99 Engage plan adding an event app, polls, networking and gamification.
Weaker for this job: Billed in dollars, quarterly or annually, with Stripe fees on top.
Sociana (our product), position 8
Stronger at: A branded app on the store, My Stay and journey cards for out-of-town guests, group-scoped content, games, and a team that sets it up and is present on the day. References: the NAMI strategy meet in Lonavala and a sales conference with room numbers on the home screen.
Weaker for this job: Not self-serve and not a ticket marketplace. There is no free tier; you pay for configuration and support, and a ticket page alone is cheaper elsewhere.
Which to pick, by situation
| If your situation is | Consider |
|---|---|
| A free meet-up or a workshop under 100 people | Luma or KonfHub Freemium |
| Paid tickets in hundreds of rupees, UPI and GST invoices | KonfHub |
| You already use Zoho CRM and want 0 percent commission | Zoho Backstage |
| You want strangers to find the event | Eventbrite or Townscript |
| A small agency running many client events on a flat fee | Nunify |
| 150 partners or wedding guests, travel and rooming, one branded app | Sociana |
Four costs small organisers forget
Payment gateway fees. A platform fee of 2 percent can become 4 to 5 percent once the gateway and GST are added. KonfHub’s Silver tier folds the gateway into 3.75% + GST; Explara and Eventbrite list processing separately.
Message costs. KonfHub charges 1 rupee per WhatsApp or SMS message. Ten reminders to 200 guests is 2,000 messages, so decide how many you need.
Attendee overage. KonfHub lists 10 rupees per attendee above a tier cap, and Eventify, a larger rival, lists $1.25 to $1.75 by tier. Free tiers stop at 100 registrations on KonfHub and 100 attendees on Zoho Backstage.
The day itself. A ticket page does not tell a guest where to stand at 9 am. If you have out-of-town guests, a venue map, a pickup time and a room number matter more than the checkout.
Where Sociana is not the right pick
Sociana is not the right pick for a free meet-up, a one-evening ticketed talk or any event where the whole job is selling tickets. It is also not a place where strangers discover your event. Use Luma, KonfHub or Eventbrite and keep the spend near zero.
FAQ
What is the cheapest way to run a free event in India?
Use a free tier. Luma’s plan is free, KonfHub is free for free tickets up to 100 registrations, and Zoho Backstage’s free plan covers 100 attendees and 3 sessions. Past those limits you pay per attendee or move to a paid tier, so count your guest list first.
Do small events need an event app?
Usually not. A ticket page, a WhatsApp group and a printed schedule cover most 50-person events. An app starts to earn its place when guests travel, when there are parallel sessions or when sponsors want proof of footfall.
Which tool takes UPI and gives a GST invoice?
KonfHub publishes UPI, GST at ticket level and tax invoices. Zoho Backstage supports a rupee currency view, but we could not confirm GST invoicing from public pages. Check any tool you pick with a test ticket.
Can I move from a ticketing tool to an app later?
Yes. Export your registrations as a CSV from the ticketing tool, then ask your app provider to load them as members with a group each. Guests then log in with an SMS or email OTP (WhatsApp OTP where enabled), so nobody has to remember a password.
Keep comparing
- Neutral comparisons: Eventbrite vs Explara · Eventbrite vs KonfHub · Eventbrite vs Luma · KonfHub vs Townscript
- KonfHub: KonfHub alternatives
- Townscript: Townscript alternatives
- Eventbrite: Eventbrite alternatives
- Zoho Backstage: Zoho Backstage alternatives
- Wider list: Best event apps in India
- How Sociana is priced: pricing
Sources and disclosure
- Luma: luma.com
- KonfHub: konfhub.com
- Zoho Backstage: zoho.com
- Explara: explara.com
- Eventbrite: eventbrite.com
- Townscript: townscript.com
- Nunify: nunify.com
- Sociana (our product): Sociana pricing
Vendor and product names are trademarks of their owners. Sociana is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any product named here, and names are used only to identify them. Found a mistake? Report a correction or email hello@sociana.in and we will correct the page within five working days. Pricing and feature statements were checked on 19 Oct 2026 and should be re-checked before you buy.