CrabGate
Set prices and put your night on sale
We add no booking fee at checkout. A $20 ticket costs $20. Buyers pay by card and get their tickets by email, with no account and no password.
Put your nights on sale. Keep the door moving.
For comedy rooms, fringe studios, and listening rooms.
Create each night, set ticket prices and capacity, and share your hosted shop link. Manage attendees, email buyers with event updates, and scan tickets at the door. $99 USD a year, plus Stripe’s card fee; we never take a cut.
A free 45-minute setup call with Paul, until 20 December. No card to sign up. You pay when your event goes on sale, and you have 30 days to change your mind. Prefer no call? Sign up and set it up yourself.
Run your room from sale to check-in
Manage attendees and email buyers
Review your attendee roster and issue complimentary tickets. Preview an event update and its recipient count before sending it to eligible buyers. Buyers forward it to their guests.
The door runs on a phone
Check people in from any phone's browser, with nothing to install. Scan the ticket, or find the name. Hand a helper a Door Link for the night, and it stops working when the night ends.
Export the night’s records
Your shop shows your nights and nobody else's. Download your orders, tickets, and check-ins before live hosted data is deleted, 90 days after your subscription lapses.
Product demo: the ticket shop and check-in
Actual CrabGate screens with fictitious event and attendee data. These examples are not customer endorsements.
The fee on every ticket adds up fast
Take a room with 150 seats and a night a week, 40 weeks a year. That's 6,000 tickets.
At Ticket Tailor's published pay-as-you-go rate, that's about $5,100 a year. At Eventbrite's published US service fee on a $20 ticket, it's about $15,200.
Either that comes out of your takings, or your regulars pay it at checkout, every night, on top of the ticket. Over five years, that's between $25,500 and $75,900 leaving the same room.
And the fee isn't buying you an audience. You built the list. You fill the room.
With CrabGate, that line is $99 a year. A full room costs you the same as a quiet one, and every sold-out night is yours to keep.
These are estimates for an example room. The rates and sources are further down.
The offer: I'll get your next event on sale with you, free
I'm Paul Bădărău, and I build CrabGate. Until 20 December, I'm setting up every new shop myself. Pick your next real event, and we'll get it on sale together in one 45-minute call.
The call is free. You pay $99 for the year when you put the event on sale. If you don't, you owe nothing.
This offer closes on 20 December. That's 45 days from today. After that, you set up your shop on your own.
And if it doesn't work out? If your first event on CrabGate doesn't go well, email me within 30 days of paying and I'll refund the $99. No form, no argument.
By the end of the call, you'll have
- Your shop, at an address you choose.
- Your Stripe account connected, so ticket money goes straight to you.
- Your next event built, with its ticket types and prices.
- A test order in your inbox, so you've seen what your buyers get.
- A Door Link for whoever checks people in.
Set up your next event
It takes a minute and no card. I get an email the moment you sign up, and I reply within one working day. Your other events stay right where they are.
Running events for a charity, nonprofit, or community organisation? CrabGate is free for you. Email hello@crabgate.com to get access.
More about me: LinkedIn, GitHub, badarau.net, AL+, my agency.
$99 a year against Ticket Tailor and Eventbrite
The same example room: 6,000 tickets a year at $20. These are the US dollar fees each company published on 2026-10-14.
Ticket Tailor, pay-as-you-go
$0.85 a ticket
Estimate: about $5,100 a year for this room, before any tax.
Source: tickettailor.com/pricing, US dollar prices, read 2026-10-14.
Ticket Tailor, prepaid credits
From $0.30 a ticket
Estimate: from about $1,800 a year for this room, before any tax. The lowest rate is for the largest credit packs.
Source: tickettailor.com/pricing, US dollar prices, read 2026-10-14.
Eventbrite, United States
3.7% + $1.79 a paid ticket
Estimate: $2.53 on a $20 ticket, about $15,200 a year for this room. Eventbrite's 2.9% payment processing comes on top and is not counted here.
Source: Eventbrite help, read 2026-10-14.
CrabGate: $99 a year, plus Stripe's card fee. Unlimited events and tickets, with no CrabGate transaction fee.
If your buyers pay the booking fee today, they stop paying it.
Ticket Tailor's fee also comes on top of your card processor's fee.
What's coming next
On our list
- A seating map. You can sell numbered seats from a list today. A map of the room that buyers pick from comes next.
- Your own domain, logo, and colours. Your shop lives at yourname.crabgate.com today.
- A one-click payment connection. Today we connect your account together on the setup call.
Need Gift Aid, phone sales, or a marketplace that finds you an audience? That isn't us.
Need something that isn't here? Tell us at hello@crabgate.com. It shapes what we build next.
Questions from room owners
- Do I have to move every event at once?
- No. Put your next night on CrabGate and leave the rest where they are. Move the others when you're ready.
- What does it cost besides $99?
- Only your card processor's fee. Today that's Stripe, and we add nothing to it.
- Do I need my own Stripe account?
- Yes, to sell paid tickets. You connect your own Stripe account during setup. Ticket money goes to that account; CrabGate never holds it. Your CrabGate subscription is a separate yearly payment. See our price and payment terms.
- Can my shop be on my own web address?
- Not yet. Your shop lives at yourname.crabgate.com, and you link to it from your own site. Your own domain is on our list. If it matters to you, tell us.
- Can I sell numbered seats?
- Yes. Enter a section, a row, and the seat labels, and buyers pick their seats from the list. A map of the room is on our list.
- What if it isn't for me?
- The setup call is free, and you pay only when your event goes on sale. If that first event doesn't go well, email Paul within 30 days of paying and he'll refund the $99.
- What if my payment to CrabGate fails?
- Your shop keeps working for a 14-day grace period, so you have time to sort it out. If payment is not restored, your subscription lapses and ticket sales stop. Export your data before we delete your live hosted data, 90 days after your subscription lapses. While we retain your data, you can check in eligible tickets before the event ends.
Planning your next event? Read our small-event ticket launch guide.
Run a conference? Read CrabGate for independent conferences. Run the same workshop again and again? Read CrabGate for repeating workshops. The price is on the pricing page.
Your next night could be on sale this week.
A free 45-minute setup call with Paul, until 20 December. No card to sign up. You pay when your event goes on sale, and you have 30 days to change your mind. Prefer no call? Sign up and set it up yourself.