What do you pay on Ludus, and what do you pay on Places?

Places is $1 a reserved seat. Ludus publishes 5% + $0.75 per card ticket, processing included, as of 21 Aug 2026. The calculator on this page uses that formula and starts at a typical ticket price.

Ludus is a box office. We needed the four months before the door, and a parent at a folding table who should not also be IT.

What does Ludus publish for card fees?

Their pricing page, as of 21 Aug 2026, lists 5% + $0.75 per ticket with processing included, and shows a $10 ticket becoming $11.25 to the patron while the organization keeps $10.

Compare

Places vs Ludus

Ludus already has a box office. We needed the show before the door. Places is $1 a reserved seat.

What you pay per ticket

Places is $1. We made it that simple. The slider starts at the industry-average ticket price.

Ticket price, $25.00

$5.00$75.00

Starts at $25.00, the industry-average community-theatre ticket this comparison uses.

Places

$1.00

Always $1

Ludus

$2.00

5% + $0.75, processing included

We needed tools for our own house. Ludus already sells the tickets. Concord Theatricals lists them next to BookTix (as of 19 Aug 2026). That is a real box office, built in a theatre.

It still was not what we needed at 6:30, when the will-call list from lunch was already wrong.

What Ludus is

Ludus does seasons and flex packages. Donations. CRM. A fee a board can read in one line. Their pricing page (as of 21 Aug 2026) says 5% + $0.75 per card ticket, processing included. A $10 ticket becomes $11.25 to the patron. The organization keeps $10. Cash, comps, and $0 tickets are $0. Classes or marketing add $0.05 per ticket on their page.

If all you need is that box office, they already built it.

Why it didn’t work for us

We were not looking for a better ticket page. We were looking for the four months before the door: auditions, costume measurements, a rehearsal calendar that moves on Tuesday, and a parent at a folding table who should not also be IT.

Ludus sells the door, and the door is the easy half. The hard half is the four months in front of it. A percentage of every ticket is a clean number a board can read, and it still grows every time you raise the price of a Saturday, for the same work.

We thought there was a simpler shape. Tools that cost nothing until a seat sells, then a flat dollar. One place for the people who make the show, not just the people who buy it.

What we made instead

Places is for houses like ours. Theatre parents. Crew. The volunteer who got handed a laptop. We are building the production first, then the door, because that is the order the work happens in.

Door night should not become a personal laptop and a spreadsheet (volunteer box office). The week-of storefront should not strand the house when the ticket page dies (ticket page guide). Comps stay $0. General admission is free for small events for a limited time.

	Ludus	Places
The job they do	Community-theatre box office	The production, then the door
When you pay	5% + $0.75 on a card ticket	$1 on a reserved seat
Seasons, donations, CRM	That is their strength	Not why we built this

If a box office is all your house needs, theirs is a good one. Use it. If you are the parent who painted the flat on Saturday and then rebuilt will-call by hand on Friday, that is the person we are building this for.

Frequently asked questions

What do you pay on Ludus, and what do you pay on Places?: Places is $1 a reserved seat. Ludus publishes 5% + $0.75 per card ticket, processing included, as of 21 Aug 2026. The calculator on this page uses that formula and starts at a typical ticket price.
Why not Ludus?: Ludus is a box office. We needed the four months before the door, and a parent at a folding table who should not also be IT.
What does Ludus publish for card fees?: Their pricing page, as of 21 Aug 2026, lists 5% + $0.75 per ticket with processing included, and shows a $10 ticket becoming $11.25 to the patron while the organization keeps $10.