Different Models
Skiddle is primarily a ticket marketplace and discovery platform — fans browse Skiddle to find events. This can drive sales through discovery but comes with booking fees charged to the buyer.
Tickts is an organiser-focused platform where you sell directly to your audience with zero fees. You do not get marketplace discovery, but you keep full control and all the revenue.
Fees
Skiddle charges booking fees to the ticket buyer, typically around 10% plus a fixed fee. This means a £10 ticket might cost the fan £11.50 or more. On Tickts, a £10 ticket costs £10.
Best For
If you are a nightclub or music venue wanting exposure on a discovery platform, Skiddle makes sense. If you are a sports club or community organisation selling to an established audience, Tickts gives your fans a better deal.
What Is Skiddle?
Skiddle is a UK-based ticketing and events discovery platform founded in 2001. They have a strong presence in the nightlife, music, and festival sectors, acting as both a ticketing tool and a promotional marketplace. Skiddle typically charges around 10% of the face value per ticket, making them one of the more expensive platforms in the UK market.
Cost Comparison
Skiddle takes approximately 10% of each ticket price. For a £20 festival ticket, that is £2.00 gone to the platform. Over a 500-ticket event, you would lose £1,000 to Skiddle fees alone. Add payment processing on top, and the total cost can exceed 13% of your revenue.
Tickts charges zero platform fees. For that same £20 ticket, you pay just 50p in Stripe processing (1.5% + 20p). Over 500 tickets, your total cost is £250 versus £1,000+ with Skiddle — saving you £750 or more per event.
Discovery vs Direct Sales
Skiddle strongest selling point is their marketplace. With millions of monthly visitors browsing events by location and genre, listing on Skiddle gives you exposure to people actively looking for things to do. Their editorial team curates featured events, and their app pushes notifications to fans in your area.
This discovery comes at a price — literally. That 10% fee is essentially a marketing cost. If Skiddle is genuinely driving ticket sales that you would not have made otherwise, it can be worth it.
Tickts takes a different approach. Your event pages are optimised for search engines, so fans searching Google for events in your area can find you directly. You promote through your own channels — social media, email, word of mouth — and keep all the revenue.
Feature Comparison
- Event Types: Skiddle is strongest for nightlife, music, and festivals. Tickts covers sports, music, comedy, theatre, and community events equally well.
- Promoter Network: Skiddle has a network of promoters who cross-sell events. Tickts organisers manage their own promotion.
- Payment Plans: Skiddle offers payment plans for festivals. Tickts offers payment plans for any event type.
- Season Passes: Skiddle does not support season passes. Tickts has full season pass functionality for sports clubs.
- Analytics: Both offer sales dashboards. Skiddle includes demographic data from their marketplace audience.
When to Choose Skiddle
Skiddle works well for one-off music events and festivals where the 10% fee is offset by genuine discovery — bringing in ticket buyers you would not reach through your own marketing. If your event targets the nightlife crowd and you want exposure on a platform they already browse, Skiddle can deliver.
When to Choose Tickts
Choose Tickts when you have your own audience or are building one. Grassroots sports clubs, community venues, and independent promoters who market through their own channels will save significantly on fees. For recurring events — weekly fixtures, monthly comedy nights, regular gig series — the savings compound over time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I list on both Skiddle and Tickts?
Technically yes, but you would need to manage inventory carefully to avoid overselling. Most organisers choose one primary platform and promote through their own channels.
Does Skiddle charge fans too?
Skiddle typically adds a booking fee on top of the ticket price that fans pay. Tickts has zero fees for fans when organisers absorb the Stripe processing cost, or a small transparent fee when using pass-on mode.
Which platform is better for a weekly club night?
For recurring events, Tickts wins on cost. Paying 10% per ticket every week to Skiddle adds up quickly. With Tickts, your only cost is payment processing, and you can promote through your own social media and mailing list.
Curious how tickts compares? See our side-by-side comparison of tickts vs Skiddle: fees, payouts, and features for UK organisers.