The short answer
A recurring event is the same thing on a pattern: a Tuesday class, a first-Friday comedy night, a Sunday service, a winter social league. Selling it well comes down to three decisions.
- What people buy. A ticket to one session, a subscription that covers every session, or one ticket for a fixed run of dates.
- The rhythm. Weekly, fortnightly, monthly, and how far ahead you put dates on sale.
- How tickets reach people. Regulars should never have to remember to book, and the door should know who is coming.
Get those right and the event mostly runs itself. This guide walks through each decision, then links to a detailed guide for each kind of recurring event.
What counts as a recurring event
Anything that happens again with mostly the same people:
- weekly fitness classes, run clubs and bootcamps
- monthly networking breakfasts, book clubs and comedy nights
- church services, youth groups and kids' programs
- social sport competitions over a season
- workshops that run as a multi-week course, or the same workshop on repeat
- community groups that meet on a schedule
The difference from a one-off event is the relationship. A one-off event sells to strangers once. A recurring event sells to the same people again and again, so the effort goes into making it easy to keep coming, not into a launch.
Three ways to sell a recurring event
1. A ticket to each session
Every session is its own event with its own tickets and its own capacity. People book the dates they want.
It suits drop-in attendance, first-timers, and events where numbers change a lot from week to week. The downside is that regulars have to book every time, and some forget.
2. A subscription to the series
The attendee pays on a cycle, weekly, fortnightly or monthly, and gets a ticket to every session while the subscription runs. This is what people usually mean by recurring ticket sales or recurring payments for events.
It suits regulars, and it smooths your income. The attendee commits a little, without paying for a whole term up front. How recurring ticket sales work covers billing, seats, pausing and cancelling in detail.
3. One ticket for a fixed run of dates
One event with several dates, and one ticket that covers all of them. A six-week course or a four-round competition fits here: one price, one booking, and the same QR code each week.
It suits anything with a clear start and end where people come for the whole run.
| A ticket each session | A subscription | One ticket for a fixed run | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paid | Per session | Each week, fortnight or month | Once |
| Covers | One date | Every session while it runs | Every date of that event |
| Best for | Drop-ins and first-timers | Regulars, open-ended series | Courses, short seasons |
| Ends | After the session | When the attendee cancels | After the last date |
Most recurring events use two of these together: single tickets beside a subscription, so a regular subscribes and a friend comes once.
Choosing the rhythm
Match the pattern to how people plan their lives:
- Weekly suits classes, clubs and training nights. It builds habit fastest.
- Fortnightly suits groups that need a little breathing room, and lines up with how many Australians are paid.
- Monthly suits breakfasts, socials, comedy nights and anything that takes real effort to put on. People diarise it as “the first Friday”.
Then decide how far ahead to sell. Putting every date on sale for the year can look empty and makes changes harder. Selling a few weeks ahead keeps the page fresh, and new dates appear as the weeks pass. How to set up a recurring event goes through patterns, end dates and booking windows.
Pricing a recurring event
Three prices usually do the job:
- a casual price for one session
- a subscription price that works out a little cheaper per session, as a reason to commit
- a free or reduced option where it fits your group: members, concession, volunteers
Keep the gap between casual and subscription modest. If it is too large, casuals feel punished. If there is no gap, nobody subscribes. Be clear about what happens when a session is cancelled or someone misses a week, so nobody feels short-changed. The ticket price calculator and break-even calculator help with the numbers.
Getting tickets to people without lifting a finger
For a one-off booking, the ticket email should arrive straight away with a QR code and a calendar file. For a subscriber, each session’s ticket should be made for them before it runs, so they never book again.
Reminders matter more for recurring events than one-off ones, because a regular’s attendance quietly drifts. A reminder the day before and on the morning keeps the habit going. Automatic ticket delivery explains exactly what is sent and when.
Running the door every week
The door at a recurring event is often a volunteer, a coach or the instructor with a phone. Make it easy:
- scan QR codes in the browser, with no app to install
- give a volunteer a door link that only checks people in
- keep a guest list to search by name for the person who forgot their phone
- take cash or card at the door and record it, so the numbers stay whole
Check people in and Door links for volunteers show how.
When things change: holidays, cancellations and refunds
Over a year, something always moves. Plan for it:
- Public holidays. Change or remove those dates before people book them.
- A change of time or place. Everyone booked should be told, and their tickets should still work.
- A cancelled session. Refund single tickets, and say in your subscription details what subscribers can expect.
- Change-of-mind refunds. Pick a policy and show it before people pay. Never write “no refunds”: Australian Consumer Law gives refunds a policy can’t take away. Say “no change-of-mind refunds” instead.
The refund policy generator writes a policy that matches how refunds work here.
Guides for each kind of recurring event
Each of these goes deep on one kind of event:
- How to sell tickets for a weekly event
- How to set up a recurring event
- How recurring ticket sales work
- Class passes, class packs and subscriptions
- How to sell tickets for a monthly event
- Church service registration and free tickets
- Fitness class booking for bootcamps and small groups
- Sports competition registration and entry fees
- How to sell tickets for a comedy night
- Workshop booking: one-off, courses and repeat dates
- How to run a community group’s regular events
- Membership vs recurring tickets
- Automatic ticket delivery for recurring events
What to check before you choose a platform
Most ticketing tools were built for one-off events and handle repeats as copies. Before you commit, ask:
- Can one page list every session, and stay current as dates pass?
- Can people subscribe, and do subscribers' places count against capacity?
- Are subscribers' tickets made and sent without anyone booking?
- Can attendees pause or cancel without emailing you?
- Can you change every upcoming session at once?
- What does it cost per ticket, and who pays it?
On One Ticket
A repeating event becomes a series: one session for each date, each sold and checked in as an event of its own, and one series page listing them all. It can repeat daily, every weekday, weekly on the days you pick, fortnightly, or monthly on the same week and day. You choose when it ends and how many weeks ahead to sell, and Edit all sessions changes the time, place, price, words or cover of upcoming sessions together. See Repeating events and series.
On the series you can turn on subscriptions: plans billed weekly, fortnightly, monthly or on a longer cycle, at the price you set, covering one person or up to eight. Subscribers' places count against each session’s capacity, and each session’s ticket is made for them about a week before it runs. They pause, cancel or update their card from a private link, with no account. Free plans work too, with no Stripe needed. See Subscriptions for a series and the Subscriptions page.
A single event can also have several dates on one ticket, which suits a fixed course. Everything else an event needs is there on every plan: ticket types, waitlists, promo codes, questions at checkout, a box office and QR check-in from any phone. The buyer pays a small booking fee on a paid ticket or subscription payment, and you receive the full price you set. Free tickets cost nothing. See pricing and the Events page.
Some things are deliberately not here. There is no punch-card class pass that people spend across a timetable, and subscribers can’t skip a single week: they pause billing instead. There are no fixtures or ladders, and no member directory. The guides above say what to use instead.
Answers to your questions
What is the best way to sell tickets for a recurring event?
Sell single tickets to each session for drop-ins, and offer a subscription to the series for regulars. For a fixed course, one ticket covering every date is simpler. Most recurring events use two of these together.
Can people pay weekly or monthly for a series of events?
Yes. With a subscription on the series, they pay weekly, fortnightly, monthly or on a longer cycle you choose, and get a ticket to every session while it runs. See How recurring ticket sales work.
Do subscribers have to book each session?
No. On One Ticket each subscriber’s ticket is made for them about a week before every session and arrives by email with the reminder the day before, so they never book again.
Will subscribers and casual buyers oversell the room?
Not on One Ticket. Subscribers' places count against each session’s capacity first, so single tickets only sell what’s left.
Does One Ticket have class passes or punch cards?
No. There is no multi-visit pass that people spend across sessions. A subscription, or one ticket covering a fixed run of dates, usually does the same job. See Class passes, class packs and subscriptions.
What does it cost?
The Free plan has no monthly cost. On a paid ticket or subscription payment the buyer pays a small booking fee and you receive your full price; free tickets cost nothing. The full table is on the pricing page.