Membership vs recurring tickets, and which one your group actually needs

The short answer

A membership is belonging: a vote, a directory, discounts, a newsletter, a say in how things run. Recurring tickets are attendance: a payment on a cycle that gets someone into every session of your events. A subscription is just the billing method, and either can use one.

If what your members actually pay for is turning up to your events, recurring tickets do the job and are far simpler to run. If they’re paying for belonging, with rights and benefits beyond events, you need membership software, and you may still sell the events as tickets.

Three words that get mixed up

The confusion is that people say “membership” when they mean “regulars who pay monthly”. Ask what your members expect to receive, not what the payment is called.

Signs you need a membership system

• members vote at an AGM, so you need an accurate register
• you publish a member directory, or members log in to see things
• membership gives discounts at partner businesses
• you need to track member numbers for a peak body, grant or insurer
• membership exists even for people who never come to an event

These are records-and-rights problems. A ticketing tool isn’t built to be your register of members, and shouldn’t pretend to be.

Signs recurring tickets are enough

• “membership” means “you’re in for every session this season”
• the main benefit is a lower price per event and a guaranteed place
• nobody asks about voting, directories or member-only content
• you’d mostly use the member list to know who’s coming

For a run club, a choir, a social sports night or a weekly class, this is usually the honest description. Recurring tickets cover it with less admin than a membership system.

Using both together

Plenty of groups use both: membership software for the register, renewals and the AGM, and ticketing for the events. Members get a member price on event tickets, or a subscription that covers every session, and guests buy single tickets. After each event, the attendee export shows who came.

Questions to settle with your committee

Before you choose, put these to whoever runs the group:

1. What does a member get that a non-member doesn’t? If the answer is only “cheaper or guaranteed entry to our events”, you’re describing recurring tickets.
2. Who needs to see the member list, and why? A register for the AGM is a different job from a check-in list for Thursday night.
3. What happens when someone stops paying? With recurring tickets they simply stop getting tickets. With a membership there may be rules about lapsing, grace periods and rejoining.
4. Do members join once a year, or whenever? An annual round of renewals suits a membership system. Joining any week suits a subscription.
5. Who will run it in two years? The simpler setup is the one the next volunteer can pick up.

Pricing a recurring member plan

Start from what a regular already spends. If most members come to every fortnightly event at $15, a plan billed every 4 weeks at a little under $30 is a fair reward for committing, and it is easy to explain. A yearly plan can carry a bigger saving, because you get the money up front and the member gets a whole year of not thinking about it.

Keep a casual price for guests and the curious. A group with only a member price has no front door.

The subscription part, done well

Whichever you use, a recurring payment should be fair to the person paying:

• clear about what’s included and how often it charges
• easy to pause or cancel without emailing anyone
• honest about what happens to sessions already paid for
• predictable, with a price that doesn’t change under existing members without notice

On One Ticket

One Ticket does recurring tickets, not membership records. On a series, a subscription charges every week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, month, 3 months, 6 months or year, at your price, and gives each person on the plan a ticket to every session. Their places count against each session’s capacity. They pause, resume, update their card or cancel at the end of the paid period from a private link. Price changes apply to new subscribers; existing ones keep their price. See Subscriptions for a series and the Subscriptions page.

For a member price on single events, a Secret ticket with an access code shows only to people with the code. You see every subscriber, their plan and status on the Subscriptions tab of Orders, and orders and attendees export to a spreadsheet.

There’s no member register, directory, voting, member login area or member card. If you need those, use membership software alongside, and sell the events here. See pricing.

Back to the complete guide to recurring events. Related: How recurring ticket sales work, Annual membership for a networking group and Season pass or membership for a class.