Pay-as-you-go pricing that beats Ludus at every ticket price — plus the platform built for venues that need more than tickets.
ThunderTix now offers pay-as-you-go: 4.85% + $0.75 per ticket, deducted from each sale, deposited nightly. No monthly invoice. Embed widget free. Mass email included. Classes module included. Ludus charges 5% + $0.79, plus $0.05/ticket for the embed widget, another $0.05/ticket for email marketing, and another $0.05/ticket for the Classes module.
Here’s where each platform actually wins, what you pay, and what you get for it.
Ludus is genuinely the right choice for some venues.
If you’re a junior high or high school theater program, a church putting on one production a season, or a small rural community theater with a few shows a year — Ludus is probably still the better fit. Not because the pricing math favors it (with pay-as-you-go, ours is now lower at every ticket price), but because you don’t need the membership, fundraising, CRM, behavioral marketing, or AI tools ThunderTix is built around. Simpler platform, simpler need.
The rest of this page is for venues that do need those things.
Here’s what each platform takes — at $20 and at $50.
- $0.79 per ticket
- + 5.00% processing ($1.00)
- + $0.05 embed widget
- + $0.05 email marketing
- + $0.05 Classes module
- $0.75 per ticket
- + 4.85% processing ($0.97)
- + Embed widget included
- + Mass email included
- + Classes module included
- $0.79 per ticket
- + 5.00% processing ($2.50)
- + $0.05 embed widget
- + $0.05 email marketing
- + $0.05 Classes module
- $0.75 per ticket
- + 4.85% processing ($2.43)
- + Embed widget included
- + Mass email included
- + Classes module included
That’s $0.22 saved on every $20 ticket and $0.26 on every $50 ticket. Over 10,000 tickets a year, you’re keeping $2,200–$2,600 you’d otherwise hand to Ludus — before counting the monthly invoice you no longer pay. Fees come out of each sale automatically and your venue is paid nightly via your own Stripe account.
Memberships that fund your year, not just your night.
A real membership program is more than a discount card. It’s tiered benefits, integrated swag, automated renewals, and a direct line to your annual fund — all running in the background while you focus on the show. And there are no membership codes to manage — ThunderTix recognizes members the moment they enter their name and applies their discounts automatically.
ThunderTix members get whatever you decide to offer them: ticket discounts, season passes, T-shirts, beverage credits, parking, pre-sale windows, post-show events. Add a donation portion to dues and a percentage flows straight to your fundraising automatically. When renewal hits, we charge the card on file — no awkward emails, no lapsed members.
Seating that looks like the room, not a wireframe.
Most ticketing platforms use the same generic engine: plain circles on a grid, no sense of place. We build your chart the way patrons actually experience your venue — sections labeled, aisles drawn, stairs and ramps placed where they really are, ADA seating marked, restrooms and concessions shown for the spatial context that matters.
We’ve drawn theatre-in-the-round, boxing rings, polo grandstands, basketball courts, dinner-theater table layouts, and magic clubs with cocktail seating. If you can imagine your venue, we can map it. Charts are free for every account — and we’ll redesign as your seasons change.
Email that pays for itself before lunch.
Build the audience you actually want to reach — not just everyone on your list. Filter by what someone bought, what they didn’t buy, when they last donated, which tier they’re in, whether they’ve lapsed. Then send a real message to that exact group, in your branding, with full HTML control.
Send as many emails as you want — mass email is included in pay-as-you-go pricing, not metered per send and not an upcharge. Every campaign tracks opens, clicks, conversions, and the actual revenue it generated, so you can see what works.
Know every patron without lifting a finger.
Every patron is automatically tagged the moment they buy: subscriber, donor, member, champion, lapsed, at-risk. Lifecycle stages update in real time as patrons move through your program. RFM scoring (recency, frequency, monetary) is calculated nightly so you always know who matters most this week.
Search the things you actually want to ask: who bought Cabaret but not Hamilton? Which donors gave last year but not this year (LYBUNT)? Which subscribers are up for renewal in the next 30 days? Every answer is one click away — not a CSV export and a spreadsheet.
Class registration: 1% + $1 — against 5% + $0.80.
Ludus Classes is a premium add-on: enabling it adds $0.05 to the convenience fee on every ticket you sell — class or not — and each class registration then pays the full 5% + $0.80. ThunderTix Classes has no per-ticket surcharge and charges just 1% + $1 per registration, with signed waivers, registration surveys, family enrollment, rosters, and per-session check-in included. Here’s the math at three real tuition levels.
- $0.80 per registration
- + 5.00% ($3.75)
- $1.00 per registration
- + 1.00% ($0.75)
- $0.80 per registration
- + 5.00% ($10.00)
- $1.00 per registration
- + 1.00% ($2.00)
- $0.80 per registration
- + 5.00% ($25.00)
- $1.00 per registration
- + 1.00% ($5.00)
The gap widens as tuition rises — and it compounds fast. A 200-registration season averaging $200 tuition keeps $1,560 with ThunderTix. And because Ludus’s module also adds $0.05 to every ticket you sell, a venue selling 10,000 tickets pays another $500 a year before a single student enrolls. ThunderTix Classes runs on the same Stripe account that already powers pay-as-you-go — guardians enroll multiple children in one order, waivers are signed before checkout completes, and instructors get per-session check-in.
And the whole platform talks back.
Connect ThunderTix to Claude, ChatGPT, or your AI assistant of choice, and ask anything in plain English. “Which Tuesday subscribers haven’t renewed for next season? What’s our average seat price by section for Hamilton? Compare donation conversion rates between checkout flow A and B last quarter.” You ask. Your data answers.
It’s not a chatbot reading a knowledge base — it’s a direct connection to your live ThunderTix data, queried on demand. The gap between “I have a question about my business” and “I have an answer” shrinks from three days to thirty seconds.
Your data stays in your ThunderTix account. The AI assistant queries it on demand — nothing is sent anywhere it doesn’t already live.
Still not sure? Allow us to give you an honest assessment based on today’s needs and tomorrow’s goals.
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