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Event Registration & Ticketing

Luma

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Panel rating · 6 judges · How to read the stars

Category median

Sovereignty: not determined

0–5 in half steps. 5 means the rubric's top anchor is met on the evidence.

by Luma Labs, Inc. · luma.com

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Luma: AI-assisted analysis on whats-best.ai Luma: AI-assisted analysis on whats-best.ai (dark)

Add ?theme=dark to the image address for dark backgrounds. The badge shows the category and the month of the latest evaluation, and EU-Made where that is the product’s provenance. It never shows a score.

Luma at a glance

Vendor
Luma Labs, Inc.
Headquarters
Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 29 Oct 2026
Data hosting
Default not stated; pages mention United States source, captured 29 Oct 2026
Free plan
Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 29 Oct 2026
Panel verdict
The AI panel rates Luma 2.5/5, the mean of 6 judges. Luma is an event registration and ticketing platform from Luma Labs, Inc., a Delaware C corporation in San Francisco. how scores are made
As of
Vendor pages captured 29 Oct 2026; evaluated by the panel 30 Oct 2026. all sources

Luma alternatives, European ones first →

Read this page as one judge. Each weighs the same scores by what they care about.

The Skeptic

Weighted verdict

Has seen "free for free events" turn into a fee on every paid ticket that buyers blame the organiser for, payouts held until a week after the show, and a platform that emails the organiser's audience about a rival's concert. Reads "your data belongs to you" next to buyer accounts on the platform's own app, and an export that stops at names and emails — and asks what leaving would cost.

Same scores as the panel view — this lens weights them the way this judge cares.

Scored by The Skeptic

Panel median The Skeptic This judge’s scores over the panel median. Each label opens its reasoning below.
Scores per criterion, in stars out of 5
Criterion Panel median The Skeptic
Ticket shop, checkout & registration 2 of 5 2 of 5
Payments, payouts, fees & refunds 3 of 5 2.5 of 5
VAT, invoices & accounting handoff 2.5 of 5 2 of 5
Check-in, badges & on-site sales 2.5 of 5 2.5 of 5
Attendee data & the customer relationship 2.5 of 5 2 of 5
European sovereignty 2 of 5 2 of 5
Pricing transparency 2.5 of 5 2 of 5

Ticket shop, checkout & registration

How this is scored

How a ticket or a registration is sold: ticket types and categories, member and early-bird prices, discount codes, bundles and add-ons, a shop embeddable on the organiser's own website or under its own domain, custom questions per ticket and per attendee, group and company bookings, capacity limits and waiting lists, reserved seating with a seating plan, recurring dates and course series, several languages, and an accessible mobile checkout.

0 — Not a ticketing or registration tool; tickets cannot be sold and registrations cannot be taken in the product.

3 — An event page on the platform with a few ticket types and a fixed sign-up form; embedding, custom questions, capacity rules or seating are basic or not described.

5 — Several ticket types with prices, quotas and sale periods, discount codes, custom questions per attendee, a shop embeddable on the organiser's website as a widget or link, capacity limits with a waiting list, and a checkout that works on a phone.

8 — A white-label shop under the organiser's own domain and design, reserved seating with a seating-plan editor, add-ons and bundles, group and company bookings with several attendees per order, conditional questions, member prices by code or login, recurring dates and course series, several languages, and the checkout's accessibility stated.

10 — A shop that fits any event: multi-event and season tickets, timed entry and seat holds, a checkout that the organiser can extend (API, custom fields synced to a CRM), an accessibility conformance statement (WCAG level named), and the conversion and drop-off of the checkout reported to the organiser.

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The Skeptic

Ticket types, group purchasing, coupons and approval or token gating are documented, registration questions exist because check-in staff can see guests' answers to them, and a custom URL for event pages comes with the paid plan. We found no public information on capacity limits and waiting lists, sale periods, seating, shop languages or the checkout's accessibility, and the captured facts do not describe how embedding works. The shop's centre of gravity is Luma's own calendar and community pages, so the event lives on the platform first. 1 6 3 10

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Payments, payouts, fees & refunds

How this is scored

How the money moves: payment methods offered to buyers (cards, PayPal, SEPA direct debit, invoice, local methods), whether the organiser connects its own payment account or the platform collects as merchant of record, when the revenue is paid out (continuously, before the event, or after it), the per-ticket and payment fees and whether they can be passed on to the buyer, refunds of single tickets and of a cancelled event, ticket transfer and resale, and chargebacks.

0 — No payment of any kind; the product only collects free registrations.

3 — Online card payment through the platform; payout timing, fee model, refunds or buyer-paid fees are basic or not described.

5 — Several payment methods including cards and PayPal or SEPA, the fee per ticket stated with the option to pass it to the buyer, the payout schedule stated, and refunds of single orders and of a cancelled event issued from the product.

8 — A choice between the organiser's own payment account (Stripe, PayPal, Mollie or similar) and platform collection, payouts before the event stated with their conditions, invoice and bank transfer for business buyers, partial refunds and refund policies set per event, ticket transfer or resale by buyers, and chargeback handling explained.

10 — Full control of the money: the merchant of record named for each set-up, payout timing and any reserve held published, every fee itemised per order, refunds, transfers and resale with the organiser's rules enforced, and the cancellation process for an event documented end to end.

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The Skeptic

Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay and regional methods such as iDEAL, Konbini and PayNow are offered, and the money runs through the organiser's own Stripe account — the payout schedule is managed in Stripe, rolling by default with funds typically sent the next business day, which answers my two oldest fears about held payouts and surprise buyer-facing fees. The platform fee — 5% platform fee for paid events on the free plan, 0% on the paid plan — plus Stripe's processing fee is deducted from each transaction, and every transaction is itemised down to each fee in the sales export. We found no public information on refund handling, chargebacks, or passing fees to the buyer; the stated model is that the price you set is exactly what guests see and pay. 5 6 4

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VAT, invoices & accounting handoff

How this is scored

How ticket revenue reaches the books correctly: the VAT rate set per ticket or product (reduced rates for concerts and culture, exemptions for education and seminars), gross and net prices shown, invoices to buyers in the organiser's name with consecutive numbers, business buyers with company name and VAT ID, reverse charge for cross-border events, cancellation invoices and credit notes, the platform's own fee invoice, e-invoicing, and exports to DATEV or named accounting systems.

0 — No receipts or invoices; the organiser has to produce every invoice outside the product.

3 — An order confirmation or simple receipt per booking; VAT rates, invoices in the organiser's name, business buyers or accounting exports are basic or not described.

5 — VAT rate configurable per ticket, invoices generated in the organiser's name with its tax details and consecutive numbers, company name and address captured for business buyers, cancellation invoices on refund, and a sales export as CSV or to at least one named accounting system.

8 — Several VAT rates in one order, net prices for business buyers, VAT IDs validated and reverse charge applied, e-invoices (XRechnung or ZUGFeRD) for public and business buyers, a DATEV export with booking data, the platform's fee invoice separated from ticket revenue, and whether the platform sells as agent or in its own name stated.

10 — Tax handled per country: VAT rules for events in several EU countries documented with the place of supply, invoices and credit notes stated as compliant with national invoice law, a reconciliation of payouts, fees and ticket revenue per event, and a GoBD-compliant archive or audit export.

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The Skeptic

Tax collection comes with the paid plan, per-event tax rates with the enterprise plan, and the tax is included in the price guests see; guests can download a receipt or invoice carrying the organiser's name, address and VAT number, with automatic sequential numbering where the Stripe country requires it. We found no public information on reverse charge, VAT ID validation, e-invoices or exports to a named accounting system. 4 5

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Check-in, badges & on-site sales

How this is scored

What happens at the door: a check-in app that scans tickets on phones or scanners, offline scanning and several devices at once, entrances and time slots, check-in lists by name, badge printing with attendee data and QR code, box office and on-site sales with card terminals, walk-in registration, session and room check-in at conferences, attendance certificates, and live attendance figures.

0 — No check-in; tickets cannot be validated at the event.

3 — Tickets with a QR code and a guest list to tick off by hand or in a simple app; offline use, several devices, badges or on-site sales are basic or not described.

5 — A free check-in app for iOS and Android that scans tickets on several devices at once, works offline and syncs, a searchable guest list, and live check-in numbers in the dashboard.

8 — Badge printing with attendee data and QR codes, access rules per entrance, session or day, box office sales on site with a named card terminal, walk-in registration, dedicated scanner hardware supported or rented, and attendance certificates for courses.

10 — On-site operations at scale: self-service kiosks or turnstile integration, session check-in feeding continuing-education credits, cashless or on-site payments reconciled with online sales, and the hardware, offline limits and failover documented.

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The Skeptic

iOS, Android and web scanners read a QR code that lives in the confirmation email, the Luma app and Apple or Google Wallet passes, with an Express mode that checks guests in on scan, a mode lock for staff, search-based manual check-in and clear invalid-ticket feedback. Check-in staff are a limited role that can be restricted by ticket type, though that role requires the paid plan, and hardware scanners and external check-in systems are supported. We found no public information on offline scanning limits, live attendance figures, badge printing, box office or on-site sales. 3 6

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Attendee data & the customer relationship

How this is scored

Who the ticket buyer belongs to: whether the organiser is the controller of attendee data and the platform its processor, or the platform a controller in its own right; whether buyers must create an account on the platform; whether the platform markets other events to the organiser's buyers or lists the event on its own marketplace; consent for the organiser's newsletter collected in the checkout; messages to attendees; attendee data exportable at any time; and deletion and anonymisation after the event.

0 — The organiser receives no attendee data at all; the platform keeps the buyer relationship entirely.

3 — A guest list visible to the organiser; who is controller, the platform's own marketing to buyers, export or deletion are basic or not described.

5 — Attendee data exportable by the organiser at any time, the organiser named as controller with a data processing agreement offered, buyers able to book without a platform account, newsletter consent for the organiser collectable in the checkout, and messages to attendees from the product.

8 — A white-label set-up in which buyers see only the organiser, the platform stated not to market other events to the organiser's buyers (or the opt-out explained), the platform's marketplace listing optional, deletion and anonymisation of attendee data after the event configurable, and attendee data synced to a named CRM or via API and webhooks.

10 — The organiser owns the relationship and can prove it: the controller and processor roles documented for every data flow, no platform account or platform marketing by default, retention set per event and enforced, and a complete export of orders, attendees and answers that a successor tool can import.

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The Skeptic

Guest lists and sales export as CSV, self-serve data export and deletion exist without an enterprise plan, a GDPR-scoped data processing addendum is published, and blasts and reminders go to attendees via email, SMS, push and WhatsApp. But the captured pages do not say who is controller and who is processor, guests sign in and carry profile photos on Luma, and we found no public information on collecting newsletter consent in the checkout or on the platform not marketing other events to your buyers — Luma's own calendars, follows and event submission form the discovery layer your audience sits in. 7 8 3 6 10

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European sovereignty

How this is scored

Who the contracting entity and the parent company are, where attendee, order and payment data are hosted, and who the subprocessors are (hosting, payment providers, email delivery, analytics, support). Independently sourced by the sovereignty pipeline; attendee lists show who goes where and when, and a conference list holds names, employers and dietary or accessibility answers, so the whole chain counts, not only the database.

0 — Non-EU vendor and contracting entity, hosting unstated, subprocessors unnamed, and no data processing agreement offered.

3 — A privacy policy and a data processing agreement exist, but hosting location is unstated or non-EU and the subprocessors are not listed.

5 — EU hosting available and an EU contracting entity or EU representative, but parts of the chain (payments, email, analytics, support) run through non-EU providers without a stated safeguard.

8 — EU hosting on named infrastructure, EU contracting entity, subprocessors listed with their locations, a data processing agreement published, and security certifications (ISO 27001, SOC 2) stated.

10 — Sovereign end to end and evidenced: European ownership, entity, hosting and every subprocessor, a self-hosted or on-premises option or data export and deletion documented, and certifications published with their scope rather than implied.

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The Skeptic

The contracting entity is Luma Labs, Inc., a Delaware C corporation in San Francisco, attendee and order data is hosted on AWS in the United States with no data residency offered in other countries or regions, and team members and subprocessors access that data from outside your country, primarily from the United States. A subprocessor list is published, a data processing addendum covering GDPR is offered, and SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 reports are listed — but we found no public information on any EU entity, EU hosting option or EU safeguard for the payments, email or analytics chain. For a European organiser, the whole attendee trail sits under US jurisdiction. 7 8 4

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Pricing transparency

How this is scored

Whether an organiser can compute the real cost of an event from public pages alone: the fee per ticket or per registration (fixed, percentage or both), payment processing fees, whether fees are charged to the organiser or added to the buyer's price, free events, subscriptions or credit packs, payout and refund fees, add-ons (seating, white label, badges, box office), hardware rental, minimums and term, and VAT on the fees.

0 — No public prices at all; every organiser is a sales call.

3 — A starting price or "free for free events" exists, but the fee for paid tickets, payment fees or who pays them is unclear.

5 — The fee per ticket and the payment processing fees are public with the main inclusions, but at least one commonly needed piece (refund fees, white label, seating, box office, hardware) is unpriced or "on request".

8 — Every fee published with its rule (per ticket, percentage, cap), the share paid by buyer and organiser stated, add-ons and hardware priced, payout and refund fees listed, and VAT treatment of the fees stated.

10 — Complete price computability: the cost of an event derivable for a given ticket price, ticket count and payment mix, with every add-on, hardware, support and payout fee and the cancellation and data-return terms published.

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The Skeptic

The free plan is documented in full — unlimited events and guests, up to 3 admins, 500 invites or newsletters per week and a 5% platform fee for paid events — and the paid plan is $59 per month, billed annualy with 14% savings, carrying a 0% platform fee, 5 admin seats and 5,000 invites per week, with who pays made clear: fees are deducted per transaction and the price you set is what guests pay. But we found no public information on the Stripe processing fee rate, refund or payout fees, hardware scanner pricing, or enterprise pricing beyond a contact address, so the real cost of a paid event is not computable from the public pages alone. 6 5 3 8

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European sovereignty — proven facts

0 of 6 dimensions proven

Built only from facts shown on the vendor's own pages. A dimension we could not prove is left open, not scored as zero.

Hosting location Not determined ⚠ unverified — uncited Report an error
Hosting options Not determined — uncited Report an error
Open source Not determined — uncited Report an error
Data processing agreement Not determined ⚠ unverified — uncited Report an error
Transfer impact assessment Not determined — uncited Report an error

Questions about Luma

Is Luma European?

No. whats-best.ai classifies Luma as Rest of world.

Where does Luma store data?

The default storage location for customer data is not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 29 Oct 2026. The vendor’s pages mention United States as hosting location, per the vendor’s page captured 29 Oct 2026.

Does Luma have a free plan?

Not stated on the vendor’s pages as of 29 Oct 2026.

What are the best alternatives to Luma?

As of 3 Nov 2026, the panel rates pretix (3/5), Converia (3/5) and doo (3/5) highest among the other 13 Event Registration & Ticketing products evaluated. Ratings that look equal are rounded to half stars; the order uses the unrounded rating, then the name. The highest-rated European alternative is pretix (EU-Made). Ratings are the AI panel’s opinion, formed from public evidence: how scores are made. The full list, with European products first: Luma alternatives.

Where this could be wrong

What we left out

A claim that does not survive our checks costs us the claim, not the page. This is what was taken off this one.

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Sources (12)

The pages every claim on this page was read from — each one checked, dated, and kept verifiable.

  1. 1 Vendor homepage luma.com Checked 29 Oct 2026 Details →
  2. 2 Help article (embedding) help.luma.com Checked 29 Oct 2026 Details →
  3. 3 Help article (check-in) help.luma.com Checked 29 Oct 2026 Details →
  4. 4 Help article (taxes and VAT) help.luma.com Checked 29 Oct 2026 Details →
  5. 5 Help article (payouts) help.luma.com Checked 29 Oct 2026 Details →
  6. 6 Pricing page luma.com Checked 29 Oct 2026 Details →
  7. 7 Privacy policy luma.com Checked 29 Oct 2026 Details →
  8. 8 Data protection / gdpr page help.luma.com Checked 29 Oct 2026 Details →
  9. 9 Ticket shop, checkout & registration — found from sitemap luma.com Checked 29 Oct 2026 Details →
  10. 10 Ticket shop, checkout & registration — found from sitemap luma.com Checked 29 Oct 2026 Details →
  11. 11 Attendee data & the customer relationship — found from sitemap luma.com Checked 29 Oct 2026 Details →
  12. 12 Attendee data & the customer relationship — found from sitemap luma.com Checked 29 Oct 2026 Details →