15 Best WordPress Events Plugins for Better Event Management (Calendars, Ticketing, RSVPs)

If you’ve ever tried to install a calendar plugin you know that it’s not exactly the same as a fully functional events plugin or any event management tool. Calendars display dates of events, while WordPress event plugins offer functions like ticketing, RSVPs, guest management, automated email notifications, booking forms and more.

That’s why it’s so important to think about what you plan on doing with your WordPress calendar.

Do you need to sell tickets for events? Would you like to display detailed information like images, maps, speakers, and payment methods? What about setting up irregular recurring events like a meeting you hold every three months?

In order to achieve some of the more advanced calendar features, a WordPress events plugin is required. What’s great is that you have many options to choose from and the best ones are affordable, powerful, and easy to understand.

Want to know which one you should pick? Check out our curated list of the best event plugins!

1. Events Manager

The Events Manager plugin offers an excellent free version, but you do have the option to upgrade to Events Manager Pro. The average user won’t need the Pro version, but it does have some great features for the low price of $75.

For instance, the upgrade version gives you premium support, a custom payment gateway, API, spam protection, coupons, discounts, customizable booking forms

So, registrations are possible with the Events Manager plugin, but you’ll have to pay the extra fee to start collecting payments with something like PayPal or Authorize.net.

 Events Manager WordPress plugin

The backend interface is simple enough for the average WordPress user and when displayed on the frontend, your events calendar can be used for selling tickets, showing a simple calendar, or displaying event details. I like that the plugin integrates with your iCal feed and Google Calendar. You can also utilize some of the widgets for showing locations, full calendars, or individual events.

As for showing your events on the calendar and being as detailed as possible, the Events Manager plugin gives you most features you need without paying any money. For instance, Google Maps can be embedded in the events pages. There is also a tool for creating custom event attributes. This means that pretty much any type of description field is possible, like if you wanted to make an area for the dress code to your event, for example.

Reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars (WordPress.org)

Active Installations

100,000+

PHP Version

5.3 or higher

Features That Make Events Manager a Great Choice:

• The Events Manager plugin provides a full event creation and sharing center for free. The main reason you’d upgrade to the paid version if for payment support.
• The plugin allows for recurring and multi-day event registrations, along with booking management with approvals and rejections.
• You can hook up BuddyPress to the plugin for sharing events in >your social network.
• The single-day event registration is straightforward, as it includes start and end times and the basic event information.
• There’s one feature that lets users and guests submit their own events, which is great for public event websites and smaller organizations run by multiple people.
• The plugin puts quite a bit of weight on locations, so you can add Google Maps and set up an area to view events based on their locations.

2. WP Event Manager

WP Event Manager is one of the simpler, lightweight WordPress event management plugins. I see it working for those who want to keep their sites fast< and not take up too much space or clutter the backend with too many features.

This plugin might be considered the new kid in the event management space, but it’s a popular plugin with great reviews and even great customer support.

As with many of the event plugins on this list, WP Event Manager offers a free, core plugin, along with the option to buy add-ons to ramp up your operation. Although the interface is sleek and simple, the free plugin’s feature list is quite impressive.

For instance, you receive everything from multilingual translations to frontend forms, and to widgets and shortcodes for searchable event listings.

 WP Event Manager WordPress plugin

I’ve also noticed that the WP Event Manager developers have put quite a bit of effort into speed and user-experience–with beautiful caching features, responsive elements, AJAX-powered event listings, and more.

As for the premium add-ons, there’s a long list of them, but here are some highlights:

• Google Maps.
• WooCommerce Sell Tickets.
• Registrations.
• Event Alerts.
• An Embeddable Event Widget.
• Contact Organizer.
• Emails.
• Sliders.
• Google Analytics.
• Event Tags.

Reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars (WordPress.org)

Active Installations

8,000+

PHP Version

5.4 or higher

Features That Make WP Event Manager a Great Choice:

• The WP Event Manager plugin features a lightweight interface and a beautiful user experience. It has caching built-in, a wonderful search module and a completely responsive design.
• The developers are highly responsive and friendly for all customers, even the ones using the free plugin.
• You don’t have to pay a monthly fee, or anything like that, for a premium plugin. It’s configured so that you start with the base plugin, then you can pay for some of the add-ons if needed.
• Some of the add-ons are free, and the others are still affordable. Many of them go for $39, but I’ve noticed some lower priced ones as well.
• The entire calendar area is “AJAXified,” so it’s one of the smoothest browsing experiences on the frontend.

3. Event Organiser

Event Organiser delivers a suitable event management solution for the WordPress environment because of its combination with default custom post types. Essentially, you install this plugin, then choose the right custom post type to maintain the WordPress post format, but gain control of some additional events modules.

Therefore, it’s an intuitive user interface, with the basic features required and some great support for one-time and recurring events. You’ll find several premium add-ons to buy along with this event management plugin. One of them is called Event Organiser Pro, and it offers a booking form customizer, a full management area, customizable emails, and various payment gateways.

You’ll also see some other add-ons that expand the functionality of your free or premium Event Organizer plugin. Some of them include:

• Frontend submissions.
• Discount codes.
• Stripe Gateway.
• iCal Sync.
• Free add-ons: Posterboard and CSV export.

 Event Organiser WordPress plugin

The pricing for each plugin varies, but it seems like the more advanced and feature-packed they get, the higher the pricing. Some of them go for around $15, while others are listed at $50. I enjoy the frontend of this plugin since it provides a basic interface with colorization and interactivity.

You also have multiple formats you can choose from, such as lists or calendar configurations. Showing the calendars and events on your website is done with the help of shortcodes and widgets. So, the average WordPress user shouldn’t have any problems with getting up and running.

Reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars (WordPress.org)

Active Installations

40,000+

PHP Version

Not provided.

Features That Make Event Organiser a Great Choice:

• The basic plugin is free and you only have to shell out $50 for the premium version. You might end up paying more for the additional plugins, but the pricing looks reasonable.
• The widgets and shortcodes are quite versatile, with widgets or event lists, calendars, and agendas. The shortcodes are shown as event lists or full calendars.
• Localization is a strong advantage of the Event Organiser plugin. Dozens of languages have been provided by several contributors.
• A good amount of support is provided for developers. For instance, plugin actions and filters are available, along with an API and documentation.
• The plugin allows for complex recurring events, so if you have an event going for three days, stopping for one day, then continuing for two more, that’s entirely possible. Something more common would be an event that occurs every two months.
• You can create and maintain venues and locations for all events. This includes support for Google Maps, so users come to your calendar and quickly identify which events are in their area.

4. All-in-One Event Calendar

If you’re looking for a WordPress events plugin that can help you manage your events, the All-in-One Event Calendar plugin might do the trick. It has a decent number of features right out of the box, with items like recurring events, filtering, and embedded Google Maps, all for free.

If you need more, you can then choose to opt-in for their hosted software solution which starts at $14.99/month which will provide you with:

• Extended Views.
• Frontend Submission Forms.
• Super Widgets.
• Venues.
• Twitter Integration.
• And More.

 All-in-One Event Calendar WordPress plugin

The free version still has its upsides, with the ability to import events from Facebook, social sharing, venue auto-saving, and recurring events. The plugin stands out in the sharing/importing realm since it offers tools for easily sharing and importing data from Google Calendar, Apple iCal, and MS Outlook.

Reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars (WordPress.org)

Active Installations

100,000+

PHP Version

5.4 or higher

Features That Make All-in-One Event Calendar a Great Choice:

• The plugin offers a free plan, along with monthly premium packages, giving you a wider range of payment options than most plugins on this list.
• The recurring payments feature has complex timing patterns, so if you wanted to run an event every three months, that’s an option.
• The All-in-One Event Calendar provides support for several external calendars, with import, export, and sharing tools for platforms like Google Calendar and Apple iCal.
• The frontend display looks good and filled with information. This is particularly true for the posterboard format.

5. Event Espresso 4 Decaf

Event Expresso has been a crowd favorite for some time now and the developers have come out with the most recent Event Espresso 4 Decaf version. The “Decaf” version is completely free and filled with some basic features like event ticketing and registration. What’s more, is that you can process PayPal payments without having to upgrade to one of the paid plans or by getting an add-on.

The automated confirmation emails are interesting as well since you can send out event reminders and link that up to your event registrant list. Finally, another awesome part of the free plugin is the Android and Apple app support for scanning tickets and tracking who comes to your events.

 Event Espresso 4 Decaf WordPress plugin

As for the premium plan, which is required to buy add-ons, they start at $79.95 per year and go all the way up to $299.95 per year. You’ll receive over 60 features and dozens of add-ons depending on the plan you go with.

Reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars (WordPress.org)

Active Installations

2,000+

PHP Version

5.4 or higher

Features That Make Event Espresso 4 Decaf a Great Choice:

• You have all sorts of payment options to choose from.
• You can actually process payments through PayPal Express Checkout without buying an add-on. It’s free.
• There’s also a tool for sending out automated email notifications to your event subscribers.
• The Apple and Android apps make a seamless ticket checking process when the event begins.

6. The Events Calendar

The Events Calendar plugin is made by the developers at Modern Tribe and it’s packed with features for making a highly professional calendar on your website, alongside a management area.

The whole point of the Events Calendar plugin is to get up and running within minutes. It has a rapid event creation tool for those organizations that want events listed on a website but don’t have all the time in the world. You can also save venues and organizers for later and present different calendar views for a sleek UI.

The core plugin works smoothly for simple calendars. It has a beautiful premium version for $89 per year. It’s not the cheapest option on this event plugins list, but you gain access to several great features like recurring events, shortcodes, and custom event attributes.

You can collect RSVPs for free with the core plugin and get payments with their free Event Tickets plugin. If you need more advanced ecommerce capabilities, you can also get the Event Tickets Plus as a premium add-on.