Ranked comparison
Fees and positioning re-checked against each provider’s public pricing page.
Best commission-only platforms for event vendors
Written for event vendors who do not want another monthly subscription: caterers, venues, photographers, decorators, and entertainers who would rather pay when a booking closes than pay in a month with no work.
Cenvi wrote this page and ranks itself first. Read the Cenvi cons before the pros. Two of the alternatives below charge per lead rather than per booking, which is a meaningfully worse deal in a slow month, and the page says so plainly.
How these were ranked
Commission-only is not one model. What you are actually charged for changes the risk you are carrying, so that is the first criterion. Several platforms here negotiate rates per account rather than publishing them, which is itself a finding, and is marked as such below.
- What triggers the chargePaying per closed booking is very different from paying per lead or per quote sent. Pay-per-lead means you can spend money in a month where you book nothing.
- Whether direct bookings are also taxedSome platforms take a cut of every booking including the clients you brought yourself. That is the detail that decides whether the model is fair.
- Who owns the client relationshipWhether you get the customer’s contact details and can rebook them next year without going back through the platform.
- Payout speed and routeWhether money settles into your own account or sits in a platform wallet on the platform’s schedule.
- Tooling beyond the leadWhether the platform also handles the quote, contract, deposit, and calendar, or hands you a phone number and stops.
The ranking
- 1
Cenvi our product
Charges on closed bookings rather than leads, does not tax your own direct bookings on a paid plan, and settles payments straight to your Stripe account.
- Best for
- Event vendors who want booking software and a marketplace without a mandatory subscription
- Cost
- 10% on bookings Cenvi sources. 5% on your own direct bookings on the free plan, 0% on paid plans from $35/mo. Card processing separate.
Strengths
- You are charged when a booking closes, never per lead, so a quiet month costs nothing on the free plan
- Direct bookings you sourced yourself are 0% on a paid plan, so the platform is not taxing your existing business
- Payments settle directly to your own connected Stripe account via Direct Charges rather than a platform wallet
- Full booking tooling is included: packages, menu library, calendar, contracts, deposits, milestone payments
- Marketplace Credit means the subscription is credited back in any month Cenvi sources you a booking
Where it falls short
- The marketplace is small and Atlanta-weighted, so sourced-booking volume is low compared to Thumbtack or The Knot
- To get 0% on direct bookings you do need a paid plan, so it is not a pure zero-cost product
- Onboarding is concierge, which means waiting on the Cenvi team rather than switching yourself on at midnight
- Fewer integrations than a mature CRM if your ops already depend on specific tools
- 2
ezCater
The cleanest true pay-on-order model on this list. You are charged when an order happens, never for a lead.
- Best for
- Caterers who want corporate drop-off volume
- Cost
- Commission per completed order, taken from the caterer, negotiated per account rather than published.
Strengths
- No subscription and no per-lead charge. You pay only when there is real revenue
- Genuine inbound demand from corporate buyers, which is rare
- Predictable weekday orders that fill gaps around weekend events
Where it falls short
- Corporate drop-off only. It will not help a wedding, festival, or full-service event business
- You do not own the customer relationship, so repeat orders keep paying commission
- Commission applies to every order through the channel, with no direct-booking exemption
- 3
The Bash
A long-running entertainment marketplace with a membership plus per-booking structure. Solid if you are a performer.
- Best for
- Musicians, DJs, and entertainers
- Cost
- Membership tier plus a percentage on bookings made through the platform. Both numbers vary by category, so price your own before joining.
Strengths
- Deep, specific audience for live entertainment that general platforms do not have
- Long track record and established review base
- Quote and booking flow is purpose-built for performers
Where it falls short
- Not commission-only in the strict sense: there is a membership cost before any booking
- Narrow to entertainment. A caterer or venue gets nothing here
- Contact details are gated until the platform decides, which slows the human conversation
- 4
Thumbtack
Real volume, but the charge lands on the lead, not on the booking. In a slow month you can spend meaningfully and book nothing.
- Best for
- Vendors with capacity to fill who can treat lead spend as an ad budget
- Cost
- Pay per lead or per contact, priced dynamically by category and market. Not tied to whether you win the job, and the per-lead price moves.
Strengths
- Large volume of local service demand across many categories
- You can start receiving leads quickly with no long contract
- Useful for filling genuinely empty dates fast
Where it falls short
- You pay for leads that never convert, which is the opposite of commission-only in the month that matters
- Lead quality is uneven and price shopping is common
- No booking, contract, or deposit tooling. It hands you a contact and stops
- 5
PartySlate
Best treated as a portfolio and brand surface for the luxury end, not as a booking engine.
- Best for
- High-end venues and designers who sell on visual portfolio
- Cost
- Membership or listing tiers rather than booking commission. Pricing is quoted on request, not published.
Strengths
- Beautiful presentation of real events, which matters at the luxury end
- Reaches planners and couples with larger budgets
- Good for credibility when a prospect is checking you out
Where it falls short
- Not commission-only. You pay to be listed regardless of outcome
- Attribution is hard, so proving it produced a booking is difficult
- Little operational tooling: no deposits, contracts, or calendar
Short version
If you only want corporate catering orders, ezCater is the cleanest pay-on-result deal here. If you are an entertainer, The Bash is worth its membership. Treat Thumbtack as an ad budget rather than a commission model, because you pay per lead either way. If you want the booking software and the commission model in one place, and you do not want your own direct clients taxed, that is the case for Cenvi.
Questions vendors actually ask
What is the difference between commission-only and pay-per-lead?
Commission-only charges you a percentage when a booking closes, so a month with no bookings costs nothing. Pay-per-lead charges you when a customer contacts you, whether or not you win the job. Thumbtack is pay-per-lead. Cenvi and ezCater charge on the booking. In a slow season this difference is the entire decision.
Do these platforms take a cut of clients I brought myself?
Some do. Read the direct-booking terms specifically. On Cenvi, direct bookings are 5% on the free plan and 0% on paid plans, and the higher 10% rate applies only to bookings the marketplace sourced. On order marketplaces like ezCater, every order through the channel carries commission with no direct exemption.
Is commission-only cheaper than a monthly subscription?
At low or seasonal volume, yes, clearly. At high steady volume the math flips and a flat subscription like HoneyBook or Dubsado becomes cheaper as a share of revenue. Work out your own crossover: annual subscription cost divided by your commission rate gives the booking revenue at which the subscription starts winning.
How fast do I get paid?
Ask whether money settles to your own payment account or into a platform wallet. Cenvi uses Stripe Direct Charges, so booking payments settle to the vendor’s own connected Stripe account and the platform fee is taken on the charge. Marketplaces that hold funds and pay out on a schedule are giving you a working-capital problem in exchange for demand.
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Cenvi vs Eventbrite for a small festival
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