Meetup, Eventbrite, Partiful, and Luma each do one slice well. GatherNearby brings local discovery, recurring community, and native bookings together — and stays independent while doing it.
GatherNearby is built for one thing: helping neighbors find each other and keep showing up. That means real local discovery, recurring classes and clubs, and checkout that actually works — without an organizer subscription, and without being sold to investors.
| Feature | GatherNearbyThat’s us | Meetup | Eventbrite | Partiful | Luma |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local discovery feed (find gatherings near you) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Limited | Limited |
| Built for recurring classes & clubs | Yes | Yes | Limited | No | Limited |
| Native paid bookings & checkout | Yes | No | Yes | Limited | Yes |
| No organizer subscription to host | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free events cost the host nothing | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Platform fee on paid tickets | 5% flat | — | 3.7% + $1.79 + 2.9% | Small (beta) | 5% (0% on Plus) |
| Member profiles & social graph | Yes | Limited | No | Limited | Limited |
| Classes, clubs & spaces in one home | Yes | Limited | No | No | No |
| Independent & founder-owned | Yes | No | No | No | No |
Each of these tools is genuinely good at something. Here's what they're great at — and where GatherNearby is built differently.
Recurring interest groups with a built-in audience — the original home for showing up week after week.
Meetup charges organizers a monthly subscriptionjust to run a group, and it's RSVP-only — there's no native way to take payment for a class or workshop. GatherNearby keeps the recurring-group rhythm, adds real checkout, and never charges hosts a subscription.
Selling tickets to big, one-off events with broad reach and serious registration tooling.
Its fees stack up — roughly 3.7% + $1.79 per ticket plus 2.9% per order, often 10%+ on a small ticket — and it's built for one-time events, not the weekly rhythm of local community. GatherNearby is a flat 5% and designed for gatherings that recur.
Free, playful invites to your own guest list, sent over text. Delightful for a house party.
Partiful is invite-first— your guests come from you, so there's no local audience to discover you, and paid ticketing is still in beta (collected via Venmo/Cash App/PayPal). GatherNearby helps neighbors who don't know you yet find you, and turns a one-off party into a recurring community.
Beautiful event pages and calendars for an audience you already have — a favorite of tech and startup events.
Luma is bring-your-own-crowd with limited local discovery, and paid events carry a 5% fee unless you upgrade to Luma Plus. GatherNearby adds true neighborhood discovery and a community layer so you grow past your existing list — at a flat 5%, no upsell.
Neighbors find your gatherings by browsing what’s happening near them — not just the list you already have.
Classes, clubs, and series that meet again and again — so one-off attendees become regulars.
Take bookings with Stripe and get paid to your bank. No host subscription, and free events stay free.
Bootstrapped and founder-owned. We build for hosts and neighbors, not to be flipped to a holding company.
Meetup and Eventbrite are both owned by the same company — Bending Spoons, the holding company that took Eventbrite private in 2026 and acquired Meetup in 2024. Partiful and Luma are venture-backed and built to chase scale.
GatherNearby is bootstrapped and founder-owned.When the platform you organize on gets sold, the fees and rules change. We're independent, and we plan to stay that way — building for hosts and neighbors first.
Browse what's happening near you, or start hosting in minutes. Free to attend, and free for hosts until you get paid.
Comparison reflects each platform's publicly listed features and pricing as of June 2026. Pricing and features change often — check each provider for current details. Meetup, Eventbrite, Partiful, and Luma are trademarks of their respective owners; GatherNearby is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.Sources: Eventbrite fees, Luma pricing, Meetup organizer pricing, Partiful fees.
