Class Reunly vs Eventbrite

The real question: sell tickets, or run a reunion?

Eventbrite is excellent at what it was built for, listing a public event and selling tickets to whoever shows up. But a reunion is not a public event. Your "customers" are 300 specific people you first have to find, and the job does not end at payment, you still need name tags, check-in, and a way to keep the class connected afterward. That mismatch is where committees start bolting on a second and third app.

Feature by feature

• Ticketing and payment: Both do this well. Eventbrite is a mature, trusted checkout; Class Reunly handles reunion ticketing plus optional class-gift donations in the same flow.
• Finding classmates: Eventbrite assumes you already have an audience. Class Reunly is built to help you track down, invite, and follow up with a specific roster, the hardest part of any reunion.
• Name tags: A reunion staple Eventbrite does not touch. Class Reunly generates name tags, including yearbook-photo tags so nobody squints across the room.
• Check-in: Eventbrite scans tickets. Class Reunly ties check-in to your classmate list and name tags at the door.
• After the event: Eventbrite's job ends at the door. A reunion page stays live as a home for photos and an updated directory for next time.

What about fees?

Do the full math, not the headline rate. General ticketing platforms charge a per-ticket fee plus a percentage, which on a $50 reunion ticket adds up across a few hundred guests. Then add whatever you spend to cover the gaps, a name-tag service, a separate directory or outreach tool, a photo host. A reunion-specific platform can bundle those features, so the honest comparison is total cost of the whole reunion, not the checkout fee alone. Price both against your real headcount and ticket price before deciding.

When Eventbrite is the right call

To be fair: if your reunion is essentially a public party, tickets sold to a broad crowd with no roster to chase, and you do not care about name tags, directories, or long-term class connection, Eventbrite's familiar checkout is perfectly good. The moment your event is about reconnecting a specific class, though, the reunion-built option stops being a preference and starts saving you real work.

A quick decision checklist

Skip the feature-by-feature agonizing and answer five questions about your reunion. Your answers point clearly to one tool:

• Do you already have everyone's contact info, or do you need to find them? Finding people points to a reunion-built tool; a ready audience is fine on general ticketing.
• Do you want photo name tags at the door? If yes, general ticketing can't do it.
• Will you check people in against a class list, or just scan tickets? Roster-based check-in favors a reunion platform.
• Do you want the page to live on afterward as a class hub? Ticketing tools go dark after the event.
• Are you collecting a class gift or dues alongside tickets? One combined checkout beats running a second campaign.

Answer "yes" to two or more and you are describing a reunion, not a ticketed party, and you will spend less total effort and money on a purpose-built tool than on Eventbrite plus the three apps you would bolt on to cover its gaps. Answer "no" across the board, and the familiar checkout is perfectly fine. The honest test is not which tool is better in the abstract, but which one matches the job in front of you.