Meetup was the go-to platform for community events for nearly two decades. But since its acquisition by Bending Spoons in 2024, the platform has changed direction, and many organisers are looking for alternatives. If that's you, here's a comprehensive look at the best free options in 2026.
Why organisers are leaving Meetup
In January 2024, Bending Spoons acquired Meetup and applied its usual playbook: massive staff cuts and aggressive monetisation. The result is an unprecedented double paywall.
Organisers pay a subscription to keep their group active. Members also pay, around $2 per RSVP, or a Meetup+ subscription at ~$5/month for unlimited RSVPs. Both sides of the table pay.
Meanwhile, the public API has been heavily restricted, making integration with other tools difficult. And the interface, though revamped, still falls short of current standards.
Meetup's community model remains sound. It's the pricing and experience that have become the problem.
What to look for in an alternative
Before choosing, ask yourself the right questions:
- Persistent community or one-off events? Do your attendees join a group, or do they sign up for an isolated event?
- True cost: free for the organiser? Commission on paid events? Hidden fees for members?
- Event page quality: does the link you share make people want to register?
- Registration friction: how many steps between "I see the event" and "I'm registered"?
- Data export: can you retrieve your member and attendee lists?
- Discovery: does the platform bring you visibility, or does distribution rely entirely on you?
The alternatives
The Playground, community first, built in Europe
The Playground takes Meetup's community model, a persistent community where members stay from one event to the next, and pairs it with a modern experience and total free pricing.
The principle: when someone registers for your event, they automatically join your community. After the event, they see the next meetups, the other members, your group's identity. The connection doesn't break.
Pricing: 0% commission, no subscription. Only standard Stripe fees (~2.9% + €0.30) apply on paid events. The full amount goes to the organiser.
The European angle. This matters more than you might think:
- Designed in France, with a native bilingual FR/EN interface
- Infrastructure hosted in Europe: application on Vercel EU region, database on Neon EU region
- Data stored in the European Union. No transatlantic transfer by default
- Data protection built in from the ground up, not bolted on as a GDPR afterthought
- Support in French and English
For organisers based in Europe, this is a concrete advantage: your data and your attendees' data stay within the same legal framework. No Privacy Shield debates, no adequacy decision uncertainties.
The limitations: smaller user base than Meetup (distribution relies on the organiser), email-only notifications for now (no SMS/WhatsApp), young platform with fewer advanced features than established players.
Luma, the event page benchmark
Luma set a new standard for the event page. Polished design, registration in seconds (email only, no account), automatic calendar integration. It has become the go-to tool for tech events and conferences.
Pricing: free for organisers. 5% commission on paid events (on top of Stripe fees). To remove that commission: Luma Plus at $59/month.
Luma has evolved with Calendars (a public page listing your events) and Calendar Memberships (membership tiers). It's a step towards persistence, but the Calendar shows your events without displaying your members. The sense of belonging to a group is missing.
The limitations: no real community page with visible members, commission that adds up on recurring paid events, US-based infrastructure.
Eventbrite, ticketing for large events
Eventbrite is a ticketing platform, not a community platform. The distinction matters.
Pricing: free for free events. For paid events, Eventbrite charges fees that vary by region. In Europe, expect roughly 3.7% + €0.79 per ticket (the exact model has changed several times in recent years).
Eventbrite excels at large-scale one-off events: conferences, expos, launch parties. The ticketing is robust, the check-in system is mature, and the platform offers good visibility for big public events.
The limitations: no community model whatsoever. Each event is an isolated transaction. No group page, no persistent members. If you're looking to build a lasting community, Eventbrite isn't designed for that.
Discord / Slack, conversation, not events
Discord and Slack are excellent community communication tools. Many organisers use them as a complement, and that's exactly the right use.
Pricing: free (with paid plans for advanced features).
These platforms offer what event tools don't: ongoing conversation between events. Discussions, resource sharing, mutual support.
The limitations: they are not event platforms. No shareable event page, no registration system, no calendar integration, no capacity management or waitlist. If you announce your events only on Discord or Slack, you lose conversion. A message in a channel doesn't have the same impact as a dedicated event page with a registration button.
The right use: Discord/Slack as a complement to an event platform, not a replacement.
Quick comparison
| The Playground | Luma | Eventbrite | Discord/Slack | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free (organiser) | Yes | Yes | Yes (free events) | Yes |
| Paid event commission | 0% | 5% (or $59/month) | ~3.7% + €0.79 | N/A |
| Persistent community | Yes | Partial (Calendar) | No | Yes (conversation) |
| Event page | Yes | Yes (the best) | Yes | No |
| Low-friction registration | Magic link / OAuth | Email only | Account or email | N/A |
| Public discovery | Yes (directory) | Yes (Discover) | Yes (large events) | No |
| Infrastructure | Europe (EU) | United States | United States | United States |
| Data export | CSV | CSV | CSV | No (or limited) |
How to choose
The choice depends on what you're building:
You're building a lasting local community. You want your attendees to come back from one event to the next, with no commission, and your data in Europe → The Playground
You organise one-off premium events. Event page quality is decisive, you need SMS/WhatsApp, community isn't your priority → Luma
You're hosting a large public event with ticketing. Conference, expo, 200+ attendees, you need a robust ticketing system → Eventbrite
You already have an active community on Discord/Slack. Keep it for conversation, but use a dedicated platform for your events
The fundamental question isn't "which platform has the most features". It's "do your attendees come back after the first event?". If the answer is no, maybe it's the tool that needs changing.