Skip to content
SONIVORGANIZER RESOURCES
Free planning calculator

Know your break-even.
Before you commit.

Model a real planning question with editable assumptions. Estimate how many paid tickets cover your costs, including complimentary entries and variable expenses. Nothing is saved or sent to SONIV.

Open the calculator ↓First event? Start here

Your working budget

Set your assumptions

All figures are estimates in USD. This planner assumes paid ticket face value contributes to the organizer's gross ticket revenue. It excludes taxes, payment holds, chargebacks and settlement differences unless you enter them as costs.

Ticket revenue—Gross face-value sales
Estimated costs—Including — reserve
Estimated net—Before taxes and excluded items
Paid tickets to break even——

Sellable capacity: — paid tickets. Projected net at sellout: —. The calculation treats fixed costs plus reserve as payable regardless of turnout.

How the break-even calculation works

First, add fixed costs such as venue hire, guarantees and production. Apply your contingency percentage to those fixed costs. Subtract variable per-attendee costs from the ticket price, leaving a contribution toward fixed expenses.

Break-even paid tickets = (fixed costs + contingency reserve) ÷ (ticket price − variable cost per ticket)

We round up to the next whole ticket. If that number exceeds sellable capacity, the model flags the budget as unworkable under the entered assumptions.

Important exclusions

This is an event planning model, not a checkout quote, tax forecast, legal opinion or guarantee of organizer payout. Add relevant withholding, refund exposure, local admissions taxes, staffing overtime, alcohol minimums or merchant costs to your own budget. Attendee service fees are not included as organizer face-value income.

Need the buyer-side fees?

Use our SONIV ticket fee explorer to model the separate buyer service fee. Then try the fictional-event Studio to preview sales and admission workflows.