Compare · Verified August 2026
FestKit vs ShowUp.
ShowUp is vendor management for markets and series events: one application across many dates, per-date booth inventory, and vendor payments.
ShowUp is free to organizers, and that is a real advantage — there is no subscription to justify and nothing to cancel in the off season.
The cost does not disappear, it moves: ShowUp adds a 5% fee to vendor purchases at checkout. On a $22,000 season that is about $1,100 paid by your vendors, against $440 through FestKit's 2% — plus our $549 for the event. So ShowUp is cheaper for you and more expensive for the people you are trying to keep, and the gap grows with every date you sell.
Published pricing
| Plan | Subscription | Fee on vendor payments |
|---|---|---|
| FestKit Spotlight | $549/yr per event | 2% |
| FestKit Showcase | $1,249/yr per event | 2% |
| ShowUp Free | $0 for organizers | 5% added to vendor purchases at checkout |
ShowUp charges organizers nothing. Its published fees are 5% added at checkout on vendor purchases and $0.50 per attendee ticket, plus standard Stripe processing (2.9% + 30¢). The row below shows who actually pays.
All-in cost for a market season
A recurring market: 40 stalls at $25 a date across a 22-week season, or $22,000 in vendor payments per year. On FestKit the whole season is one event on one plan. Card-processing fees (Stripe or equivalent) apply on every platform and are excluded on all rows.
| Platform | Subscription | Platform fees | All-in / year |
|---|---|---|---|
| FestKit Spotlightone event covers all 22 dates | $549 | $440 (2%) | $989 |
| ShowUp (free plan)organizer pays $0 | $0 | $1,100 (5%, paid by vendors) | $1,100 |
FestKit's beta discount takes 30% off year one, dropping Spotlight from $549 to $384 — so your first year lands at $824 all-in.
Where FestKit wins
- Lower total cost to your market: about $989 all-in against $1,100 taken out of vendor pockets — and 2% versus 5% widens with every dollar you sell.
- Vendor goodwill: your stallholders are not surcharged 5% for the privilege of paying you.
- Deeper vendor operations: separate application forms and booth offers, approval-first or pay-at-application workflows, deposits, added charges, vendor history, and organizer ratings.
- A georeferenced site plan on a satellite basemap rather than a drag-and-drop floor plan, so your public map puts a shopper's own location on it.
- A shared operational layer for organizers, vendors, staff, and attendees, not only vendor applications and payments.
Where ShowUp is a better fit
- Your out-of-pocket cost is zero, which is hard to argue with for a brand-new or very small market.
- You would rather pass platform costs to vendors than carry a subscription line yourself.
- You want attendee ticketing on the same platform at $0.50 a ticket.
ShowUp pricing verified August 2026 from their pricing page. Vendors change pricing; if something here is out of date, tell us and we'll fix it.
Beta · 30% off year one
Run the numbers on your event.
14-day free trial, no credit card required. Create your account and see the whole thing with your own site plan.