When you’re trying to buy concert tickets online, there are so many options that all have different fees seemingly tacked on to your purchase right at the final moment of checkout, seriously increasing the cost and making you second guess your purchase. We completed over 30 hours of research about the best sites to buy concert tickets to once and for all determine the differences between each site, so you can settle on which one is best for you based on your need.
We’ll cover everything you need to know to choose the best site to buy concert tickets, including:
Let’s jump right in with how to choose the best website to buy concert tickets.
Did You Know
Which concert ticket website you pick really varies depending on whether you are a buyer of tickets or a seller. Here we’re ranking them for buyers, but if you’re a seller, check out our guide on the best ticket resale sites for sellers instead.
How to choose the best concert ticket site
When choosing a website for concert tickets, you need to evaluate how the fees are structured, what options you have with customer service, how good the buyer guarantees are for your tickets, and what areas the website serves. Here’s how we established our rankings and what you should be digging into when choosing a site.
Concert ticket buyer fees
The fees charged when buying concert tickets is not standardized, and varies a lot. Typically, buyers pay a service fee as a percentage of the cost of the ticket, and then sometimes additional smaller flat rate fees for things like instant digital downloads or shipping.
Many concert ticket sites are intentionally not transparent about their fees or upfront with them early on, which means when you get to the last stage of checkout, all of a sudden your $200 in tickets is costing you almost $300. These fees also range so much from site to site, coming in as low as no fees to 5%, but as high as 30-40% of the cost of the concert tickets.
Pro Tip
Always look at the fees before you choose a website, and opt for a site like TickPick which charges nothing to the buyers (as only the sellers have to pay a commission.
Buyer pool, ticket volume, and areas of service
When it comes to the number of available tickets to purchase and the areas of coverage, in general, the more people using a website each month, the more likely you will be to actually find concert tickets (and find more variety). Sellers like to use sites with more users because it drastically increases their chances of making sure the tickets actually sell by the day of the concert.
Our rankings of each concert site below indicate the “Ticket Volume”, by rating them from “Very High” to “Very Low”. Here’s what each of those rankings mean:
- Very High Volume = 100M+ monthly users
- High Volume = 10-100M monthly users
- Medium = 1-10M monthly users
- Low Volume = Under 1M monthly users
- Very Low Volume = Under 10K monthly users
Ticketmaster has the largest number of monthly users by far, but sites like StubHub, Vivid Seats, and SeatGeek also have lots of users and increase your chances to finding a greater variety of concert tickets to choose from.
Customer service options for buyers
Concert ticket websites have a bad reputation when it comes to customer service, but some sites are trying to stand out and do more for their users to ensure they get to their concerts with tickets that really work.
All these sites have some or all of these customer service options, so you should select a site based on which method(s) you prefer:
- Instant Chat - Immediate - online discussion
- Phone - Immediate - Discussion on a call with a real human
- FAQ - Immediate - Quick answers to common questions
- Email - ~2-7 days - Send a message and be contacted at a later date
- Contact Form - ~2-7 days - Fill out a form and be contacted at later date
Ticket guarantees, policies, and protections for buyers
Every site listed here offers some kind of ‘guarantee,’ which offers you a 100% refund of any money spent on their website if any of the following things happen:
- The tickets didn't come on time
- The tickets did didn’t get you into the concert
- Your seats were not as described or not in the correct area (ex. “unobstructed view”)
- The transaction wasn’t secure
- The concert was canceled
These guarantees help you feel better about making the purchase because you know you won’t be losing money, and don’t need to worry about anything fraudulent. These sites all have some form of this guarantee, but some stand out and go the extra mile for you.
Offers you concert discounts, promos, or a rewards program
Some (of the best) concert ticket sites will offer things like a rewards program, seasonal promotions, or discounts on concert tickets to try to incentivize you to use them. Make sure to look out for these so you can save money on the final total of your concert tickets.
These are some of the top concert ticket promos you can always access:
- Ticketmaster Ticket Deals - See their page of 2 for 1, Me+3 Packs, Tickets Under $40, or any other deals running at the time.
- VividSeats Rewards Program - Buy 10 tickets, and get your 11th ticket for free with this program.
- SeatGeek Deal Score - Tells you exactly how good a deal you’re getting when you buy a ticket (compared to similar ticket exchanges).
- TicketLiquidator Seasonal Sales & Coupons - Check out this page for promo codes and sales, like saving 15% off your next order.
- TicketCity Email List - Sign up for emails from TicketCity to receive exclusive discounts and promotions.
- TicketNetwork Promo Code - Enter “TNTIX25” into the promo code field at checkout to save $25 on any order of $150 or more.
10 best sites to buy concert tickets
We found all the best ticket sites for concerts and narrowed down the list to the top 10 based on how good they are overall for buying concert tickets. Because all these sites are unique, and what you’re looking for might really vary depending on the concert, make sure to look through all the sites and their differences to help you choose the best one based on your personal needs.
1. Ticketmaster
Buyer Fees:
Buyer Fees:
Seller Fees:
15%
Seller Fees:
15%
Ticket Availability:
Very High
Ticket Availability:
Very High
Buyer Guarantee:
Buyer Guarantee:
Support Methods:
Support Methods:
Top Countries:
US, Canada, UK, Mexico, Australia
Top Countries:
US, Canada, UK, Mexico, Australia
What We Like
Only place to get concert tickets at face value cost
Ticket exchanges can only be for original tickets, so they are virtually fraud-free
What We Don't Like
You can only buy Ticketmaster original concert tickets, not for any other concerts
Notoriously terrible customer service
Our Recommendation
Ticketmaster is the only resale site that also sells original concert tickets, so it's the best place to buy tickets for close to face value, or tickets that haven't been marked up to much bigger prices where sellers are trying to make a profit. It's best used if you care about total price, and you can set time aside to buy concert tickets the moment they go on sale (as this is likely your only chance to get them for that cost). However, Ticketmaster has terrible customer service, their site is full of bot traffic, and they have irregular and expensive buyer fees, so it's best used only if you have the patience to deal with all of these things.
2. TickPick
Buyer Fees:
Buyer Fees:
Seller Fees:
Seller Fees:
Ticket Availability:
Medium
Ticket Availability:
Medium
Buyer Guarantee:
Buyer Guarantee:
Support Methods:
Phone, Email, Contact Form, FAQ
Support Methods:
Phone, Email, Contact Form, FAQ
Top Countries:
USA, Canada, UK, Mexico, India
Top Countries:
USA, Canada, UK, Mexico, India
What We Like
No buyer fees added at any time
Price match concert tickets with Best Price Guarantee
Has a great app
What We Don't Like
Not as popular of a site yet (less sellers)
Proving issues with concert tickets can be timely
Our Recommendation
On TickPick, it's only sellers that have to pay the fees, so no fees are added to your purchase at any time during checkout, which makes this site one of the best options for concert tickets if you care about getting the bottom line lowest price for your tickets. However, it's still growing in popularity, so there aren't as many sellers on this site as more popular resale sites like StubHub or Vivid Seats, so you may have more limited options for choosing your concert tickets.
3. StubHub
What We Like
The most sellers of all concert ticket resale sites
Excellent customer service and self-serve resources
Buyer Guarantee is top-notch
What We Don't Like
Buyer fees are some of the highest, and irregular
Fewer options when events are postponed
Our Recommendation
StubHub will offer you the most options when choosing your concert tickets, as it has the biggest number of sellers and users overall, so if your priority is choosing the best possible tickets for what you're looking for, this is the best option. But to go with that great variety of choice, StubHub will drop 30-40% fess on top of your ticket cost, so it is not the best option if you're prioritizing getting the lowest bottom-line price.
4. Vivid Seats
Buyer Fees:
Buyer Fees:
Seller Fees:
Seller Fees:
Ticket Availability:
High
Ticket Availability:
High
Buyer Guarantee:
Buyer Guarantee:
Support Methods:
Instant Chat, Phone, Contact Form, FAQ
Support Methods:
Instant Chat, Phone, Contact Form, FAQ
Top Countries:
USA, Canada, Philippines, Mexico, UK
Top Countries:
USA, Canada, Philippines, Mexico, UK
What We Like
More options for tickets because it has many sellers
Fantastic customer service
‘Buy 10 get 1 free’ Rewards Program
What We Don't Like
Whopping 32% buyer fees are some of the highest out there
Our Recommendation
Use VividSeats as your standard or go-to place to check first, as they have many options for concert tickets, a great all-around user experience, site, and app, and the rewards program will get you free tickets if you use it frequently. Be weary of the really high service fee though, as this will increase the bottom line price, so if getting the cheapest tickets possible is at the top of your list of priorities, this might not be the best option.
5. TicketNetwork
Buyer Fees:
None, but ticket prices are inflated
Buyer Fees:
None, but ticket prices are inflated
Seller Fees:
15%
Seller Fees:
15%
Ticket Availability:
Medium
Ticket Availability:
Medium
Buyer Guarantee:
Buyer Guarantee:
Support Methods:
Phone, Email, FAQ
Support Methods:
Phone, Email, FAQ
Top Countries:
US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Italy
Top Countries:
US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Italy
What We Like
No buyer fees added on (but prices seem to be inflated)
Frequent promos on concert tickets
Good customer service
What We Don't Like
Guarantee and refund policies are below average
Mid-range amount of ticket options and sellers
No real-time updates for inventory
Our Recommendation
When shopping on TicketNetwork, you'll see they advertise no buyer fees, so what you see as you shop is the bottom line price you will pay, and you may get your concert tickets cheaper because of that. However, our research indicates that concert ticket prices are inflated, which means the service fee is baked into the final cost. But, this is still a great site to check out and compare final costs with some of the more popular sites if you're prioritizing lower prices, because with a promo, you may still save some money when it's all said and done.
6. Ticket Liquidator
Buyer Fees:
31%
Buyer Fees:
31%
Seller Fees:
15%
Seller Fees:
15%
Ticket Availability:
Low
Ticket Availability:
Low
Buyer Guarantee:
Buyer Guarantee:
Support Methods:
Phone, Email, FAQ
Support Methods:
Phone, Email, FAQ
Top Countries:
US, Israel. Canada, Germany, Puerto Rico
Top Countries:
US, Israel. Canada, Germany, Puerto Rico
What We Like
You don't have to deal with sellers directly
Constant seasonal sales and concert ticket coupons
Guarantee, refund policies, and customer service are all good
What We Don't Like
Generally high buyer fees at 31%
Less sellers and number of users means fewer options for concert tickets
Our Recommendation
TicketLiquidator is a good option to try to find a deal, as their seasonal sales and coupons are almost certain to knock some money off the final price, which might counter-balance the relatively high service fees. The site is best used to compare the bottom line price to similar tickets on other more popular sites while using a coupon to see if you can save some money.
7. SeatGeek
Buyer Fees:
Ranges from 34-44%
Buyer Fees:
Ranges from 34-44%
Seller Fees:
Seller Fees:
Ticket Availability:
High
Ticket Availability:
High
Buyer Guarantee:
Buyer Guarantee:
Support Methods:
Instant Chat, Phone Number, Contact Form, FAQ
Support Methods:
Instant Chat, Phone Number, Contact Form, FAQ
Top Countries:
US, Canada, Mexico, UK, India
Top Countries:
US, Canada, Mexico, UK, India
What We Like
Huge volume of sellers offering more options for concert tickets
Unique partnerships with certain venues
What We Don't Like
Extremely high buyer fees ranging from 34-44%
Mobile app doesn't work as well as the site
Our Recommendation
SeatGeek's frequent promotions and partnerships with certain venues may be your opportunity to get a discounted price for great concert tickets, so it's best for these specific situations where you can find a great deal. But with their extremely high 34-44% fees for buyers, it's not the best site if you are prioritizing the overall cost of your tickets.
8. TicketSwap
Buyer Fees:
Buyer Fees:
Seller Fees:
Seller Fees:
Ticket Availability:
Medium
Ticket Availability:
Medium
Buyer Guarantee:
Buyer Guarantee:
Support Methods:
Instant Chat, Phone, Contact Form, FAQ
Support Methods:
Instant Chat, Phone, Contact Form, FAQ
Top Countries:
Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany
Top Countries:
Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany
What We Like
Resale markups price is capped at 20% of original price
Always valid tickets because of Secure Swap system
Lowest seller commissions will attract more sellers
What We Don't Like
Not as many sellers using this platform yet
Refund timeline is long
Our Recommendation
TicketSwap is one of the best ways to get the cheapest final price for concert tickets as a buyer because the capped markup means tickets can't be listed for outrageous prices, and the 5% fee means very minimal costs are added on at the end of checkout. Right now, the site is best used for concerts in Europe as this is where the site is the most popular, so it's not the best option if you want to look through a wide variety of options for your concert tickets to have your choice of seats, as you definitely won't find as many options here.
9. TicketCity
Buyer Fees:
27% + $7.50 delivery fee
Buyer Fees:
27% + $7.50 delivery fee
Seller Fees:
Offer made to seller case-by-case
Seller Fees:
Offer made to seller case-by-case
Ticket Availability:
Medium
Ticket Availability:
Medium
Buyer Guarantee:
Buyer Guarantee:
Support Methods:
Instant Chat, Phone, Email, FAQ
Support Methods:
Instant Chat, Phone, Email, FAQ
Top Countries:
US, Australia, Canada, Germany, UK
Top Countries:
US, Australia, Canada, Germany, UK
What We Like
Regularly discounts on concert tickets
Mid-range buyer fees at 27%
Wonderful customer service
What We Don't Like
Limited options because sellers don't sell directly on the site
Volume of buyers and sellers is currently quite low
Our Recommendation
Because sellers don't list their concert tickets directly and you're purchasing from the website itself, you won't find a lot of variety in tickets or their costs here, so this site is best used as a backup to compare to other more popular sites, as you might find a cheaper overall price with their slightly lower fees and frequent concert ticket discounts.
10. viagogo
Buyer Fees:
Buyer Fees:
Seller Fees:
Seller Fees:
Ticket Availability:
Medium
Ticket Availability:
Medium
Buyer Guarantee:
Buyer Guarantee:
Support Methods:
Phone, Email, Contact Form, FAQ
Support Methods:
Phone, Email, Contact Form, FAQ
Top Countries:
Brazil, Argentina, US, Czech Republic, Spain
Top Countries:
Brazil, Argentina, US, Czech Republic, Spain
What We Like
More worldwide concert coverage outside the U.S.
Also sells original tickets
Mid-range 24-28% buyer fees
What We Don't Like
Subpar refund policies and buyer guarantee
Comparatively timely process for refunds and to resolve issues with concert tickets
Our Recommendation
If you're looking for concert tickets for events outside the US, viagogo is a great option, and is likely to have more ticket availability. If your top priority is customer service or ensuring your issues are resolved quickly and to your satisfaction (for example if you plan on using the site multiple times for multiple events), then this wouldn't be the best option.
FAQs about concert ticket websites
Still have questions about how concert ticket websites work? Here are the answers to frequently asked questions about buying concert tickets online.
Is buying resale concert tickets legal?
Buying concert tickets on websites that resell them is completely legal, and there’s no legal reason not to do it (for any typical ticket exchange). But each site has its own policies and terms of use that - if you violate - you could be banned from using them (as a buyer or a seller).
Are concert ticket sites safe for buyers to use?
Concert ticket websites are very safe to buy from because all these websites offer guarantees to their buyers that promise a 100% refund if your tickets don’t work, were misrepresented, or don’t get you into the concert. Many of these websites can also verify the legitimacy of tickets in real time when sellers list them, so the risks are very low.
What’s the difference between an original concert ticket and a resale ticket?
Original tickets come from fewer places (like Ticketmaster), and typically there is only one institution that has the rights to sell tickets to the concert. The prices are decided by event organizers, and then put up for sale all at once for a particular venue. Concert ticket prices are also often more standard based on the sections in a venue, for example, all upper bowl tickets will cost the same amount, or there’s a standard cost for all general admission tickets.
A concert resale ticket comes from secondary ticket market websites (like StubHub or Vivid Seats) where a person who purchased an original ticket can list their ticket for any sale price they want and try to sell it to a new buyer. This mostly happens when sellers can no longer attend the concert, they purchased different tickets to the concert or changed their mind about their seats, or they are trying to make a profit from their tickets (usually for sold out or in-demand concerts).
Why do the concert ticket fees vary so much (even on the same site)?
Ticket websites for concerts each have a unique system and policy for what they want to charge as their service fee, and because one website (Ticketmaster) has a virtual monopoly on selling all original concert tickets, these websites can really charge anything they want to, and there’s not much you can do other than choosing the site you buy concert tickets from carefully, and make sure you’re very aware of what the fees will be.
TicketSwap only charges buyers a 5% fee, and TickPick has no buyer fees whatsoever (the sellers pay a standard 15% commission). These two sites are the only sites to buy concert tickets from with transparent and standard buyer fees under 24%! All other sites charge fees over 24% and / or have fees that inexplicably range in their percentage.
What recourse do I have if the concert is canceled?
Review the guarantee the site is offering you to determine whether you need to take any action. All of these sites offer a full refund for canceled concerts (or a replacement ticket for a future concert if it was postponed), but some offer the refund automatically without you needing to do anything. For others, you may need to get in contact with customer service to receive your refund.
5 tips for getting the cheapest concert tickets
If you’re going to move forward with using one of these sites for concert tickets, check out these strategies that might help you save money by the time you get to the final stage of checkout.
1. Buy concert tickets the day they’re on sale, or the day of the concert
The best way to pay the lowest price for concert tickets is to buy the original ticket yourself, because the concert ticket resale sites will more than likely be marked up from the original cost. To get these, you’ll need to be quick, and try to buy the tickets the day of the concert.
Alternatively, you can wait until the very last minute - like the day of the concert. Sellers will begin to lower their prices as the concert date looms closer because they want to make sure they actually sell them before the concert starts (when the tickets no longer hold any value). You will risk not going to the concert, but this tactic works well for sold out events where the tickets are very in demand and typically expensive.
2. Look for comparable seats in the same section
When you find tickets that seem right, use the seat map to find similar tickets in the same row or section. When listing their tickets, sellers will often look at tickets like theirs and then list their tickets for $5-10 cheaper per ticket, thinking you will be more likely to buy theirs than the ones next to them. Look around the section you’re interested in to try to find concert tickets that are essentially the same, but cheaper.
Pro Tip
Remember to keep the service fees in mind: because you are paying a service fee in addition to the cost of the concert ticket, $10 more on a website that charges a 40% service fee is actually $14 more per ticket.
3. Search for the same concert tickets on another site
When you’ve chosen your exact tickets, try looking through some of the alternatives we listed here to see if you can find identical concert tickets cheaper. How is this possible? Because a lot of sellers will list their concert tickets on more than one website to increase their chances of selling them. Because the service fees across these sites vary so drastically, the final price can be very different from site to site.
4. Search for concert ticket discounts and promos before checkout
When you get to the final stage of checkout, check the website for discounts or promotions for your purchase. Many concert ticket sites offer this but won’t make it obvious to you during the checkout. Check the footer of the website or the homepage near the top - these are the most common locations to find promo codes.
5. Try the Best Price Guarantee on Tick Pick
The last thing you can do to make sure you’re getting the best price is try Tick Pick’s Best Price Guarantee. They are offering 110% of your purchase in TickPick credit on your account if you find the same seats on another one of these websites (or any ticketing site) within 30 minutes of placing your order. So it’s a good idea to double check TickPick and make sure you really have the lowest price.
Pro Tip
Even if you aren’t choosing TickPick as your final site because you found the tickets cheaper somewhere else, you could still buy the tickets on TickPick, and then initiate a claim for a refund by showing them you found them cheaper somewhere else (just make sure you read the Guarantee thoroughly to ensure you qualify). If you pull this off, you’re basically looking at future free tickets on TickPick.
How we completed our concert ticket website research
Techboomers has been helping our users learn how to use popular sites and apps for years, but learning about the concert ticket industry and its websites was a huge challenge, as there are many nuances to the way concert ticket websites are set up, and especially the ways they structure their fee systems. So it was no easy task to compile all this information into separate guides for buyers and for sellers to help you find the best deals and ticket availability for the concerts you want to go to.
To get this guide to concert ticket sites together, we completed over 30 painstakingly detailed hours of thorough research to understand everything we possibly can about how these sites work, and try to establish real rankings to show how they stack up against one another - in this case, as the best websites to buy concert tickets. And though there are other sites you could use, we tried to narrow the list down to only sites that we think are genuinely useful to buy concert tickets, and will stand behind their service so you have a good experience while using them.
We went so deep into these sites that we even tried to buy concert tickets for the same event in different locations and different venues to verify the actual fee amounts because it’s so hard to find accurate information about service fees - even from the sites themselves.
We tried to be as informed as we could when rating these websites based on what they offer you, and feel we were able to do this well knowing so much about what the baselines are within the industry. So we were aware of what stands out (and what doesn’t) when it comes to getting you the best concert tickets.
That a wrap on our comparison of the best concert ticket sites for buyers. If you’re also thinking about reselling concert tickets on sites like this, check out our guide on the best concert ticket sites for sellers, where the rankings are different based on which ones are better as a seller. And if you want to learn more about how some of these concert sites stack up against each other more directly, check out our breakdown of StubHub vs Ticketmaster.