---
title: "Event Budget, Artist Costs and Brand Spend Tracking"
description: "You see what each act really costs and keep one budget your team trusts, then compare costs and ticket sales across events and with your last edition."
canonical: "https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/budget-and-costs"
---

Budget & costs

# Know what every act and event really costs

You see each act's all-in cost, and your whole team works from one budget.

A small team that works like a big one.

  [Get started free](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/registration) [Book a demo](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo)

- No credit card required
- The [Event Operating System](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system) on every plan, Free included
- Unlimited events with no monthly fee

     ![Ticket Fairy Event Operating System: Budget & costs](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-act-costs--spend.png)

- The all-in cost of each act
- One budget for your whole team
- Your sales pace against your last edition

## See the all-in cost of each act

Each performer page shows what that act costs you: the fee, the agency fee on the offer, each trip, the hotel stay, per diems, backline and their share of hire, with a total for each currency.

Where a trip's cost or a stay's room rate is missing, you enter it once, and your budget and the show's settlement use the same figures.

- **All-in cost**: on each performer page
- **Each currency on its own**: a total for each currency
- **Same figures everywhere**: your budget and the settlement use the same costs

     ![Ticket Fairy Event Operating System: See the all-in cost of each act](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-act-costs--all-in-cost.png)

## Work from one budget your whole team trusts

Your event's Budget page and the Budget in the Event Operating System are the same budget, so your whole team sees the same figures.

You plan each section and record actual costs as they come in. Approved purchase orders, booking costs and ordered hire show as committed costs beside them. The artists and talent, sponsors, accessibility and traders sections each suggest a total from your own records.

- **Planned and actual**: the difference for each section
- **Committed costs**: purchase orders, bookings and ordered hire
- **Suggested totals**: from your acts, sponsors and traders

     ![Ticket Fairy Event Operating System: Work from one budget your whole team trusts](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-budget--budget.png)

## See how this year compares in your brand's costs

The Spend tab of your brand's Event Operations shows planned and recorded costs across your events for a period, by budget section and supplier, with the cost per person scanned in at the door.

On each event, Compared with last time shows tickets sold against your last edition at the same number of days before the start. After the event, it also shows no-shows and how fast people arrived.

- **Brand costs**: all your events in a period, by section and supplier
- **Cost per checked-in attendee**: from the people scanned in at your doors
- **Compared with last time**: on the event's Insights page and on Today

     ![Ticket Fairy Event Operating System: See how this year compares in your brand's costs](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-comparison--statistics.png)

## More on Budgets and Costs

See how your team does each job in the dashboard, set it up step by step and get answers to your questions.

- Budget & act costs

  ### [Spot an overspend before the invoices arrive](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/budget-and-costs/event-budget-and-artist-costs)

  Your team shares one event budget with planned against recorded costs, money committed to suppliers, suggested totals from your own records and the full cost of each act.
- Profit & cash flow

  ### [See each edition's profit and when cash runs tight](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/budget-and-costs/profit-and-cash-flow)

  You see costs across your brand's events and profit and loss for each edition and brand, with a cash forecast and each edition's pace against the last.

[Get started free](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/registration) [Book a demo](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/book-a-demo)

## See it in your dashboard

- ![Ticket Fairy dialog for a hotel room rate, with the rate a night, the currency and the hotel block](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-act-costs--enter-the-room-rate.png)
  *You enter a missing room rate once, and the act's cost, your budget and the settlement all use it.*
- ![Ticket Fairy purchase orders for an event, with a draft from a confirmed quote and an invoiced order](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-contracts--purchase-orders.png)
  *Every purchase order shows as a committed cost, and any invoice that does not match is flagged.*
- ![Ticket Fairy Compared with last time on the Today page, 12% ahead of last year at this point](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-comparison--on-today.png)
  *Your Today page shows how this year's sales compare with last year's at the same point.*
- ![Ticket Fairy Compared with last time after a summer festival, with tickets sold against the last edition](https://www.ticketfairy.com/embeds/posters/marketing-event-comparison--after-the-event.png)
  *After the show, see how this edition compared with the last, from tickets sold to how fast people arrived.*

## Plan your costs and compare your events

- ### All-in cost per act

  You see the fee, agency fee, travel, hotel, per diems, backline and hire for each act, and where each figure came from.
- ### Agency fees

  You can add the agency fee to an offer as an amount or a share of the fee, and it counts in the act's cost.
- ### One budget

  Your whole team works from the same budget on your event's Budget page and in the Event Operating System, with planned and actual costs by section.
- ### Committed costs

  Approved purchase orders, booking costs and ordered hire lines sit beside your plan.
- ### Payments due

  You see each deposit, balance and supplier payment by the date it is due.

  [Learn more about Contracts & payments](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/contracts-and-payments)
- ### Settlements

  Each show settles with the same costs you see in the act's all-in cost.
- ### Brand costs

  You can see planned and recorded costs across your brand's events for any period, by section and supplier.
- ### Compared with last time

  You see tickets sold, share of capacity and arrivals against your last edition.
- ### Staff and crew costs

  When you approve your crew's hours, their cost goes into the Budget at each shift's cost per hour, with the hours for each outside team.
- ### Budget by section, stage or day

  You can group your budget by your own sections, by stage or by show day.

## See your costs and compare your events step by step

- [See the all-in cost of each act on your event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/see-the-all-in-cost-of-each-act-on-your-event)
- [See what your brand spends across its events](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/see-what-your-brand-spends-across-its-events)
- [Compare your ticket sales with your last event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/compare-your-ticket-sales-with-your-last-event)
- [Raise purchase orders and track what your event owes](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/raise-purchase-orders-and-track-what-your-event-owes)
- [Settle a show with an artist after your event](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/settle-a-show-with-an-artist)
- [Approve the hours your event crew and volunteers worked](https://www.ticketfairy.com/guides/approve-the-hours-your-crew-and-volunteers-worked)

## Questions about Budgets and Costs

### Budget & costs

#### Are amounts in different currencies added together?

Not on an act's all-in cost or on your brand's Spend tab. Each currency has its own total there, and amounts are never converted or added across currencies.

#### Which event does Compared with last time use?

Ticket Fairy suggests your last edition: the same name without the year, about a year earlier, at the same venue. If you are an owner, admin or producer, you can choose another of your brand's events or turn the comparison off. Figures from another brand are never used.

#### Where does the cost per checked-in attendee come from?

From the actual costs your team records in each event's budget and the people scanned in at its doors. Only events with both count.

#### Do empty rooms in a hotel block count in an act's cost?

No. An act's cost includes only the nights and rooms of its own stay. You see the cost of empty rooms on the block itself.

#### Which stage and day does an act's fee go on?

When you group your budget by stage or by show day, an act with one set has their fee placed on that stage and day for you.

                [Previous **Contracts & payments**](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/contracts-and-payments) [Next **Venue operations**](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-operating-system/venue-operations)

See how the Ticket Fairy [ticketing platform for event organizers](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing/) helps you sell more tickets, with every feature, the pricing and the support you get.

Get started free and plan your next event today, or book a demo to see it on an event like yours.

## Start free with the Event Operating System

Sign up and plan your next event, from the first advance to show day.

The Event Operating System on every plan, Free included

Unlimited events with no monthly fee

Fai drafts the admin, and you approve it

   [Get started free](https://manage.ticketfairy.com/registration)

No credit card required

The Ticket Fairy, Inc. is a fintech company and technology platform. The Ticket Fairy, Inc. is not a bank, financial institution, or regulated financial services provider. Vault banking services are provided through regulated banking partners. Ticket Fairy Capital financing is provided by third-party private credit partners. The Ticket Fairy, Inc. does not make credit decisions, and all funding terms, approvals and conditions are determined by those lending partners.

Ticket Fairy is not a direct lender and does not make credit decisions. Ticket Fairy acts solely as a technology provider, connecting event businesses with third-party lending partners. All funding decisions, terms, and conditions are determined by the respective lending partners.

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This page is on Ticket Fairy, a ticketing, marketing and operations platform for live events and the venues that host them: festivals, club nights, concerts, conferences and tours, and night clubs, beach clubs and concert venues. It grows revenue with fan rewards that turn an audience into a sales channel, and runs the money side with payments and payouts, Vault business banking, and working capital advanced against ticket sales. [How Ticket Fairy ticketing works](https://www.ticketfairy.com/event-ticketing) · [Ticket Fairy for AI assistants](https://www.ticketfairy.com/llms.txt)