Meetup Alternatives for Organizers and Members

Meetup still works as a place to find local groups and run events. Bending Spoons, the Italian company that also owns Evernote, completed its purchase of Meetup on January 24, 2024, when the platform counted more than 60 million members and 330,000 active groups in 184 countries. Members pay nothing to join a group or RSVP; only organizers can put a price on an event.

Organizers are the ones who leave. The free Starter plan is only for first-time organizers and caps you at one group, two in-person events a month and 10 attendees each, per Meetup's help article on free organizing. Online events, recurring events and dues need Standard, which covers up to three groups, or Pro for whole networks. Standard costs from $29.99 a month, $99.99 per 6 months or $174.99 a year, and Pro from $55 per group a month; prices vary by country. The six options below cost less, or nothing, for most groups.

Prices below are as of November 8, 2026. Our method is on How we review tools.

Quick comparison

Heylo

Heylo is the nearest thing to Meetup's group model without the organizer fee. Each group gets a member directory, group chats, events with RSVPs and built-in payment collection, and the free Base plan has no cap on members, admins or events. Groups also appear in Heylo's discovery listings and in search engines, which helps new people find you.

Paid plans are per group and mostly lower the payment fee and raise email limits. The Heylo pricing page lists Plus at $19 a month, Pro at $59 and Business at $199, with no contracts, plus an Organization plan for multi-chapter clubs.

Best for: Running clubs, social groups and hobby communities that want members, chat and dues in one place.

Pricing:

• Base: $0, payment fee 5% + $0.59, 500 email blasts a month
• Plus: $19 a month per group, fee 4% + $0.49
• Pro: $59 a month per group, fee 2% + $0.29
• Business: $199 a month per group, fee 1% + $0.10
• Organization: custom price

Watch out for:

• The free plan keeps only 30 days of search history and charges 5% plus $0.59 on each payment, which adds up for a group that collects dues.
• It has a smaller audience than Meetup, so expect to bring your existing members rather than be found by strangers.

Official site: Heylo.

Luma

Luma builds clean event pages with registration, guest lists and invites that hosts share as a single link. Free hosting covers unlimited events and guests, so a monthly meetup that never sells a ticket costs nothing to run.

It is especially common for tech and startup events, and our Shapr alternatives guide covers it as a professional networking option. Sell a ticket on the free tier and Luma keeps 5%. The Plus tier, $59 a month on a yearly bill, removes that cut and lifts weekly invites tenfold to 5,000.

Best for: Organizers of talks, workshops and dinners who want a sharp event page and a following.

Pricing:

• Free tier: no charge for any number of events or guests; 5% of each paid ticket; 500 invites weekly
• Plus: $59 per month, paid yearly; no platform cut; 5,000 invites weekly
• Card processing by Stripe billed separately

Watch out for:

• The 5% fee on paid tickets in the free plan sits on top of Stripe's card fee, so a $20 ticket loses $1 before card costs.

Official site: Luma.

Eventbrite

Eventbrite is the ticketing choice when a Meetup event turns into something people pay for, such as a conference, a class or a festival. Free events cost nothing to publish, with no limit on how many you list.

For paid tickets in the US, the Eventbrite organizer pricing page lists a 3.7% plus $1.79 service fee per ticket and 2.9% payment processing per order. Buyers pay the service fee by default, or you can absorb it. Eventbrite Pro adds email marketing from $15 a month.

Best for: Organizers selling tickets to one-off or larger public events.

Pricing:

• Free events: no fees
• Paid tickets (US): 3.7% + $1.79 per ticket, plus 2.9% processing per order
• Eventbrite Pro email marketing: from $15 a month
• Eventbrite Ads: priced separately

Watch out for:

• It is built to sell tickets to single events, not to run an ongoing group with members between events.
• Fees on a cheap ticket are steep: on a $10 ticket, the service fee alone is about $2.16.

Official site: Eventbrite.

Partiful

Partiful makes free event pages for parties, clubs and small community nights. You create a free event page, share the link by text, and guests RSVP without installing anything. Hosts can send Text Blasts to everyone on the list, and organizer profiles let regulars follow your next event.

Paid events are possible too. Per the Partiful fees article, free tickets carry no fees for anyone, and on paid tickets the host can absorb the fee or pass it to guests. Ticket tiers, promo codes and capacity limits are built in.

Best for: Hosts of small, casual gatherings whose guests live in group chats.

Pricing:

• Event pages and RSVPs: free
• Free tickets: no fees
• Paid tickets: fee depends on event size and ticket price

Watch out for:

• No fixed ticket fee is published, and service fees are not refundable.
• It is invite-first, so strangers searching for a hobby group will not find you the way they do on Meetup.

Official site: Partiful.

Bumble For Friends

Bumble For Friends is for the member side of Meetup: people who joined groups mainly to make friends in a new city. It matches you with people nearby by interests, and a version released in the US in September 2025 added Groups, built on technology from Geneva, which Bumble bought in 2024.

It started in 2023 as a separate app from Bumble's dating product. Bumble Bizz, the old career mode, is being phased out in every country, so friend-finding is where Bumble now points users who are not dating, per Bumble's Bizz availability note.

Best for: Newcomers to a city who want to meet a few people before joining bigger groups.

Pricing:

• Free to download and use
• Paid features priced in the app; no public price list

Watch out for:

• Shifting to the standalone app is one-way for that account: BFF mode then disappears from Bumble itself.
• It is not built for organizers. You cannot run a public group with events the way you can on Meetup.

Official site: Bumble For Friends.

Founders Network

Founders Network replaces the startup meetups that fill Meetup's tech category with a vetted peer group. Founded in 2011, it is invite-only, takes no equity, and counts more than 600 tech founders, about 40 chapters, including a virtual one, and 100-plus events a year.

Dues are annual and set by stage: Launch for pre-revenue founders up to $10,000 in revenue or $100,000 raised, Scale up to $1 million in revenue, and Lead above that. The Founders Network homepage says its membership committee reviews applications by the last Friday of each month.

Best for: Tech founders who want confidential peer advice rather than open networking nights.

Pricing:

• Annual dues by funding or revenue stage; price on request
• Discounts for members of some VC firms and accelerators

Watch out for:

• You have to apply and wait for the monthly committee review, and dues are not published.
• It only serves tech founders. A hobby group or general professional circle has no place here.

Official site: Founders Network.

How to choose

When to stay with Meetup

Stay on Meetup if new members find your group through it. No alternative here has the same built-in audience of people browsing local groups by topic, which is why many organizers pay for Standard. If you run several groups, Standard covers up to three, and Pro adds unlimited groups and analytics, per the Standard organizer subscription page.

Frequently asked questions