You just agreed to plan the reunion. Congratulations. First question from the group chat: "What are we using to collect RSVPs and payments?"

And now you're staring at a browser with six tabs open wondering which tool is actually going to make your life easier — and which one is going to create a whole new set of problems you didn't sign up for.

This post is the honest breakdown. No hype, no spin — just what each option actually does, what it costs, where it shines, and where it falls short for reunion organizers specifically. By the end you'll know exactly which tool fits your situation.

The Options on the Table

The tools reunion organizers actually reach for — in order of how often we see them:

  1. Spreadsheets + Venmo/Zelle/PayPal
  2. Eventbrite
  3. Facebook Events
  4. Class Creator / Reunionware
  5. MyReunite

Let's go through each one honestly.

Option 1: Spreadsheets + Venmo/Zelle/PayPal

Who uses this: Almost every first-time organizer. It's free, it's familiar, and it feels like the obvious starting point.

How it works: You create a Google Sheet to track RSVPs. You post your Venmo or Zelle handle in the Facebook group and ask people to pay and include their name in the memo. You manually match payments to names. You update the spreadsheet. You chase the people who said they paid but don't appear in your history. You do this for four months.

What it costs: Nothing upfront. The real cost is your time and your sanity.

Where it breaks down:

Venmo and Zelle have no way to tie a payment to a specific event or ticket type. Someone sends you $45 with the memo "reunion" and you have no idea if that's one ticket or two, which event they're coming to, or whether the other $45 they owe for the Saturday night dinner is coming separately.

The spreadsheet becomes the source of truth — and it's only as accurate as the last time you updated it at 11pm after manually cross-referencing 47 payment notifications. Miss a payment, fat-finger a name, accidentally delete a row — and now you have a guest at the door who paid and isn't on the list.

And then there's the chasing. "Hey, just checking if you sent payment yet" sent individually to 30 people is not a system. It's a part-time job you didn't apply for.

Verdict: Free to start, expensive to maintain. Works for groups under 20 people with tight existing relationships. Falls apart fast at scale.

Option 2: Eventbrite

Who uses this: Organizers who want something more professional than a spreadsheet and recognize Eventbrite as a trusted, established name.

How it works: You create an event listing on Eventbrite, set ticket prices, and share the link. Guests purchase tickets through Eventbrite's checkout flow. You manage attendees through their organizer dashboard and get paid after the event.

What it costs: Eventbrite's 2026 US fee structure combines a service fee of 3.7% + $1.79 per ticket, plus a separate 2.9% payment processing fee per order. On a $50 reunion ticket, that's roughly $5.09 in total fees — typically passed to the buyer and visible at checkout. There's no fee cap, so fees scale with no ceiling. Free events carry no fee.

It's also worth noting that Bending Spoons acquired Eventbrite in early 2026. The platform's fees haven't changed dramatically yet, but Bending Spoons has a documented pattern of lifting monetization on acquired products over time — something organizers planning future reunions should keep in mind.

What Eventbrite does genuinely well:

Eventbrite is a powerful, feature-rich platform and it's earned its reputation. It offers a professional event page builder, online registration, payment collection, reserved seating, timed entry, promo codes, and a solid check-in app with QR scanning, contactless tap-to-pay, and offline capability. Its marketing suite includes email marketing tools, TikTok promotion integration, and Eventbrite Ads. And its marketplace of 90M+ monthly buyers gives public events real discovery potential — people browsing Eventbrite can find and buy tickets to events they didn't know about.

For concert promoters, conference organizers, workshop facilitators, and festival producers, Eventbrite is a genuinely excellent tool.

Where it breaks down for reunion organizers:

The core mismatch is this: Eventbrite is built for public events trying to reach new audiences. A reunion is the opposite — you already know exactly who you're inviting and you're not trying to sell tickets to strangers. The 90M buyer marketplace, TikTok promotion tools, and discovery ads are features you'll never use. And the things reunion organizers actually need — member management, sponsor tiers, budget tracking, name tag generation from your RSVP list, a who's coming grid, accommodation recommendations, a merch store, a photo wall — aren't on Eventbrite's feature list at all.

The payout timing is also a real issue. Eventbrite pays out 3–8 business days after your event ends and holds a 20% reserve until then. That means you're fronting venue deposits, catering minimums, and vendor costs out of your own pocket throughout the entire planning process and hoping ticket revenue covers it after the fact.

Verdict: A legitimate, feature-rich platform built for a completely different job. Eventbrite excels at public events with broad audiences. For a reunion where you know every person on the guest list and need tools built around member management, sponsors, and the full planning workflow — it's the wrong tool, not a weak one.

Option 3: Facebook Events

Who uses this: Organizers who already have a class Facebook group and figure they can manage everything in one place.

How it works: You create a Facebook Event, post the details, and use it as your primary communication hub. RSVPs happen through the "Going / Interested / Not Going" buttons. Payments happen separately — usually Venmo links posted in the comments.

What it costs: Free.

Where it breaks down:

Facebook Events have no payment integration. "Going" means nothing — it's a click, not a commitment. You still need a separate payment system, which puts you right back at the spreadsheet problem.

Facebook's algorithm also doesn't guarantee your posts reach everyone in the group. Organic reach has been declining for years. People miss announcements, miss deadline posts, miss ticket links — not because they weren't interested but because the algorithm didn't show them the post.

There's no exportable RSVP list, no guest management, no name tags, no reunion page, no sponsor section, no countdown timer. It's a social platform doing an operational job it was never designed for.

What Facebook does genuinely well: It's where your class already is. The group exists, the relationships are there, and it's an outstanding promotion and community-building tool for your reunion campaign. Tiffany Clinage built her entire social media campaign through her class Facebook group — and it worked.

Verdict: Use Facebook to promote. Don't use it to manage. Those are two different jobs that need two different tools.

Option 4: Class Creator and Reunionware

Who uses this: Organizers who search specifically for "class reunion website" and find these platforms in results.

How it works: Both are older platforms built specifically for class reunions. They offer reunion websites, alumni directories, and some event management features.

Where they fall short: These platforms were built for a different era of the internet. The UX is dated, the mobile experience is often clunky, and the feature sets haven't kept pace with what modern organizers expect. They also tend to be class-reunion-only — not built for family reunions, military reunions, fraternity and sorority reunions, or sports team reunions.

What they do well: Alumni directory features and persistent class websites that live beyond a single reunion event. If your goal is a long-term alumni community hub, they have infrastructure for that.

Verdict: Purpose-built for reunions but showing their age. Better suited to classes that want a permanent online presence than to organizers who need modern event management tools.

Option 5: MyReunite

Who uses this: Organizers who want everything — RSVPs, payments, member management, sponsors, name tags, announcements, merch, and a public reunion page — in one place, without stitching together four different tools.

How it works: You set up your reunion in MyReunite, configure your events and ticket pricing, and share your public reunion page. Guests RSVP and pay in one motion, in under 60 seconds, with no account required. Money goes directly to your bank account via Stripe Connect within about two business days — before the event, not after.

What it costs: A 3% app fee on ticket sales. No monthly fees, no setup costs, no flat per-ticket charge stacked on top of the percentage.

What's included — built specifically for reunion organizers:

RSVP and payment in one frictionless flow. Live real-time dashboard showing RSVPs, ticket revenue, members, sponsors, and total raised. Guest management with paid, pending, and comped status — plus manual add, CSV export, and name tag list. Payment request blast to unpaid RSVPs per event. Member management with bulk CSV import and search. Budget tracker. Sponsor tiers with sponsor logo display. Photo wall with moderation. Announcement tools and email blast to your full member list. Merch store via Printful. Custom koozies and name tags via Gelato — printed directly from your RSVP list. Public reunion page with countdown timer, stat tiles, who's coming grid, community feed, and sponsor logos. Per-event ticket selection for multi-event weekends. Co-organizer invite. Accommodation recommendations. All confirmation and notification emails.

The real-world proof: Tiffany Clinage used MyReunite to organize the Mosley High School Class of 2006 reunion in Panama City, FL — a three-event weekend with 85 members, 126 tickets sold, 9 local sponsors, and $8,340 total raised. One organizer. One platform.

Where MyReunite has limitations: It's purpose-built for reunions — not a general event platform. If you're planning a concert, a conference, or a corporate event, a general tool like Eventbrite serves you better. But for class reunions, family reunions, military reunions, fraternity and sorority reunions, and sports team reunions, it's built exactly for what you're doing.

Verdict: Built for reunions, priced simply, money in your account before the event. The purpose-built option for organizers who want to run the whole thing from one place.

The Quick Comparison

| | Spreadsheets | Eventbrite | Facebook | Class Creator | MyReunite |

|---|---|---|---|---|---|

| Cost | Free | 3.7% + $1.79 + 2.9% per order | Free | Annual fee | 3% app fee |

| Payout timing | Immediate (manual) | 3–8 days after event | N/A | Varies | ~2 business days |

| Reunion-specific features | None | None | None | Some | All |

| RSVP + payment in one flow | No | Yes | No | Partial | Yes |

| Member management | Manual | No | No | Yes | Yes |

| Sponsor management | No | No | No | No | Yes |

| Name tags from RSVP list | No | No | No | No | Yes |

| Public reunion page | No | Basic listing | Basic | Yes | Yes |

| Discovery marketplace | No | Yes (90M buyers) | Yes | No | No |

| Marketing tools | No | Yes (email, ads, TikTok) | Yes | Basic | Announcements + blast |

| Check-in app | No | Yes (QR + tap-to-pay) | No | No | Name tag list |

| Mobile-friendly | Varies | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes |

The Bottom Line

Every tool on this list does something well. The question isn't which platform is best in general — it's which platform is built for the specific job you're doing.

If you're running a public event and need to reach people who don't already know about it, Eventbrite's discovery marketplace and marketing tools are genuinely valuable.

If your group is small and everyone knows each other, a spreadsheet and Venmo will get you there — barely.

If you want to run your entire reunion from one platform — RSVPs, payments, member management, sponsors, name tags, announcements, and a public page your whole class can see — MyReunite is the only purpose-built option on this list.

Start free at myreuniteapp.com → No account required for your guests. Money hits your account before the event. Takes about ten minutes to set up.

Sources

Eventbrite fee and feature information in this post is based on the following sources, current as of 2026:

Fee structures, payout policies, and platform features are subject to change. We recommend verifying current information directly with each platform before making decisions.

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