Ticket price and break-even calculator
One question before any other makes sense: what does a ticket have to cost so you do not lose money? The funding plan answers it too, but only once you have filled it in. This calculator answers it from five numbers.
It does two things common break-even calculators cannot: it knows that not everyone pays the same — crew and game masters usually pay nothing, and their places are carried by the rest — and it takes a grant into account. That is the whole difference between a commercial event and a funded one.
The cost side of this is built in the Cost and funding plan, and what you owe the people performing is in the Fee and levy calculator.
Cost-covering price
€75.62 per ticket
- Early bird: €68.06
- Regular: €75.62
- Late: €86.96
- net / gross: €70.67 / €75.62
- Costs at the expected head count: €7,350.00
- Paying heads per person present: 0.81
- Result at the expected head count: -€7,350.00
- Result at the minimum head count: -€6,300.00
Profit and loss by head count
Result: -€10,500.00 … €0.00 (Loss)
Curve: at this price the result stays negative at every head count.
How this is calculated
Costs are fixed costs plus variable costs per head, both times the contingency. The covering price is what remains after the grant, spread over the paying heads — where “paying heads” counts weighted: with 20 % free places the rest carry 1/0.8 of the load.
Break-even at a chosen price is where the contribution margins cover the fixed costs. If nothing is left of the ticket price after the variable costs, there is no break-even — and the calculator says so instead of inventing a number.
The shares need not add up to 100. 70/20/10 and 7/2/1 mean the same thing, and a calculator that insists on the sum is being pedantic about arithmetic it can do itself.
VAT: cultural events generally fall under the reduced 7 % rate (§ 12 Abs. 2 UStG), hospitality under 19 %. Which applies to you is a question for your tax adviser — the calculator shows both sides.
- VAT: § 12 Abs. 2 UStG (reduced rate), § 12 Abs. 1 UStG (standard rate)
- Group and batch logic from our own event practice
Every figure with its source and review date is in the metrics register — including when it was last checked against the regulation.
Common questions
Because not everyone pays. If a tenth of the people present are crew and pay nothing, the other nine tenths carry the full cost. That is exactly what the weighting works out, and exactly what gets lost when you do the sum on the back of an envelope.
Five per cent is the starting value. For an event you are running for the first time, or with many items not yet nailed down, plan for more. The contingency is the cheapest part of your budget.
Then leave it out. Calculate without it first to see whether it carries anyway — then with it, to see what the grant makes possible. Knowing both beats relying on a commitment that has not arrived.
Yes. One click transfers the ticket matrix of groups, batches and prices across; you do not have to retype it. Whatever is already there is kept.
Organiser briefing
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Related tools
- Cost and funding planExpenditure, income and the funding gap in the format funders expect — with ticket pricing and drawdown.
- Fee and levy calculatorMinimum fees, the artists' social levy and volunteer allowances — with a check whether the levy applies.
- Tavern and drinks calculatorDrink volumes from head count and hours, your shopping list checked against them, a minimum price per drink.
Orientation value. This calculator is no substitute for talking to the licensing authority, the building inspectorate, the fire service or a qualified planner. The German states each adapt the model regulation, so what binds your event is your state's version plus the conditions in your own permit.
Figures as of: 1.0 · last reviewed: 2026-09-18