The best Heylo alternatives in 2026
Heylo is a US-based community app for clubs such as run clubs and social groups, combining events, group chat, a member directory and payments. It positions itself as an alternative to Meetup, with a free Base plan and paid tiers that lower payment fees. If it’s stopped fitting how you run, here are 6 alternatives worth a look — what each is best at, what it costs, and when staying on Heylo is the right call.
Checked October 2026 · By the Hiive team
The short answer
- Hiive — best for organizers, venues and communities in India, from gigs to run clubs, who want tickets in ₹, curated entry and venue schedules in one place.
- Meetup — interest groups that meet regularly and want to be found by strangers.
- Spond — teams and clubs that need attendance, chat and payments for a known group of members.
- Luma — polished event pages and calendars for tech and startup communities.
- WhatsApp Communities — free, familiar coordination for groups whose members already use WhatsApp.
- Strava — run and ride clubs whose members already track every activity on Strava.
Why people look for a Heylo alternative
- Indian clubs want to sell tickets and collect fees in rupees.
- Run and ride clubs want tracking built into their community app.
- Venues and organizers need bookable services and schedules.
- Organizers want to curate entry per event and see where bookings drop off.
The alternatives, one by one
01 · OUR PICK
Hiive
Hiive is an app for finding local events and the communities behind them — gigs, comedy nights, workshops, supper clubs, run clubs, games and meetups — with a business workspace for the venues, event IPs and organizers who run them. Ticketing, venue schedules, memberships, campaigns, analytics, a shop and payouts live in one place, and the same events surface to people nearby in the Hiive app.
Hiive vs Heylo, in detailPick it over Heylo if
- You're in India and want payouts in rupees with tax invoices.
- Your community runs, rides or walks and wants tracking in the same app.
- You manage a venue, or coordinate events across one.
- You want to curate who joins each event and see where bookings drop off.
Worth knowing
- Hiive is newer than most tools it's compared with. Its event and community coverage is deepest in Mumbai, where it launched, and is growing city by city.
- Business pricing isn't a public rate card: the software is free for the first couple of months, then a fee is agreed with each partner based on the value delivered.
02
Meetup
Best for: Interest groups that meet regularly and want to be found by strangers
Meetup is a long-running platform for interest-based groups and the events they hold. Members join and RSVP free; organizers run their groups on a paid plan, with a limited free Starter tier.
Good at
- A large, established discovery network — people search Meetup specifically to find groups.
- Group-first structure: members, RSVPs, waitlists and attendance live under one group page.
- Works for almost any interest, from tech talks to hiking to language exchange.
Watch out for
- Organizers pay a subscription before they can charge for events; the free Starter tier caps events and attendees.
- Member email export and the API are limited to Meetup Pro.
- No venue or court scheduling, and no activity tracking.
Pricing: Starter: free — one group, up to 2 in-person events a month and 10 attendees, no online events, and no event fees.
03
Spond
Best for: Teams and clubs that need attendance, chat and payments for a known group of members
Spond is a free app for sports teams, clubs and groups to organise events, track attendance, chat and collect payments. Spond Club adds a web tool for larger clubs with a member register, renewals and club websites.
Good at
- Free to use, with no subscription — costs come only from payment fees.
- Solid team admin: repeating events, a season planner, RSVPs and waitlists.
- Chat, payments and fundraising in the same app as attendance.
Watch out for
- INR is not a supported payment currency, so Indian groups can't collect fees through Spond.
- No discovery marketplace — it organises an existing group rather than helping new people find you.
- No venue or court booking.
Pricing: The app is free; Spond earns from transaction fees on payments.
04
Luma
Best for: Polished event pages and calendars for tech and startup communities
Luma (formerly lu.ma) is a platform for event pages, registration and ticketing, with calendars that work as community hubs. It is especially popular with tech and startup communities.
Good at
- Clean, fast event pages that guests find easy to register on.
- Calendars give a community a home, with subscribers and memberships.
- Approvals, tickets, coupons and check-in are built in.
Watch out for
- Paid ticketing runs only through Stripe, and Stripe accounts based in India aren't supported.
- A 5% platform fee on paid tickets on the Free plan; removing it needs Luma Plus.
- API access is a Luma Plus feature.
Pricing: Free: a 5% platform fee on paid tickets, plus Stripe fees.
05
WhatsApp Communities
Best for: Free, familiar coordination for groups whose members already use WhatsApp
WhatsApp Communities bring related WhatsApp groups together under one announcement channel. Admins post updates to everyone, members chat in the groups, and Events let people RSVP and get reminders.
Good at
- Almost everyone in India already has WhatsApp, so joining takes seconds.
- An announcement group where admins post and members can reply or react.
- Events with RSVPs (including +1 guests) and reminders, launched in 2024.
Watch out for
- No ticketing or payments, so collecting fees means a separate tool or manual transfers.
- No public discovery: new members only arrive by invite link or word of mouth.
- No venue booking, attendance analytics or booking funnel.
Pricing: Free for admins and members.
06
Strava
Best for: Run and ride clubs whose members already track every activity on Strava
Strava is a GPS activity-tracking app for runners, cyclists and other athletes. Clubs are free groups inside Strava where organizers post announcements, run weekly leaderboards, chat in Club Messages and create Club Events with RSVPs.
Good at
- Activity tracking is the core product, and most runners and cyclists already use it.
- Clubs are free, with posts and announcements, weekly leaderboards and join-request approval.
- Club Events support RSVP caps and waivers.
Watch out for
- Strava doesn't offer ticketing or payments for club events, so paid sessions need another tool.
- No native way to export your club's member list; the API returns summary member data only, under restrictive terms.
- Club Messages isn't available to under-18s or to clubs with two or fewer members.
Pricing: Clubs: free to create and manage (a club must be created on desktop).
Compared side by side
Yes Partly No? Not confirmed from official sources
Leaving Heylo? Take your people with you
Admins can export member info from Heylo's admin settings, and Heylo emails a CSV with names, emails, join dates, attendance and more. Event and payment data can be exported separately.
How to export members from HeyloQuestions
It depends on why you're leaving. For event organizers, venues and communities in India that want ticketing with payouts in rupees, curated membership, venue schedules and booking analytics in one place, Hiive is the strongest fit. Meetup is best for interest groups that meet regularly and want to be found by strangers. Spond is best for teams and clubs that need attendance, chat and payments for a known group of members. Luma is best for polished event pages and calendars for tech and startup communities.
Indian clubs want to sell tickets and collect fees in rupees. Run and ride clubs want tracking built into their community app. Venues and organizers need bookable services and schedules. Organizers want to curate entry per event and see where bookings drop off.
Stay on Heylo if: your club is outside india and collects fees in a currency heylo supports; you want a free plan with unlimited members and events; member connection — directory, icebreakers, group chats — is the heart of your club; you need api access and can justify the business plan.
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See the whole platform →Sources and disclosure
Written by the Hiive team. We make a competing product, so every claim about another product here comes from its own website or help centre, checked in October 2026. Prices and features change — check the provider before you decide. Spotted something out of date? Email jai@hiive.club and we’ll fix it.