Luma review: pros, cons and who it’s for
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.
Checked October 2026 · By the Hiive team
Luma
Event ticketing
- Best for
- Polished event pages and calendars for tech and startup communities
- Pricing
- Free: a 5% platform fee on paid tickets, plus Stripe fees.
- Website
- luma.com
Our verdict
What it does well, and what it doesn't
Pros
- 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.
- Blasts reach guests by email, SMS, push and WhatsApp.
- Guest and calendar CSV exports include contact details, tickets and custom answers.
Cons
- 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.
- Event chat can only be started from the iOS app.
- No venue or court scheduling, and no activity tracking.
Luma pricing
- Free: a 5% platform fee on paid tickets, plus Stripe fees.
- Luma Plus: US$59 a month billed annually, with a 0% platform fee, more email sends, tax collection, custom URLs, Zapier and API access.
- Enterprise: custom pricing.
From Luma’s own pricing and help pages. Check Luma for current prices in your country.
Using Luma in India
Hosts in India can run free events on Luma. For paid events, Luma's help centre says it can't support Stripe accounts based in India due to technical limitations, and it doesn't support other processors such as PayPal or Razorpay.
Who it's for
Luma is a good fit for
- Tech, startup and professional communities running frequent events.
- Hosts of free events who want registration, approvals and check-in.
- Organizers outside India who can accept payments through Stripe.
Look elsewhere if you're
- Indian organizers who need to sell paid tickets and be paid in rupees.
- Venues and recurring organizers that need venue scheduling.
- Organizers who don't use iOS and want to start event chats themselves.
Features
Yes Partly No? Not confirmed from official sources
Luma alternatives
Questions
Hosts in India can run free events on Luma, but Luma's help centre says it can't support Stripe accounts based in India due to technical limitations, and it doesn't support other processors such as PayPal or Razorpay. That means Indian organizers can't currently collect paid ticket revenue through Luma.
Luma's Free plan charges a 5% platform fee on paid tickets plus Stripe fees. Luma Plus costs US$59 a month billed annually and removes the platform fee, adding more email sends, tax collection, custom URLs, Zapier and API access. Enterprise is custom (October 2026).
For event organizers and communities in India, Hiive offers paid tickets with payouts in rupees, member communities with chat, venue schedules and booking analytics. Townscript is an Indian option for standalone ticketed events, and Meetup suits interest groups that want discovery.
Try Hiive with your real events. Free for the first couple of months.
Create your Hiive, or tell us how you run things today and we'll map the right setup and a useful pilot.
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.
