Best Events Calendar Plugin for WordPress

Picking an events calendar plugin looks simple until you install one.

Then you discover the calendar views you wanted are in a paid tier. Or that recurring events cost extra. Or that selling a single ticket means buying a second plugin. Or — the surprise that caught a lot of people in 2026 — that the plugin you have used for years just moved to bundle-only pricing that costs three times what you were paying.

This guide compares six actively maintained WordPress event plugins. For each one you get verified install numbers, real 2026 pricing, and an honest note on where it falls short.

One thing to sort out first, because it saves most people from buying the wrong tool.

Pricing note: All figures verified against WordPress.org listings and official vendor pricing pages on 17 August 2026. Several of these vendors run permanent promotional pricing, so check the current rate — and the renewal rate — before you buy.

Quick comparison

Plugin	Free version	Active installs	Paid from	Best for
Radius Booking	Yes	300+	$39/yr or $74 lifetime	Paid registrations for classes and workshops
The Events Calendar	Yes	600,000+	$259/year	Large, complex public calendars
Events Manager	Yes	70,000+	Per-site, all-inclusive	The most capable free tier
Modern Events Calendar	Yes (off-directory)	200,000+ (vendor)	$99/year	The best-looking layouts
EventPrime	Yes	7,000+	~$69/year	Free ticketing in the core plugin
Eventin	Yes	10,000+	$89/yr or $109 lifetime	All-inclusive pricing with no add-ons

The 6 best WordPress event plugins in 2026

1. Radius Booking

Let’s be precise about what this is, because it matters: Radius Booking is a booking plugin with an events module, not a traditional events calendar. It does not give you a public month-grid calendar with venues, organisers, and category filters. If that grid is what you came for, skip to #2.

What it does instead is handle the registration side properly. You create an event with a date, time, and capacity limit; attendees register through the same clean booking interface used for appointments; available spots track in real time; payment is collected at signup. For a yoga studio taking bookings for Saturday’s workshop, or a consultant running a paid webinar series, that is the whole job.

The reason it leads this list rather than sitting in the middle is that it covers three booking types — appointments, events, and meetings — from one dashboard. Most businesses running paid workshops also take one-to-one bookings. Doing both in one plugin means one settings panel, one payment setup, and one plugin to keep updated.

The Pro version’s headline feature is an AI booking assistant. Someone types “I want two spots for the Saturday pottery class” and the assistant checks availability and completes the registration in conversation. It runs on your own OpenAI or Google Gemini API key, so you pay your AI provider for actual usage rather than a per-booking fee to the plugin.

Event features

• Events with defined dates, times, and capacity limits
• Real-time spot tracking and automated confirmation emails
• PayPal in free; Stripe, deposits, and tax rules in Pro
• Google Calendar sync in the free version; Apple Calendar in Pro
• Google Meet links free; Zoom in Pro
• Custom fields with conditional logic (Pro)
• Coupons, multi-location management, and revenue analytics (Pro)
• Five Gutenberg blocks including an Event List, plus Elementor widgets and shortcodes
• Separate customer and staff dashboards

Pricing

Licence	Yearly	Lifetime
Free	$0	—
1 site	$39	$74
5 sites	$99	$149
Unlimited	$119	$199

Every paid plan includes every feature. 30-day money-back guarantee — the longest window in this comparison.

Best for: Studios, tutors, coaches, clinics, and consultants selling seats in classes, workshops, and sessions, especially if you also take individual appointments.

Where it falls short — read this carefully. There is no public month/week/day calendar view, no venue or organiser taxonomy, no recurring events for the events module, no tiered ticket types, no QR-code check-in or PDF tickets, and no front-end event submission. It is also the newest plugin here: version 1.0.19, 300+ active installs, and no WordPress.org reviews yet. RadiusTheme has been publishing WordPress plugins since 2015 and updates it frequently, but if you are running a conference or a public community calendar, one of the plugins below is the better tool and we would rather you found that out here than after installing.

→ Free version · Pro pricing

2. The Events Calendar

With 600,000+ active installations, this is the default choice in the WordPress event space and has been since 2009. The free version alone is a proper calendar: month, list, and day views, saved venues and organisers, event search, categories and tags, Google Maps, iCal and Google Calendar export, JSON-LD structured data for SEO, and a CSV importer. It is translated into 36 locales.

The paid tiers add seven calendar views, recurring events and series, custom event fields, community event submissions, zero-commission ticketing with QR check-in, and — on the top tier — a drag-and-drop venue seat-map builder and automated marketing emails.

Pricing (2026)

Plan	Price	Includes
Free	$0	Month/list/day views, venues, organisers, iCal export
Essentials	$259/year	Seven views, ticket sales, recurring events, custom fields
Pro	$399/year	No ticket commission, WooCommerce, QR check-in, attendee reports
Elite	$599/year	Seat maps, branded marketing emails, seat selection

Best for: Universities, city directories, large venues, and organisations running complex public calendars where reliability and scale matter more than cost.

Where it falls short. Two things you should know before committing.

First, the price. Paid access now starts at $259/year as a bundle. The old model let you buy individual add-ons; several long-term users report their renewal cost roughly tripling under the new structure.

Second, the reviews. The plugin holds 4.2/5 from 2,449 WordPress.org reviews — but 326 of those are one-star, which is unusually high for a plugin this established. Recent negative reviews cluster around the transition to Liquid Web ownership: licence-dashboard inconsistencies, slow support responses, and unclear communication about the pricing migration. A separate long-standing complaint is that the plugin is heavy on hosting resources, and one 2026 developer review criticised the Block Editor integration as not enabled by default and not behaving like native WordPress blocks.

None of this makes it a bad plugin — it is still the most capable calendar here. But it is no longer the obvious default it was two years ago.

Get Free Version

3. Events Manager

If your budget is zero and you still need real functionality, this is the pick. Events Manager gives you a full event calendar, bookings, and ticketing in the free plugin — not a teaser tier. That is rare enough to be the entire reason it belongs on this list.

It sits at 70,000+ active installations and is actively developed; a 2026 update added MCP integration so you can connect your events data to AI tools. The plugin handles single, recurring, and multi-day events, locations with maps, booking forms with attendee data, and registration management.

Events Manager Pro is sold as a single all-inclusive add-on rather than a catalogue — you buy one licence and get every add-on the vendor publishes on their own site. Licences are per WordPress installation (a multisite network counts as one) and include a year of updates and support. Importantly, the plugin keeps working after your licence expires — you simply stop receiving updates until you renew. Two staging or development sites are permitted per production licence.

Best for: Nonprofits, community organisations, schools, and anyone who needs bookings and ticketing without a budget — plus developers who want hooks and flexibility.

Where it falls short. The admin interface is dated and the settings run deep; expect a steeper learning curve than EventPrime or Eventin. The WooCommerce integration add-on is no longer bundled with Pro — it is now sold separately through the WooCommerce Marketplace. And the vendor’s pricing page is JavaScript-gated, so confirm the current Pro rate directly on their site rather than trusting third-party comparison charts, several of which quote figures that are out of date.

Get Free Version

4. Modern Events Calendar

MEC’s pitch is presentation, and it earns it: 60+ event display layouts covering monthly, weekly, daily, yearly, agenda, timeline, timetable, masonry, carousel, cover, tile, and slider views. If your objection to other calendar plugins is that they look generic and need CSS work to become presentable, this is the answer. Webnus reports 200,000+ active users.

Pro adds advanced booking and ticketing, appointment-style time-slot booking, and location and map layouts. There is a companion mobile app for managing events, bookings, and attendees, and a set of one-click importers that pull events across from The Events Calendar, Events Manager, Eventbrite, Meetup, Google Calendar, and others — useful if you are migrating.

Pricing

Sites	Price
1	$99/year
5	$199/year
10	$299/year
100	$799/year
Unlimited	$999/year

30-day money-back guarantee. Licences include one year of updates and support; the plugin keeps working after that.

Best for: Design-led sites — music venues, festivals, galleries, studios — where the calendar has to look good without custom CSS.

Where it falls short. MEC Lite left the WordPress.org directory years ago, which means there is no public install count or review history to check independently — you are relying on vendor figures. Webnus’s own FAQ confirms that add-ons are sold separately from Pro, so the Ticket & Invoice add-on, Seat add-on, Zoom and Webex integrations, and Virtual Events add-on are each an extra purchase on top of the $99. Trustpilot sits at 4.2, which is respectable but not standout.

5. EventPrime

EventPrime’s differentiator is what it gives away. Event tickets, ticket categories with tiered pricing, a conditional offers builder, a checkout and payments system, recurring events, custom checkout fields, and a wishlist are all in the free core plugin. Most competitors paywall at least half of that list.

It is also built the WordPress way, which matters more than it sounds. Events are custom post types; event types are categories; venues and organisers are taxonomies; performers are custom posts with their own front-end pages. That means better performance, fewer compatibility surprises, and a data structure other plugins and themes can actually work with.

Calendar views cover monthly grid, week, agenda, day, and list. There are native iOS and Android check-in apps — something only the largest players here offer.

Paid extensions: Live Seating (interactive seating maps with seat categories and real-time availability), Stripe, Offline Payments, and Guest Bookings, among others.

Best for: Budget-conscious organisers who need real ticketing, and developers who want a plugin that respects WordPress conventions.

Where it falls short. The ecosystem is small — around 7,000 active installs, which is a fraction of The Events Calendar’s 600,000. Fewer tutorials, fewer third-party integrations, fewer people who have already solved your problem. Ratings are also reported inconsistently: the vendor advertises 4.9/5 while independent plugin trackers put it nearer 4.4/5, so check the live listing yourself. And note that Guest Bookings — letting someone register without creating an account — is a paid extension, which is a meaningful gap in the free tier for public events. At least one WordPress.org reviewer has argued the free version is not practically usable without buying extensions, which is worth weighing against the generous feature list.

Get Free Version

6. Eventin

Eventin is the direct answer to the add-on fatigue running through this whole category. Every paid plan includes every pro feature — no separate purchases for ticketing, Zoom, RSVP, or email automation. ThemeWinter reports 17,500+ organisers, and the plugin holds 4.6/5 from 330+ WordPress.org reviews, with 4.6 on G2 and 4.8 on Trustpilot.

The feature list is genuinely broad: recurring events, multi-tier tickets (Early Bird, VIP, Group), RSVP forms, QR-code check-in, attendee tracking, an email automation builder, front-end event submission with per-user dashboards, speaker and schedule management for multi-day conferences, SEO-optimised event pages, and countdown timers.

Three things stand out as unusual. There is an AI event creation feature that generates titles, descriptions, and featured images. There are visual template builders for event landing pages, tickets, and certificates — the certificate builder is genuinely useful for training providers who need to issue completion certificates. And there is a multi-vendor marketplace mode via Dokan integration, letting multiple organisers sell events on one platform, which nothing else on this list offers.

Pricing

Plan	Yearly	Lifetime
Standard	$89 (2 domains)	$109 (1 domain)
Premium	$149 (100 domains)	$299 (100 domains)
Agency	$299 (unlimited)	$399 (500 domains)
Enterprise	—	$499 (unlimited)

Best for: Conference and workshop organisers, training providers who issue certificates, agencies managing client event sites, and anyone building an event marketplace.

Where it falls short. ThemeWinter states plainly that there is no free trial of the paid version — you evaluate via the live demo or you buy. The refund window is 15 days, half of what Radius Booking and MEC offer. The visual seat plan requires their separate WPTimetics plugin rather than being native. And treat Eventin’s own “vs competitors” comparison chart with the same scepticism you would apply to any vendor’s — it is built to make their pricing look good.

Get Free Version

Feature comparison

Feature	Radius Booking	Events Calendar	Events Manager	MEC	EventPrime	Eventin
Month/week/day calendar views	✖	Yes	Yes	Yes (60+)	Yes	Yes
Venues & organisers	✖	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Recurring events	✖	Paid	Free	Yes	Free	Yes
Ticketing in free version	Registration only	Via free add-on	Yes	✖	Yes	Partial
Tiered ticket types	✖	Paid	Yes	Paid	Free	Yes
QR check-in	✖	Paid	Yes	Paid add-on	Yes	Yes
Seating maps	✖	Elite only	✖	Paid add-on	Paid ext.	Via WPTimetics
Front-end submission	✖	Paid	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Mobile app	✖	Pro+	✖	Yes	Yes	✖
AI features	Booking chatbot	✖	MCP	✖	✖	Event creation
Lifetime licence	Yes	✖	✖	✖	✖	Yes
Refund window	30 days	—	—	30 days	—	15 days

Verified 17 August 2026. Feature availability shifts between versions — confirm anything critical on the vendor’s current feature page.

Which one should you choose?

You sell seats in classes, workshops, or sessions → Radius Booking. Registration, capacity, and payment handled properly, with appointments and meetings in the same plugin. $74 for a lifetime licence is the lowest cost of ownership here.

You run a large public calendar → The Events Calendar. It is the most capable and most proven, and 600,000 sites is a real signal. Budget $259/year minimum and go in aware of the pricing change.

Your budget is zero → Events Manager. A full calendar with bookings and ticketing, free, on 70,000 sites. Nothing else free comes close on capability.

Design matters most → Modern Events Calendar. Sixty-plus layouts that look right without CSS. Just cost out the add-ons you actually need before comparing the $99 headline price.

You need real ticketing on a small budget → EventPrime. Tiered tickets, offers, and payments in the free core, plus check-in apps. Accept the smaller ecosystem.

You want everything in one price → Eventin. Every feature on every plan, $109 for a lifetime single-site licence, and template builders for tickets and certificates.

You are a nonprofit or community group → Events Manager free, or EventPrime free. Both give you a working public calendar with registrations at no cost.

Five things to check before you install

Confirm which calendar views are free. This trips up more people than anything else. Several plugins advertise week, map, and photo views prominently, then gate them behind a paid tier. Check the free-vs-pro table on the vendor’s site, not the marketing page.

Add up the add-ons, not the headline price. A $99 plugin plus a $119 ticketing add-on plus a $39 Zoom add-on is a $257 plugin. Compare total cost for the features you will actually switch on.

Check the renewal rate, not the intro rate. Most of these vendors advertise a discounted first year. Find out what year two costs before you commit, particularly if you are choosing between yearly and lifetime.

Test recurring events early if you need them. Recurrence is where event plugins differ most and where migration hurts most. Set up your actual recurring pattern — including exceptions and cancelled occurrences — on a staging site before you build a real calendar on it.

Make sure event schema is generated. Structured data is how Google shows your events in search results with dates and locations attached. The Events Calendar includes JSON-LD in the free version; verify your chosen plugin does the same, or plan to add it separately.

Frequently asked questions

Final thoughts

There is no single best events calendar plugin, only the best fit for the kind of events you run.

If you are publishing a busy public schedule, The Events Calendar remains the most capable tool, provided the new pricing works for you. If budget is the constraint, Events Manager free is more capable than most paid plugins were three years ago. If your calendar has to look good with no CSS work, Modern Events Calendar wins on layouts. If you want everything in one price, Eventin is the cleanest deal on this list.

And if what you actually need is for people to sign up and pay for a specific session — a Saturday workshop, a six-week course, a paid seminar — then a calendar grid was never the point. Radius Booking handles that registration flow alongside appointments and meetings, starting free and moving to $74 for a lifetime licence with a 30-day guarantee.

Install the free version of whichever two look closest, build one real event in each, and go with the one that got out of your way.