A First look at Attendize, the open-source ticketing application

Attendize is a free & open-source ticket selling and event management platform. The app was created to offer event organizers a solution to managing general admission events, without paying any extra service fees outside of the payment processor.

It is currently in the early stages of development and let’s take a look at what all this application is about.

Attendize Installation

Attendize allows two methods of installation, a web-based installer and through the command line. I went through the command line and installed on a Laravel Homestead Vagrant box. The app could not have been simpler to get setup, and if you are comfortable with Laravel, you will fill right at home.

Here are the commands as they outline in the documentation:

git clone https://github.com/attendize/attendize
cd attendize
cp .env.example .env
vi .env #Set the database and mail settings etc.
composer install
php artisan attendize:install

Next setup a vhost to point to {yourpath}/attendize/public and visit the site in the browser where the login screen greets you:

Unfortunately, there hasn’t been a user to login with so you need to change the URL manually and visit /signup so that you can create this user.

After filling out the form, you can then login to the new account and continue setting it up.

Creating Events

You can create an unlimited number of events, and the setup is completed through an overlay window. My only complaint with this screen is the start and end date calendars.

Being an American it took me a minute to figure out the format in the date picker. It’s not that big of a deal, but it took me a few seconds instead of coming naturally. Dates and times are the bane of all web developers existence.

I also noticed a few minor issues on this form, for example hitting tab in the description doesn’t go to the next field. Instead, it wants to indent. I believe this is due to the WYSIWYG in use.

Where this form is awesome is with the Venue Name field. For my fictional event, I immediately thought of the Orpheum Theater in Memphis Tennesse. As I started typing “Orphe” it came up in the auto-complete.

That is a nice touch and came as a surprise. After saving the event, it’s time to create tickets for this event.

Create Tickets

Each event can have as many ticket options as you need. It even supports limited quantities and start/end dates for when they go on sale. This means you can offer special tickets like “Early Bird,” with the flexibility of even offering tickets for different levels. Maybe one for your whole conference, one for just workshops, or one for a single day. Your imagination is the limiting factor.

The Event Page

After setting the event life, you can visit the event page which auto generates the ability to purchase tickets, the event details, Google maps of the location, and your logo.

Stripe handles the payments for tickets, and another nice touch is a countdown showing you how long you have to complete the purchase.

I imagine this works well when you are getting close to selling out, and another benefit is it makes me want to hurry up and give my money.

Event Dashboard

The final feature I wanted to cover is the event dashboard which gives you a quick overview of how your event sales are going.

This shows charts for tickets sold over time, page visits, and sales volume. All the important data you will need to keep an eye on your event sales.

Final Thoughts

I’m very impressed with Attendize and even more fascinated with how young this app is. The only issues I came across were minor, and nothing show stopping. The only feature that I believe is missing is the ability to get a few more details of the customer when they are purchasing tickets. For example, some conferences like to get t-shirt sizes or special dietary concerns. Having a simple extra field system would fit in great here.

If you want to run an event, I highly recommend checking it out. I can only imagine how good it’s going to get.

For more information, you can visit the Attendize website and view the project on Github.