Swapcard vs Eventbrite
Swapcard is a European alternative to Eventbrite: same use case, headquartered in France and governed by EU GDPR, while Eventbrite is based in the United States.
By the EU Alternatives team Last updated
French intelligent event platform with Sherlock AI matchmaking: 4,000+ events across 92+ countries, SOC 2 + ISO 27001 + GDPR compliant, 70–80% mobile app adoption.
- Jurisdiction
- EU / EEA
- Primary privacy law
- EU GDPR
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- No
- Open source
- No
- Free tier
- No
Its pull is discovery: people browse it looking for something to do, so a listing brings an audience that a self-hosted ticket page never will. Free events publish at no cost, while paid tickets carry a 3.7% plus 1.79 dollars service fee and 2.9% payment processing, usually passed to attendees. Eventbrite, Inc. is a Delaware corporation in San Francisco, with disputes settled under California law.
- Jurisdiction
- United States
- GDPR by default
- Requires DPA + TIA
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- Yes
Swapcard vs Eventbrite at a glance
| Swapcard | Eventbrite | |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | France | United States |
| Data jurisdiction | EU / EEA | United States |
| Primary privacy law | EU GDPR | Requires DPA + transfer assessment |
| US CLOUD Act exposure | No | Yes |
| Best for | Teams that need this built for European data-protection requirements | Teams already invested in the Eventbrite ecosystem |
Choose Swapcard if…
- You want a provider governed by a European privacy regime
- GDPR or public-sector data-protection requirements apply to you
- You'd rather back the European tech ecosystem
Stick with Eventbrite if…
- You depend on integrations only available in the Eventbrite ecosystem
- Your organisation has no EU data-residency constraints
- Migration costs outweigh the jurisdiction benefits for now
About Swapcard
Swapcard is a French intelligent event management platform used for trade shows, conferences, associations, and media events. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in France with a global team, Swapcard positions itself as a "revenue-first" platform, unifying registration, attendee engagement, and exhibitor tools with AI-powered matchmaking at the centre.
The platform supports 4,000+ events across 92+ countries, with 7M+ attendees and 120,000+ exhibitors annually. Its flagship Sherlock AI engine drives 70 to 80% mobile app adoption (vs. an industry average of 30 to 40%) by personalising recommendations for every attendee.
Key features:
- Registration & ticketing with dynamic pricing, promo codes, and conditional logic
- AI-powered mobile/web app delivering a personalised attendee experience
- Sherlock AI recommends contacts, exhibitors, and sessions based on behaviour
- Content management covering session scheduling, speaker coordination, and streaming
- Exhibitor tools for lead capture, AI matchmaking, and hosted buyer programmes
- Monetisation through a self-serve exhibitor marketplace, sponsorship packages, and premium add-ons
- Analytics on registration, engagement, and exhibitor performance
- 30+ integrations including Salesforce, HubSpot, AMS, and marketing automation tools
- Compliance with SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, and PCI DSS
Customers include HLTH Europe, IAAPA, and major trade shows globally. 95%+ customer satisfaction and G2 top-rated ease-of-use scores make it a leading European alternative to Cvent, Bizzabo, and Hopin.
Why choose Swapcard over Eventbrite?
The decisive argument is data jurisdiction. Eventbrite is headquartered in the United States, which means personal data processed through it can be subject to non-EU legal regimes: the US CLOUD Act, FISA 702, or similar laws depending on the provider. After the 2020 Schrems II ruling, EU organisations must carry out a transfer impact assessment for every such data flow.
Swapcard removes that overhead. As a France-based provider, it operates under EU GDPR, and data stays inside the EU/EEA by default. For regulated sectors such as health, public administration, and finance, that's not a nice-to-have but a requirement. For everyone else, it's concentration-risk insurance: you avoid depending on a single jurisdiction that can change the rules without warning.