7 Best WordPress Event Plugins for Better Calendar Management

If you want to promote an upcoming event on your website, the default WordPress calendar might be disappointing. It doesn’t provide features like online payments, user management, automated emails, or registration forms. You’ll need to use WordPress events plugins for all these things and more. 

There are hundreds of event plugins available, and I selected seven with the best user reviews to bring to your attention. I hope it helps!

Things to Consider When Deciding on WordPress Event Plugins

Simply comparing various tools that fall under the category of WordPress events plugins is not enough to identify the best and only solution that will fit everybody. Prior to selecting event plugins, it’s critical to determine the company’s objectives and define which features are necessary to accomplish them. 

• Ability to manage events from the front end. If you employ plugins with such a premium feature, you can build a web platform and allow subscribed users to create events. Then you can decide whether to make the subscriptions free or paid.
• Integration with payment systems. Ensure that the plugin of your choice works with systems like PayPal and Stripe to sell event tickets. Note that most WordPress event plugins offer such options only in their premium versions.
• Event custom post type. If the plugin can add event custom post types, it will provide your events with all the functionality of WordPress posts and make it very easy to create recurring events and manage them in bulk.

That said, don’t forget about the qualities that are valid for approving all WordPress plugins:

• lightweight plugins that will not add unnecessary junk to your backend; 
• quality plugins are made with accessibility in mind;
• intuitive interface;
• customization options for matching brand identity;
• responsive design;
• reliable support;
• fair price.

WordPress Event Plugins: Pros and Cons

Event Organiser (Free/Premium)

🏆 Best for effortless management of recurring events.

Event Organiser is an event manager which allows managing events in the WordPress dashboard using an intuitive calendar-based organizer. It is especially useful for organizing complex multi-day events and recurring days: it’s easy to create an event custom post type, populate multiple calendar cells with it, and then modify each individual event using additional options. Assigning events to categories and tags is straightforward, so the users can find the items they are interested in with just a few clicks. 

With a 4.7 rating on wordpress.org and over 1 million downloads, it is one of the most popular WordPress events plugins. The free version is enough to create events and run booking forms, but you’ll need to upgrade to Pro for payment options, automated emails, and more.

Event Organiser key features:

• allows managing events in the calendar, list, or agenda views;
• creates event custom post types that are fully compatible with WordPress functionality;
• supports custom meta boxes for events;
• supports Google Maps so that users can quickly find nearby venues;
• includes a booking form customizer with 15 types of fields and a drag-and-drop builder.

Pricing: free with possibilities to upgrade to one of the three Pro plans at £50, £90, and £120. Paid plans have a different number of pro extensions and support more websites.

Pros:

• intuitive WordPress event manager;
• fully functional free version;
• comes with many actions and filters to allow developers to modify the plugin.

Cons:

• doesn’t have the most modern look among the competitors;
• integrations with payment systems only come with premium versions.

JetEngine (Premium)

🏆 Best for building dynamic event websites.

JetEngine is a part of the JetPlugins premium plugins suite by Crocoblock. It allows adding dynamic properties to WordPress sites, setting up events as custom post types, and adding them to event dynamic calendars or lists using 17 JetEngine widgets. Users can see event details when they hover over thumbnails or click on the event to go to your post or CPTs from other sites. You can familiarize yourself with how JetEngine and other JetPlugins were used to build event sites. 

In combination with the JetFormBuilder form builder, JetEngine enables building custom registration forms with advanced dynamic features and integrating them with PayPal and Stripe systems. The styling options are quite detailed, allowing you to match any brand style. 

JetEngine key features:

• ability to create custom meta fields;
• drag-and-drop form builder with elaborate features like conditional logic;
• integration with payment systems;
• ability to customize every detail of forms, calendars, and listings;
• custom query builder;
• the ability for users to create events from the front end;
• detailed written instructions and multiple YouTube tutorials.

Pricing: JetEngine sells for $43 per year for one site or $88 for unlimited sites. It can also be purchased in a bundle of 20 JetPlugins starting at $199/year.

Pros:

• one of the most complete sets of tools for building dynamic events websites for an unbeatable price;
• events are saved as CPTs, allowing for easy management of repeatable venues;
• 30-day money-back policy.

Cons:

• no free version.
• may seem complicated for a WordPress rookie. 

WP Event Manager (Free/Premium)

🏆 Best for adding the ability to create and manage events to websites while keeping them fast.

While providing the websites with versatile event booking functionalities, WP Event Manager comes with caching features and AJAX-supported event listings to make things run faster. In addition, users can choose to activate only the features they need, so the plugin takes up less space. 

WP Event Manager is one of the most customizable plugins to fulfill any business’s requirements. Users can access most of the customization options from the front end and backend. It also integrates with most WordPress themes, browsers, and major WordPress builders. 

WP Event Manager key features:

• AJAX-supported search and filtering features;
• ability to organize events using front-end forms;
• built-in caching features;
• multiple view options.

Pricing: the core version is free. You can buy premium add-ons starting at $39 or in a bundle, and 20+ premium bundles feature start at $99. You’ll need an Event Manager Pro bundle for $199 for one site if you want to sell tickets. 

Pros:

• a lightweight plugin that packs versatile functionalities;
• sleek interface;
• extensive YouTube channel;
• very customizable.

Cons:

• one of the most expensive event management solutions, considering premium plans are good for single websites only.

Amelia (Free/Premium)

🏆 Best for creating event platforms and booking sites with minimalistic and modern designs.

Amelia is another all-in-one solution primarily focused on booking and appointment services, such as beauty salons, gyms, repair services, etc. Its features include booking wizards, automated email and SMS notifications, and different event-type views for clients. 

The design is modern and clean on the front and backend. Multiple customization options allow the plugin to fit into any website style flawlessly. The free version, Amelia Lite, has over 50 thousand installations on wordpress.org and a 4.5 rating, with most users praising its intuitive design and excellent customer support.

Amelia key features:

• WYSIWYG editor to create beautiful event calendars;
• email, SMS, and WhatsApp notifications and reminders;
• step-by-step booking wizards;
• synchronization with external Google calendars allowing employees to manage their schedules without logging into the admin panel;
• various options to create and manage recurring events.

Pricing: Amelia Lite is free. The Basic subscription plan costs $59 per one site. Pro Best Value costs $109 and works with three sites. The Developer plan for $249 is for using Amelia on unlimited sites for one year.

Pros:

• excellent design with multiple customization options;
• perfect solution for services that work on an hourly basis;
• intuitive UI.

Cons:

• steeper learning curve because of the abundance of features.

My Calendar (Free/Premium)

🏆 Best for users who need a straightforward yet functional events WordPress plugin.

My Calendar is a free tool allowing you to create event calendars and filter them by dates, locations, and categories. While it’s easy to use by beginner WordPress users, it provides lots of opportunities for pro designers and developers to create custom calendars. My Calendar is built with accessibility in mind, and all interfaces are tested to be usable for everyone, regardless of their abilities.

If you want to sell tickets to your events, integrate My Calendar with the My Tickets add-on, another free plugin by the same developer. And if you want users to submit events to your calendars from the front end, upgrade to the Pro version.

My Calendar key features:

• calendar view or list view of events;
• editable CSS styles;
• multiple options for managing recurring events;
• shortcode generator.

Pricing: My Calendar is free. The pro version allows event submission by visitors, costs $59 for one year or $249 for a lifetime license, and is good on multiple sites.

Pros:

• easy to use;
• most functional free event WordPress plugin on the list;
• fully responsive and accessible design.

Cons:

• limited premium features in the Pro version.

WP Simple Booking Calendar (Free/Premium)

🏆 Best for creating easy-to-use availability calendars.

If you need to build an easy-to-use calendar where users can see on which dates your services are available, the free version of WP Simple Booking Calendar might be the right solution for you. It has a friendly and intuitive user interface allowing users to access event details by hovering over the calendar. 

The premium version permits creating multiple calendars, provides access to a bulk event editor, assigns visitors to edit selected calendars, and more. 

WP Simple Booking Calendar key features:

• combines multiple calendars into one customizable view;
• synchronizes with external sites (Airbnb, Booking.com, TripAdvisor, and more);
• allows editing multiple events with one click;
• assigns specific users to specific calendars.

Pricing: a free version with limited functionality is available. Three paid plans with premium features are available: $39 for one site, $69 for five sites, and $139 for unlimited sites.

Pros:

• easy to use for site admins and visitors;
• premium plans are cheaper than most of the offerings from competitors.

Cons:

• the free version is only good for small-scale rental businesses. 

WPForms (Free/Premium)

🏆 Best for users who need built-in registration templates.

With over 5 million active installations on wordpress.org, WPForms is one of the most popular WordPress form builders. Among the 300+ offered form templates, you can find an event registration form template that enables you to accept payments via PayPal or Stripe. Other templates useful for building events websites include event planner forms, event vendor forms, and RSVP forms. 

WPForms key features:

• drag-and-drop form builder;
• integrations with major payment services and top email marketing providers;
• built-in spam protection features.

Pricing: WPForms Lite is free, and it allows building online forms. Premium plans with extended functionality start at $99 per year. But if you want to use the plugin for accepting payments, you must upgrade to a Pro license at $399 per year for five sites.

Pros:

• easy-to-use interface;
• pre-made form templates.

Cons: 

• the free version has very limited capabilities, and the paid version with the ability to accept payments is on the expensive side.

FAQ

Recap

WordPress event plugins add new features to your site, allowing you to expand your audience, increase conversion rates, and improve user experience. 

Here’s a quick recap on what are the main qualities of the plugins discussed in this article:

1. Event Organiser is a great tool for building complex multi-day events.
2. JetEngine is a cost-effective solution with the most advanced features for building dynamic events websites.
3. WP Event Management is the best performance-oriented event plugin.
4. Amelia is very popular for its modern and minimalistic designs. 
5. My Calendar is the only solution on the list offering free premium features.
6. WP Simple Booking Calendar is the easiest plugin for building event calendars.
7. WPForms offers the most form templates among WordPress event plugins.

Hopefully, this information helps you find the best solution to integrate events into your life! And if you’d like to read more about WordPress calendar plugins, please, check out other materials in our blog.