The verdict in three sentences
A festival hosting 40,000 visitors and 1,200 accredited professionals cannot keep printing badges by hand or giving away 5 to 10 % of ticket revenue in platform commissions. Its own ticketing and accreditation platform (QR-code tickets, card and wallet payments, offline access control, accreditation by category) costs, as a 2026 order of magnitude, USD 40,000 to 120,000 with a US agency, while Kolonell builds it within a 2,500,000 to 15,000,000+ FCFA range depending on scope. Over 3 editions, the maths clearly favours an owned platform once paid ticketing passes about USD 1 million a year.
What outsourced ticketing and hand-made badges really cost
Festival organisers everywhere know the scene: queues at the accreditation desk, spreadsheets emailed back and forth, badges printed the night before and screenshots of tickets at the gate. Online ticketing is usually handed to a marketplace platform that takes a cut of every ticket, on top of buyer fees.
| Cost item | Current setup | Cost per edition (2026 order of magnitude) |
|---|---|---|
| Ticketing platform commission | 5 to 10 % per ticket sold | USD 75,000 to 150,000 on USD 1.5 million in sales |
| Data entry and printing of 1,200 badges | 3 people for 10 days | about USD 12,000 in staff and printing |
| Fake tickets and double entries | screenshots, resale | 2 to 4 % of entries unpaid |
| Gate queues | visual checks | 15 to 30 minute waits at peak |
| Visitor data | held by the third-party platform | hard to market next year's edition to past buyers |
| Poorly scoped accreditation | zones not differentiated | press and artists mixed, weaker security |
The most underestimated item is data. When ticketing belongs to a third party, the festival cannot easily retarget its 25,000 buyers for the next edition or offer a loyalty presale.
Scope of the platform
The platform combines four building blocks, each deliverable separately.
- Online ticketing: day passes, festival passes, student and group rates, card, Apple Pay and Google Pay payments, e-ticket with a unique QR code sent by email and SMS.
- Professional accreditation: application form (press, artists, exhibitors, partners, volunteers, contractors), committee approval, digital badge with photo and authorised zones.
- Offline access control: Android app on smartphones or scanning terminals, list of valid tickets loaded locally, sync between gates when the network returns, double-entry detection.
- Dashboard: real-time sales by channel, daily attendance, accreditations by category, exports for partners and sponsors.
| Building block | Scope | Indicative Kolonell tier |
|---|---|---|
| Simple ticketing | online sales, QR code, card and wallet payments | simple app, 2,500,000 to 4,000,000 FCFA (EUR 3,810 to 6,100) |
| Ticketing and accreditation | applications, approval, badges by category | medium app, 4,000,000 to 7,000,000 FCFA (EUR 6,100 to 10,670) |
| Full platform | multi-gate offline control, zones, dashboard, sponsors | complex app, 7,000,000 to 15,000,000+ FCFA (EUR 10,670 to 22,870+) |
| Off-season maintenance | fixes, security, backups | 35,000 FCFA per month (EUR 53) |
| Festival-period maintenance | reinforced monitoring, fast response | 75,000 to 120,000 FCFA per month (EUR 114 to 183) |
| Scanning terminals, PVC badge printing | hardware | quote on request |
Offline control is non-negotiable: at peak times mobile networks saturate around festival sites, and a scanner waiting for a server reply creates a queue immediately.
Owned platform or marketplace ticketing
Marketplace ticketing has one real advantage: zero upfront investment. It suits first editions and events under 5,000 tickets very well. Beyond that, commission becomes the festival's largest tech cost.
| Option | Upfront cost | Cost per ticket | Data and brand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketplace ticketing (2026 order of magnitude) | USD 0 | 5 to 10 % of ticket price | data shared with the platform |
| US agency, custom build | USD 40,000 to 120,000 | card processing around 2.9 % plus USD 0.30 | festival-owned data and brand |
| Kolonell, full platform | 7,000,000 to 15,000,000+ FCFA (EUR 10,670 to 22,870+) | card or mobile money processing fees | festival-owned data and brand |
| Hand-printed badges | a few thousand USD | 0 | no access traceability |
For a festival selling 25,000 tickets at USD 60, each commission point is worth USD 15,000 per edition.
Mini case study
Daniel, managing director of a music festival in Atlanta, sells 25,000 tickets at an average USD 60, so USD 1,500,000 in revenue per edition. His current platform takes 7 %.
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Over 3 editions with marketplace ticketing:
- Commissions: 7 % × 1,500,000 × 3 = USD 315,000.
- Manual badges: 12,000 × 3 = USD 36,000.
- Total: USD 351,000.
Over 3 editions with his own platform built by a US agency:
- Full platform build: USD 70,000.
- Card processing at 2.9 % plus USD 0.30: USD 51,000 per edition, so USD 153,000.
- Maintenance: USD 12,000 a year, so USD 36,000 over 3 years.
- Total: USD 259,000.
Savings reach USD 92,000 over 3 editions, before counting fewer fake tickets and the value of 25,000 buyer contacts for presales. For other examples of moving from a makeshift tool to a business app, see our piece on turning an Excel tool into a web app.
FAQ
Does ticket scanning work without internet?
Yes: the list of valid tickets is loaded onto each terminal before the gates open, and every scan is checked locally in under a second. Terminals sync with each other every 1 to 2 minutes whenever a network is available, which blocks double entries.
Which payment methods should we offer?
Cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay cover most online purchases in the US and Europe; in West Africa, Orange Money, Moov Money and Wave carry most of the volume. Processing fees run, as an order of magnitude, between 1.5 % and 3 % per transaction.
How many accreditation categories should we plan?
Most festivals work with 6 to 10: press, artists, exhibitors, partners, officials, volunteers, technical contractors, security. Each opens specific zones, checked at scan.
How many scanners do we need for 40,000 visitors?
Plan about one terminal per 1,000 to 1,500 entries at peak hour, so 12 to 20 terminals for a festival this size. Entry-level Android phones are often enough, which keeps hardware spend low.
How much lead time before the next edition?
Allow 3 to 4 months before ticket sales open: 8 to 12 weeks of development, then a live test at a concert or launch party.
Let's scope your project. Tell us your capacity, accreditation categories and ticket sale opening date, and we will define the building blocks and a 3 to 4 month plan ahead of your edition. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
