Event budgeting, done right
Know your break-even before you book the band.
VenueLedger models every cost and every revenue stream for outdoor events — so campgrounds, fairgrounds and venues know their real numbers before they sign a single contract.
No card to start. 90 budget inputs with planning guidance.
Try it — drag the sliders
VenueLedger in action
See the numbers before you book the band.
Know your costs. Find your break-even. Plan your next event.
Try VenueLedger freeBuilt for real venues
Every great night starts with numbers that work.
Campgrounds, fairgrounds, ranches and wineries already have the field, the parking and the people. What's usually missing is the maths.
“This could be your dream stage”
Campground amphitheater
“The lights are already there”
Fairground grandstand
“Two nights, one field, real margins”
Festival meadow
“From quiet weekends to sold-out shows”
Ranch arena
“Your guests already love it here”
Winery lawn
The math, out loud
A 1,500-person show. Actual numbers.
This is the default tier the calculator opens with — a tribute-band night at a campground venue. Every figure below is computed by the same model you'd use.
The default plan loses money, and the model says so. A thin plan is shown as thin.
Where the money goes
Production$20,700
Talent$18,850
Security$8,000
Insurance$4,200
Facilities$11,650
Marketing$7,885
Staffing & misc$3,400
Contingency$8,962
Cost intelligence
Every line item knows what kind of cost it is.
A budget that treats a stage purchase like a hot-dog order will lie to you. VenueLedger tags every field so capital, operating and refill costs each behave the way they do in real life.
ONE-TIME
Capital. Bought once, amortised across the season, and droppable entirely once you mark it owned.
RECURRING
Hits every single event. Multiplied by events per season, never amortised.
HYBRID
Partially reusable. Bought up front, refilled per event — the app tracks the refill schedule.
Stage rental repeats each event. If you already own a stage, enter $0 rental and add its actual servicing costs. Record a stage purchase as a one-time custom expense.
Why not just use a spreadsheet
Because “close enough” costs real money.
| Capability | Spreadsheet | Generic app | VenueLedger |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tracks one-time vs. recurring vs. hybrid cost automatically | |||
| Capital amortised across the season, never double-charged | |||
| Break-even solved against the whole model, not a hand-built formula | |||
| Industry dollar ranges on every field | |||
| Flags contradictory inputs before you present the number | |||
| Isolated company workspaces for your crew |
Everything it does
A calculator this deep isn't an accident.
Cost tagging
One-time, recurring, or hybrid — every expense line.
The model has 90 budget inputs. Expense lines carry capital, recurring or hybrid tags. Stage rental repeats every show; purchased equipment can be recorded as one-time capital and marked owned when applicable.
Live break-even
Solved against the model, not against a formula.
Break-even attendance and break-even ticket price are found by re-running the entire budget until net profit crosses zero — so camping, sponsorship, ancillary income, platform fees and contingency are all inside the answer. When no price can get there, it says so instead of printing a number.
Validation layer
It argues with you before your board does.
Guard ratios thinner than industry norm, restroom counts under code, attendance above capacity, contingency under 10%, a second act with no opener fee — the app raises them as errors and warnings on the page and in the exported PDF.
Season roll-up
Per-event, per-season, per-attendee.
The calculator shows single-event all-in cost per attendee. The season roll-up separately shows season cost divided by all season admissions, with capital handled once and recurring costs—including stage rental—repeated each event.
Exports people actually read
PDF for stakeholders. CSV for you.
The PDF is a clean report a board member or bank can read cold. The CSV is every field, raw, for your own spreadsheet. Both come from the same model, so they never disagree.
Team workspaces
Your crew, one account. Zero cross-contamination.
Invite editors and viewers into a shared workspace. Owners control billing and membership; viewers can look but not touch. Each venue's data stays isolated from every other venue.
What a show really costs
Rock, country, tribute, EDM — the real ranges to put it on.
Country
Full band · headliner + opener
$18K–$45K
To produce, mid-size outdoor
Talent is usually the biggest line. Add $8K–$25K if the headliner brings production riders.
Rock & Alt
Full band · lighting rig
$22K–$60K
To produce, mid-size outdoor
Larger stages, more lighting, higher security ratios. Tribute bands land at the low end.
Tribute & Cover
Regional acts · lower fees
$8K–$22K
To produce, mid-size outdoor
The sweet spot for campgrounds and fairgrounds. Lower talent fees, simpler production.
EDM & Electronic
DJ · heavy lighting & effects
$25K–$85K
To produce, mid-size outdoor
Production-heavy: LED walls, lasers, higher sound spec. Talent range widens by name.
Festival (2-day)
Multi-act · camping · vendors
$65K–$180K
To produce, mid-size outdoor
Where season-level modelling pays off — camping packages and vendor share flip the maths.
Comedy & Spoken Word
Solo & small acts
$6K–$28K
To produce, mid-size outdoor
Simplest to produce. Talent is 60–80% of total cost; ancillary income carries the margin.
These are educated estimates, not guarantees. Real costs swing hard on your venue's existing infrastructure, your talent negotiations and dozens of choices the calculator walks you through. Model your actual event for your actual number.
Pricing
Free
Start with one event
$0/mo
The whole calculator, no gated maths. Model a real show end to end and see the break-even before you spend a cent.
Model your event free →Solo Venue
Make your next event count
$49/mo
One venue, one team. For campgrounds and fairgrounds running a handful of events a year.
Compare plans →Multi-Event Season
Plan the whole season
$129/mo
Everything in Solo, sized for a full concert series. Where most venues land.
Compare plans →Running several properties? Multi-Venue · From $399/mo — talk to us.
Find out what the show actually costs.
Ten minutes with the calculator tells you more than a week of guessing. Free to start, no card required.