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If you’ve ever tried to install a calendar plugin you know that it’s not exactly the same as a fully functional event management tool. Calendars display dates of events, while the best WordPress event management plugins offer functions like ticketing, RSVPs, guest management, automated email notifications, booking forms and more.

That’s why it’s so important to think about what you plan on doing with your WordPress calendar. Do you need to sell tickets for events? Would you like to display detailed information like images, maps, speakers, and payment methods? What about setting up irregular recurring events like a meeting you hold every three months?

In order to achieve some of the more advanced calendar features, a WordPress event management plugin is required. What’s great is that you have dozens of options to choose from, and the best ones are affordable, powerful, and easy to understand.

The Best WordPress Event Management Plugins in 2019

1. Events Manager
2. WP Event Manager
3. Event Organiser
4. All-in-One Event Calendar
5. Event Espresso 4 Decaf
6. The Events Calendar
7. My Calendar
8. EventOn
9. Calendarize it! for WordPress
10. Modern Events Calendar

1. Events Manager

The Events Manager plugin offers an excellent free version, but you do have the option to upgrade to Events Manager Pro. The average user won’t need the Pro version, but it does have some great features for the low price of $75. For instance, the upgrade gets you premium support, a custom payment gateway, API, spam protection, coupons, discounts, customizable booking forms, and PayPal support. So, registrations are possible with the Events Manager plugin, but you’ll have to pay the extra fee to start collecting payments with something like PayPal or Authorize.net.

The backend interface is simple enough for the average WordPress user, and when displayed on the frontend, your events calendar can be used for selling tickets, showing a simple calendar, or displaying event details. I like that the plugin integrates with your iCal feed and Google Calendar. You can also utilize some of the widgets for showing locations, full calendars, or individual events.

As for showing your events on the calendar and being as detailed as possible, the Events Manager plugin gives you most features you need without paying any money. For instance, Google Maps can be embedded in the events pages. There is also a tool for creating custom event attributes. This means that pretty much any type of description field is possible–like if you wanted to make an area for the dress code.

Why is it One of the Best WordPress Event Management Plugins?

• The Events Manager plugin provides a full event creation and sharing center for free. The main reason you’d upgrade to the paid version if for payment support.
• The plugin allows for recurring and multi-day event registrations, along with booking management with approvals and rejections.
• You can hook up BuddyPress to the plugin for sharing events in your social network.
• The single day event registration is straightforward, as it includes start and end times and the basic event information.
• There’s one feature that lets users and guests submit their own events, which is great for public event websites and smaller organizations run by multiple people.
• The plugin puts quite a bit of weight on locations, so you can add Google Maps and set up an area to view events based on their locations.

2. WP Event Manager

WP Event Manager is one of the simpler, lightweight WordPress event management plugins. I see it working for those who want to keep their sites fast and not take up too much space or clutter the backend with too many features. This plugin might be considered the new kid in the event management space, but it’s a popular plugin with great reviews and even better customer support. We’ve even noticed that users rave about the developer support for the free version of the plugin.

As with many of the plugins on this list, the WP Event Manager plugin offers a free, core plugin, along with the option to buy add-ons to ramp up your operation. Although the interface is sleek and simple, the free plugin’s feature list is quite impressive. For instance, you receive everything from multilingual translations to frontend forms, and to widgets and shortcodes for searchable event listings.

I’ve also noticed that the WP Event Manager developers have put quite a bit of effort into speed and user-experience–with beautiful caching features, responsive elements, AJAX-powered event listings, and more.

As for the premium add-ons, there’s a long list of them, but here are some highlights:

• Google Maps.
• WooCommerce Sell Tickets.
• Registrations.
• Event Alerts.
• An Embeddable Event Widget.
• Contact Organizer.
• Emails.
• Sliders.
• Google Analytics.
• Event Tags.

Why is it One of the Best WordPress Event Management Plugins?

• The WP Event Manager plugin features a lightweight interface and a beautiful user experience. It has caching built-in, a wonderful search module, and a completely responsive design.
• The developers are highly responsive and friendly for all customers, even the ones using the free plugin.
• You don’t have to pay a monthly fee, or anything like that, for a premium plugin. It’s configured so that you start with the base plugin, then you can pay for some of the add-ons if needed.
• Some of the add-ons are free, and the others are still affordable. Many of them go for $39, but I’ve noticed some lower priced ones as well.
• The entire calendar area is “AJAXified,” so it’s one of the smoothest browsing experiences on the frontend.

3. Event Organiser

Event Organiser delivers a suitable event management solution for the WordPress environment because of its combination with default custom post types. Essentially, you install this plugin, then choose the right custom post type to maintain the WordPress post format, but gain control of some additional events modules. Therefore, it’s an intuitive user interface, with the basic features required and some great support for one-time and recurring events. You’ll find several premium add-ons to buy along with this event management plugin. One of them is called Event Organiser Pro, and it offers a booking form customizer, a full management area, customizable emails, and various payment gateways.

You’ll also see some other add-ons that expand the functionality of your free or premium Event Organizer plugin. Some of them include:

• Frontend submissions.
• Discount