WordPress Event Calendar Plugins: A Roundup for 2026

Updated October 2026. This post started life in 2023, and a lot has moved since. Here is what changed: I dropped Eventin (it did not work for us back then and I have not re-tested it), I updated the Sugar Calendar section for where that plugin stands in 2026, and I added full sections for Pie Calendar and EventKoi. I also checked the prices, install counts, and ticket-fee claims on The Events Calendar and Events Manager against their current pages. My 2023 testing story is still here, because that is the part I actually lived through. Everything marked “2026” is research from vendor pages and wordpress.org, not a new round of hands-on testing.

We built out a website using Bricks Builder that required membership and event management/calendar capabilities. Back in 2023 we ended up trying out FOUR different calendars. Yes, FOUR f*cking event plugins!!! And here is what we learned along the way, plus what has changed since.

The quick comparison

Prices are what each vendor listed on October 5, 2026, per year unless noted. Install counts come from wordpress.org and are rounded by them, so treat them as ballpark.

Plugin	Free version on wordpress.org	Premium starting price	Best for
The Events Calendar	The Events Calendar on wordpress.org (600,000+ installs) and Event Tickets (90,000+)	$259/yr (Essentials), per the Liquid Web pricing page	Polished, well-known calendar if you can live with the ticketing fee story
Sugar Calendar	Sugar Calendar Lite (10,000+ installs)	$99/yr list for Basic (shown at a 50% promo of $49.50 today), see Sugar Calendar pricing	Stripe tickets and RSVPs in a lean package, now actively updated
Events Manager	Events Manager (60,000+ installs)	$129/yr for 1 site, see Events Manager Pro pricing	Feature-complete bookings and tickets if you will do the styling
Pie Calendar	Pie Calendar (1,000+ installs)	$99/yr for 1 site ($299 one-time for unlimited), see Pie Calendar Pro pricing	Simple, pretty calendars on top of any post type
EventKoi	EventKoi Lite (80+ installs, new in late 2025)	$99/yr for 1 site, see EventKoi Pro pricing	Bricks users who want dynamic tags and a modern admin

Getting Started

My team has been using MemberPress, under the AwesomeMotive family of products, for membership capabilities. MemberPress is great; it has matured over the years and has been a great choice for our projects (we even have a whole page on being a MemberPress expert). A big win here. See? I can give AwesomeMotive love (it gets a little rough later on tho). If memberships are the bigger half of your project, the membership site builders roundup and our membership platform work are good next stops.

For event calendar capabilities, there are a large number of candidates, and most times, when we choose a plugin to go with, we do not usually have to replace it with something else. That is not how 2023 went.

The Events Calendar

The Events Calendar, from Modern Tribe, is the most well-known offering of this type in the space. It is now sold under Liquid Web (the vendor page footer reads “Liquid Web, LLC by Nexcess Corp.” and wordpress.org lists Nexcess as the author). It is slick from the website to the overall look and feel of the content it produces. The free plugin is on wordpress.org as The Events Calendar on wordpress.org, with ticketing in the free Event Tickets plugin, and the paid tiers live on the Liquid Web pricing page.

You can pick and choose the features you need, such as virtual events for Zoom support, community event calendars, event tickets, and more. It is definitely not the cheapest, but it is well-supported.

2026 pricing update: the old pile of separate add-ons is now packaged as plans. Essentials is $259/yr, Pro is $399/yr, and Elite is $599/yr. Pro adds WooCommerce ticket sales, custom attendee registration forms, and QR check-in. That helps with one of my 2023 complaints (everything sold separately), though the bundles are still $$$.

What’s Good

• The Events Calendar does a great job of making event ticketing and management easy. It focuses on being user-friendly, which is great!
• You can add on the features you need with an additional purchase.
• Decent documentation.
• Event styles look nice out of the box and respect your active template decently.
• Their code, especially their template files, is well-documented and provides details on where to copy template overrides to.

What’s Not Good

• If you are using Event Tickets (the free one, without Event Tickets Plus), they tack on a 2% fee for the tickets YOU sell. THEY TAKE A CUT OF YOUR PROFITS!!! That sh*t is WILD to me.
  
  I re-checked this for 2026 and it still stands: the free Event Tickets plugin applies a 2% fee on Stripe and Square orders on top of what the processor charges, and the wordpress.org changelog says the fee is waived once an Event Tickets Plus license is active. The current Pro plan lists “no ticket commission fees” outright; Essentials does not make that claim, so ask before you buy.
  
  The Events Calendar is not the only product or platform to do this. Shopify does this if you do not use their Shopify Payments Gateway. But look, if your kid does something bad and they tell you “well so-and-so did it too” you are not going to accept that explanation. Right? Right! I could not be more opposed to this.
  
  I ended up getting their plus offering.
• Because this plugin is focused on being user-friendly, if you want to do anything custom to the layouts, you will need to override their templates. Which is fine, but it gets tedious.
• I do not like that so much of the good stuff is gated behind paid tiers, and the bundles are $$$$. I get why they do it; I do not prefer it.

Does the Events Calendar integrate with Bricks Builder?

No, not natively. You need to use Dynamic Data Tags or write your own functions to get the data you need. Creating custom layouts and queries takes longer but is possible, and that is primarily because Bricks and WordPress provide that capability out of the box. I looked for any change on this in 2026 and did not find an official Bricks integration.

Did we end up using the Events Calendar?

NO! For some reason, we could not get Stripe transactions to work in 2023. The order was not created; it was not even sent to Stripe. We worked with support for about a week on the issue, and they could not resolve it. We even deactivated all plugins and installed Twenty Twenty, where the issue persisted. No joy.

We could not use the product and requested refunds on Event Tickets Plus and their Events Calendar Pro and Virtual Events Add-ons. To be fair, 600,000+ sites run this plugin, so this may have been something specific to our setup. If you go this route, test a real Stripe checkout in the first week, while the refund window is still open.

Sugar Calendar

Sugar Calendar has been around for a while (it landed on wordpress.org back in 2012). Like MemberPress, it was also under the AwesomeMotive banner when I tested it. I had reservations about trying this plugin out. They had not updated it in a while.

When I reached out to them re: a pre-sales question in 2023, they said, in short, development was on hold while they worked to relaunch the plugin.

To heck with it, I already had a lifetime license, so why not give it a run, right?

Well, in 2023 the ticketing add-on they had caused the site to crash. And their Stripe functionality to set up payments did NOT work at the time. My verdict back then was that they should slap their own Coming Soon page on the website until the plugin was ready. We definitely did not use it.

Where Sugar Calendar stands in 2026

That 2023 verdict is history now, and I would not write it today. The relaunch they told me about shipped as Sugar Calendar 3.0 on May 29, 2024 (per their changelog), and it has been shipping updates since. Sugar Calendar Lite is at version 3.14.0, updated September 16, 2026, and tested up to WordPress 7.1.2. It still reads as part of the Awesome Motive family: the site says “built by your friends at WPForms” and wordpress.org lists Syed Balkhi as the author.

A few things that are verifiably different from what I ran into:

• A proper Event Ticketing add-on with Stripe, later expanded to WooCommerce, plus multiple ticket types. The free Lite plugin can now sell tickets through Stripe too, and you can run free-ticket events with no payment provider at all.
• Registration forms to collect extra details at ticket checkout or RSVP, RSVP management, venues, speakers, and recurring events.
• One-click migration from The Events Calendar, which is a pretty direct shot at the plugin I could not get working.
• A fee that mirrors The Events Calendar: their pricing page says the Event Ticketing add-on lets you “drop the 3% fee on Stripe orders.” So the pattern of a platform fee on the free tier exists here too.

Premium starts at $99/yr list for Basic, and the pricing page was showing a 50% promo ($49.50) the day I checked. The ticketing, RSVP, and Zapier add-ons start at the Plus tier ($199 list). Details on the Sugar Calendar pricing page.

Does Sugar Calendar integrate with Bricks Builder?

I did not find one. Their pricing page lists WordPress blocks and Elementor widgets as the no-code display options, and nothing for Bricks. I would plan on blocks and shortcodes. Same caveat as always: I have not re-tested it, so this is a research update, not a review.

Would I give it another shot?

Probably, yes. A plugin that went from “development on hold” to a 3.14 release in 2026 deserves a second look, especially if you are already deep in the MemberPress and WPForms world. I just have not done it yet, so I am not going to pretend I have.

Events Manager

The Events Manager plugin has been around since 2009 or 2010 (wordpress.org shows it first added in August 2008, so it is even older than I said). It has been there for a minute. They have over 60,000 active installs at this point (my original draft said “100,000k,” which was a typo, and not even a flattering one). It is still being updated: version 7.4.6 landed October 2, 2026. I had never used it in 2023, but I was getting desperate. The free plugin is Events Manager, and the paid version is Events Manager Pro, on their Events Manager Pro pricing page.

The plugin has the necessary features, event ticketing, event management, and zoom integration. So, how was it?

What’s Good

• I like that just buying the pro feature provides access to everything you might need. Their pricing page still says Pro includes all of their separately sold add-ons, and starts at $129/yr for one site.
• You can deactivate features you do not want.
• Most all of the settings you need to customize the look and feel of an event are available in their settings pages. I love that, BUT it can be a problem, too. See below…
• Their Automations feature. I love that I can configure email notifications to event attendees, and I do not need to do some weird ish with Zapier.
• They have an add-on for FullCalendar, which offers a nicer calendar interface than what ships with their core plugin imo.

What’s Not Good

• Their default styles are kinda shitty, if I am being straight. We had to do a lot of styling, not a big issue, just a chore. Y’know?
• It feels overwhelming. There are A LOT of settings for a user to pour pore (thanks to my English teacher, Jay) over to figure out what they do and what they might need to use.
• I do not like that you cannot just drop in their placeholders (dynamic text strings that output details about an event) into a template. I ended up using get_post_meta() for most of what I needed.
• Their template override system is not intuitive. It is well-documented; it is just different than what I expected.

Overall, Events Manager works as expected. We only had to fight with their template styling. Anything you might want to do with your Events, from renaming strings to adjusting single event layouts, can be done within the settings interface.

Does Events Manager integrate with Bricks Builder?

No, not at this time (as of our 2023 build, and I could not find an official integration in 2026 either). You must use Bricks Dynamic Data tags or WP Functions and PHP to get the data you need to build the layouts you want. It is time-consuming but doable and somewhat easy if you are familiar with looking up post meta within a database.

Did we end up using Events Manager?

YES!! It ended up checking all the boxes and doing everything we needed it to do, and it did so without so much of a glitch.

Tips and tricks

Getting post meta so you know what field keys to use

SELECT *
FROM wp_postmeta
WHERE post_id = {your_post_id}
AND post_id IN (SELECT ID FROM wp_posts WHERE post_type = '{your_posttype}');

You will have to use Bricks Dynamic Data tags or your own functions to output event data like start/end times and such.

Pie Calendar: the dark horse

Pie Calendar came onto my radar after I wrote the first version of this article, and I have been a fan ever since. Back then I called it a dark horse future powerhouse for event management, and I am sticking with that. Quick note on how to read this section: everything below comes from their site, docs, and wordpress.org, not from a four-plugin gauntlet like the rest of this post.

It is built by Jonathan Jernigan and Elijah Mills (Tasty Plugins, LLC), and the pitch is “stripped down, done better.” The free plugin is Pie Calendar (added to wordpress.org in March 2023, version 1.3.1.1, updated September 30, 2026, 1,000+ installs listed there; their site claims 1,750+ sites). The premium plan is Pie Calendar Pro, see Pie Calendar Pro pricing.

What’s Good

• It turns any post, page, or custom post type into an event with a toggle. If you are a Bricks person, you already know how nice it is to live in CPTs and query loops, so this is the closest thing to my 2023 wishlist.
• Clean, minimal output with multiple views (month, week, day, list, and a month list with images). The calendar and the event details are also available as Gutenberg blocks, and a [piecal] shortcode works anywhere.
• Free covers the core: single, multi-day, and all-day events, custom date/time fields, multilingual, and widget mode for sidebars.
• Pro adds recurring events with blackout dates, WooCommerce, SureCart, and Easy Digital Downloads products as events, add-to-calendar links, adaptive time zones, and color coding.
• Pricing is simple and every plan has all Pro features: $99/yr for 1 site, $199/yr for 5 sites, or $299 one-time for unlimited sites with no renewal. That one-time option is rare in this space.
• An optional Connector add-on ($99/yr or $199 one-time) pulls in Eventbrite events and ICS feeds from Google, Outlook, or Apple.

What’s Not Good

• It lacks many of the features of the established players. There is no native ticketing system: tickets happen through WooCommerce, SureCart, or EDD products, or through Eventbrite via the Connector. If you need bookings, attendee check-in, or QR codes, this is not your plugin yet.
• It is young. 1,000+ installs on wordpress.org is a rounding error next to The Events Calendar, so expect fewer tutorials and fewer people who have hit your exact problem before.

Does Pie Calendar integrate with Bricks Builder?

Mostly yes, with an asterisk they list themselves. Their page builder compatibility doc puts Bricks under “Compatible With Considerations”: the [piecal] shortcode will not fully render inside the Bricks editor, but it renders properly on the front end, and they say it does not affect other functionality. They also have a developer doc on showing Pie Calendar meta fields in a Bricks query loop. That doc page was last updated in January 2024, so treat it as a starting point and test. I could not find anything on Etch compatibility, so that one is unverified.

Would I use it?

For a simple events display (a community calendar, a class schedule, a “what is coming up” page), yes. It is also the one on this list I would most want to hand a client who just needs to post events and not manage a ticketing business. Give it a run and a look (maybe not in that order).

EventKoi: the Bricks-friendly newcomer

EventKoi is the newest plugin in this roundup, and the one I find most interesting for Bricks builds. The free plugin, EventKoi Lite, hit wordpress.org in October 2025 and is at version 1.4.6.0 (updated September 29, 2026) with 80+ active installs, so it is very early. The pro version is sold at EventKoi Pro pricing. The pitch is a fast, modern calendar “for developers, agencies, and site owners who are tired of bloated event plugins.”

What’s Good

• Bricks is named as a supported builder. After the Eventin mess in 2023, where the “Bricks integration” could not touch single or archive templates, that is the first thing I checked.
• EventKoi Pro ships 14 event dynamic tags for Bricks, per their docs, and the pricing page promises dynamic templates and advanced queries for recurring events.
• Free (Lite) covers a month and week calendar, list and grid views, RSVP and registration, JSON-LD event schema, and Google, iCal, and Outlook add-to-calendar. Per the wordpress.org listing, Lite can also sell tickets through WooCommerce, so any gateway you already use works.
• Pro adds recurring events, custom fields, a taxonomy builder, frontend event submissions, customisable email templates, and unlimited calendars.
• Pricing: $99/yr for 1 site, $199/yr for 5 sites, $449/yr for 50 sites, with a 15-day money-back guarantee and a promise of a first support response within 24 hours (48 on weekends).

What’s Not Good

• Very young, with a very small install base. I would want to see a few more months of releases and real-world bug reports before putting it on a client site that sells tickets.
• The Bricks integration is a Pro feature. The wordpress.org description for Lite only lists Elementor and Beaver Builder, so do not expect Bricks tags on the free version.
• No ticketing fees. I asked, and Lesley from EventKoi confirmed it: there are none right now. Better yet, she admitted they wanted to charge one but had trouble setting up Stripe and gave up, which is the most relatable product decision I have heard all year. They might add a fee later, so check before you commit. One more thing to confirm: the wordpress.org listing and the pricing page describe ticketing a little differently (Lite mentions WooCommerce tickets, the pricing table lists ticket sales under Pro), so check which tier you need.

Does EventKoi integrate with Bricks Builder?

Yes, per their docs. Their Bricks guide walks through adding an EventKoi tag from the lightning-bolt picker on any element that supports dynamic data, and the Pro page lists dynamic tags, dynamic templates, and advanced queries. I have not tested whether those tags hold up inside a Bricks single event template or an event archive, which is exactly where Eventin fell over in 2023. If your project hinges on that, test it in the 15-day refund window before you promise anything.

Would I use it?

It is on my short list for the next Bricks project that needs events. Not a sure thing, just a “yes, test this one” thing.

Conclusion: who should pick what

There is still opportunity for an event management plugin in the WordPress space, but 2026 looks a lot healthier than 2023 did. Back then it was a sh*tshow to find a good solution. Now there are at least five plugins worth a real look. Here is how I would pick:

• You need it to work, and you will do the styling: Events Manager. It is the most feature-complete option we tested, and it was the one that held up on our actual project. It is still cumbersome, and I still do not know if they have a product manager, but it has everything I needed.
• You want the big polished name and have the budget: The Events Calendar. Test Stripe checkout early, and watch the 2% fee if you stay on the free ticketing plugin.
• You want a simple, good-looking calendar on top of posts or custom post types: Pie Calendar. This is my dark horse pick, and the $299 one-time license is a nice option for agencies.
• You build in Bricks and want dynamic tags for event data: EventKoi, once you have tested it on a single and archive template.
• You are in the MemberPress and WPForms world and want Stripe tickets and RSVPs: Sugar Calendar, which deserves a second look now that it is actually shipping updates.

There are still no thorough, native Bricks integrations from the big names. EventKoi is the first one here that even claims one, and that is an opportunity for the others. Someone should get on that!

Finding a plugin that works reliably is only part of the equation. Keeping it updated, tested, and compatible with your stack is the ongoing work. It is exactly the kind of thing we handle for clients as part of our WordPress maintenance service.