Events sells admission to one occasion. Classes & Camps enrolls named people in something that meets on set dates.
A gala, an auction dinner, a golf outing, a 5K, an opening night: one occasion, sold by the ticket, where you offer several ticket levels and mostly need a headcount and a total raised. A six-week pottery course on Tuesdays, an after-school program, a week of summer camp: something where you need each participant's details, a signed waiver, and attendance for every meeting.
Put another way, Events is rich commerce. Classes & Camps is rich obligation: eligibility, guardian details and a record of who turned up when.
Two questions that settle most of it
Work them in order. A yes at either step ends the decision.
1. Does it meet more than once, and do the individual meetings matter? A course, a camp week, a program with a schedule families plan around. Use Classes.
2. Do you need an age or grade limit, or an application you approve before someone can register? Use Classes.
Neither? Use Events.
Note what is not on that list. Both product areas can ask your own questions, collect a signed waiver, and email the people who signed up, so needing a shirt size, a dietary note, a waiver or a message to everyone no longer decides it on its own.
What each one cannot do
Two facts decide most of the remaining edge cases. Events cannot restrict who buys. And Classes has exactly one price, with no second tier, no paid add-ons and no sponsorships.
| Events | Classes & Camps | |
|---|---|---|
| Schedule | One start and one end. An event running three evenings is still one record, and it cannot tell the evenings apart. | Every meeting is its own dated row, generated from a pattern, then individually movable. |
| Pricing | Unlimited tiers, such as General $75, Patron $150 and Student $40, plus paid add-ons and a flat family ticket. Early bird per tier. | One price per person, plus early bird. A resident and non-resident rate means publishing two classes. |
| Fundraising | Public goal and progress bar, sponsorship packages with complimentary tickets, and proceeds split across campaigns. | None of it. |
| Your own questions | Yes. Your own fields, asked once per order or once per attendee, drawn from a question library you build once and reuse across events. | Yes. Your own fields, asked once per order or once per participant. |
| Built-in participant data | Name and email, both optional, plus whatever you add yourself. Unnamed seats record as "Guest." Table assignment per guest. | Required named participant, date of birth, grade, guardian, emergency contact and photo permission, without setting anything up. |
| Waivers and eligibility | Waivers, yes: one waiver library shared with Classes, one signing step, a "sign later" link, and paper and email waivers side by side. Eligibility rules are not available. | Versioned waiver with timestamp and IP, age and grade limits, and application screening before registration. |
| Receipt note | Your own note on the buyer's receipt, set per ticket type, add-on and sponsorship package. | Your own note on the buyer's receipt, set on the class. |
| Emailing people | Email your ticket buyers from the event at any time. Confirmed buyers by default, or everyone including canceled ones, and you can send yourself a test copy first. | Automatic "starts in 3 days" reminders, plus email the roster whenever you want. |
| Attendance | One check-in per guest at the door. It cannot be undone, and it has no sense of which night. | Present, absent or excused for every person against every meeting, with a note and who marked it. |
| Refunds | A judgment call each time, with no stored policy. | A published tiered policy suggests the amount. Transfers between classes settle the difference. |
| Next season | Rebuild by hand: tiers, add-ons, sponsorships and benefits. | One click clones the setup and rebuilds the meeting dates. |
What your own questions can ask
Both product areas draw on the same eight field types: text, long text, a dropdown, a multi-select, yes/no, a number, a date and a URL. There is no file upload, so a question cannot collect a document or a signature.
Each question is set to be asked once per order or once per attendee, and that choice belongs to the question itself rather than to the event, so a question means the same thing everywhere you use it. "How did you hear about us?" is per order. "Any dietary requirements?" is per attendee.
Should a one-night workshop be an event or a class?
A class. Classes supports a single-session type, and the built-in participant details come with it. Choose Events if you need more than one ticket price.
Should a 5K or an obstacle race be an event or a class?
Either can collect a signed release now. Choose Events for several ticket prices, sponsorships or a donation in the same cart. Choose Classes, set up as a single session, if you need an age limit or the built-in participant details.
How do I set up a gala that runs three nights?
Three events, one per night, grouped under a series page. A single three-day event sells one undifferentiated ticket and cannot tell the evenings apart.
How do I sell weekly bingo by the night?
Events. Classes prices the whole run as a single enrollment, so a drop-in model does not fit.
How do I collect dietary notes and shirt sizes for a conference?
Events. This one used to go the other way. Events can now ask your own questions per attendee, so you keep your ticket tiers, your sponsorships and your early bird pricing, and still collect what you need. Move to Classes only if the conference also needs an eligibility rule.
How do I email everyone who is coming?
Either one, from inside the product. On an event you email your ticket buyers, choosing confirmed buyers or everyone including those who canceled, and you can send yourself a real copy first to check it. On a class you email the roster, and the automatic reminder goes out three days before it starts whether you write anything or not.
How do I give a sibling discount on camp?
Still Classes, for the guardian details and age limits. The sibling rate itself does not exist in the product, so handle that discount outside it.
How do I handle a corporate sponsor on a youth clinic?
Classes. Minors' details and age limits outweigh the sponsorship tooling. Record the sponsor's gift separately as a campaign donation.
How do I price adult education for members and non-members?
Classes, with member pricing handled through member benefits. Two unrelated rates means publishing two classes.
What is true of both
Both have a waitlist, with offers, expiration and automatic promotion. The difference is that an event waitlist can run per ticket tier.
Both can be grouped on a branded public page. The class catalog is the direct equivalent of an event series, and it is searchable and filterable. The series hides past events automatically; the catalog does not.
Both carry a receipt note. Text you write appears on the buyer's receipt under a heading naming your organization, after the purchase summary and before the tax statement. It is plain text, and it shows on a complimentary $0 receipt too.
Only event tickets can share a cart with a donation. A class registration is always its own transaction. If you want a supporter to add a gift at the same checkout, that is an event.
Where to go next
Once you have decided, the Events & ticketing guide walks through ticket types, member benefits, early bird pricing, sponsorships and add-ons. To group several events on one public page, see Box office & event series. For the door itself, see Admission and The Kiosk.
