The Events Calendar
Widely used WordPress events calendar with venues, organisers and month/list/day views, plus paid tiers for recurring events, ticketing and seating.
97
Sugar Calendar
Lightweight event calendar from Awesome Motive with Stripe ticketing in the free Lite version and paid plans for recurring events, venues and RSVP.
Free installs10K+WordPress.org, active
Est. Pro installs~1.8KLikely 900–3.6K
Rating4.5/524 reviews
Price from$99/yrFreemium
Last updated15 Oct 2026Version 3.16.0
Overview
Sugar Calendar is an event calendar plugin originally created by Pippin Williamson at Sandhills Development and part of Awesome Motive since 2021. Events are managed like posts in the WordPress dashboard and displayed through two blocks (Events Calendar and Events List), Elementor widgets or shortcodes. The focus is on staying light and simple rather than covering every conference-style feature.
The free Sugar Calendar Lite plugin on WordPress.org is more capable than many free calendars. It covers month, week and day views with light and dark styles, multiple calendars and tags with front-end search and filters, Google Maps on event pages, Zoom meetings created from the event editor, CSV and JSON import/export, one-click migration from The Events Calendar, and event structured data. It can also sell tickets through Stripe (with a 3% application fee per order) or hand out free tickets, with attendee lists, CSV export and attendee emails.
What the paid plans add
- Basic: recurring events with flexible rules, reusable venue profiles with maps, speaker profiles, front-end submissions through WPForms, Gravity Forms or Formidable Forms, ICS feed import, calendar feeds and subscriptions, and event duplication. Stripe tickets still carry the 3% fee.
- Plus and higher: multiple ticket types, no Stripe fee, WooCommerce ticketing, and the RSVP and Zapier add-ons.
- Pro and Elite: more sites, more integration credits and higher support priority.
The main strengths are a clean admin experience, native blocks, built-in Stripe ticketing in the free version and reasonable pricing for single sites. The limitations are real for larger events: there is no seating chart, no QR code check-in app, no organiser profiles beyond speakers and venues, and recurring events, which many free calendars include, sit behind a paid plan. The Stripe fee on Lite and Basic also adds up for busy ticketed events.
Sugar Calendar suits small organisations, clubs, churches and businesses that want a tidy calendar with simple ticketing or RSVPs on their own site. Organisers who need check-in at the door, seat maps or a large add-on marketplace should look at heavier ticketing-focused plugins.
Best for: Small organisations that want a simple, block-based calendar with straightforward Stripe ticketing or RSVPs.
Sugar Calendar is one of the tidier event calendars for WordPress, and the free Lite version is unusually generous on ticketing. It falls short for conferences or venues that need check-in apps and seat maps, and putting recurring events behind a paid plan is a notable gap compared with free rivals.
Pros
- Free version sells Stripe tickets and gives away free tickets with attendee export
- Native Events Calendar and Events List blocks plus Elementor widgets
- Zoom meetings, Google Maps and event schema included in the free plugin
- One-click migration from The Events Calendar
- Clean, lightweight admin that feels like normal WordPress posts
Cons
- Recurring events and venue profiles need a paid plan
- 3% Stripe application fee on Lite and the Basic plan
- No seating charts or QR code check-in app
- RSVP, WooCommerce ticketing and Zapier start at the $199/year Plus plan
Key features
What Sugar Calendar highlights on its WordPress.org page and its own website, split by version.
Free version WordPress.org
- Month, week and day calendar views
- Events Calendar and Events List blocks
- Elementor widgets and shortcodes
- Stripe ticket sales and free tickets
- Attendee list with CSV export
- Email attendees of an event
- Zoom meetings from the event editor
- Google Maps on event pages
- Multiple calendars and tags with filters
- CSV and JSON import and export
- Migration from The Events Calendar
- Event structured data output
Pro / paid adds From $99/yr
- Flexible recurring events
- Reusable venue profiles with maps
- Speaker profiles
- Front-end event submissions
- ICS feed import with re-sync
- Calendar feeds and subscriptions
- Event duplication
- Multiple ticket types (Plus)
- No Stripe fee (Plus)
- WooCommerce ticketing add-on (Plus)
- RSVP add-on (Plus)
- Zapier add-on (Plus)
Feature checklist
18 of 20 features we track in Events & Calendars, feature score 87/100
Creating events 6/6
Recurring events Key
Daily, weekly, monthly or custom repeating events.
Daily, weekly, monthly and custom repeat rules in every paid plan.
Paid version Basic
Venues & organisers Key
Reusable venue and organiser profiles.
Paid plans add reusable venues with Google Maps and speaker profiles; no separate organiser profiles.
Paid version Basic
Virtual & hybrid events
Online events with Zoom, Meet or streaming links.
Create a Zoom meeting from the event editor; join link is sent to attendees.
Included
Categories & tags
Organise events by type, topic or audience.
Multiple calendars act as categories, with tags for further filtering.
Included
Front-end event submissions
Visitors or organisers submit events from the front end.
Community submissions via WPForms, Gravity Forms or Formidable, held for approval.
Paid version Basic
Import events
Import from iCal, Google Calendar, Eventbrite, Facebook or CSV.
Lite imports CSV/JSON and migrates The Events Calendar; ICS feed import is paid.
Included
Calendar & display 5/5
Calendar views Key
Month, week, day, list and other views.
Month, week and day calendar plus list, grid and plain event lists.
Included
Maps
Venue maps with Google Maps or OpenStreetMap.
Google Maps on event pages in Lite (API key needed); venue maps in paid plans.
Included
Search & filters
Filter events by date, category, venue or keyword.
Calendar block can show a search field and calendar/tag filters.
Included
Block editor & page builder support
Blocks or Elementor widgets for calendars and events.
Events Calendar and Events List blocks plus matching Elementor widgets.
Included
Event schema for SEO Key
Adds event structured data for Google results.
Outputs JSON-LD event data, including online events.
Included
Tickets & attendees 4/6
Ticket sales Key
Sell tickets online for events.
Stripe ticket sales in Lite with a 3% fee per order; fee removed from Plus.
Included
Free RSVPs
Collect RSVPs for free events.
RSVP add-on with capacity and guest counts; Lite can issue free tickets instead.
Paid version Plus
WooCommerce tickets
Sell tickets through WooCommerce checkout.
Event Ticketing add-on sells tickets as WooCommerce products.
Paid version Plus
Seating charts
Assigned seating or seat maps.
Ticket capacity limits only; no seat selection or seat maps.
Not included
QR code check-in Key
Scan tickets at the door, with an app or browser.
Tickets have codes, but no QR scanning or check-in app is offered.
Not included
Attendee lists & exports
Manage and export attendee information.
Tickets list with attendee details, editable answers and CSV export.
Included
Engagement & integrations 3/3
Add to calendar & iCal export Key
Visitors save events to Google Calendar, Outlook or Apple Calendar.
Lite adds calendar links and .ics files to emails; buttons on event pages are paid.
Partial
Reminder & confirmation emails
Automatic emails to attendees.
Receipts, ticket and registration emails, plus messages to all attendees.
Included
Integrations
Zapier, email marketing or CRM integrations.
Zapier add-on from Plus; form plugin integrations in all paid plans.
Paid version Plus
Pricing
Free
$0On WordPress.org
Lite
Freeper yearUnlimited
Free on WordPress.org; Stripe ticket sales carry a 3% fee per order.
Basic
$99per year1 site
First year shown at $49.50 (50% intro discount). Recurring events, venues, speakers, submissions, ICS import; 3% Stripe fee remains.
Plus
$199per year1 site
First year shown at $99.50. Adds multiple ticket types, no Stripe fee, WooCommerce ticketing, RSVP and Zapier add-ons.
Pro
$399per year3 sites
First year shown at $199.50. Same features as Plus with more integration credits.
Elite
$599per year10 sites
First year shown at $299.50. Priority support and 5,000 integration credits.
Prices are list prices from the vendor's site, checked 14 Oct 2026. Many vendors discount the first year.
How many sites use Sugar Calendar?
Free installs from WordPress.org, the vendor's own claim, and our estimate of paid installs.
Free version (WordPress.org)
10K+
Active installations reported by WordPress.org.
Vendor claim
—
The vendor does not publish a total.
Estimated Pro / paid installs
~1.8K
Our estimate, see method below.
How we estimated this: About 15K free installs x 12% (the usual share of free sites that also run the paid version when some key features are paid, and store owners upgrade more often) gives 1.8K. Likely range: 900 to 3.6K. This counts sites running the paid version, including sites whose licence has lapsed. Estimates are rough and based on public figures as of 14 Oct 2026.
Stats & health
Weekly downloads
2,895 downloads last week, 273.4K all time
Rating breakdown
| Version | 3.16.0 |
|---|---|
| Last updated | 15 Oct 2026 (18 days ago) |
| Tested up to | WordPress 7.1.4 |
| Requires | WordPress 6.2+, PHP 7.4+ |
| Support threads (2 months) | 2 of 2 resolved |
| On WordPress.org since | 5 Oct 2012 |
Company & policy
| Refund policy | 14-day money-back (source, 11 Oct 2026) |
|---|
Sugar Calendar compared
Alternatives to Sugar Calendar
Modern Events Calendar
Feature-dense events calendar from Webnus with dozens of layouts, a free Lite edition and a Pro version for bookings, tickets and integrations.
98
Eventin
Event management and ticketing plugin from Themewinter with WooCommerce tickets, Zoom, speakers and schedules free, plus Pro seat maps and QR check-in.
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EventON
Stylish events calendar sold as a $60 one-time licence with a free Lite edition, extended through paid add-ons for tickets, RSVP, seats…
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Events Manager
Free events and bookings plugin with recurring events, locations, front-end submissions and BuddyPress support; Pro adds payments, PDF tickets and check-in.
87
WP Event Manager
Modular event listing plugin with free front-end submission, venues and organisers, and paid add-ons for calendars, tickets, registrations and Zoom.
89
FAQ
Is Sugar Calendar free?
Yes. Sugar Calendar has a free version on WordPress.org. Paid plans start at $99/yr.
How many sites use Sugar Calendar?
WordPress.org reports 10K+ active installations of the free version. We estimate around 1.8K sites run the paid version.
Does Sugar Calendar have recurring events?
Yes: paid version (Basic). Daily, weekly, monthly and custom repeat rules in every paid plan.
Does Sugar Calendar have venues & organisers?
Yes: paid version (Basic). Paid plans add reusable venues with Google Maps and speaker profiles; no separate organiser profiles.
Does Sugar Calendar have calendar views?
Yes: included. Month, week and day calendar plus list, grid and plain event lists.
Does Sugar Calendar have event schema for seo?
Yes: included. Outputs JSON-LD event data, including online events.
Does Sugar Calendar have ticket sales?
Yes: included. Stripe ticket sales in Lite with a 3% fee per order; fee removed from Plus.
Does Sugar Calendar have qr code check-in?
No: not included. Tickets have codes, but no QR scanning or check-in app is offered.
Does Sugar Calendar have add to calendar & ical export?
Yes: partial. Lite adds calendar links and .ics files to emails; buttons on event pages are paid.
Does Sugar Calendar Lite support recurring events?
No. Recurring events with daily, weekly, monthly and custom rules start on the Basic plan ($99/year at full price).
Can I sell tickets with the free version?
Yes. Lite sells tickets through Stripe and issues free tickets, but Stripe orders carry a 3% application fee. The fee is removed on the Plus plan and above.
Which plan do I need for RSVPs or WooCommerce tickets?
Plus or higher. The RSVP and Event Ticketing (WooCommerce) add-ons, multiple ticket types and the Zapier add-on are not included in Basic.
Can I move from The Events Calendar?
Yes. Lite includes a one-click migration tool for events from The Events Calendar, plus CSV and JSON import.
Last updated 11 Oct 2026. Spotted something wrong? Suggest an edit.