Looking for an event directory that puts your community first? Here's how Events In Plain Sight and Meetup approach event discovery differently — and how they can work together.
| Events In Plain Sight | Meetup | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Community-wide event discovery | Group-based event management |
| Domain | Your own branded subdomain | Hosted on meetup.com |
| Cost to Participate | Free, always | Free, with optional Meetup+ subscription |
| Event Creation | Any registered user, no cost | Group organizers with paid subscription |
| Organizer Pricing | Per community, unlimited events | Per group, unlimited events |
| Event Management | Event listing and discovery | RSVPs, messaging, attendee tools |
| Best For | Helping people find events across a community | Running and coordinating individual events |
The word "community" can mean different things depending on context. A broad community is a semi-structured group of people who share a common interest at a macro level — think "Toronto Makers" or "Chicago Trail Runners." A local community operates at a micro level, often tied to a specific venue or organizer.
Events In Plain Sight is built around the broad community. It aggregates events across an entire interest area so people can discover everything happening in their community, regardless of which venue or organizer is hosting. A "Makers Toronto" event directory, for example, could list events from multiple maker spaces, DIY centers, and independent workshops all in one place.
Meetup organizes around individual groups. Each maker space or workshop would typically run its own Meetup group with its own event listings. This works well for organizers who want to build a following around their specific group.
Both approaches are valid. Most event organizers operate at both levels. The difference is in how people find events — through a single community-wide event directory, or through individual group pages.
When people want to find events in your community, where do they go? Having a single, recognizable destination makes event discovery straightforward.
Each Events In Plain Sight community gets its own configurable subdomain. Your community members visit your branded address to browse events. Traffic flows to your community, not to a shared platform.
Meetup hosts all communities under the meetup.com domain. This comes with the advantage of Meetup's built-in audience and brand recognition — people already on Meetup can stumble across your group through Meetup's own discovery features.
The trade-off is between building your own community's that benefits the community versus building a large brand's audience. Depending on your goals, either approach — or both — can make sense.
Both Events In Plain Sight and Meetup are commercial products with different pricing models that reflect their different scales and approaches.
Events In Plain Sight charges per community. A single subscription covers unlimited organizations and event listings within that community. For the people browsing and adding events, it is free — no subscription, no premium tier, no upsell. Keeping the event directory free for community members removes barriers to participation.
Meetup charges per group, with unlimited events and attendees included. Meetup also offers Meetup+, an optional subscription for individual attendees that provides perks like an ad-free experience and additional features. This gives Meetup a broader revenue base across both organizers and attendees.
The right pricing model depends on your situation. If you are coordinating a community-wide event directory, a single community subscription may be more practical. If you are running a single group with hands-on event management needs, Meetup's per-group model may be the better fit.
This is perhaps the most important distinction between the two platforms. Events In Plain Sight is an event discovery directory. It exists to help people find events happening in their community. Think of it as a broad, crowd-sourced, community-centric event listing — a place to browse, search, and discover what's happening in the community, by the community, for the community.
Meetup is a full event management platform. It handles RSVPs, attendee communication, messaging, and other coordination tasks that organizers need to run their events. Event discovery is part of what Meetup does, but it is built on top of a management-first foundation.
Because of this difference, the two products can actually complement each other. An organizer who needs Meetup's management features can host their event there and also add it to an Events In Plain Sight community for broader discovery. In this way, Events In Plain Sight acts as a marketing channel — extending an event's reach to people who might not be on Meetup.
If your goal is to help people find events across a broad community, an event directory fills that role. If your goal is to manage the logistics of individual events, an event management platform is the right tool.
Events in an Events In Plain Sight community can be created by the community owner, but the richest source of event listings is the community itself. From the beginning, Events In Plain Sight was built around crowd-sourced event submissions. Any registered user can add an event at no cost — they just need a free account.
On Meetup, only group organizers can create events, and organizers pay a monthly subscription. This model works well for organizers who want full control over their event listings and attendee experience.
The crowd-sourced approach means an Events In Plain Sight community can grow its event directory organically as community members contribute listings. The organizer-driven approach means Meetup groups are limited to only what the organizer creates. Both philosophies produce useful event listings — the difference is in who does the listing.
Events In Plain Sight and Meetup are both tools for connecting people with events. They approach the problem from different angles — one as a community event directory focused on discovery, the other as an event management platform focused on coordination. The right choice depends on your goals, and they work well together.
Start an Events In Plain Sight community if you want to help people discover events across a broad community. Use Meetup if you need to manage RSVPs, communication, and other event logistics — and then list your events on an Events In Plain Sight community for additional reach.
Or start a community yourself if one doesn't exist yet for your area of interest.