The honest comparison
Good tools, each owning a slice.
We own the whole night.
We don't pretend the incumbents are bad — Prism is the booking gold standard and Master Tour is the tour binder. But every one of them stops at its slice, hides its price, or locks you to its ticketing. Here's the honest grid.
| What matters at 2 a.m. | VenueCircuit | Prism | Opendate | Master Tour | Spreadsheets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price on the page | ✓ $99–349, month-to-month | — quote-based, no rate card | ~ free with THEIR ticketing | ~ per-seat, full version costs up | ✓ free |
| Nightly close (bar + door + staff + payouts) | ✓ the core product | — | ~ ticketing-led reporting | — | ~ by hand, every night |
| Owner P&L, drill-to-receipt | ✓ | ~ per-show deal P&L | ~ | — | ~ fragile |
| Holds, challenge clocks & avails | ✓ + live holds board + shareable avail links | ✓ their core | ~ | — | ~ colored cells |
| Offers → settlement, one set of terms | ✓ + e-sign, versions, co-pro splits | ✓ their core | ~ | — | — |
| Bring your own ticketing | ✓ any provider, CSV works too | ✓ partner list | — native ticketing only | n/a | n/a |
| Staffing tied to the show (qualified cover + approval) | ✓ + worker view + payroll-ready | — | — | — | — group texts |
| Merch settlement (0% fair-merch, POS-verified counts) | ✓ | — | ~ | — | ~ napkin |
| Day sheets, editable on a phone on show day | ✓ + arrival/parking snapshot | ~ | — | ~ mobile is the #1 complaint | — |
| Touring tools in the base price | ✓ tours, routing, set lists, family link | ~ paid add-on tier | — | ✓ their core (separate product) | — |
| Verified draw history (settled nights, not self-reported) | ✓ the Draw Passport | ~ pooled benchmarks (their data stays theirs) | — users leave to check draw elsewhere | — | — |
| The door: validation, guest check-in, incident log | ✓ any ticket source | — | ~ their tickets only | — | — clipboard |
| Leave anytime with all your data | ✓ one-tap CSV of everything + exit kits IN | ~ system-of-record gravity | ~ ticketing contract | ~ | ✓ |
Sourced from each platform's own public pages and operator reviews, checked July 2026. ✓ does it well · ~ partial or paid extra · — doesn't do it. Spot something outdated? Tell us— we'll fix it. We'd rather be right than flattering.