Usage & Enterprise Capabilities
Hi.Events is the open-source alternative to proprietary ticketing platforms like Eventbrite. For event organizers who prioritize data ownership and cost efficiency, Hi.Events provides a professional-grade, self-hosted solution for managing events of any size. Built with a modern tech stack (Laravel and React), it delivers a sleek, intuitive experience for both organizers and attendees.
The platform handles every aspect of event management: from building your event page and defining ticket types to securely processing payments and managing attendee check-ins on-site. Its powerful administrative panel gives you a 360-degree view of your sales performance and attendee data, while its mobile-responsive storefront ensures that buying tickets is a seamless experience on any device.
Self-hosting Hi.Events gives organizers total control over their attendee data and eliminates the per-ticket fees associated with traditional platforms, making it a favorite for both non-profit organizations and professional event companies.
Key Benefits
Zero Per-Ticket Fees: Keep 100% of your ticket revenue by self-hosting.
Data Sovereignty: You own and control all your attendee and event data entirely.
Professional UX: A sleek, modern interface that rivals top-tier proprietary platforms.
Highly Extensible: Built on Laravel, making it easy for developers to add custom features.
Universal Ticketing: Perfect for everything from free community gatherings to high-end conferences.
Production Architecture Overview
A production Hi.Events environment typically consists of:
Web Server: (Nginx or Apache) serving the React frontend and Laravel backend.
PHP-FPM: For high-performance PHP 8.2+ processing.
Database: PostgreSQL or MySQL for event and attendee data.
Redis: Used for task queuing (email sending, PDF generation) and caching.
Object Storage: (S3 or local) for event banners and PDF ticket storage.
Implementation Blueprint
Implementation Blueprint
Prerequisites
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install docker.io docker-compose -y
sudo systemctl enable docker
sudo systemctl start dockerDocker Compose Production Setup
This configuration runs Hi.Events with its core application, a background worker, and the database.
version: '3'
services:
app:
image: hievents/hievents:latest
ports:
- "80:80"
environment:
- APP_ENV=production
- DB_CONNECTION=pgsql
- DB_HOST=db
- DB_DATABASE=hievents
- DB_USERNAME=root
- DB_PASSWORD=password
- REDIS_HOST=redis
depends_on:
- db
- redis
restart: always
worker:
image: hievents/hievents:latest
command: php artisan queue:work
environment:
- APP_ENV=production
- DB_CONNECTION=pgsql
- DB_HOST=db
- REDIS_HOST=redis
depends_on:
- db
- redis
restart: always
db:
image: postgres:15-alpine
environment:
- POSTGRES_DB=hievents
- POSTGRES_PASSWORD=password
volumes:
- pg_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
restart: always
redis:
image: redis:7-alpine
restart: always
volumes:
pg_data:Kubernetes Production Deployment (Recommended)
Hi.Events is highly suitable for Kubernetes using standard deployments for web and worker pods.
# Deploy app and worker as separate components
kubectl create deployment hievents-app --image=hievents/hievents:latest
kubectl expose deployment hievents-app --port=80Benefits:
Scalable Web Capacity: Scale your app pods to handle ticket release spikes.
Durable Task Queuing: Ensure that PDF ticket generation and emails are handled reliably by separate worker pods.
Stateful Management: Use cloud-native databases and persistent volumes for attendee and event data.
Scaling Strategy
Queue Management: Always use Redis in production to handle background jobs for emails and ticket generation.
Image Offloading: Use S3 or an S3-compatible provider for event banners to keep your web instances lean.
Database Indexing: Ensure your database is properly indexed for rapid attendee lookups during check-in.
Global Storefront: Serve your event pages through a CDN to ensure fast loading times for attendees worldwide.
Backup & Safety
Regular DB Backups: Automate daily PostgreSQL/MySQL dumps and storage snapshots.
Ticket Security: Securely store and handle digital ticket PDFs to prevent unauthorized access.
HTTPS Enforcement: Always use SSL/TLS to protect attendee information and payment data.
Email Reliability: Use a professional SMTP provider or API (like Postmark or SendGrid) for critical attendee emails.