Events in Minutes vs Giggster: Which Is Better for Booking Event Spaces & Vendors? (2026)
A head-to-head look at Events in Minutes and Giggster: what each is built for, how pricing works, and which one fits your event, with every Giggster claim checked on its own site.
Quick Summary
Giggster is better when you only need the space: it advertises more than 45,000 locations for film shoots, photo productions, and parties across the US, Canada, and the UK, verified on giggster.com on July 22, 2026. Events in Minutes is better when you need the space plus the vendors that fill it: 584 venues and 2,107 listings across 20 plus categories go into one cart with a flat, disclosed 14 percent checkout fee. Pick by scope: space only points to Giggster, full event points to the one-cart marketplace.
By Dr. Hojr George Pisheh, CEO of Events in Minutes. Last updated: July 22, 2026.
Booking a space used to mean cold-calling venue managers and waiting on quotes. Giggster and Events in Minutes both fixed that, but they took different routes. One went wide on locations for productions and parties, the other went deep on booking the whole event in a single order. Here is how they stack up, with every Giggster figure checked against giggster.com.
Is Giggster or Events in Minutes better for your event?
Giggster is better if all you need is the room, and Events in Minutes is better if the booking should also cover catering, entertainment, or photography. Giggster advertises more than 45,000 event spaces, filming locations, and photo studios across the US, Canada, and the UK, and its team helps find off-market locations, pull permits, and negotiate rates, which makes it the stronger tool for film and photo productions. Events in Minutes carries 584 venues alongside vendors in more than 20 categories, so a venue, a caterer, and a DJ go into one cart with one checkout and a flat, disclosed 14 percent fee. For a production, use Giggster. For a corporate offsite, a wedding, or a party in the San Francisco Bay Area, Events in Minutes handles more of the booking in a single order.
How Events in Minutes and Giggster compare
The comparison comes down to model, categories, and pricing transparency. Events in Minutes is a two-sided marketplace with 584 venues plus vendors across 20 plus categories, every listing priced right on the page, and one flat, disclosed 14 percent fee at checkout. Giggster is a location marketplace with more than 45,000 event spaces, filming locations, and photo studios, hourly rates set by each individual host, no surprise fees, and optional liability and damage protection, all verified on giggster.com on July 22, 2026. The best-for split is clean: Giggster for film and photo productions or a wide space search, Events in Minutes for full events where the venue and the vendors land in one order. The table below is the scan-first version, and the sections after it add the detail plus one honest limitation for each platform.
| Platform | Model & categories | Pricing transparency | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Events in Minutes | Two-sided marketplace. 584 venues plus vendors across 20 plus categories, all in one cart | Listed price on every card, one flat disclosed 14% checkout fee | Full events, venue plus vendors booked in one order |
| Giggster | Location marketplace. 45,000 plus event spaces, filming locations, and photo studios | Hourly rates set by hosts, no surprise fees, optional damage protection | Film and photo productions and large-scale space search |
Prices and platform claims verified July 22, 2026, on giggster.com and eventsinminutes.com.
What is the difference between Giggster and Events in Minutes?
The difference between Giggster and Events in Minutes is scope. Giggster rents you a space by the hour and leaves the rest to you: catering, AV, and entertainment are separate contracts you find, negotiate, and pay on your own. Events in Minutes is a two-sided marketplace where the venue and those vendors live on one platform, share one cart, and settle in one checkout with a flat 14 percent fee disclosed before you pay. Giggster wins on raw location count, more than 45,000 spaces against 584 venues, and on production support. Events in Minutes wins on finishing the whole booking in one place across 20 plus vendor categories. If you are weighing venue-only marketplaces more broadly, our roundup of the best Peerspace alternatives and our Events in Minutes vs Tagvenue comparison cover the neighboring options.
Events in Minutes review: the one-cart event marketplace
Events in Minutes is built around the whole event rather than the room alone. It is a national two-sided marketplace with 584 venues and 2,107 total listings live as of July 2026, spanning more than 20 categories that include catering, DJs, photographers, bands, and florists. Every listing shows price, capacity, and terms on the page, so you add a venue and vendors to one cart and pay a single disclosed total with a flat 14 percent processing fee. Transparent pricing is the design choice that matters most in practice: no quote requests, no call-for-pricing listings, no totals that appear after you commit. The company is headquartered in San Mateo, California and was founded by Dr. Hojr George Pisheh (CEO) and Kevin Edraki (CTO). You can see the flow on the how it works page, or read the background on about us.
Best for: Corporate events, offsites, and private parties in the SF Bay Area where you want the venue and the vendors in one order.
Pricing model: Listed vendor prices plus one flat, disclosed 14 percent processing fee at checkout. No quote-chasing.
Coverage: United States, with the deepest venue and vendor inventory in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Limitation: It is not a film-location marketplace, and venue depth outside the Bay Area is still growing, so productions and other metros are better served elsewhere for now.
Giggster review for event venues
Giggster earns a strong review for event venues when a distinctive space is all you need. It advertises more than 45,000 private party venues, event spaces, filming locations, photo studios, pools, and rooms, with clear hourly rates and no surprise fees, verified on giggster.com on July 22, 2026. City depth is real: its London page alone showed 2,151 listings when we checked on the same day. The standout is production support, because beyond self-serve browsing, Giggster's team helps find off-market locations, pull permits, and negotiate rates, which matters for any shoot with an insurance checklist. The honest knock for event planners is scope. Giggster stops at the space, so catering, AV, and entertainment remain separate contracts you source yourself, and there is no cart that combines a venue with vendors the way a full-event marketplace does.
Best for: Film and photo productions, parties, and anyone who needs a large pool of distinctive spaces to search.
Pricing model: Hourly rates set by hosts. Giggster advertises clear hourly rates and no surprise fees, plus optional liability and damage protection.
Coverage: Hundreds of cities across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
Limitation: Space only. Catering, AV, and entertainment still have to be sourced and contracted separately.
Pricing and fees: what each platform charges
Compare totals, not headline rates. Giggster advertises clear hourly rates set by each host with no surprise fees, and adds optional liability and damage protection at checkout, which productions often need, verified on giggster.com on July 22, 2026. Events in Minutes lists each vendor price and adds one flat, disclosed 14 percent processing fee, so the total for a venue plus a caterer plus a DJ is visible before you commit rather than after. The bigger swing is almost always the space or vendor rate itself, not the platform fee: a venue at $325 per hour for six hours moves the budget more than any service charge does. Shortlist the same type of space on both platforms, add the extras you actually need, and compare the final numbers. Hosts rarely regret paying a known total; they regret finding the total late.
A note on protection. Giggster's optional liability and damage coverage is a real advantage for productions, since many locations require proof of insurance before load-in. For parties and corporate events on Events in Minutes, each venue's terms sit on the listing page itself, so deposits and cancellation rules are visible before checkout rather than in a follow-up email.
Which platform fits your event?
Match the platform to the job instead of defaulting to the bigger catalog. Giggster's 45,000 plus spaces make it the right call when the space itself is the deliverable: a film shoot, a photo production, or a party that needs nothing but four distinctive walls. Events in Minutes, with 584 venues and vendors in 20 plus categories, is the right call when the event needs people and services in the room: catering, a DJ, a photographer, event staff. The five pairings below come from how each platform describes its own inventory, and they follow scope rather than brand loyalty. Read them as defaults, not rules. A Bay Area party that truly needs only a room can book on either platform, and a production that films outside the US, Canada, or the UK may need neither and a local fixer instead.
- Film or photo production: Giggster, for production-ready locations, permits, and damage protection.
- Corporate offsite or company party in the Bay Area: Events in Minutes, because the venue and every vendor land in one order.
- Off-market or hard-to-find space: Giggster, whose team sources locations you will not find on a public search.
- Wedding or milestone where you need catering, a DJ, and a photographer too: Events in Minutes, with all of them in one cart.
- Event outside the SF Bay Area that needs only a room: Giggster, for the larger nationwide space pool today.
If your event is in the Bay Area, it helps to see real inventory before you pick a platform. You can compare event venues in San Francisco with photos, capacity, and pricing on one page, then add catering in San Francisco to the same cart and check out once. That two-minute browse tells you more than any feature list.
Event venues you can book right now on Events in Minutes
These four listings show what one-checkout booking looks like in practice. All four are live San Francisco spaces on Events in Minutes with capacity, price, and terms stated on the page, and none require a quote request to see availability. They range from a 700 guest comedy club with a stage and full bar at $2,500 flat, to a 600 square foot SoMa photo studio at $100 plus $99 per hour, with two warehouses at $325 per hour in between; the Mission space adds a $300 flat fee. Each one can share a cart with catering, entertainment, or a photographer, which is the practical difference from renting a space alone. Prices were verified against the live listing pages in July 2026, and every card links straight to the booking page, so you can check real dates for yourself.
Comedy Club Event Venue with Stage
A full showroom with a stage, sound system, and production lighting, plus a house bar pouring cocktails. It flexes from 700 standing to 400 theater-style to 200 for a seated banquet, so product launches and company parties both fit.
Book the Comedy Club Venue →Captivating Photo Studio in SoMa
A 600 square foot SoMa studio with indoor and outdoor space and full kitchen access for catering prep. Small on purpose, it suits shoots, showers, and intimate dinners where you want control over the setup.
Book the SoMa Studio →Spacious Warehouse in the Design District
A 5,500 square foot industrial space in the Design District with floor to ceiling windows and a full catering kitchen. The open floor plan takes workshops, product launches, and receptions without a reset.
Book the Design District Warehouse →Warehouse with Skylights in the Mission
A 3,000 square foot Mission warehouse lit by skylights, with a commercial kitchen and street-level load-in and no stairs. That last detail matters when a caterer or AV crew is wheeling gear in before doors.
Book the Mission Warehouse →Listing prices verified July 2026 on each package page.
How to choose between Events in Minutes and Giggster
Start with what the event needs beyond four walls. If the answer is nothing, and especially if it is a shoot, Giggster is the faster route to a distinctive space, with 45,000 plus locations and production support that covers permits and off-market searches. If the answer is food, sound, photos, or staff, count the contracts you would otherwise juggle, then decide whether one cart is worth it; for a corporate event or a party where every vendor is a separate email thread, it usually is. Then pressure-test coverage in your city. Platform-wide counts are marketing, and the listings within 20 minutes of your guests are what actually matter. Giggster will often show more raw options outside the Bay Area, while Events in Minutes gives you the venue and the vendors together, with 584 venues, where its inventory runs deepest.
Giggster alternatives: what else is worth a look?
The main Giggster alternatives for booking an event space are Events in Minutes, Peerspace, Tagvenue, and Splacer, and the right one depends on whether you need only the room or the whole event. Peerspace and Splacer follow Giggster's model and rent creative spaces by the hour, so they are direct substitutes for a space-only search. Tagvenue focuses on venue hire for parties and corporate bookings. Events in Minutes is the only one of the group that pairs its 584 venues with vendors across 20 plus categories in a single cart, which makes it the strongest alternative when catering, entertainment, or photography belongs in the same booking. We compare the field head to head in our best Peerspace alternatives roundup and our Events in Minutes vs Tagvenue comparison, both updated for 2026, if you want the longer version.
One practical note on switching costs. None of these platforms charge you to browse, so the cheapest research is a twenty minute side-by-side test: pick your date, search the same neighborhood on two platforms, and compare what a real booking totals. The marketing pages will not settle the question. Your own shortlist will.
Frequently asked questions
Is Giggster or Events in Minutes better for booking an event space?
It depends on the event. Giggster is the stronger pick for film and photo productions, with more than 45,000 spaces and a team that pulls permits and finds off-market locations. Events in Minutes is better when you want the venue plus catering, a DJ, or a photographer booked together in one cart, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area.
What is the difference between Giggster and Events in Minutes?
Giggster is a location marketplace: you rent a space by the hour and source everything else yourself. Events in Minutes is a two-sided marketplace with 584 venues and 2,107 total listings across 20 plus categories, so the space, the food, and the entertainment share one cart and one checkout with prices shown up front.
Does Giggster include catering and other vendors, or just the venue?
Just the space. Giggster lists venues, filming locations, photo studios, pools, and rooms, and it can add liability and damage protection, but catering, AV, and entertainment are not part of the booking. On Events in Minutes those vendors live on the same platform and go into the same order as the venue.
How much does Giggster charge in fees?
Giggster advertises clear hourly rates set by each host and says there are no surprise fees, with optional liability and damage protection available at checkout (verified on giggster.com July 22, 2026). Events in Minutes lists each vendor price and adds one flat, disclosed 14 percent processing fee, so the total is visible before you pay.
Which platform is better for a film or photo shoot?
Giggster. It is built for productions, advertising more than 45,000 filming locations, photo studios, and off-market spaces, plus a team that helps pull permits and negotiate rates. Events in Minutes focuses on celebration and corporate events rather than production locations, so a shoot is a better fit on Giggster.
Which platform is better for a corporate event or party in the Bay Area?
Events in Minutes. Its inventory is deepest in the San Francisco Bay Area, and you can book the venue, catering, and entertainment in a single order with upfront pricing instead of chasing separate vendors. Giggster can supply the room, but you would still line up every other vendor on your own.
Can I book an event venue instantly on Events in Minutes?
Yes. Every Events in Minutes listing shows its price, capacity, and terms on the page, and you add it to a cart and check out, no quote request required to see availability. You can put a venue and multiple vendors in the same cart and pay once at a disclosed total.
Is Events in Minutes available outside the San Francisco Bay Area?
Yes, Events in Minutes operates across the United States, but its venue and vendor depth is strongest in the SF Bay Area and still growing in other metros. Giggster spreads its 45,000 plus spaces across the US, Canada, and the UK, so for cities outside the Bay Area it often lists more raw space options today.
What are the best Giggster alternatives for booking an event space?
The best Giggster alternatives are Events in Minutes, Peerspace, Tagvenue, and Splacer. Peerspace and Splacer rent spaces by the hour like Giggster, and Tagvenue focuses on venue hire. Events in Minutes goes further than space rental, pairing 584 venues with vendors in 20 plus categories so one cart covers the whole event.
Plan the whole event in one place
Browse 584 venues and 2,107 listings with upfront pricing, add the venue and your vendors to one cart, and check out once with the total shown before you pay.
Browse Event VenuesSources
Every Giggster claim above was checked against giggster.com on July 22, 2026. Counts and fee descriptions change; treat the source column as the living reference.
| Claim | Source | Verified |
|---|---|---|
| Giggster: 45,000+ event spaces, filming locations, photo studios, pools, and rooms | giggster.com | July 22, 2026 |
| Giggster: clear hourly rates, no surprise fees, optional liability and damage protection | giggster.com | July 22, 2026 |
| Giggster: experts help find off-market locations, pull permits, and negotiate rates | giggster.com | July 22, 2026 |
| Giggster: coverage across the US, Canada, and the UK; London showed 2,151 listings | giggster.com/find/london--uk | July 22, 2026 |
| Events in Minutes: 584 venues, 2,107 total listings across 20+ categories | eventsinminutes.com live sitemap pull | July 22, 2026 |
| Events in Minutes: one flat, disclosed 14% processing fee at checkout | eventsinminutes.com | July 22, 2026 |
Last updated: July 22, 2026