By Noam Bargil, bandleader of Benga Band and founder of RunTheBand. Updated 2026-11-05.
GigPlanner is a Dutch band calendar from Breda, live since 2019. It does the planning side well: options, bookings and rehearsals in one shared calendar, availability requests to members, and automatic block dates so a dep who plays in three bands is never double booked. It costs €5 or €10 a month per group, members are free, and there is an iOS app.
Bands usually look for an alternative when the calendar is no longer the hard part and the business side is: answering enquiries, sending offers, chasing deposits and working out what each gig paid every musician.
We make RunTheBand, one of the options below. Every tool is described with the same questions, and prices come from each vendor's own website, checked in November 2026.
| GigPlanner | |
|---|---|
| Shared calendar, options and bookings | Yes |
| Availability requests and lineups | Yes, with stand-ins |
| Block dates across groups | Yes |
| Quotes and contracts with online signature | Yes, contract module (free for now) |
| Enquiry pipeline and follow-ups | No |
| Offer page the client accepts online | No |
| Invoices and payment links | No |
| Musician fees and margin per gig | No |
| AI | No |
| Apps | iOS for members, no Android |
| Price | €5 (Lite, 5 future bookings), €10, Agency €40 to €96 a month, ex VAT |
| Tool | Built for | Starts at (monthly) | Invoices and payments | Musician fees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RunTheBand | Wedding, function and cover bands, small agencies | €30, everything included | Yes | Yes |
| Back On Stage | Event bands in the US and Canada | $29 | Yes, PayPal | Yes, PayPal payouts |
| Band Pencil | Bands and agencies, mostly UK | $29 | Yes | Yes, member invoices |
| BandCalendar | Small bands on a budget | Free, paid from €5.90 | Payment tracking | Not stated |
| Stagent | Booking agencies in Europe | €49 | Yes | Settlements |
Built for bands and AI-first, from Amsterdam. Everything GigPlanner does for the lineup (availability requests, lineups per gig, a musician portal and Google Calendar sync of confirmed gigs) plus the sales and money side: enquiries land in a pipeline, the client accepts an interactive offer page with your packages, signs the contract from a link, and gets deposit and balance invoices with a payment link. Each gig shows what every musician earns and what is left for the band. The AI turns an enquiry email into an event and drafts contracts and call sheets. Dutch and English client documents. €30 a month, all features. RunTheBand vs GigPlanner.
Band software from Vancouver with free unlimited musician seats, gig sheets, contracts, invoices and PayPal payouts to musicians on the Pro and Agency plans. $29, $49 or $79 a month. Strongest in North America. RunTheBand vs Back On Stage.
A long-running UK tool with a member portal where musicians confirm availability and send their invoices, plus a client portal and enquiry forms. $29, $49 or $99 a month. AI event creation since October 2026, with the assistant on the top plan only. Web only. RunTheBand vs Band Pencil.
The closest to GigPlanner on price: an Italian band organiser with quotes, click-to-accept contracts and a simple lead-to-booking pipeline. Free plan, paid from €5.90 a month. RunTheBand vs BandCalendar.
Dutch agency software for bookings, contracts, invoicing and settlements, with free accounts for artists. €49 or €129 a month. A fit for agencies with touring artists rather than wedding and party bands.
For bands that sell their own gigs, a tool that covers enquiries, offers, invoices and musician fees as well as the calendar. RunTheBand does all of that with AI built in for €30 a month; Back On Stage and Band Pencil are the closest band-specific alternatives in North America and the UK.
Not on its website as of November 2026. It has a contract module for quotes, confirmations and contracts with an optional online signature, but no invoices, payment links or payment tracking.
No. It has an iOS app for members, and Android users use the web version.
Yes. Add your upcoming gigs and musicians, or paste a booking email and let the AI create the event. Your musicians keep a free login to see their gigs and confirm availability.
See the full comparison in best band management software in 2026, or try RunTheBand free for 14 days.