TL;DR

Luma and Eventbrite both help people find events, but they do it in very different ways. If you’re looking for hidden or exclusive gatherings, you need to know where to look. Many public Luma events are invisible on its discover page, while Eventbrite focuses on ticketing and public listings. This creates a gap, and that’s where Hidden Events steps in.

What is the real difference between Luma and Eventbrite for hidden events?

Luma and Eventbrite operate differently: Luma hosts many public events that aren’t featured on its discover page, while Eventbrite centers on open, ticketed listings. Hidden Events uncovers the hidden side of Luma, surfacing 2703 public events that Luma doesn’t promote on its main discover page. By contrast, Eventbrite doesn’t have the same concept of a hidden public event, what you see is what organizers choose to list. If you rely on the Luma discover page, you’re missing 76.9% of public Luma events that are still open to anyone with the link. To see all the Luma events we track, check all the Luma events we track.

Luma’s approach means many events are public but not easy to find. Eventbrite, meanwhile, is built around public ticketing, so its listings are more straightforward. If you want to dig up hidden or exclusive events on Luma, Hidden Events surfaces many that don’t appear on the discover page. For more on how these platforms differ, see our guide to luma alternatives.

Key takeaway: Luma hides a much larger share of its public events than Eventbrite, but you can surface them using Hidden Events.

How much of Luma’s event pool is actually hidden?

A striking 76.9% of public Luma events are hidden, not shown on the discover page, but open to anyone with the link. That means 2703 out of 3513 events are effectively invisible to users browsing Luma’s main listings. Only 810 make it onto the discover page. This isn’t about private or invite-only gatherings; these are public events, just not promoted by Luma. The median city sees 78.2% of its events hidden, and 22 out of 22 cities have at least half their events in this category.

If you’re an organizer, you can make sure your event is discoverable by submitting your calendar on the add-event page. For attendees, the event checker lets you see if a Luma event is hidden or featured. For a deeper dive, check our guide to why luma events are hidden.

How does the hidden share differ between cities and categories?

Hidden events aren’t spread evenly. For example, New Delhi has a hidden event share of 90.7%. At the other end, Lisbon has 55.3% hidden. Categories show similar differences: Startup events are hidden 83.5% of the time, while Crypto events are hidden 63.3% of the time.

Here’s a quick look at the numbers:

Metric Value
Total Luma events tracked 3513
Hidden events 2703
Featured events 810
Hidden share (all cities) 76.9%
Median city hidden share 78.2%
Cities with half or more hidden 22
Busiest event day Thursday
Busiest day share 19.3%
Top hidden city New Delhi (90.7%)
Lowest hidden city Lisbon (55.3%)
Top hidden category Startup (83.5%)
Lowest hidden category Crypto (63.3%)

If you want to see what’s happening in a specific city, try browsing San Francisco events, Austin events, or NYC events. For a weekend view, San Francisco this weekend and Austin this weekend are good places to start.

Key takeaway: The hidden share varies sharply by city and category, don’t assume all cities are alike.

How does the hidden event share compare between Luma and Eventbrite?

Eventbrite doesn’t have a direct equivalent to Luma’s hidden events. On Eventbrite, public events are listed openly by organizers, and there isn’t a discover page that filters out public events in the same way. Luma, on the other hand, features just 810 out of 3513 public events. The rest, 2703, are findable only with the right link or by using a tool like Hidden Events.

If you’re searching for exclusive or off-the-radar events, Luma’s hidden pool is much richer. Hidden Events brings these to the surface, so you aren’t limited by what Luma features. For more on how to find these, our guide to how to find hidden events lays out practical steps.

For Eventbrite’s approach, see Eventbrite. For Luma’s, visit Luma.

What tools help you find or list hidden Luma events?

To find hidden Luma events, start with Hidden Events, which refreshes its listings every 4 hours from Luma’s public data. Use the event checker to see if a specific event is hidden. Organizers can submit their Luma calendar directly on the add-event page, it takes about ten minutes for new events to appear. For those who want to embed listings elsewhere, the city events widget is a free tool that shows a city’s upcoming events.

If you’re after tech or networking events, try San Francisco tech events or NYC tech events. For more detailed stats, our guide to event statistics breaks down the numbers city by city.

Key takeaway: Hidden Events offers multiple tools for both attendees and organizers to surface and share hidden Luma events.

How do event timing and volume affect what you see?

Timing matters. Thursday is the busiest day for Luma events, with 19.3% of all events starting then. In the next week alone, 1031 public Luma events are scheduled across all cities. The volume of hidden events means you could miss out if you rely only on Luma’s discover page or Eventbrite. For a real-time look at what’s happening, explore all the Luma events we track, or check our blog guide for how to make sure your event is visible.

If you want to know more about why so many events stay hidden, our guide to why luma events are hidden gives a full explanation. For official Luma resources, see Luma help center.

Ready to see what’s actually happening? Browse the live list on Hidden Events and find the events you won’t see anywhere else.

About the author. Himanshu Saleria, Founder, Hidden Events. I love meeting people. I’ve been attending events, hosting them, and picking up patterns along the way for what makes a gathering worth showing up to. Hidden Events surfaces what I’ve been finding. Himanshu Saleria on LinkedIn