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About Tessitura

Cloud-based database for arts and culture that handles ticketing, fundraising, memberships and customer relationship management.

Learn more about Tessitura

Pros:

Support is amazing, very quick to answer any queries, and very knowledgeable about all aspects of the software.

Cons:

Additionally, it is relatively easy to make a mistake and accidentally give a ticket to a different person than intended.

Tessitura ratings

Average score

Ease of Use
3.1
Customer Service
4.1
Features
3.9
Value for Money
3.7

Likelihood to recommend

6.9/10

Tessitura has an overall rating of 4.0 out 5 stars based on 34 user reviews on Capterra.

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Filter reviews (34)

Shelley
Shelley
Fundraising Data Reporting and Analytics Manager in US
Verified LinkedIn User
Museums & Institutions, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Alternatives Considered:

The Cadillac of CRM sytems

5.0 3 years ago

Comments: I've used Tessitura for 20 years, in multiple organizations and found it to be user friendly. Reporting and analytics options have improved greatly over the last 5 years. Without knowing SQL I'm able to create custom visualizations for end users.

Pros:

I like that Tessitura is a non-profit helping other non-profit organizations. They truly take feedback from end users and improve the software every year. The technical support and world-wide community support is amazing. Everyone is willing to share and help find best solution. Every department is able to work in the same system and get the full picture of each patron. It forces collaboration where silos existed in the past. Ticketing and Develoment folks will use it the most, Marketing some, Finance the least. Security features are robust and easy to manage as an administrator.

Cons:

My current organization is in the middle of implementation. Because the system is so flexible there are times when there are no hard and fast rules of how to set up a process. Everyone uses it differently so that's good and bad. I wish it had facility management capabilities since so many non-profits rely on that for operations.

Mark
Director of IT in US
Nonprofit Organization Management, 501–1,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Flexible and full featured software that can do almost anything if you are committed to the setup and work required.

4.0 10 months ago

Pros:

Tessitura has been flexible and the solution we needed at the time we implemented to handle our complex admissions, membership and fundraising needs. Support is always helpful and typically quick to respond. I love having all data in a single location.

Cons:

Product is very complex and many users are deterred by that. Tessitura is on the right track but a little slow in updating technologies to match other competitors. I feel like I spend a lot of time defending the software and it's functionality to our less technical end users. The cost is not insignificant, but has been worth it at this point for us.

Luke
Individual Giving Manager in US
Arts & Crafts, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source
Source: SoftwareAdvice

Terrible Software

1.0 last month New

Comments: Negative. It is not worth it. I've worked on systems coded in-house by teams of 2-3 ppl with other companies that are way more cohesive and seamless and can integrate with other systems. Tess has entire teams at its disposal. There is no excuse for how terrible this software is.
Due to reasons I won't get into here, our company can unfortunately not switch.

Pros:

I like that this software would be impressive if you lived in the year 1990. I guess you could say I like that it has the most basic capability of storing information...the buck stops right about there

Cons:

Pretty much everything. It is insanely expensive, and if you want to change anything to make it fit your needs they charge an arm and a leg. It crashes constantly, and there is no consistency in what you can copy/paste regarding donor information. It does not integrate with ANY other software, making it a virtually useless CRM for any modern company/nonprofit. Furthermore, when you are forced to change your login info every couple of months, it can't process the change, so you have to contact your administrator or call the Tess helpline, and they are generally condescending and act like you're dumb when the program doesn't work on your end. They've literally said "well, it should be working, so I don't know what you're doing..." and laughed.

Steve
Business Technology Systems Administrator in Canada
Entertainment, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

A Great System For Managing Ticket Sales

4.0 2 weeks ago New

Pros:

Tessitura is a great way for us to interact with ticket sales for internally booked shows. There are a great portion of analytics that allow us to analyze show sales, on sale data etc.

Cons:

Software has outages, sometimes at very inopportune times. (These can be frequent). Customer support at base level is not the best and it can take some time and discipline to get issues in front of the correct support team.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Music, 501–1,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Alternatives Considered:

A beast of a product

4.0 5 years ago

Comments: Tessitura is at the heart of everything we do as an organisation. It holds our customer data, we use it to manage our ticketing and website offerings, to manage Direct Debits and donations, marketing, and much more. We could not function without it.

Pros:

It is so customisable, and does so much. There are facets for all areas of our organisation.

Cons:

It is so customisable. This is an amazing feature, but comes with a lot of pitfalls and makes life challenging at upgrade time.

Brian
Visitor Services Representative in Canada
Performing Arts, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Tessitura Review

3.0 3 months ago

Comments: I like how it is easy to learn the system. But I wish some payments take fewer steps to do the debit/credit or cash transaction. Opening the report, I wish it was already opened by the time we opened the application, instead of opening a report and then closing it before you leave.

Pros:

I liked how it was easy to use. The system has a security page where you log in. The style looks very separate which means that getting the information looks like a Windows 95 style. The tabs are functional and usage is fine to look for a show.

Cons:

It has had some technical problems from the start. The database is really old, I cannot find the patron with its search bar. You have to search by first name. Also, the payment takes too many steps when it should be reached quicker to pay.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Entertainment, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

A ticketing system which actually works

4.0 2 years ago

Comments: Very good overall, it does exactly what is needed for a busy venue

Pros:

Easy to use and to train others to use. Within a day of training it would be possible to have someone selling and printing tickets without issue.

Cons:

The seating plans can look off centred as it’s very square, would be better if it could replicate the floor plans better as selling for an unfamiliar venue could be tricky

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Music, 501–1,000 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

A top-tier ticketing and CRM solution for arts, cultural, and musical venues

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: Tessitura is the lifeblood of our organisation used by our box office, marketing, and fundraising departments to store all manner of customer information. It is a powerful piece of software with many customisation options that, when configured and utilised correctly, proves a useful tool.

Pros:

Tessitura is a mammoth piece of software that has lots of features available for ticketing, fundraising, and marketing. It holds a wealth of constituent data and we can write our own SSRS reports in-house to query this data. Support is amazing, very quick to answer any queries, and very knowledgeable about all aspects of the software. It has been relatively easy to upgrade our software/database version following the very useful documentation found on the Tessitura Network website. The TN website also features webinars, a community forum, and is packed full of information on upcoming networking events. Tessitura also offer a Tessitura Network Express Web (TNEW) website solution for online bookings which integrates well with the Tessitura software.

Cons:

Although the software itself is very customisable with custom plugins and such, it can cause headaches when upgrading to newer versions and has the potential to cause issues – these customisations must be backed up, checked for compatibility, etc. Technical support has originally been handled by agents in the US which had the potential to cause issues with time zones with our organisation being based in the UK, however they have recently restructured their support for Europe and have implemented a new helpdesk system which have helped improve this situation greatly. There are a lot of functions and features that I still feel I’ve barely touched on as an administrator, as well as there being a steep learning curve for end-users due to the sheer number of features available. UI elements do look a bit dated compared to other solutions on the market.

Jared
Jared
Director of Programming in US
Verified LinkedIn User
Performing Arts, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Tessitura - the Rolls-Royce of ticketing software

4.0 4 years ago

Comments: Aside from an antiquated"look and feel" (of reports, UI, etc.) functionality is KEY. Tess seems to be as functional as necessary for my organization.

Pros:

As an integral part of the team working to settle financials for events I can get almost any data collected through Tessitura sliced and diced in a report with tremendous customization. I have been pleased with the content of reports in particular. Without this tool, it would be impossible to provide the backup documentation necessary for settlement and reporting throughout the sales cycle. I also love the scheduled reports feature. I can develop custom reporting and set it once to send to multiple parties throughout the sales cycle and never worry about it again. Newly implemented dashboard are extremely versatile and powerful, but sometimes a touch cumbersome if you need a look at data. Great tool to develop and maintain KPIs. Though the learning curve, assuming ticketing software is in your background the learning curve is not terribly steep and I know I have just scratched the surface.

Cons:

The near-infinite report customization can be a double edged sword because any tick-box accidentally checked (or unchecked) may dramatically change the content of a report. Special care must be taken and there are many ways to produce reports with inaccurate or undesired content.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Music, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

A CRM that fits our needs

5.0 5 years ago

Comments: It's been positive for managing relationships and for data mining.

Pros:

It was created with music institutions and not-for-profits in mind and has all the ability to hand every need our unique business type(s) have.

Cons:

It's a pretty advanced program and there is a massive learning curve. Getting staff on board to learn it can be a challenge. In addition, it's one of those softwares that is "only as good as the data you put into it."

Jon
Owner in US
Philanthropy, Self Employed
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source
Source: SoftwareAdvice

Tessitura and Fund Raising

2.0 7 years ago

Comments: Shop around. There has to be a more efficient and effective product.

Pros:

The integration of ticketing with prospects/donors is alluring, esp. for performance art organizations.

Cons:

This is a ticketing software with a CRM work-around built in. It's confusing, user abusive and extraordinarily expensive. In our town, NPO's had to group together, in one building, where they created a new company that specializes in Tessitura software management. It's a clever use of the software and a business structure. This company then went out and sold it's software services to other performance art organizations as far away as Los Angeles. However, all organizations can see who has who in their database. You can't go into the account, but it becomes readily apparent our prospects and donors are being hit on all the time by all the same organizations. It's tricky. But the fact remains. Tessitura is enormously complex, just to get acknowledgements out is a lot of busy work. When I came on board, the previous development person really used Tessitura as a storage unit and did all the fund raising in Excel and Word. And from a NPO business perspective, once you commit to this software, extraction is basically a blackmail. It costs a fortune to leave it and organizations still have this challenge of ticketing tied to fund raising.

Jill
Director of Corporate Sponsorship & Individual Major Gifts in US
Nonprofit Organization Management, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Good Across Departments - Lacking for Development

3.0 3 years ago

Comments: The Tessitura folks are great; however, the system is just not built for non-tech users.

Pros:

A lot neat details and the analytics are beautiful.

Cons:

If you don't have a someone on staff to customize on a regular basis, you will have a very nice system that probably won't meet your basic fundraising needs in timely, generally fuss-free fashion.

Zach
Development Officer in US
Nonprofit Organization Management, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Tessitura pros and cons

3.0 2 years ago

Pros:

Tessitura provides quality metric reports.

Cons:

Tessitura’s user interface can be confusing.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Music, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Essential ticketing software for Arts venues

4.0 7 years ago

Comments: Runs the entire CRM and ticketing solution for the organisation.

Pros:

Company fully understands the requirements of the industry that it is targeting. There is an excellent community with end users willing to engage and help each other.

Cons:

Requires quite a lot of resource to manage and maintain in terms of staff and hardware. Would hope to see this improve in coming releases and perhaps a shift to a cloud implementation.

Grace
Piano Faculty in US
Music, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Could be better

3.0 6 years ago

Pros:

This software has a lot of muscle power, no doubt about it. There is a lot of functionality, and every problem you come across when it comes to how to send tickets out, sending receipts to patrons, etc has a solution

Cons:

1) This software is WAY too complicated for the average theater. The learning curve is very steep, which complicates the hiring process for temporary employees (cause they never get to the point of mastery and efficiency with the software), and there is no way to edit out which functions to "see" on your screen. For example, if xyz theater never uses a third of the functions of the software, there should be a way to visually hide them so that employees dont get confused about what they are seeing on the screen. 2) When it comes to entering information for credit card payments, the software designers never apparently thought about how the average patron reads out their information over the phone. You have to select the type of card used before entering the card number, meanwhile the patron is halfway through spewing out their number over the phone while the ticketing office employee is scrambling to write it down on a pad of paper cause Tessie wont let them enter the number yet. If there was more flexibility in the order that information could be entered (card type then number vs number then card type), the daily functionality of the software would be much improved.

Katie
Development Database Manager in US
Performing Arts, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Industry-standard database for arts & culture

5.0 7 years ago

Comments: Detailed data for informing managerial decisions, increased interdepartmental communication, many facets of constituent knowledge and ways to slice and dice our donorbase

Pros:

Integrates all departments on the same database. Highly customizable. Integrates with many other common industry systems (mail2, Boca, etc.). Great reporting capabilities. Fantastic support documentation and staff. The user community is unparalleled in skill level, camaraderie, and enthusiasm. Ability to share an instance in a consortium environment, with advanced settings to control who can see what information.

Cons:

Steep learning curve - it can be difficult to get beginner users to do much more than search for and look at records. Not the most user-friendly interface. Customizability also means the out of box product can be pretty bare bones compared to everything the software is capable of.

Corinne
Membership Manager in US
Museums & Institutions, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source

Designed for larger orgs with data management support

4.0 6 years ago

Comments: It has been hard to learn, and I frankly still don't feel confident pulling lists that my data is correct. I appreciate it's enormous capacity on the back end, but there's not a lot of front-end user options.

Pros:

The record integration is absolutely seamless. I can look up a constituent and see exactly when they came, what donations or purchases they have made, etc. The tech support is robust.

Cons:

I have taken a training class in this product, have some experience in coding, and still feel like I only barely understand the basics. It is hard to learn, not intuitive at all, and has more functions than we can currently use at our size (small-mid-size museum) Plus: Expensive!

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Nonprofit Organization Management, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Great

5.0 6 years ago

Pros:

Tessitura is definitely the most popular in the nonprofit arts industry. It's ticketing and fundraising features are integrated and allows for a full constituent report.

Cons:

Lately, the software seems outdated. Unlike Raiser's Edge, Tessitura demands a full training to know the ins and outs of the software. It's not the most user-friendly software out there.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Performing Arts, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

Tessitura is an easy to use fundraising and ticketing software system that I would reccomend

3.0 7 years ago

Pros:

Ease of use in the ticketing function. One is able to see and use a seat map in real time to place and track orders. These orders are then linked to the constituents account where you can track the moves management of a particular donor and see their giving history.

Cons:

Does not have the full capacity of moves management as seen in Raiser's Edge NXT but has a better ticketing and box office functionality. A better database for those who own their own performance venue and have a larger marketing than development team. Not ideal for someone who is focused on development first.

Cameron
Box Office Lead in US
Events Services, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Great intent difficult to learn

3.0 6 years ago

Comments: Overall I have not been happy with Tessitura. I feel it is far harder to use than helpful. The features it offers are great but it does not make it worth the investment.

Pros:

Tessitura has a lot of good ticketing features. It has a great ability to customize and tracks data way better than SABO. The best part of this software is when it comes to selling subscriptions. It is really easy and user intuitive when it comes to this feature.

Cons:

This software is really difficult to learn and train others on. The UI is confusing and it is difficult to find what you are looking for. The worst part of this software is how easy it is to give an order to a different patron. there are no warning signs and this has been a common problem around the office.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

I've been using Tessitura for a few months and I enjoy the ability to learn new functions every day.

5.0 7 years ago

Pros:

There are so many functions to learn about this software that I always am excited to learn. Tessitura gives you so much information so many forms that it's insane on what this software can hold.

Cons:

It is a bit complicated and you do need a specialist if you want to really learn how to fully utilize the software.

Brian
Membership Coordinator in US
Nonprofit Organization Management, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

I used Tessi in my time at a nationally-renowned Symphony orchestra.

5.0 7 years ago

Comments: Ease of ticketing, seating, and viewing the house. I enjoyed the option to charge directly each purchase, as opposed to batching gifts individually like I did in RE.

Pros:

I find that Tessi is very intuitive and use-oriented. When I started with it, I was obviously overwhelmed, but that was tempered by it's relative ease of use, and the vast online resources available for questions that did arise.

Cons:

Having used both Tessi and RE, I will say that one is much better for Box Office organizations (Tessi) than it is at housing constituent info, giving history, and basic fundraising needs. RE has robust capability for storing/targeting/querying on/exporting etc. much more so than RE.

Siobhan
Tessitura Administrator
Fine Art, 201–500 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source
Source: SoftwareAdvice

Great Arts CRM

4.0 7 years ago

Pros:

Windows based Easy to use Great support All in one package Customisable Based on SQL Server Reports can be designed in house

Cons:

Old reports are based on Sybase's Infomaker which is a hard product to purchase. Newer reports are based on SSRS so you will need training for this.

Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Performing Arts, 51–200 Employees
Used the Software for: 1+ year
Reviewer Source

An incredibly robust ticketing and seating software

4.0 7 years ago

Pros:

Tessitura allows you to input and seat based on your own theater's house model. I like that there's a visual layout you can view to see which seats are taken and what kind of ticket they're purchased under.

Cons:

Tessitura is a large and complicated software. I'm not even aware of all of the things it can do. It's a true learning process and companies may choose how deep down the rabbit hole they'd like to go: using it lightly or going so far as to send members of their theater to the huge Tessitura conference once a year.

Roy
UCCS Presents Box Office in US
Events Services, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 1-5 months
Reviewer Source

Hard to Learn, Lots of Features

3.0 6 years ago

Comments: I had trouble learning how to use and be effective and efficient using this software, however once I learned how it works, the experience gets a lot better. The customer support is available to answer questions and solve issues.

Pros:

It is an effective organizational and ticketing program which allows for many customization options to adjust the system as needed. Additionally, the customer support has been able to get most of our issues solved.

Cons:

Many of its options are counter-intuitive, and the user interface is unattractive and hard to use. Additionally, it is relatively easy to make a mistake and accidentally give a ticket to a different person than intended.