Art Fair Application Software: 6 Compared

The best art fair application software collects artist applications and images, runs your jury and takes jury and booth fees in one place. ZAPP is the most established choice for juried art festivals in the United States. CaFÉ, from the same parent organization, is widely used for public art and exhibition calls. EntryThingy and Smarter Entry are strong options for jurying, Eventeny suits fairs that also run festivals and markets, and Map D fits the step after jurying, when accepted artists choose and pay for a booth on a map.

Map D publishes this post and includes its own product, which is a conflict of interest. Map D is ranked last because its help center does not document jurying, which is the core job here. If you are still designing your process, start with our craft show jury criteria guide and our guide on how to plan an art fair.

How We Chose

We looked for tools whose own websites describe calls for entry, artist applications or jurying as a core job, and judged them on what an art fair director deals with each season:

• Applications: custom questions, image uploads and artist statements, with a form artists can complete without help.
• Jurying: juror accounts, scoring scales, blind review, multiple jurors and ranked results.
• Fees: jury fees at submission, booth fees and deposits after acceptance.
• Decisions: tagging and sorting applicants, acceptance and wait-list emails.
• Booths: booth assignment, maps and add-ons such as corner spaces or electricity.
• Pricing transparency: whether the vendor publishes pricing. We do not quote any competitor's price, because published rates change.

Every claim below comes from the vendor's own website or help center, checked in November 2026. Confirm anything that matters with the vendor before you open your call.

The 6 Art Fair Application Software Tools

1. ZAPP

ZAPP describes itself as the place where artists and art festivals connect. It is run by ZAPP Software, LLC and powered by Creative West, formerly WESTAF. Artists sign up once, upload images and apply to festivals listed on a shared events calendar, so many festival artists already have an account.

• Best for: Established juried art festivals that want access to a large pool of artists who already use the platform.
• Strength: Custom application forms with five question types and conditional logic, with contact details collected automatically.
• Strength: Juror accounts for scoring, plus tagging, flagging and sorting applicants into statuses, and mass invitations based on aggregated scores.
• Strength: Collection of application, jury, deposit and booth fees, with PCI-compliant payment handling and data and financial reporting.
• Strength: Pricing is published on its sales site.
• Limitation: Its sales site lists booth management as an add-on and does not explain how booths are assigned, so ask how your layout will work.

If you are weighing ZAPP alternatives, the rest of this list covers the main options.

2. CaFÉ (CallForEntry)

CaFÉ is an online platform for arts calls and applications, also credited to Creative West. Its stated mission is to give arts organizations an affordable submission platform and give artists a simpler way to apply.

• Best for: Arts organizations running public art calls, exhibitions and competitions alongside or instead of a fair.
• Strength: Artists browse calls, view a calendar and apply and manage entries through an artist portal.
• Strength: A dedicated public art calls section, which makes it a familiar destination for artists seeking commissions.
• Limitation: Its home page does not describe administrator jury tools or booth sales in detail. For a festival with booths, ZAPP is the Creative West product built for that job.

3. EntryThingy

EntryThingy manages calls for entry, jurying and exhibitions. Its website targets galleries, public art programs and membership organizations, and it offers data migration help for organizations moving from CaFÉ.

• Best for: Juried art shows and competitions that care most about a fair, transparent jury.
• Strength: An embeddable submission form, custom questions and multi-image uploads with automatic resizing, with entry fees paid at submission.
• Strength: Blind jurying that hides artist names and bios, custom scoring scales and categories, and separate juror logins that vote independently.
• Strength: Live progress tracking, automatic rankings, exports for decision meetings and acceptance letters.
• Strength: Pricing is published on its jurying page.
• Limitation: Its website does not mention art fairs, booth fees or booth assignment, so you would need a separate step for booths.

4. Smarter Entry

Smarter Entry is a web-based system for competitions and calls for entry, covering registration, fees, submissions and jurying. Its website lists art festivals, photography events and fine art shows among its users.

• Best for: Art festivals and fine art shows that want an integrated application, fee and jury system.
• Strength: Flexible competition setup, document collection, portfolios, pricing groups and promotional codes.
• Strength: Multiple jurors, with real-time reporting on juror activity and media selections.
• Strength: Published juried results and notifications to selected artists, with payments deposited to your bank account monthly.
• Limitation: Its home page does not mention booth assignment.

5. Eventeny

Eventeny is an event platform for festivals, fairs and markets, with artist, vendor and exhibitor management alongside ticketing, sponsors and volunteers.

• Best for: Craft fairs and art festivals that also sell tickets or run markets and want one platform for all of it.
• Strength: Vendor and artist applications with approve, wait-list and reject emails, on every plan including a free Basic plan.
• Strength: A jury feature where jurors answer rating, yes-or-no and paragraph questions, each with a weight, and the submission list shows the average score.
• Strength: Event maps, volunteer shifts with mobile check-in, ticketing and sponsor management.
• Limitation: Its pricing page puts jurying on the Plus tier and above and maps on Pro and above, and lists platform transaction fees. Its jury help article does not mention blind review.

6. Map D

Map D runs floor plans, booth sales and exhibitor management for trade shows, expos, fairs and vendor events. For an art fair, it covers what happens after jurying.

• Best for: Art and craft fairs that already jury elsewhere, or do not jury, and want artists to choose and pay for a booth on a live map.
• Strength: Artists pick an available booth on the map and add services such as electricity, and every sale updates the map.
• Strength: Custom questions at checkout, including a PDF or JPG file upload, and Manager approval, which holds the booth while you review the artist before they pay.
• Strength: Online payments through gateways including Stripe, Authorize.Net and PayPal, with check and invoice payments recorded on the order, plus insurance tracking per exhibitor.
• Limitation: Its help center does not document jurying, juror accounts, scoring or jury fees. A juried show should use one of the tools above for selection.
• Limitation: Pricing is per event, from $1,500 to publish and from $2,500 to sell booths online, which suits a fair with dozens of booths better than a small one-day show.

Comparison Summary

• ZAPP: applications, juror scoring and fees for juried art festivals, with a large existing artist base. Publishes pricing.
• CaFÉ: calls for entry and public art, with an artist portal. Same parent organization as ZAPP.
• EntryThingy: blind jurying, rankings and exports for juried shows. Publishes pricing.
• Smarter Entry: integrated registration, fees and multi-juror review for art festivals and competitions.
• Eventeny: applications, weighted jurying and maps for fairs that also run festivals or markets. Free plan; jurying on paid tiers.
• Map D: booth selection and payment from a live map after jurying. Publishes plan prices.

For fairs that look more like a vendor market, our vendor management software comparison covers a wider set of tools.

How to Choose Juried Art Show Software

Write Your Jury Process Before You Shop

Decide how many jurors you will use, whether review is blind, what scale they score on, how many images each artist submits and whether there are categories such as jewelry, ceramics and 2D. A tool that cannot match your process will force you to change it. Our craft show jury criteria guide has scoring categories you can adapt.

Think About Where Your Artists Already Are

Artists who do a full festival circuit often keep their portfolio on one platform. Using that platform lowers the effort to apply. A newer or regional fair may get more local applicants from a simple embedded form on its own website.

Separate Jury Fees From Booth Fees

Most juried shows charge a non-refundable jury fee at application and a booth fee after acceptance. Check that the tool handles both, how refunds work, and whether platform fees are charged to you or to the artist.

Plan the Step After Acceptance

Once artists are accepted, you still need booth assignments, load-in times, insurance certificates and a map for shoppers. Some tools handle booths, many do not. If yours does not, decide early whether you assign booths yourself or let accepted artists choose, and collect the right details with a clear craft fair vendor application.

Where Map D Is Not the Right Choice

If your main job is jurying hundreds of artists, Map D is not the tool for it, because its help center does not document jury features. ZAPP, EntryThingy, Smarter Entry or Eventeny will serve that step better. Map D is a good fit when selection is done and you want accepted artists to choose a booth, add electricity and pay online from a live map, the way our vendor fair software page describes.