Open Bar vs. Cash Bar vs. BYOB Calculator
Compare a hosted open bar, a cash bar and BYOB with a bartender fee on host cost, based on your guest count, event length and expected drinks per person.
Open bar
BYOB
Guests pay for their own drinks; this is your only cost
What this calculator does
Guest count, event length, expected drinks per guest per hour, and the per-drink or flat-fee cost structure for a hosted open bar, BYOB and a cash bar all go in. It returns total expected drinks and each option’s cost to the host, so the real tradeoff — usually between open bar and BYOB — is visible at your specific numbers.
Cash bar’s low host cost isn’t the whole story
Structurally, a cash bar will almost always show the lowest cost to the host in this calculator, since guests are paying for their own drinks rather than the host paying for them — that’s true by definition, not a meaningful finding on its own. The comparison this calculator is actually useful for is between open bar and BYOB, the two options where the host is paying for every drink either way.
Open bar versus BYOB: markup versus logistics
A venue’s per-drink price for a hosted open bar carries a real markup over retail — often substantial — which is what makes BYOB look attractive on paper. What BYOB adds back is logistics: sourcing and transporting the alcohol, and almost always a bartender or corkage fee the venue charges for serving drinks you supplied rather than sold. Whether BYOB’s retail savings outweigh that added fee depends entirely on your specific numbers, which is exactly what this calculator is built to compare.
Check the venue’s policy before planning around BYOB
Some venues restrict or flatly prohibit outside alcohol regardless of any fee, for liability or licensing reasons — confirming this directly with the venue before building a budget around BYOB savings avoids planning around an option that may not actually be available to you.
The guest-experience factor this calculator can’t price
A cash bar’s lower host cost comes with a real, if hard to quantify, social tradeoff — some guests perceive it as less generous than an open bar, independent of how reasonable the cost savings are. That’s a genuine factor in the decision this calculator doesn’t attempt to price in dollars, worth weighing alongside the cost comparison rather than instead of it.
For the marginal cost of the guest list itself, which drives the drink total directly, the extra guest cost calculator is the companion tool, and the photographer package vs. hourly calculator covers another common per-hour-versus-flat-fee vendor decision.
How this is calculated
total drinks = guests × hours × drinks per guest per hour open bar cost = total drinks × venue price per drink BYOB cost = total drinks × retail price per drink + service/corkage fee cash bar cost = setup fee only (guests pay per drink)
Frequently asked questions
- Which is cheapest for the host — open bar, cash bar or BYOB?
- Cash bar is nearly always cheapest for the host by construction, since guests cover their own drinks — the real decision most hosts actually face is between open bar and BYOB, weighing a venue's per-drink markup against the flat cost of supplying the alcohol and a bartender yourself.
- How many drinks per guest per hour should I estimate?
- A commonly used planning range is around one drink per guest per hour, though it varies by event type, time of day, and crowd — a daytime brunch runs lower, an evening reception with dancing often runs higher. Adjust based on your own realistic expectation of the crowd rather than a single fixed number.
- Is BYOB actually cheaper than a hosted open bar?
- Usually on a per-drink basis, since retail alcohol prices are well below what a venue charges per served drink — but BYOB adds a bartender or corkage fee, and some venues restrict or prohibit bringing your own alcohol entirely, so confirm that's actually allowed before assuming the savings apply.
- Does a cash bar create a worse guest experience?
- It can, and that's a real tradeoff this calculator doesn't price — some guests read a cash bar as less generous than an open bar, which is a social cost independent of the pure dollar comparison. Whether that tradeoff is worth the savings depends on your event and your guests, not the math alone.