The Best Value North American Music Festivals of 2025

Want to know which North American music festivals are the best value experiences for fans? We’ve completed new research.

With ticket prices climbing every year, getting decent value from a music festival might not seem as easy as it used to be. But our research tells another story…

New data analysis from Betway Slots shows that hundreds of dollars can be saved by attending music festivals rather than seeing artists individually. Festivals such as Summerfest boast a group of headline acts which would cost close to $1,000 to see separately at arena shows, but just $112 to see across one weekend.

The financial benefits of attending festivals are therefore obvious and that’s before even considering the food, wellness and cultural moments fans can also enjoy while camping out with their closest friends.

The question is though – which festivals rank as the best value of them all? To find the answer we looked at ten of the biggest North American festivals and compared the cost of a weekend pass versus the combined ticket value of their top ten headline acts if you were to see them individually.

Here’s how it worked out:

The headline finding is that Milwaukee’s Summerfest came out on top. A full ticket costs around $112, but fans get access to ten headliners – including Hozier, The Killers and Megan Thee Stallion – that would cost around $970 to see on individual tours. That’s a huge saving of $858 – so big that only Lollapalooza really comes close.

Yes, a Lollapalooza ticket is that bit more expensive at $415, but with $1250 worth of headline talent – purchasing a festival ticket is still saving fans $835. Considering the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Tyler The Creator and Olivia Rodrigo performed at this summer’s edition, the festival’s appeal is glaring.

Third place Bonnaroo is a similar price at $480. It is, however, packing $1262 of headline value, meaning attendees are still saving around $782. Tyler The Creator, whose arena concerts cost approximately $200 is again the star attraction, that’s alongside the likes of Olivia Rodrigo, Hozier, Luke Combs and Avril Lavigne, whose regular shows are all in the $150+ price bracket.

While Summerfest is the most cost-effective, Bonnaroo has the strongest headline line-up in raw terms. Based on our research, the combined value of its top-billed artists is the highest overall – $1262 – which goes some way to justifying the higher ticket price.

On the other end, Coachella comes in as the most expensive festival, with tickets reaching $600. However, with $1160 of headline value (Lady Gaga, Green Day, Charlie XCX etc.), fans still save $560. While that is the second lowest saving in our research table, it is certainly not inconsiderable. And – after all – Coachella is one of the cultural moments of the year.

Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ) in Canada, meanwhile, offers great value. For $165, fans can get around $910 worth of headline acts, which means a giant saving of $745. Impressively, those headliners include Avril Lavigne, Hozier and Def Leppard whose shows range from $90 to $180. Osheaga – Canada’s second biggest festival – is two places lower on the list with a saving of $734.

If you’re looking at U.S. festivals from a value-for-money perspective, Summerfest, Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo are hard to beat. While on the Canadian front, it’s clear that FEQ is top of the pile with a mix of excellent value and supreme talent on show.

Across North America, festivalgoers are treated to amazing line-ups, but what’s more is that they can be experience it all for such a fair price. With some extraordinary weekends already wrapped up and more to come, 2025 truly has been a year for making festival memories that will last a lifetime.

Methodology

The top ten acts from each festival — including headliners, main stage acts and second stage headliners — were taken from the official festival posters.

To calculate the ‘Tour Price’, the cost of a general admission standing ticket for each act was sourced using platforms such as Ticketmaster, Gigantic, and Reddit.

These individual ticket prices were then added together to show how much it would cost to see all ten acts separately at their own arena shows.

Finally, the price of a general admission weekend festival ticket was subtracted from this total to determine the overall ‘Money Saved’ by attending the festival instead.