The best value UK summer festivals: where to get the most bangers for your buck

It’s almost that time again. Dig out your wellies, dust off your tent, and get ready to splash all your spending money on an overpriced vegan falafel burger: festival season is upon us. 

Festivals are a big part of UK culture. The Isle of Wight Festival kicked things off back in 1968, and since then, they’ve become a staple of the summer. But tickets have been getting more expensive each year. And with Glastonbury taking a break in 2026, lots of people are looking for alternatives.

The good news? There are still plenty of festivals that offer great value; you just need to know where to look.

We’ve pulled together a guide to help you find one. We looked at:

We also surveyed 1,000 UK festival goers to find out: 

When we asked festival-goers what mattered most to them, 54% said line-up, and 54% said ticket price. So to help you find the best value, we analysed line-ups, headliners and ticket costs.

We looked at multi-day camping festivals with more than 20,000 people. Then we compared the cheapest standard camping tickets with the number of artists playing, to work out the cost per performer. 

It costs £360 for five days of camping at Boomtown, where you can enjoy 435 artists across 12+ stages. That means you pay only 83p per performer, the best value according to our research. This eclectic summer festival allows attendees to enjoy electronic, punk and reggae genres, with a diverse range of headliners including Skrillex and Scissor Sisters.

Fans of EDM, house and techno can head to the DJ-led Creamfields festival, costing only £1.12 per artist. For indie rockers, you can enjoy Truck Festival for just £1.79 per artist, or pick up your surfboard and head to Boardmasters for £1.88 per performer. These are great options for music-lovers looking to discover new artists and embrace the musical variety that festivals offer. 

While these festivals offer some of the best value, prices vary quite a bit. Here’s how the rest of the UK’s biggest festivals compare:

6. Reading & Leeds Festival: £2.50 per artist

7. Green Man: £2.60 per artist

8. Download Festival: £3.83 per artist

9. Camp Bestival: £4.72 per artist

10. Latitude Festival: £4.92 per artist

11. Isle of Wight Festival: £5.52 per artist

12. Lytham Festival: £24.93 per artist

If you’re chasing big names on a budget, we’ve calculated the best value-per-headliner by dividing the festival price by the number of headliners.  

Truck Festival tops the list, costing only £52 per headliner. Other great-value options include Reading & Leeds Festival (costing £54.20 per headliner), Kendal Calling (£61.30), Lytham Festival (£69.80) and Green Man (£74). 

Download Festival comes out as the most expensive per headliner (£115). But all three headliners are UK exclusives this year. So if you’ve got your heart set on Limp Bizkit, Guns N’ Roses or Linkin Park, it could still be money well spent.

At Lytham Festival, day tickets are £18 cheaper on average than the headliners’ concert tickets. For example, you can see Pitbull for £72.80 at Lytham, compared to £106.40 for one of his UK tour dates (don’t forget to pack your bald cap!).

The other festival that offers a great deal on day tickets to see headliners is Boardmasters, where day tickets cost an average of £13 less than the equivalent concert tickets. So, you can enjoy your favourite artist, plus lots of other performances, for a similar price to a solo concert. 

68% of people think festivals offer better value than going to individual gigs – and they’re right. On average, it costs £83.50 to see a headliner at the festivals we looked at, compared to £105.60 for a typical concert ticket in 2025*.

Once you’ve fought your way through the online queue to secure a ticket, there are a few more festival essentials to fit into your budget. The biggest expense after the ticket is accommodation or camping equipment, which people spend an average of £157 on. 

Almost a quarter (23%) of people spend £50 or less, most likely through borrowing a friend’s tent or digging out old sleeping bags. And 29% of people spend over £200, perhaps preferring the comfort of a Bridget Jones-style furnished yurt. 

The next biggest expenses are food and drink during the festival (£139), travel to and from the festival (£120) and rides and experiences (£112), coming to a total of £523 on top of the ticket price.  

Our research found that 75% of people make sacrifices for the festival fund. The most common cutback was eating out (43%), followed by shopping (31%) and holidays (28%). 

We also found that 96% of people set a budget before going to a festival. 

Using real transaction and savings data from Monzo users, we looked at how people across the UK prepared for and spent money at some of the country’s biggest festivals in summer 2025. 

We found that more than 22,000 users created dedicated festival Savings Pots, with the average saving period lasting nearly five months. Over half (54%) of ticket purchases take place around payday periods, with November emerging as the most popular month to buy. 

Once through the gates, spending habits shift noticeably. Across all of the festivals, food and drink dominate, accounting for 60% of total on-site spend. Other categories like entertainment and merchandise make up a much smaller share. 

Interestingly, spending tends to build as the festival progresses. Most events see peak spending on day two or three, as attendees settle in and fully embrace the experience. 

Whether you want to enjoy some indie tunes in a scenic setting at Kendal Calling, or go full metal-head at Download Festival, there’s a UK festival for every taste this summer. A Monzo current account comes with handy tools like spending categories and instant notifications, making it easy to keep track of your festival spending. (Plus, our Hot Coral card is a great addition to any festival outfit.)

And for those putting pennies aside beforehand, Monzo Savings Pots have separate spaces within your account where you can set money aside for specific goals, like festival tickets or ten-man tents, while also earning interest as you save.

For Monzo Savings Pots, you’ll need a Monzo account. UK residents only. Ts&Cs apply.

Research methodology  

Sources and research 

*www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/concert-ticket-costs-how-much-1996-2025-most-expensive-acts-5226966