Booking sites and agencies
How GigTag compares with Bark for bands and DJs
On stage you need the audience to be able to reach you without a conversation at the bar: a booking form, your next date, your socials. GigTag gives a live act all of that behind one permanent QR code that opens in the browser. If you have been looking at Bark for leads, this is the tool for the people already in front of you.
- No app for your audience
- Free to start
- One code that never changes
Why GigTag
Five reasons to use GigTag alongside Bark
Bark matches customer requests with professionals of every kind. GigTag is made for live acts alone. Where a Bark request begins with a customer describing a job, a GigTag enquiry begins with someone who has just heard you, and it comes to you directly with no commission taken by GigTag.
- 1
The enquiry already names you
Someone scanning your tag is not looking for a band in general. They want the act they are watching. The booking enquiry form sits on your own page and comes to you. Bark is built around a customer describing a job and hearing from interested professionals.
- 2
The whole gig behind one code
One scan covers your next gig and weekly residencies, your socials, website and music links, and a booking form. Pro adds song requests in a live queue and invoices in your own design. Bark is built to pass requests to professionals, so GigTag adds everything that happens at the gig.
- 3
No commission, and free to start
GigTag takes no commission on bookings. The free plan includes your tag design, the print file, your page, links, every gig and residency and the booking enquiry form for one act. You can see what your own audiences bring before you spend anything. See Bark's site for its prices.
- 4
Bands, duos and DJs who play live
GigTag fits a solo act, a duo or a band, and band members can join the band. On Pro one account holds more than one act, which suits a DJ who also fronts a live duo. Each act has its own page behind its own code.
- 5
Run it from your phone
You manage gigs, residencies, booking enquiries and, on Pro, the live request queue and invoices from the website or the GigTag phone app. During a set, the queue of requests is the only thing you need to glance at between songs.
In short
Bark and GigTag, in four lines
- Bark matches customers who submit a request with local professionals, including bands and DJs under events and entertainment.
- A GigTag enquiry comes from someone who has just heard you, through a booking form on your own page.
- One permanent code also shows your next gig, links and, on Pro, song requests, with no app for the audience.
- Our recommendation: put GigTag on your stand at every gig, and answer the Bark requests that suit you.
Side by side
GigTag vs Bark, topic by topic
Starting point
One scan from someone watching you
It starts with a scan. Someone at your gig points a phone camera at the tag and your page opens in the browser.
BarkA customer searches for a service or browses categories, then submits a request describing what they need. Professionals receive requests that match the services they offer.
Responding to work
Enquiries that already name your act
You reply to a booking enquiry that already names you. It is waiting on the website or in the GigTag app after the set.
BarkInterested professionals send the customer a quote. Its site says the professional receives the customer's contact details after sending that quote, and the customer then picks.
Kinds of service
Made only for live acts
Live acts only. The page carries what a gig needs: next gig, residencies, links, a booking form, and on Pro song requests.
BarkBark's categories run from business services, home and wellness to lessons and events. Bands and DJs appear under events and entertainment, alongside catering and wedding services.
Managing it
Website or GigTag phone app, live queue included
You manage gigs, residencies, enquiries and, on Pro, the live request queue and invoices from the website or the GigTag phone app.
BarkIts site offers professionals a mobile app for managing their work on Bark, plus a help centre for support with using the platform.
Where it works
Every country, tips included
Everything works in every country, tips included, and GigTag takes 0% of tips.
BarkBark's site lists several countries, among them the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Ireland and Australia, and professionals pick their country when they join.
The quick view
| GigTag | Bark | |
|---|---|---|
| A QR code your audience scans | Yes, one that never changes | – |
| Song requests from the crowd | Yes, on Pro | – |
| Tips by card or Apple Pay | Yes, on Pro, into your own Ziina or Stripe. GigTag takes 0% | – |
| Booking enquiries | Yes, on the free plan | Yes |
| Your gigs and weekly residencies | Yes, on the free plan | – |
| Invoices for bookings | Yes, on Pro | – |
| A printed tag for your mic stand | Yes, in your own design | – |
| Works without an app for the audience | Yes, it opens in the browser | – |
A dash means we did not confirm it for Bark, not that it is missing: see what Bark offers above, or ask on its site.
Bark or GigTag
Where GigTag is different from Bark
Request form, or code on the stand
A Bark request comes from someone who needs a service and is asking who is available. A GigTag enquiry comes from someone watching you. The code is printed on a small tag on your mic stand. They scan it from their seat, your page opens in the browser with no app to install, and they fill in the booking enquiry form while the song is still going.
The enquiry is about you
On Bark the customer describes a job and professionals who want it reply. With GigTag there is no job description first. The person has heard your voice, your set and your patter, and the form they fill in sits on your own page. You are not introducing yourself: you are replying to someone who has already made up their mind about the music.
Made for live acts, song list included
Bark serves every kind of professional. GigTag is only for live acts, solo, duo or band, and it shows. Your page lists your next gig and your weekly residencies, and people can add them to their calendar. On Pro the audience can request songs from your list and you see them in a live queue. Pro also adds invoices in your own design that clients pay online.
A night with GigTag
Late bar session for a DJ with live sax
It is a Saturday in a busy bar and you are running a hybrid set: decks, with a saxophonist stepping out over the top. There is no mic stand in front of the booth, so the tag hangs on the sax player's stand at the edge of the floor. People dancing past notice it. One of them scans it, the page opens in the browser, and they follow your socials before the next drop. Another checks where you are playing next weekend and adds it to their calendar.
With Pro switched on, the crowd sends requests from your song list, and you have chosen to open requests so they can ask for anything. The live queue fills on your phone beside the mixer and you fold the good ones into the set. At closing time there is a booking enquiry on your page from someone who wants the same thing for an engagement party. It is there in the GigTag app the next day. You answer it, settle the date, and send an invoice in your own design that is paid online.
About Bark
What is Bark?
Bark is a marketplace that matches customers with local service professionals. Its categories cover a wide spread, from business services and home repairs to lessons and wellness, and events and entertainment is one of them, which is where bands and DJs come in. It is used in the United Kingdom and the United States, and its site lists other countries too. Musicians join as professionals alongside every other trade on the site.
A customer searches for a service and submits a request describing what they need. Interested professionals reply with quotes, and the customer compares them and picks one. Its site says a professional is given the customer's details once they have sent a quote. There is a mobile app for professionals as well. See its site for prices and how responding to a request works.
- Where
- United Kingdom and United States
- Website
- bark.com
How Bark works
- 1
The customer searches. A customer looks for a service on Bark or browses its categories. For live music, that means the events and entertainment section, where bands and DJs are listed.
- 2
They submit a request. The customer fills in a request describing what they need. That request is what professionals offering a matching service then get to see and consider.
- 3
Professionals send quotes. Those who want the job respond with a quote. According to its site, the customer's contact details are passed to a professional only after they have quoted.
- 4
The customer chooses. The customer looks over the replies and decides who to go with. Professionals can keep track of things from Bark's mobile app, and there is a help centre.
Who Bark is for
Customers who want quotes. Someone who would rather describe a job once and hear back from interested professionals than ring round. Bark is organised around that: one request goes in, quotes come back, and the customer makes the choice from those who replied.
Events and entertainment. A customer organising a party or a wedding who needs a DJ, a band or another event service. Events and entertainment is one of the categories on its site, alongside catering and other wedding services.
Professionals of every trade. Bark's site is aimed at service providers across the board, from accountants and web designers to tutors, trainers and tradespeople. A musician joins as a professional in the same way, choosing a country and a service category.
The verdict
GigTag or Bark: which should you choose?
The bottom line
For performers who play live, we recommend GigTag on the stand at every gig. Its strongest point is that the enquiry is about you: it comes from someone who has heard the act and asked through your own page, with no commission taken by GigTag. Bark remains useful if you want requests from customers who are still looking for a band or DJ, and an act that wants both kinds of work can run the two together.
An act could run both without overlap. Bark is for requests from people who have not found their band yet. GigTag is for the ones who found you by walking into the pub. Keep answering the requests you want, and put the tag out at every gig so that a good night can turn into next month's private booking.
- Step 1
Answer the requests you want
Carry on quoting for the Bark requests that suit you. That side of your work is about customers who are still deciding who to hire.
- Step 2
Give the act a page
Set up GigTag for the act, with your links, gigs and residencies. Band members can join the band, and the free plan includes the booking enquiry form.
- Step 3
Use it at every gig
Take the tag to each gig you play. When an enquiry from the room turns into a booking, Pro lets you invoice the client and be paid online.
Choose GigTag if
You gig regularly and want your audience to enquire, follow you and find your next date from one printed code, with no commission taken by GigTag.
Start freeBark may still suit you if
You want requests from customers near you who are looking for a band or DJ and have not picked one.
GigTag FreeYour page, your tag design, every gig and residency, a booking form. One act.
GigTag ProSong requests, tips, invoices, more than one act. AED 30, £11.99 or $15.99 a month.
GigTag Printed tagFrom AED 100 in the UAE, £24.99 in the UK or €28.99 in the EU, delivered free, with a large size for more; $32.99 elsewhere, plus postage from the UK. Or print your own, anywhere, for free.
Is GigTag better than Bark for getting band bookings?
It depends where the booking starts. For enquiries from people who have seen you play, GigTag is built for exactly that: a QR tag on the mic stand, a booking form on your page and no commission taken by GigTag. For requests from customers who have not chosen a band, Bark is the kind of service to use. A working band can do both.
What does GigTag do that Bark does not focus on?
The gig itself. GigTag shows your next gig and weekly residencies for people to add to their calendar, links your socials, website and music, takes song requests in a live queue on Pro and lets you send invoices clients pay online. Bark is focused on matching customer requests with professionals across many services.
What is Bark, and do musicians use it?
Bark is a marketplace that matches customers with local service professionals. Events and entertainment is one of its categories, and bands and DJs are among the professionals on it. A customer submits a request, and interested professionals send quotes. See Bark's own site for how joining as a professional works and for prices.
Is GigTag a lead service like Bark?
No. GigTag does not send you requests from people searching online, and it is not a marketplace or an agency. It gives your act a permanent QR code on a tag for the mic stand. The leads it produces are booking enquiries from people who were at your gig and scanned the code.
Bark works in the UK. Does GigTag?
Yes. In the UK, GigTag Pro is £11.99 a month or £119.99 a year, a printed tag is £24.99 with free UK delivery, and you can print your own for free. The page, links, gigs, booking enquiries, song requests and invoices all work there. Tips work there too, into your own Stripe account, with 0% taken by GigTag.
Can a band use Bark and GigTag together?
Yes. They cover different ground. Bark brings requests from customers looking for a service. GigTag sits on your stand at gigs and lets the audience send a booking enquiry, see where you play next and follow your links. Band members can join the band on GigTag too, from the website or the GigTag app.
Can a DJ use GigTag, or is it only for bands?
GigTag is made for live acts, so it fits a DJ who also performs live, such as with a singer or an instrumentalist, as well as solo acts, duos and bands. The tag sits on a stand near the performance and the audience scans it. On Bark, DJs and bands are both found under events and entertainment.
How do people at a gig send a booking enquiry?
They scan the QR code on the tag with a phone camera. Your page opens in the browser, with no app and no account, and the booking enquiry form is on it. They fill it in and it comes to you. A Bark request works the other way round, starting from a customer who has not picked anyone.
Does Bark cover live music or only trades?
Bark covers many kinds of local service. Its site lists business services, health and wellness, house and home, lessons and training, and events and entertainment, which is where bands, DJs and wedding services sit. GigTag covers one thing: live acts and the people watching them, through a code on the mic stand.
What does the audience see when they scan a GigTag?
Your act's page. On it they can see your next gig and weekly residencies and add them to their calendar, follow your socials, website and music links, and send a booking enquiry. On Pro they can request songs. None of it depends on Bark: it works for anyone standing in front of you.
Looking for Bark itself?
This page is GigTag's. Bark's sign-in, prices, reviews and support are on its own site.
Sites like Bark: more booking sites and agencies compared
- Cueupvs GigTag
- Encore Musiciansvs GigTag
- Entertainers Worldwidevs GigTag
- Entertainment Nationvs GigTag
- FixTheMusicvs GigTag
- Freak Musicvs GigTag
Bark is the name of its owner's product; GigTag is not connected with it. What is said about Bark here comes from its own public website, checked on 7 October 2026. Products change: if something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
For musicians
One code on your stand. Requests, tips and the next gig behind it.
No app for your audience, nothing to download. Free to start.