Header Image

Let's do The Fringe Again

Welcome to the Free Fringe Festival - And see you again in 2024!

The Free Festival will return to Edinburgh in August 2024, from August 1st to 25th for more top value Fringe Festiva Fun and Entertainment - and it'll be out 20th Anniversary year!

In 2023 we had over 350 shows each day: Comedy, Cabaret, Theatre, Kids Shows, Music and more, and we had some new venues too - have a look through this site to see what there was. Our 2024 programme will be live in May, and applications for shows will open at the start of January.

And remember - all our shows are either Free & Unticketed or Pay What You Want entry making the Fringe easy to access for audiences when spare money is a problem for many at this time.


Card image cap

Let's do the Fringe again, in 2023!

The Free Festival is back, with a new and huge programme of art, entertainment and laughter coming to you from venues around Edinburgh.

Our new programme for 2023 is here and you can browse this year's shows on this site to see to see what we have at this year's Free Festival.

Laughing Horse Free Festival is one of the biggest comedy producers at the Fringe - and don't forget we also have cabaret, theatre, music, children's shows and more.

In 2023 we have nearly 7,000 performances of over 350 shows across our venues, raging from the very best in new talent through to big name shows. Just what a Fringe should be!

Would you like Free Fest shows in YOUR venue?

If you have a venue in central Edinburgh, and would like to host Fringe shows we are always looking for extra venues for future years - click here to find out more about all of the benefits of hosting shows.

Card image cap
Best in Free: Best of the Fringe

With award winners and nominees, over many years we've had critically acclaimed Fringes, alongside a bucket-load of four and five-star reviewed shows.

This means our shows are free and also some of the best of the Fringe - while we allow performers and audiences experience the freedom too, with a chance to experiment and enjoy, just without the huge costs! Just what the Fringe should be!

'Free & Unticketed' and 'Pay What you Can' shows - how show entry works

Our shows are either 'Free & Unticketed' or 'Pay What You Can' depending on how the performers have chosen to run their shows. This is how it works:

Free & Unticketed: Entry to a show is first-come, first served at the venue - just turn up and then donate to the show in the collection at the end.

Pay What You Can: For these shows you can book a ticket to guarantee entry and choose your price from the Fringe Box Office, up to 30 mins before a show. After that all remaining space is free at the venue on a first-come, first-served bases. Donations for walk-ins at the end of the show.

As always 100% of the ticket price or donations for each shows goes directly to the performer, which helps them benefit as much as possible from what audiences can give to them, after a tough couple of years for performers and show producers.

Free Fringe Festival shows in Edinburgh
Nearly 7,000 Performances of over 350 Shows in 2023

In 2019 we had over 9,000 performances of 400 shows... and then COVID happened!

In 2020, we kept the Free Festival going online, and we were so happy to be back in venues for 2021 - even with a much smaller programme of just over 650 performances of 62 shows...

And then we were back and pulling out all the stops in 2022 for an amazing Free Fringe Festival with no more government restrictions... And we look forward to making it even bigger in August 2023 - it's going to be huge!!!

Running the Free Festival costs a lot of Money

Some of this money is recouped through sponsorship & advertising. If you would like to contribute and help keep these venues free for performers and audiences click here