We understand that times are still tricky in 2025. The cost of living crisis is still biting hard and people up and down the country are looking for the best value options to entertain the family or kick back with friends.

We released a blog recently (read it here) on the price of foreign holidays inspired by some research from Which, and the fact that heading to the sun in 2025 in the school summer holidays is likely to cost more than the price of a second hand car.

So that got us to thinking where Deva Fest stands on price compared to a bunch of similar festivals. 

Are we a value for money option for a festival Staycation?

We took a look at the price of a family of four to attend our festival when compared to 18 others. 

We compared the price for 2 x adults, an 11 year old and a 16 year old attending (a random mid range of ages) those festivals from Friday to Monday staying in their own tent in the best value campsite available. Wherever there was a discounted family bundle available we used that, we only compared events that (like us) largely feature original artists rather than shows packed full of tribute acts and we included booking fees. Lastly we didn't compare against one or two day festivals.

You might have opinions on the shows we compared against, but we have tried to pick events that we regard as comparable high quality family friendly festivals.

The results were surprising.

Of the 19 we were looking at (including ours of course) we were the 18th cheapest.

Our Family bundle for 2 x adults and 2 x children (5-17) currently comes in at £420.66, which works out at £105.17 per person or £35.06 each per person per day (for the three days you would be able to attend).

The very best value was The Great Estate in Devon which features the likes of Supergrass and Happy Mondays (also playing with us). They were the only festival we tested which came in at under £100 per person for the weekend! Find out more here.

Other festivals ranged from £424.60 to £836.00 to include booking fees for the same package.

9/19 festivals charged for 3 and 4 year olds and nearly all had tiered prices that charged more for teenagers than they did for younger children (something we abolished after 2023 and we don't charge for under 5s).

Not all festivals are the same, so a true like for like comparison is difficult. We include lots of extras (fairground rides, posh loo access and more) in our prices...other events will offer different attractions included in their price, but what is clear is that for a bumper offering of music and comedy with the goodies we throw in we stand up pretty well to other events.

Just as the cost of living crisis takes it's toll on your purse or wallet it also has let to the cost of running the event sky rocketing in the past few years. 2025's show will be over double the cost of 2022's event. The amount we have to pay for everything from power, security and toilets to artists, production and insurance is typically rising by a double digit percentage level every year. 

We have harped on about the fact that we have the third highest VAT on festival tickets in Europe (bonkers) and that 72 festivals alone either disappeared or postponed in 2024, and as a newer festival that was lost to covid twice (2020 and 2021) had an enforced venue change between 2022 and 2023 (albeit for the better) and all these economical issues to contend with we are happy to not only still be here, but to be growing (we have beaten 2024's camping numbers with nearly six months to go).

We do have to pass on some of the pain though as our quotes for all the things we need to run the show are starting to come in, and - surprise surprise - they are all much higher again. 

So Early Saver prices will finish on Sunday 2nd March at 10pm and we will then move to Saver tickets with a price rise. 

You can of course beat that and buy your tickets now.

The festivals we tested against were (in alphabetical order) Back 2, Big Feastival, Camp Bestival, Camp Kindling, Camper Calling, Carfest, Deer Shed, Gloworm, Gone Wild Festival, In It Together, Lakefest, Latitude, Shrewsbury Folk Festival, Solfest, Together Again, Wychwood and Ynot.