[paulgb]

They don't run them, but it's sort of intrinsic to their platform that low-budget meetups can't access it, and those can be some of the best because they don't have to answer to sponsors.

I run a "meetup" that is not on Meetup, in part because of the cost (I'm fortunate that in a technical niche community in NYC, word of mouth spreads fast).

[akvadrako]

The cost is like 50 euro a year - which is only really significant if you have less than a few meetups every year.

I would say that fee keeps things a little more professional than otherwise.