What was on in the Free Fringe Festival in 2025?
The Free Festival was back with a bang for 2025, with a new and huge programme of art, entertainment and laughter which came to you from venues around Edinburgh.
You could discover something new, something amazing and all of the best things Fringe!
Laughing Horse Free Festival is one of the biggest comedy producers at the Fringe - but don't forget we also have cabaret, theatre, music, children's shows and much, much more!
In 2025 we had over 6,700 performances of 355 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.
Best in Free: Best of the Fringe
With an award winning programme, Festival director and many award winners and nominees for shows and projects which are part of Free Festival over the years, we've had many 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 to experience the Fringe, with a chance to experiment and enjoy, just without the huge costs.
'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.
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