The same Saturday can cost you nothing to walk in or the price of a decent dinner before you have ordered a drink. Boston has no standard cover. Each door sets its own, the number moves with the DJ and the holiday, and the only way to know it is to read the venue's page the same day. What you can do ahead of time is understand what the number is for, so you can tell a fair one from a bad one.
A warning on sources. The prices below come from Time Out's club guide, which prints an "expect to pay" line for each room. Those are a magazine's estimates, not posted door prices, and we have not stood in any of these lines. Treat them as the range, never as tonight's price.
The ladder: $5 at the bottom, $50 at the top
Start at the cheap end. Middlesex Lounge in Central Square is a small DJ room, and Time Out says its covers range from $5 to $15 on a regular night. The same page says the room holds around 120 to 150 people. A small room needs fewer people through the door to make its night, which is our guess at why the number stays low.
One step up, bsmnt runs $10 to $20. Holidays and special events push it up to $50. The magazine says the room only holds 200 people. Its tip is to arrive early, which is the whole strategy.
The theater district sits in the middle. Hava generally charges $25 to $35. Venu is listed at $25 to $30. Time Out is blunt about the second one, warning of a sky-high cover and expensive drinks.
At the top are the rooms that book names. Bijou, on Stuart Street, has $25 to $50 or more, depending on who is on the decks. The Grand in the Seaport lists $20 to $50 even on a quiet night. Time Out also says buying early gets the best prices.
What the number is actually paying for
Three things, in our reading, and none of them is your drink.
The talent. Time Out says Bijou's cover varies with the talent spinning that night. It says the Grand's tickets can cost more when a big-name DJ plays. If you do not know who is playing, you are paying for someone else's taste. That is a fine thing to pay for on purpose and a bad thing to do by accident.
The room. Capacity is a price. A 200-person basement and a Seaport mega-club are not selling the same product, and in our reading the cover is how the small one stays open.
The license. This is the part nobody prints on the door. Boston requires a license for entertainment, and the city's own page says you need one if you hold a public show and charge an admission fee. The fee schedule puts a DJ, karaoke or patron dancing in the second live-entertainment tier. For a room of 250 or fewer that tier costs $800 a year. That is one cost a DJ room carries, not the whole bill, and our read is that it is part of why a venue that adds music also adds a door charge. The full tier list is in what a Boston bar pays to play music.
Where the cover is zero, and why
Not every room charges, and the free ones are worth knowing. Time Out says Alibi Bar and Lounge, inside the old Charles Street Jail, does not instate a cover. It warns that drinks there run $15 to $30. That is the trade. A free door means the bar plans to earn the money at the bar.
Dani's Queer Bar advertises no cover events such as drag brunch, karaoke and watch parties. Club Cafe lists a Napoleon Room night that is never a cover. In our view both are worth more of your night than a long line at midnight, and for a first night in a new part of town they are the safer pick: you can leave after one drink without feeling you wasted money.
Comedy does it the other way round. The ticket is the cover, and Laugh Boston says it requires no purchase. You pay for the seat, and the bar is optional. Our comedy guide has the age rules, which differ by room.
How to not overpay
- Check the promoter, not just the venue. Time Out's tip for Bijou is to look at promoter pages for freebies and deals, and the same trick is worth trying elsewhere.
- Ask about the guest list. Time Out suggests that you check Hava's site or social media for guest list options, with the caveat that a list is not a guarantee of entry.
- Buy ahead on big nights. Time Out's note on the Grand is the one worth copying: buying in advance is where it says the best prices are.
- Count the drinks. The cover is the first charge, not the last. Time Out puts cocktails at bsmnt at $15 to $20+, and our night-out cost breakdown prices the whole evening.
- Bring ID. The state's list of accepted cards is in our ID and cover guide.
What to do with this
Pick the room before you pick the night. If you want to dance on a small budget, a small Central Square room beats a Seaport club. If you want to see how a cover is justified, look for the name on the bill. If neither matters, take the free room and spend the money on the ride.
That last line is not a joke. Saving on the door is a bad reason to skip the ride, and the end of the night is where the budget fails. Settle the way home before you pay to get in: Last Train shows your line, and getting home after last call has the fallbacks. Pace yourself, drink water, and leave with the people you came with. For more dance floors, see where to dance in Boston.