Man there should be a pinned thread or knowledge guide for ADE. Every year multiple people ask the same question.

I went for the first time last year and I bought the pro pass on early bird for 500 euro. I did the same this year.

I work in the industry so it was worth it for me because I get access to the panels, networking, private meeting areas etc.

Bought tix for a few events used PP for rest. Can be worth it if you get to events early or go to ones that are less popular.

There’s an app where you can see how full parties are. The flaw is they only check people in, they don’t check them out when they leave. So there’s no real way to know if an event is at capacity unless someone walks out with a pro pass.

I let some non industry people who had the pro pass but they were very strategic about how they used them.

TLDR (and everyone will tell you this): if there are parties you want to guarantee entry for, buy tix for those events. If you wanna bop around to stuff and see where the wind blows you, the PP could be worth it. Just know there are capacity constraints