Basic Invite alternatives
Short answer: the closest free replacement for Basic Invite is Dawat — 53 card designs, unlimited guests, per-guest personal links and RSVP tracking, free at any guest count. The next closest are Luma, Partiful and Minted.
Basic Invite works out to $72 (100 cards at the published 72-cent starting rate) for 100 guests and $180 (250 cards at the published 72-cent starting rate) for 250. Below, 9 alternatives with their published prices and what each one gives up.
This page is published by Dawat, which is one of the products listed. Every price is linked to the vendor's own page and dated, so you can check the ones that matter rather than take our word for it. Basic Invite pricing was checked on 2026-09-16.
On this page
Why people look for a Basic Invite alternative
7 of the 33 invitation, stationery and event platforms tracked in this dataset charge per guest or per printed card. Basic Invite is one of them.
The most common reason is arithmetic. Basic Invite works out to $72 (100 cards at the published 72-cent starting rate) for 100 guests and $180 (250 cards at the published 72-cent starting rate) for 250, so the bill is set by the size of your family rather than by anything you chose.
The limitations people run into:
- Priced per printed card, so cost rises directly with guest count
- Postage is not included and is paid separately
- Advertised 72-cent rate is a starting price; upgrades and finishes cost more
- Envelope and enclosure-card options such as RSVP cards are priced separately
- Quantity price breaks are not published as a public table
All alternatives, priced
| Alternative | Type | 100 guests | 250 guests | Charges per guest | RSVP tracking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dawat | Online invitation makers | Free | Free | No | Yes |
| Luma | Event and ticketing platforms | Free (RSVP event); $125 platform fee on 100 paid $25 tickets | Free (RSVP event); $312.50 platform fee on 250 paid $25 tickets | No | Yes |
| Partiful | Online invitation makers | Free | Free | No | Yes |
| Minted | Stationery and print | $234 (100 Classic 7x5 cards at $2.34 each) | ~$585 (250 Classic 7x5 cards at the published 100-qty rate) | Yes | Yes |
| Greenvelope | Online invitation makers | $99 (single mailing, up to 100 guests) | $249 (single mailing, up to 250 guests) | Partial | Yes |
| Zazzle | Stationery and print | ~$179-$245 (100 cards at listed $1.79-$2.45 each, before volume discount) | ~$448-$613 (250 cards at listed $1.79-$2.45 each, before volume discount) | Yes | Partial |
| Joy | Wedding platforms | Free | Free | Partial | Yes |
| Canva | Design tools | Free (design only; no sending or RSVP) | Free (design only; no sending or RSVP) | No | No |
| Hobnob | Online invitation makers | Free by email; $59.99/year if sent by text | Free by email; $59.99/year if sent by text | Yes | Yes |
Dawat — the free option
Cinematic digital invitations with per-guest personal links and built-in RSVP, free at any guest count. Everything in the core product is free: all 53 card designs, every party-page theme, unlimited guests, unlimited sends, RSVP tracking with up to five custom questions, and a per-guest funnel showing who was sent the invitation, who opened it and who answered. No card is required to create or send.
Better than Basic Invite at: free at every guest count, with no per-recipient charge and no card required, every guest gets a personally addressed link with their rsvp prefilled and open tracking shows who has actually seen the invitation, not just who replied.
Worse at: digital only: dawat does not print or mail paper stationery and no ticket sales, payments from guests or door scanning.
The paid part: Dawat Signature, a long-scroll cinematic invitation, is $89 once for that event. Nothing else costs anything, and Signature is labelled as paid before you publish.
Dawat vs Basic Invite, side by side →
Create your invitation — free →Sign in only when you publish.
The alternatives in detail
1. Luma
Event pages and calendars with RSVP, invites, ticketing, and check-in, popular with tech meetups and community organizers.
Price: Free forever plan with unlimited events and guests and a 5% platform fee on paid events; Luma Plus is $59/month billed annually and drops the platform fee to 0%.
Better than Basic Invite at: free plan covers unlimited events and unlimited guests per event, guests do not need a luma account or sign-in to register and invites go out by email plus sms, whatsapp, and push.
Worse at: free plan takes a 5% platform fee on paid events and free plan capped at 500 invites or newsletters per week.
Pick it if: Community, meetup, and startup organizers who want a fast, free event page with invites and light ticketing.
Basic Invite vs Luma, side by side →
2. Partiful
Free, mobile-first event page and invitation tool built around phone-number RSVPs, text blasts and shared photo albums.
Price: Partiful states its platform is "100% free, no paywalls" with no per-event or per-guest charge; only paid ticketing carries a fee, and free tickets have no fees.
Better than Basic Invite at: genuinely free with no paid tier, per-event fee or per-recipient charge, text blasts let hosts message confirmed guests without a group chat and custom questionnaire collects arbitrary information at rsvp time.
Worse at: guests must verify a phone number by sms code to rsvp and ticketing fees apply to paid tickets and are not published as a rate.
Pick it if: Social hosts running casual gatherings for a phone-native guest list who want zero cost and fast, mobile RSVP collection.
Basic Invite vs Partiful, side by side →
3. Minted
Design-marketplace stationery printer selling independent-artist wedding invitations, plus free wedding websites and free online invitations.
Price: Printed wedding invitations start as low as $2.34 per card in Classic 7x5 and $2.00 per card in Petite 6x4.25 at quantity 100; letterpress from $485 per 100.
Better than Basic Invite at: large juried design library from independent artists, not generic templates, free recipient addressing and coordinating printed envelopes included on orders and free wedding website with online rsvp and registry links, matching the paper design.
Worse at: priced per printed card, so cost scales directly with guest count and postage is not included and is paid separately.
Pick it if: Couples who want distinctive designer paper invitations and will use the free matching wedding website for RSVPs.
Basic Invite vs Minted, side by side →
4. Greenvelope
Digital-only invitation service with animated envelope opening, email and text delivery, and RSVP tracking, priced per mailing.
Price: Flat one-time fee per mailing set by guest-list size: $19 up to 20 guests, $59 up to 60, $99 up to 100, $249 up to 250. Annual memberships from $125.
Better than Basic Invite at: flat per-mailing price, not per-recipient credits, so cost is known up front, custom rsvp questions, meal preferences and dietary notes included at every paid tier and email, sms and whatsapp delivery, with open and delivery tracking.
Worse at: price is tiered by guest count, so larger lists cost more per mailing and digital only; greenvelope does not print or mail paper invitations.
Pick it if: Hosts of a single sizeable event who want polished digital invitations and detailed RSVP data for one predictable flat fee.
Basic Invite vs Greenvelope, side by side →
5. Zazzle
Print-on-demand marketplace selling customisable invitations with no minimum order, plus a separate free digital invitation app, Zazzle Events.
Price: Wedding invitations list at roughly $1.79 to $2.45 per card at current sale prices, with a quantity discount on invitation orders over 50 and no minimum order.
Better than Basic Invite at: no minimum order quantity; you can buy a single card or hundreds, published quantity discount on invitation orders over 50 cards and very large marketplace catalogue plus a free browser design tool.
Worse at: priced per printed card, so cost scales directly with guest count and postage is not included and is paid separately.
Pick it if: Hosts who want an enormous design catalogue, no order minimum, and the option of a free digital invite alongside print.
Basic Invite vs Zazzle, side by side →
6. Joy
Free wedding website, app, registry and RSVP platform with optional paid domains, SMS messaging and premium digital or printed cards.
Price: Joy states the core product is $0/month with unlimited guests; paid extras are a custom domain (about $19.99/year), Messaging Plus SMS, premium digital cards (50-card minimum) and paper from $1.39 each.
Better than Basic Invite at: genuinely free core: website, registry, rsvp, mobile app and unlimited guests, hundreds of free digital invitation and save the date designs sent by email and guests do not need an account; signup is offered only after rsvp.
Worse at: premium digital cards carry a 50-card minimum order and are sold in fixed bundles and sms delivery of premium cards is a paid add-on, us and canada numbers only.
Pick it if: Couples who want a free, well-designed website, app and RSVP system with unlimited guests and optional paid stationery.
Basic Invite vs Joy, side by side →
7. Canva
General-purpose design platform with invitation templates, printing and website publishing; it is a design tool, not an RSVP system.
Price: Canva Free is $0; Canva Pro is $15 per person per month or $120 per person per year; Canva Business is $20 per person per month.
Better than Basic Invite at: enormous free template library and a genuinely capable editor at $0, canva print produces professionally printed invitations with paper and finish choices and designs can be published as a one-page website or shared as a live link.
Worse at: no rsvp tracking, guest list or attendance dashboard of any kind and no custom rsvp questions; responses have to be collected by a separate tool.
Pick it if: Design-confident hosts who want full creative control over the artwork and will collect RSVPs somewhere else.
Basic Invite vs Canva, side by side →
8. Hobnob
Mobile-first invitation app, now Zazzle Events, that sends photo or video invites by text or email and tracks RSVPs.
Price: Free members get 10 text-invite credits a month and unlimited email invites; Essentials is $19.99/year (70 credits) and Premium $59.99/year (310 credits).
Better than Basic Invite at: email invites cost no credits, so email-only sends are free at any guest count, sends real sms invitations; guests reply by text with no app download and delivery and viewed-status tracking plus automated rsvp reminders on paid plans.
Worse at: text invites are metered per recipient as credits, not unlimited and free members get only 10 text-invite credits per month.
Pick it if: Hosts who want text-message invites and fast mobile RSVPs for casual gatherings and can live with credit limits.
Basic Invite vs Hobnob, side by side →
What to check before you switch
- Price at your actual guest count, not the headline. Multiply the per-recipient rate by the real number of people on your list.
- Whether guests need an account. Every sign-up screen between the link and the reply costs you responses, mostly from the relatives you most want there.
- Whether you can ask your own questions. Meal choice, plus-ones, which nights they are coming — if the product cannot ask, you will be asking by text.
- Whether you can see who opened it. Chasing the people who never opened it is a different job from chasing the people who did and have not decided.
- What happens to replies you already have. Export from Basic Invite before you move, and invite only the people who have not answered.
Questions
What is the best free alternative to Basic Invite?
Dawat. It is free at every guest count — all 53 card designs, unlimited guests, unlimited sends, RSVP tracking with your own questions, and a personally addressed link per guest — with no per-recipient charge and no card required. Luma, Partiful, Joy and Hobnob are also free to use, with the trade-offs listed above. This page is published by Dawat, so weigh that and check the sources at the bottom.
Why do people switch away from Basic Invite?
Most often because of per-recipient pricing: $180 (250 cards at the published 72-cent starting rate) for a 250-person list. The recurring complaints are: priced per printed card, so cost rises directly with guest count, postage is not included and is paid separately, advertised 72-cent rate is a starting price; upgrades and finishes cost more, envelope and enclosure-card options such as rsvp cards are priced separately and quantity price breaks are not published as a public table.
Is Basic Invite still worth using?
For the right event, yes — and it is worth saying so on a page like this. Budget-conscious hosts who want printed invitations matched to exact wedding colours, with a free website for online RSVPs. Among the lowest advertised per-card rates, from 72 cents for wedding invitations. The alternatives above matter when your situation is different, not because Basic Invite is bad.
How much does Basic Invite cost for 100 guests?
Basic Invite works out to $72 (100 cards at the published 72-cent starting rate) for 100 guests and $180 (250 cards at the published 72-cent starting rate) for 250. Based on Basic Invite's advertised starting rate for its wedding invitation line; envelopes, upgrades and postage are extra. Checked against Basic Invite's own published pricing on 2026-09-16.
How much are Basic Invite wedding invitations?
Basic Invite advertises wedding invitations as low as 72 cents per card, and save-the-dates as low as 45 cents per card. At that starting rate 100 invitations is about $72 and 250 is about $180, before envelopes, upgrades and postage.
Does Basic Invite have a free wedding website?
Yes. Basic Invite promotes free, mobile-friendly wedding websites where you can collect mailing addresses, manage your RSVPs, and share event details. It is offered alongside the printed stationery rather than as a paid add-on.
More comparisons
Dawat vs Basic Invite
The full head-to-head, including where Basic Invite wins.
Stationery and print
Everything in Basic Invite's category, compared.
Head-to-heads with Basic Invite:
Other alternatives guides:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from Basic Invite's own published pricing or help pages on 16 September 2026, and each source is linked below. Coins, credits and per-card rates are converted into dollars at a real guest count, because that is the number you are deciding with. Full methodology and the open dataset →
Reading this through an AI assistant? Dawat runs an MCP server, so ChatGPT or Claude can choose the design, write the wording, add your guest list, publish the invitation and send it without you leaving the conversation. Basic Invite does not publish one.
Sources
- Basic Invite wedding invitations — checked 2026-09-16
- Basic Invite save the dates — checked 2026-09-16
- Basic Invite custom sample — checked 2026-09-16
- Basic Invite affordable wedding invitations — checked 2026-09-16
- Luma pricing — checked 2026-09-16
- Luma Plus overview — checked 2026-09-16
- Event registration process — checked 2026-09-16
- Setting your event visibility — checked 2026-09-16
- Inviting and adding guests to your event — checked 2026-09-16
- Partiful homepage — checked 2026-09-16
- What fees does Partiful charge? — checked 2026-09-16
- How do I RSVP to an event on Partiful? — checked 2026-09-16
- Where can I add a link in my event? — checked 2026-09-16
- Partiful (Wikipedia) — checked 2026-09-16
- Minted: How much do wedding invitations cost — checked 2026-09-16
- Minted wedding invitations — checked 2026-09-16
- Minted free online invitations — checked 2026-09-16
- Minted wedding websites (free with online RSVP) — checked 2026-09-16
- Minted letterpress wedding invitations — checked 2026-09-16
- Greenvelope pricing — checked 2026-09-16
- Greenvelope: How much does Greenvelope cost — checked 2026-09-16
- Greenvelope homepage (features) — checked 2026-09-16
- Greenvelope vs Paperless Post (vendor comparison) — checked 2026-09-16
- Zazzle invitations category — checked 2026-09-16
- Zazzle wedding invitations — checked 2026-09-16
- Zazzle Events: digital invitations and event planning app — checked 2026-09-16
- Zazzle invitation postcards (no minimum quantity) — checked 2026-09-16
- Joy pricing — checked 2026-09-16
- Joy FAQ — checked 2026-09-16
- Joy help: Designing and sending Premium Digital Cards — checked 2026-09-16
- Joy help: Send text messages with Messaging Plus — checked 2026-09-16
- Joy help: General FAQs, custom domains — checked 2026-09-16
- Canva pricing (Free, Pro, Business) — checked 2026-09-16
- Canva in-app purchase prices (Apple App Store listing) — checked 2026-09-16
- Canva invitations: design, print or post online — checked 2026-09-16
- Connect AI assistants to Canva with the AI Connector — checked 2026-09-16
- Canva newsroom: Canva in Claude Design — checked 2026-09-16
- Hobnob memberships: Essentials vs Premium — checked 2026-09-16
- How can I send invites for free? (credit rules) — checked 2026-09-16
- Hobnob homepage — checked 2026-09-16