Basic Invite vs Doodle
Short answer: Doodle is the cheaper of the two. Doodle costs nothing at either guest count (ads shown). 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. Basic Invite earns the difference if you need among the lowest advertised per-card rates, from 72 cents for wedding invitations.
If neither answer fits, Dawat does the same job free at any guest count: 53 card designs, unlimited guests, per-guest personal links and RSVP tracking, with no per-recipient charge.
Basic Invite and Doodle are not really competitors: one puts a card in someone's hand, the other puts a link in their phone. The question is which medium your event needs, and whether you need a live guest list.
Basic Invite and Doodle pricing checked 2026-09-16 against their own published pages. Sources · Method
On this page
Side by side
Online stationery printer offering customisable invitations with extensive colour control, plus a free wedding website with RSVP management. Group scheduling tool built around availability polls, booking pages, 1:1 scheduling and basic sign-up sheets with calendar sync. Dawat is shown as a third column for the part these two share with it: getting the invitation to people and getting an answer back. It does not print, so on the physical card it is not a substitute.
| Basic Invite | Doodle | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Priced per printed card | Free tier, paid upgrades | Free |
| What the free tier gives you | Free wedding website that collects mailing addresses and manages RSVPs, plus 150+ free custom colours on designs. | Group polls (10 time slots), sign-up sheets (20 slots), one booking page, one 1:1 — with ads shown. | Everything except Signature: all card designs, party pages, unlimited guests, sends, RSVP tracking and analytics. |
| Cost for 100 guests | $72 (100 cards at the published 72-cent starting rate) | Free (ads shown) | Free |
| Cost for 250 guests | $180 (250 cards at the published 72-cent starting rate) | Free (ads shown) | Free |
| Charges per recipient | Yes | No | No |
| Guests need an account | No | Not published | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | Yes | No |
"Not published" means no vendor documentation could be found either way, not that the feature is missing. How this grid is built →
Where they actually differ
There is very little the two have in common, which is usually a sign you are comparing the wrong two products.
- Free to send. Doodle supports sending invitations without paying; Basic Invite does not.
- Per-guest fees. Basic Invite does this; Doodle does not. If no per-recipient charge matters to you, that is a point for Doodle.
- RSVP tracking. Basic Invite includes tracking who has replied outright; on Doodle it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Printed cards. Basic Invite supports ordering printed stationery; Doodle does not.
- Guest account required. Basic Invite does not do this. Doodle does not publish whether it does, so it is worth checking before you send.
- Event website. Basic Invite supports a full event website; Doodle does not.
When Basic Invite is the better choice
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
- 150+ free custom colours, with colour control on nearly every design element
- Custom printed sample of your actual design available before ordering
- Free wedding website collects mailing addresses and manages RSVPs online
- Over 1,000 wedding designs customisable instantly in the browser
Where it costs you:
- 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
When Doodle is the better choice
Groups picking a date together — committees, teams, friend groups — where the question is when, not who is coming to a set event.
- Finding a date across many people is genuinely faster than any RSVP form
- Free tier has no published participant cap on group polls
- Calendar integration plus Google Meet and Zoom links on both free and paid
- Stripe payment collection available on both tiers
Where it costs you:
- Free plan shows ads to organizers and participants alike
- Free group polls are capped at 10 time slots and sign-up sheets at 20
- Free accounts get one booking page and one 1:1 only
- Sending the invite from Doodle, deadlines, reminders and hiding participant details are Professional-only
- No invitation design, animation or card of any kind
What each one costs, in dollars
Basic Invite is one of the 7 platforms in this dataset that charge per guest or per printed card. Doodle is not.
Published prices, converted into what you would actually pay for a real guest list. Credits, coins and per-card pricing are translated into dollars because that is the number you are deciding with.
| Basic Invite | Doodle | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Priced per printed card | Free tier, paid upgrades | Free |
| 100 guests | $72 (100 cards at the published 72-cent starting rate) | Free (ads shown) | Free |
| 250 guests | $180 (250 cards at the published 72-cent starting rate) | Free (ads shown) | Free |
| How that is worked out | Based on Basic Invite's advertised starting rate for its wedding invitation line; envelopes, upgrades and postage are extra. | Doodle publishes no participant cap on free group polls; the free cost is ads, and removing them requires Professional at $15/month or $132/year. | Dawat has no per-guest or per-send charge, so the guest count does not change the price. |
As of September 2026: Printed wedding invitations advertised as low as 72 cents per card, with save-the-dates as low as 45 cents per card; custom printed samples available per design. Free plan with ads and one booking page and one 1:1; Professional is $15/month or $132/year per user; Team runs $21/user/month monthly or $16/user/month annually at 2-5 seats.
The third option: something that feels like an invitation
Neither Basic Invite nor Doodle is trying to make the moment of opening feel like anything. They collect the answer. For a birthday drinks thread that is exactly right; for a wedding, a nikkah or a milestone, the invitation is part of the event.
Dawat is free at every guest count. All 53 card designs, unlimited guests, unlimited sends, RSVP tracking and the per-guest analytics cost nothing, and no card is required to create or send. Each guest gets their own link, the envelope opens addressed to them by name, and their reply is one tap. It also covers an animated envelope opening — which neither Basic Invite nor Doodle does.
The practical difference shows up the week before the event. Instead of counting replies across a group chat, you open one page and see who was sent it, who opened it, and who answered.
The honest caveats: Dawat is digital only, so it will not print and mail stationery, and it does not sell tickets. The optional Dawat Signature experiences are $89 once per event, and they are labelled as paid before you publish — nothing else is.
Create your invitation — free →No card required. Unlimited guests. 53 designs.
Feature by feature
| Feature | Basic Invite | Doodle | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to send | No | Yes | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | Yes | No | No |
| Unlimited guests | Partial | Not published | Yes |
| RSVP tracking | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Custom RSVP questions | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Email delivery | Not published | Partial | Yes |
| SMS or WhatsApp | Not published | Not published | Partial |
| Per-guest personal links | Not published | No | Yes |
| Open tracking | Not published | No | Yes |
| Animated envelope | No | No | Yes |
| Printed cards | Yes | No | No |
| Guest account required | No | Not published | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | Yes | No |
| Event website | Yes | No | Partial |
| Registry links | Not published | No | Yes |
| Meal choice or seating | Not published | No | Partial |
| Calendar file | Not published | Partial | Yes |
| AI wording help | Not published | Partial | Yes |
| Works inside ChatGPT / Claude | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Multilingual & right-to-left | Not published | Not published | Yes |
"Not published" means no vendor documentation could be found either way, not that the feature is missing. How this grid is built →
What your guests experience
A form asks a question. An invitation makes someone want to answer it. Your guest experiences whichever one you sent, and the response rate follows.
| What your guest gets | Basic Invite | Doodle | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guests need an account | No | Not published | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | Yes | No |
| Animated opening | No | No | Yes |
| Personally addressed link | Not published | No | Yes |
| Add to calendar | Not published | Partial | Yes |
| Right-to-left and multilingual | Not published | Not published | Yes |
Questions
Is Basic Invite or Doodle cheaper?
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. Doodle costs nothing at either guest count (ads shown). Because at least one of them bills per recipient, the gap widens as the guest list grows: what looks like a few dollars at 20 guests is a real decision at 250. Both were checked on 2026-09-16.
Which is better for a wedding, Basic Invite or Doodle?
Basic Invite suits budget-conscious hosts who want printed invitations matched to exact wedding colours, with a free website for online RSVPs. Doodle suits groups picking a date together — committees, teams, friend groups — where the question is when, not who is coming to a set event. For a wedding specifically, the questions that matter are whether the invitation feels like an occasion, whether you can collect meal choices, and whether the price moves with the guest list.
Do guests need an account to reply on Basic Invite or Doodle?
Basic Invite does not require guests to have an account. Doodle does not publish whether guests need an account. Anything that makes a guest sign up before replying costs you responses, particularly from older relatives.
Is there a free alternative to Basic Invite and Doodle?
Yes. Dawat 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 for each guest. There is no per-recipient charge and no card required to send. The only paid item is a Dawat Signature cinematic experience at $89 once per event.
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.
Is Doodle free?
Yes, with limits. A free account can create group polls capped at 10 time slots, sign-up sheets capped at 20 slots, one booking page and one 1:1. Doodle states that ads are displayed to both organizers and participants on the free plan.
How current is this comparison?
Basic Invite's published pricing was checked on 2026-09-16 and Doodle's on 2026-09-16. Every figure on this page links to the vendor page it came from, so you can verify it yourself rather than trusting a comparison written by one of the competitors.
Other comparisons
Every comparison below is built from the same checked pricing data.
Dawat vs Basic Invite
The full head-to-head, including where Basic Invite is genuinely better.
Dawat vs Doodle
The full head-to-head, including where Doodle is genuinely better.
Basic Invite alternatives
Eight products that do what Basic Invite does, ranked.
Doodle alternatives
Eight products that do what Doodle does, ranked.
More head-to-heads:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from Basic Invite and Doodle'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
- Doodle Help Center — how much does Doodle cost — checked 2026-09-16
- Doodle Help Center — Free vs Professional at a glance — checked 2026-09-16
- Doodle premium and free packages — checked 2026-09-16
- Doodle Help Center — Professional users and ads — checked 2026-09-16