Basic Invite vs Facebook Events
Short answer: Facebook Events is the cheaper of the two. Facebook Events is free to send. 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 Facebook Events 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 Facebook Events pricing checked 2026-09-16 against their own published pages. Sources · Method
On this page
- Side by side
- Where they actually differ
- When Basic Invite is the better choice
- When Facebook Events is the better choice
- What each one costs, in dollars
- The third option: something that feels like an invitation
- Feature by feature
- What your guests experience
- Questions
- Other comparisons
- How these figures were checked
Side by side
Online stationery printer offering customisable invitations with extensive colour control, plus a free wedding website with RSVP management. Free event feature inside Facebook for creating an event page, inviting friends and collecting Going, Maybe or Interested responses. 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 | Facebook Events | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Priced per printed card | Free | Free |
| What the free tier gives you | Free wedding website that collects mailing addresses and manages RSVPs, plus 150+ free custom colours on designs. | Everything: unlimited events, event page, guest responses and discussion, up to 500 invites per person per event. | 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 | Free |
| Cost for 250 guests | $180 (250 cards at the published 72-cent starting rate) | Free | Free |
| Charges per recipient | Yes | No | No |
| Guests need an account | No | Partial | 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
Both give you tracking who has replied, so those are not the thing to decide on.
- Free to send. Facebook Events supports sending invitations without paying; Basic Invite does not.
- Per-guest fees. Basic Invite does this; Facebook Events does not. If no per-recipient charge matters to you, that is a point for Facebook Events.
- Printed cards. Basic Invite supports ordering printed stationery; Facebook Events does not.
- Guest account required. Facebook Events does this in some cases; Basic Invite does not. If letting guests reply without an account matters to you, that is a point for Basic Invite.
- Event website. Basic Invite includes a full event website outright; on Facebook Events it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
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 Facebook Events is the better choice
Casual, social gatherings where the whole guest list is already active on Facebook and cost matters most.
- Completely free with no per-guest or per-event charge
- Invitees already have the app, so distribution and notifications need no setup
- Built-in event page with discussion, photos, co-hosts and privacy controls
- Non-Facebook users can be invited by email or SMS on supported events
- Attendance responses, updates and reminders are handled automatically
Where it costs you:
- Each person can send only 500 invites per event
- Facebook may reduce invite capacity if invites get poor response rates
- Responses are limited to Going, Maybe, Interested or Can't Go; no custom RSVP questions
- Email and SMS invites to non-users are not available for all events
- Guests see the event inside an ad-supported social network you do not control
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. Facebook Events 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 | Facebook Events | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Priced per printed card | Free | Free |
| 100 guests | $72 (100 cards at the published 72-cent starting rate) | Free | Free |
| 250 guests | $180 (250 cards at the published 72-cent starting rate) | Free | 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. | Facebook charges nothing for events; the constraint is the published 500-invite-per-person-per-event cap, not price. | 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. Creating a Facebook event and inviting guests costs nothing; there is no paid tier for the event feature itself.
The third option: something that feels like an invitation
Neither Basic Invite nor Facebook Events 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 tracks replies the same way both of these do, and costs nothing to do it. All 53 card designs, unlimited guests and unlimited sends are free, with no card required. What the other two do not do is address each guest personally: the envelope opens with that guest's name on it and their reply is one tap. It also covers an animated envelope opening — which neither Basic Invite nor Facebook Events 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 | Facebook Events | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to send | No | Yes | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | Yes | No | No |
| Unlimited guests | Partial | No | Yes |
| RSVP tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom RSVP questions | Not published | No | Yes |
| Email delivery | Not published | Partial | Yes |
| SMS or WhatsApp | Not published | Partial | Partial |
| Per-guest personal links | Not published | Partial | Yes |
| Open tracking | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Animated envelope | No | No | Yes |
| Printed cards | Yes | No | No |
| Guest account required | No | Partial | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | Yes | No |
| Event website | Yes | Partial | Partial |
| Registry links | Not published | Partial | Yes |
| Meal choice or seating | Not published | No | Partial |
| Calendar file | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| AI wording help | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Works inside ChatGPT / Claude | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Multilingual & right-to-left | Not published | Partial | 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
Your guest sees the event if the platform decides to show it to them. That is the whole guest experience question here, and it is not one you control.
| What your guest gets | Basic Invite | Facebook Events | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guests need an account | No | Partial | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | Yes | No |
| Animated opening | No | No | Yes |
| Personally addressed link | Not published | Partial | Yes |
| Add to calendar | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Right-to-left and multilingual | Not published | Partial | Yes |
Questions
Is Basic Invite or Facebook Events 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. Facebook Events is free to send. 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 Facebook Events?
Basic Invite suits budget-conscious hosts who want printed invitations matched to exact wedding colours, with a free website for online RSVPs. Facebook Events suits casual, social gatherings where the whole guest list is already active on Facebook and cost matters most. 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 Facebook Events?
Basic Invite does not require guests to have an account. Facebook Events requires an account from guests in some cases. 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 Facebook Events?
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.
Are Facebook Events free?
Yes. Creating a Facebook event, inviting guests and collecting responses costs nothing, and there is no paid upgrade for the events feature. The practical limit is that each person can send up to 500 invites per event.
How current is this comparison?
Basic Invite's published pricing was checked on 2026-09-16 and Facebook Events'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 Facebook Events
The full head-to-head, including where Facebook Events is genuinely better.
Basic Invite alternatives
Eight products that do what Basic Invite does, ranked.
Facebook Events alternatives
Eight products that do what Facebook Events does, ranked.
More head-to-heads:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from Basic Invite and Facebook Events'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
- How many people you can invite to a Facebook event — checked 2026-09-16
- Invite people to your Facebook event — checked 2026-09-16
- How event invitations work for people who are off of Facebook — checked 2026-09-16
- Respond to a Facebook event — checked 2026-09-16
- Create and customize an event — checked 2026-09-16