Basic Invite vs Splash
Short answer: pick Basic Invite for budget-conscious hosts who want printed invitations matched to exact wedding colours, with a free website for online rsvps. Pick Splash for corporate field-marketing and demand-generation teams running recurring, on-brand event programmes at scale.
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 Splash 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 Splash 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. Event marketing platform for branded event pages, registration, email reminders, on-site check-in, and badge management. Dawat is shown as a third column for the guest-list half of the job. It does not sell tickets or take payment from guests, so for a paid public event it is not a substitute.
| Basic Invite | Splash | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Priced per printed card | Subscription | Free |
| What the free tier gives you | Free wedding website that collects mailing addresses and manages RSVPs, plus 150+ free custom colours on designs. | None published. Every tier is quote-only, and paid support is a separate add-on. | 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) | Unknown | Free |
| Cost for 250 guests | $180 (250 cards at the published 72-cent starting rate) | Unknown | Free |
| Charges per recipient | Yes | No | No |
| Guests need an account | No | Not published | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | Not published | 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 and a full event website, so those are not the thing to decide on.
- Per-guest fees. Basic Invite does this; Splash does not. If no per-recipient charge matters to you, that is a point for Splash.
- Unlimited guests. Splash includes an uncapped guest list outright; on Basic Invite it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Custom RSVP questions. Splash supports asking your own questions. Basic Invite does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
- Email delivery. Splash supports sending by email. Basic Invite does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
- Printed cards. Basic Invite supports ordering printed stationery; Splash does not.
- Guest account required. Basic Invite does not do this. Splash does not publish whether it does, so it is worth checking before you send.
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 Splash is the better choice
Corporate field-marketing and demand-generation teams running recurring, on-brand event programmes at scale.
- Unlimited events and unlimited registrations on every plan, with no per-attendee fee
- Deep CRM and marketing-automation integrations keep event data in the business systems
- Event ROI and email performance dashboards built for reporting to a marketing team
- Ticketed events supported through a Stripe partnership
- Governance features for large teams: custom roles, approvals, event visibility groups
Where it costs you:
- Publishes no price at any tier; Pro and Enterprise are both quote-only
- Built for event marketing programmes, not for a single private celebration
- Phone support is a paid add-on on top of the plan
- API access requires a consulting engagement
- No free tier is published, so there is no way to try it at a real guest count
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. Splash 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 | Splash | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Priced per printed card | Subscription | Free |
| 100 guests | $72 (100 cards at the published 72-cent starting rate) | Unknown | Free |
| 250 guests | $180 (250 cards at the published 72-cent starting rate) | Unknown | 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. | Splash publishes no dollar figure at any tier, so a per-guest cost cannot be derived; the page directs you to a demo instead. | 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. Splash publishes two tiers, Pro and Enterprise, and no prices for either; both are sold through sales with a demo. Its pricing page promises unlimited events and unlimited registrations with no hidden fees.
The third option: something that feels like an invitation
Neither Basic Invite nor Splash 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 sending invitations without paying and an animated envelope opening — which neither Basic Invite nor Splash 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 | Splash | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to send | No | No | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | Yes | No | No |
| Unlimited guests | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| RSVP tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom RSVP questions | Not published | Yes | Yes |
| Email delivery | Not published | Yes | Yes |
| SMS or WhatsApp | Not published | Not published | Partial |
| Per-guest personal links | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Open tracking | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Animated envelope | No | No | Yes |
| Printed cards | Yes | No | No |
| Guest account required | No | Not published | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | Not published | No |
| Event website | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Registry links | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Meal choice or seating | Not published | Not published | 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 | 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
Ticketing platforms are built around a stranger buying entry. A guest you already know is a different person with a different tolerance, and an account-creation screen is where that difference shows up.
| What your guest gets | Basic Invite | Splash | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guests need an account | No | Not published | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | Not published | No |
| Animated opening | No | No | Yes |
| Personally addressed link | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Add to calendar | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Right-to-left and multilingual | Not published | Not published | Yes |
Questions
Is Basic Invite or Splash 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. Splash does not publish a price you can check before you commit: splash publishes two tiers, Pro and Enterprise, and no prices for either; both are sold through sales with a demo. Its pricing page promises unlimited events and unlimited registrations with no hidden fees. 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 Splash?
Basic Invite suits budget-conscious hosts who want printed invitations matched to exact wedding colours, with a free website for online RSVPs. Splash suits corporate field-marketing and demand-generation teams running recurring, on-brand event programmes at scale. 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 Splash?
Basic Invite does not require guests to have an account. Splash 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 Splash?
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.
How much does Splash (splashthat.com) cost?
Splash does not publish list prices. Software directories list both its Pro and Enterprise tiers as 'Contact Vendor for Pricing', and procurement data shows annual contracts negotiated individually rather than a published rate card.
How current is this comparison?
Basic Invite's published pricing was checked on 2026-09-16 and Splash's on 2026-09-17. 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 Splash
The full head-to-head, including where Splash is genuinely better.
Basic Invite alternatives
Eight products that do what Basic Invite does, ranked.
Splash alternatives
Eight products that do what Splash does, ranked.
More head-to-heads:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from Basic Invite and Splash's own published pricing or help pages on 16 September 2026, and each source is linked below. Splash publishes no checkable price, so this page says so rather than estimating one. 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
- Splash pricing — checked 2026-09-17
- Cvent acquires Splash — checked 2026-09-17