Basic Invite vs Zazzle
Short answer: Basic Invite is the cheaper of the two. 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. Zazzle works out to ~$179-$245 (100 cards at listed $1.79-$2.45 each, before volume discount) for 100 guests and ~$448-$613 (250 cards at listed $1.79-$2.45 each, before volume discount) for 250. Zazzle earns the difference if you need no minimum order quantity; you can buy a single card or hundreds.
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 Zazzle sit in the same category and cover the same basics, so the decision comes down to a handful of specifics that only matter once the guest list gets real.
Basic Invite and Zazzle 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. Print-on-demand marketplace selling customisable invitations with no minimum order, plus a separate free digital invitation app, Zazzle Events. 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 | Zazzle | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Priced per printed card | Priced per printed card | Free |
| What the free tier gives you | Free wedding website that collects mailing addresses and manages RSVPs, plus 150+ free custom colours on designs. | Zazzle Events sends digital invites by text or email with RSVP tracking and a free event site; free design tool and templates. | 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) | ~$179-$245 (100 cards at listed $1.79-$2.45 each, before volume discount) | Free |
| Cost for 250 guests | $180 (250 cards at the published 72-cent starting rate) | ~$448-$613 (250 cards at listed $1.79-$2.45 each, before volume discount) | Free |
| Charges per recipient | Yes | Yes | No |
| Guests need an account | No | No | 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 ordering printed stationery, letting guests reply without an account and a full event website, so those are not the thing to decide on.
- RSVP tracking. Basic Invite includes tracking who has replied outright; on Zazzle it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Email delivery. Zazzle supports sending by email. Basic Invite does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
- Registry links. Zazzle supports linking a gift registry. Basic Invite does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
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 Zazzle is the better choice
Hosts who want an enormous design catalogue, no order minimum, and the option of a free digital invite alongside print.
- No minimum order quantity; you can buy a single card or hundreds
- Published quantity discount on invitation orders over 50 cards
- Very large marketplace catalogue plus a free browser design tool
- Zazzle Events offers free digital invites by text or email with RSVP tracking
- Specialty formats available including foil, letterpress and acrylic invitations
Where it costs you:
- Priced per printed card, so cost scales directly with guest count
- Postage is not included and is paid separately
- Envelopes are not automatically included and are added separately
- Listed prices are frequently promotional sale prices, so base rates differ
- Digital RSVP lives in a separate product, not in the printed-card checkout
What each one costs, in dollars
7 of the 33 platforms tracked in this dataset charge per guest or per printed card. Basic Invite and Zazzle are both among them.
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 | Zazzle | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Priced per printed card | Priced per printed card | Free |
| 100 guests | $72 (100 cards at the published 72-cent starting rate) | ~$179-$245 (100 cards at listed $1.79-$2.45 each, before volume discount) | Free |
| 250 guests | $180 (250 cards at the published 72-cent starting rate) | ~$448-$613 (250 cards at listed $1.79-$2.45 each, before volume discount) | 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. | Based on listed per-card sale prices in Zazzle's wedding invitations category; volume discounts reduce this and postage is extra. | 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. 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.
The third option: neither of them is free at 250 guests
Both Basic Invite and Zazzle price by the head, which means the number that decides your bill is the one thing you cannot control: how many people you love. 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. Zazzle works out to ~$179-$245 (100 cards at listed $1.79-$2.45 each, before volume discount) for 100 guests and ~$448-$613 (250 cards at listed $1.79-$2.45 each, before volume discount) for 250.
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 Zazzle 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 | Zazzle | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to send | No | Partial | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | Yes | Yes | No |
| Unlimited guests | Partial | Partial | Yes |
| RSVP tracking | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Custom RSVP questions | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Email delivery | Not published | Yes | Yes |
| SMS or WhatsApp | Not published | Partial | Partial |
| Per-guest personal links | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Open tracking | Not published | Partial | Yes |
| Animated envelope | No | No | Yes |
| Printed cards | Yes | Yes | No |
| Guest account required | No | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | Not published | No |
| Event website | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Registry links | Not published | Yes | 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
A printed card is a wonderful thing to receive and a terrible thing to reply to. Whatever the envelope looks like, the reply has to happen somewhere, and that somewhere is what this section is about.
| What your guest gets | Basic Invite | Zazzle | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guests need an account | No | No | 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 Zazzle 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. Zazzle works out to ~$179-$245 (100 cards at listed $1.79-$2.45 each, before volume discount) for 100 guests and ~$448-$613 (250 cards at listed $1.79-$2.45 each, before volume discount) for 250. 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 Zazzle?
Basic Invite suits budget-conscious hosts who want printed invitations matched to exact wedding colours, with a free website for online RSVPs. Zazzle suits hosts who want an enormous design catalogue, no order minimum, and the option of a free digital invite alongside print. 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 Zazzle?
Basic Invite does not require guests to have an account. Zazzle does not require guests to have 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 Zazzle?
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 are Zazzle invitations for 100?
Zazzle's wedding invitation listings show sale prices of roughly $1.79 to $2.45 per card, so 100 cards is about $179 to $245 at listed prices. Zazzle also applies a quantity discount on invitation orders over 50, which lowers that total. Envelopes and postage are extra.
How current is this comparison?
Basic Invite's published pricing was checked on 2026-09-16 and Zazzle'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 Zazzle
The full head-to-head, including where Zazzle is genuinely better.
Basic Invite alternatives
Eight products that do what Basic Invite does, ranked.
Zazzle alternatives
Eight products that do what Zazzle does, ranked.
More head-to-heads:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from Basic Invite and Zazzle's own published pricing or help pages on 16 September 2026, and each source is linked below. Where a vendor publishes a rate at one quantity and not another, the published rate is multiplied out and marked as an upper bound rather than presented as a quote. 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
- 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