Cvent vs Shutterfly
Short answer: pick Cvent for enterprise and association event teams running large, compliance-sensitive event programmes with dedicated planners. Pick Shutterfly for hosts who want photo-led printed invitations and value having shutterfly address, stamp and mail the whole batch.
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.
Shutterfly and Cvent 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.
Cvent and Shutterfly pricing checked 2026-09-16 against their own published pages. Sources · Method
On this page
Side by side
Enterprise event management platform covering registration, attendee engagement, check-in and badging, and event reporting. Consumer photo-printing company whose stationery arm prints personalised invitations, with free address printing and a mail-for-me service. 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.
| Cvent | Shutterfly | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Subscription | Priced per printed card | Free |
| What the free tier gives you | None published. Cvent's site offers a demo and quote request rather than a free plan. | None for sending. Free extras on paid orders: address printing, an online address book, and design tools. | Everything except Signature: all card designs, party pages, unlimited guests, sends, RSVP tracking and analytics. |
| Cost for 100 guests | Unknown | $135 (100 wedding invitations at the $1.35 starting per-card price) | Free |
| Cost for 250 guests | Unknown | ~$338 (250 wedding invitations at the $1.35 starting per-card price) | Free |
| Charges per recipient | Not published | Yes | No |
| Guests need an account | Not published | 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
There is very little the two have in common, which is usually a sign you are comparing the wrong two products.
- RSVP tracking. Cvent supports tracking who has replied; Shutterfly does not.
- Email delivery. Cvent supports sending by email; Shutterfly does not.
- Printed cards. Shutterfly supports ordering printed stationery. Cvent does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
- Guest account required. Shutterfly does not do this. Cvent does not publish whether it does, so it is worth checking before you send.
- Event website. Cvent supports a full event website. Shutterfly does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
When Cvent is the better choice
Enterprise and association event teams running large, compliance-sensitive event programmes with dedicated planners.
- Deep enterprise feature set: registration, attendee hub, check-in, badging, reporting
- Enterprise tier includes API access, SSO, MFA, and budget management
- Unlimited user logins on Enterprise; Professional includes 15 logins
- Special rates extended to non-profit organisations
- Handles in-person, virtual, and hybrid event formats
Where it costs you:
- No published pricing; every price requires a sales quote
- No free plan advertised on the pricing page
- Solutions are licensed separately on the Professional tier
- Implementation and consulting are sold as paid add-ons
- Aimed at event programmes, not one-off personal invitations
When Shutterfly is the better choice
Hosts who want photo-led printed invitations and value having Shutterfly address, stamp and mail the whole batch.
- Free recipient address printing and a saved online address book
- Mail For Me service stamps, seals and mails invitations directly to guests
- Wide format range including flat, gate fold, tri-fold, foil and glitter
- Hundreds of wedding designs with custom colour palettes on selected styles
- Strong photo personalisation, reflecting the core photo-printing product
Where it costs you:
- Priced per printed card, so cost scales directly with guest count
- Postage is not included even when using the mail-for-me service
- No native digital invitation or online RSVP product documented
- RSVP is handled by printed reply cards, sold as a separate enclosure
- Upgrades such as foil push per-card prices toward the $6.51 upper end
What each one costs, in dollars
Shutterfly is one of the 7 platforms in this dataset that charge per guest or per printed card. Cvent 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.
| Cvent | Shutterfly | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Subscription | Priced per printed card | Free |
| 100 guests | Unknown | $135 (100 wedding invitations at the $1.35 starting per-card price) | Free |
| 250 guests | Unknown | ~$338 (250 wedding invitations at the $1.35 starting per-card price) | Free |
| How that is worked out | Cvent does not publish list prices or per-registration fees; all pricing requires a sales quote. | Based on Shutterfly's published starting per-card price for its wedding invitation line; upgrades and postage are extra. | Dawat has no per-guest or per-send charge, so the guest count does not change the price. |
As of September 2026: Unknown. Cvent publishes no prices: its pricing page lists Professional and Enterprise tiers and a 'Get a free quote' form, with special rates for non-profits. Printed wedding invitations start at $1.35 per card and run to about $6.51 per card depending on format, paper and finishes such as foil.
The third option: something that feels like an invitation
Neither Cvent nor Shutterfly 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 Cvent nor Shutterfly 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 | Cvent | Shutterfly | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to send | Not published | No | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | Not published | Yes | No |
| Unlimited guests | Not published | Partial | Yes |
| RSVP tracking | Yes | No | Yes |
| Custom RSVP questions | Not published | No | Yes |
| Email delivery | Yes | No | Yes |
| SMS or WhatsApp | Not published | No | Partial |
| Per-guest personal links | Not published | No | Yes |
| Open tracking | Not published | No | Yes |
| Animated envelope | No | No | Yes |
| Printed cards | Not published | Yes | No |
| Guest account required | Not published | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | Not published | No |
| Event website | Yes | Not published | Partial |
| Registry links | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Meal choice or seating | Not published | No | Partial |
| Calendar file | Not published | No | 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 | Cvent | Shutterfly | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guests need an account | Not published | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | Not published | No |
| Animated opening | No | No | Yes |
| Personally addressed link | Not published | No | Yes |
| Add to calendar | Not published | No | Yes |
| Right-to-left and multilingual | Not published | Not published | Yes |
Questions
Is Cvent or Shutterfly cheaper?
Cvent does not publish a price you can check before you commit: unknown. Cvent publishes no prices: its pricing page lists Professional and Enterprise tiers and a 'Get a free quote' form, with special rates for non-profits. Shutterfly works out to $135 (100 wedding invitations at the $1.35 starting per-card price) for 100 guests and ~$338 (250 wedding invitations at the $1.35 starting per-card price) 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, Cvent or Shutterfly?
Cvent suits enterprise and association event teams running large, compliance-sensitive event programmes with dedicated planners. Shutterfly suits hosts who want photo-led printed invitations and value having Shutterfly address, stamp and mail the whole batch. 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 Cvent or Shutterfly?
Cvent does not publish whether guests need an account. Shutterfly 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 Cvent and Shutterfly?
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 does Cvent cost?
Cvent does not publish prices. Its pricing page describes Professional and Enterprise tiers and asks visitors to 'Get a free quote' by submitting business details. Cvent also says it extends special rates to non-profit organisations.
How much are Shutterfly wedding invitations?
Shutterfly lists wedding invitations starting at $1.35 per card, with prices running up to about $6.51 per card for larger formats and finishes such as foil. At the starting rate that is roughly $135 for 100 cards and $338 for 250, before postage.
How current is this comparison?
Cvent's published pricing was checked on 2026-09-16 and Shutterfly'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 Cvent
The full head-to-head, including where Cvent is genuinely better.
Dawat vs Shutterfly
The full head-to-head, including where Shutterfly is genuinely better.
Cvent alternatives
Eight products that do what Cvent does, ranked.
Shutterfly alternatives
Eight products that do what Shutterfly does, ranked.
More head-to-heads:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from Cvent and Shutterfly's own published pricing or help pages on 16 September 2026, and each source is linked below. Cvent 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. Cvent does not publish one.
Sources
- Cvent pricing — checked 2026-09-16
- Cvent event management software — checked 2026-09-16
- Cvent event management software pricing overview — checked 2026-09-16
- Shutterfly wedding invitations — checked 2026-09-16
- Shutterfly party RSVP cards — checked 2026-09-16
- Shutterfly wedding RSVP cards — checked 2026-09-16
- Shutterfly wedding cards and stationery — checked 2026-09-16