Doodle vs Hobnob
Short answer: price will not decide this one — both can be used without paying. Choose Doodle if groups picking a date together — committees, teams, friend groups — where the question is when, not who is coming to a set event. Choose Hobnob if hosts who want text-message invites and fast mobile RSVPs for casual gatherings and can live with credit limits.
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.
Doodle and Hobnob are built for different jobs, so the comparison is less about features and more about which job you are actually doing.
Doodle and Hobnob pricing checked 2026-09-16 against their own published pages. Sources · Method
On this page
Side by side
Group scheduling tool built around availability polls, booking pages, 1:1 scheduling and basic sign-up sheets with calendar sync. Mobile-first invitation app, now Zazzle Events, that sends photo or video invites by text or email and tracks RSVPs. Dawat is shown as a third column because it answers the same question at no cost, which is the relevant fact for most people reading this page.
| Doodle | Hobnob | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free tier, paid upgrades | Free tier, paid upgrades | Free |
| What the free tier gives you | Group polls (10 time slots), sign-up sheets (20 slots), one booking page, one 1:1 — with ads shown. | Unlimited email invites (no credit cost), free social/link sharing, and 10 text-invite credits per month. | Everything except Signature: all card designs, party pages, unlimited guests, sends, RSVP tracking and analytics. |
| Cost for 100 guests | Free (ads shown) | Free by email; $59.99/year if sent by text | Free |
| Cost for 250 guests | Free (ads shown) | Free by email; $59.99/year if sent by text | Free |
| Charges per recipient | No | Yes | No |
| Guests need an account | Not published | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Yes | 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 sending invitations without paying, so those are not the thing to decide on.
- Per-guest fees. Hobnob does this; Doodle does not. If no per-recipient charge matters to you, that is a point for Doodle.
- RSVP tracking. Hobnob includes tracking who has replied outright; on Doodle it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Email delivery. Hobnob includes sending by email outright; on Doodle it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- SMS or WhatsApp. Hobnob supports sending by text or WhatsApp. Doodle does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
- Open tracking. Hobnob supports seeing who opened the invitation; Doodle does not.
- Guest account required. Hobnob does not do this. Doodle does not publish whether it does, so it is worth checking before you send.
- Event website. Hobnob supports a full event website; Doodle does not.
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
When Hobnob is the better choice
Hosts who want text-message invites and fast mobile RSVPs for casual gatherings and can live with credit limits.
- Email invites cost no credits, so email-only sends are free at any guest count
- Sends real SMS invitations; guests reply by text with no app download
- Delivery and viewed-status tracking plus automated RSVP reminders on paid plans
- Paid plans include event ticketing and payment collection, polls and sign-up lists
- Annual pricing is low: $19.99 or $59.99 a year rather than per event
Where it costs you:
- Text invites are metered per recipient as credits, not unlimited
- Free members get only 10 text-invite credits per month
- Premium's 310 credits per year cap how many texts you can send annually
- Premium designs, reminders and ticketing require a paid membership
- Primarily a phone app; there is no full desktop invitation editor documented
What each one costs, in dollars
Hobnob 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.
| Doodle | Hobnob | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free tier, paid upgrades | Free tier, paid upgrades | Free |
| 100 guests | Free (ads shown) | Free by email; $59.99/year if sent by text | Free |
| 250 guests | Free (ads shown) | Free by email; $59.99/year if sent by text | Free |
| How that is worked out | 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. | Email invites consume no credits at any guest count; text invites consume one credit each, and Premium's 310 credits cover 250 texts. | Dawat has no per-guest or per-send charge, so the guest count does not change the price. |
As of September 2026: 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. Free members get 10 text-invite credits a month and unlimited email invites; Essentials is $19.99/year (70 credits) and Premium $59.99/year (310 credits).
The third option: something that feels like an invitation
Neither Doodle nor Hobnob 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.
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 | Doodle | Hobnob | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to send | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | No | Yes | No |
| Unlimited guests | Not published | Partial | Yes |
| RSVP tracking | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| Custom RSVP questions | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Email delivery | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| SMS or WhatsApp | Not published | Yes | Partial |
| Per-guest personal links | No | Not published | Yes |
| Open tracking | No | Yes | Yes |
| Animated envelope | No | Not published | Yes |
| Printed cards | No | Not published | No |
| Guest account required | Not published | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Yes | Not published | No |
| Event website | No | Yes | Partial |
| Registry links | No | Not published | Yes |
| Meal choice or seating | No | Not published | Partial |
| Calendar file | Partial | Not published | Yes |
| AI wording help | Partial | 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 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 | Doodle | Hobnob | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guests need an account | Not published | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Yes | Not published | No |
| Animated opening | No | Not published | Yes |
| Personally addressed link | No | Not published | Yes |
| Add to calendar | Partial | Not published | Yes |
| Right-to-left and multilingual | Not published | Not published | Yes |
Questions
Is Doodle or Hobnob cheaper?
Doodle costs nothing at either guest count (ads shown). Hobnob does not charge by guest count. 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, Doodle or Hobnob?
Doodle suits groups picking a date together — committees, teams, friend groups — where the question is when, not who is coming to a set event. Hobnob suits hosts who want text-message invites and fast mobile RSVPs for casual gatherings and can live with credit limits. 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 Doodle or Hobnob?
Doodle does not publish whether guests need an account. Hobnob 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 Doodle and Hobnob?
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.
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.
Is Hobnob free?
Partly. Hobnob's help centre states that email invites do not cost a credit to send and that sharing an event link on social media is free. Free members also receive 10 text-invite credits a month. Text invites beyond that, premium designs and RSVP reminders require a paid membership.
How current is this comparison?
Doodle's published pricing was checked on 2026-09-16 and Hobnob'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 Doodle
The full head-to-head, including where Doodle is genuinely better.
Dawat vs Hobnob
The full head-to-head, including where Hobnob is genuinely better.
Doodle alternatives
Eight products that do what Doodle does, ranked.
Hobnob alternatives
Eight products that do what Hobnob does, ranked.
More head-to-heads:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from Doodle and Hobnob'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. Doodle does not publish one.
Sources
- 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
- Hobnob memberships: Essentials vs Premium — checked 2026-09-16
- How can I send invites for free? (credit rules) — checked 2026-09-16
- Zazzle Events product page — checked 2026-09-16
- Hobnob homepage — checked 2026-09-16