Doodle vs Luma
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 Luma if community, meetup, and startup organizers who want a fast, free event page with invites and light ticketing.
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 Luma are built for different jobs, so the comparison is less about features and more about which job you are actually doing.
Doodle and Luma 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. Event pages and calendars with RSVP, invites, ticketing, and check-in, popular with tech meetups and community organizers. 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.
| Doodle | Luma | 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 events and guests, 500 invites or newsletters per week once verified, check-in, up to 3 admins. | Everything except Signature: all card designs, party pages, unlimited guests, sends, RSVP tracking and analytics. |
| Cost for 100 guests | Free (ads shown) | Free (RSVP event); $125 platform fee on 100 paid $25 tickets | Free |
| Cost for 250 guests | Free (ads shown) | Free (RSVP event); $312.50 platform fee on 250 paid $25 tickets | Free |
| Charges per recipient | No | No | No |
| Guests need an account | Not published | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Yes | No | 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 and no per-recipient charge, so those are not the thing to decide on.
- Unlimited guests. Luma supports an uncapped guest list. Doodle does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
- RSVP tracking. Luma includes tracking who has replied outright; on Doodle it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Custom RSVP questions. Luma supports asking your own questions. Doodle does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
- Email delivery. Luma includes sending by email outright; on Doodle it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- SMS or WhatsApp. Luma supports sending by text or WhatsApp. Doodle does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
- Guest account required. Luma does not do this. Doodle does not publish whether it does, so it is worth checking before you send.
- Ads shown to guests. Doodle does this; Luma does not. If an ad-free guest experience matters to you, that is a point for Luma.
- Event website. Luma 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 Luma is the better choice
Community, meetup, and startup organizers who want a fast, free event page with invites and light ticketing.
- Free plan covers unlimited events and unlimited guests per event
- Guests do not need a Luma account or sign-in to register
- Invites go out by email plus SMS, WhatsApp, and push
- CSV or paste-in guest import with automatic de-duplication
- Luma Plus removes the platform fee entirely on paid events
Where it costs you:
- Free plan takes a 5% platform fee on paid events
- Free plan capped at 500 invites or newsletters per week
- Private events are unlisted links, not a locked per-guest invitation
- Stripe processing fees apply on top of the platform fee
- Free plan limited to three calendar admins
What each one costs, in dollars
Neither Doodle nor Luma bills by guest count, which puts them among the 26 platforms in this dataset that do 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 | Luma | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free tier, paid upgrades | Free tier, paid upgrades | Free |
| 100 guests | Free (ads shown) | Free (RSVP event); $125 platform fee on 100 paid $25 tickets | Free |
| 250 guests | Free (ads shown) | Free (RSVP event); $312.50 platform fee on 250 paid $25 tickets | 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. | Free-plan 5% platform fee applied to $25 tickets; Stripe processing (about 2.9% + $0.30) is charged on top. | 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 forever plan with unlimited events and guests and a 5% platform fee on paid events; Luma Plus is $59/month billed annually and drops the platform fee to 0%.
The third option: something that feels like an invitation
Neither Doodle nor Luma 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 Doodle nor Luma 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 | Doodle | Luma | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to send | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | No | No | No |
| Unlimited guests | Not published | Yes | Yes |
| RSVP tracking | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| Custom RSVP questions | Not published | Yes | Yes |
| Email delivery | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| SMS or WhatsApp | Not published | Yes | Partial |
| Per-guest personal links | No | Not published | Yes |
| Open tracking | No | Not published | Yes |
| Animated envelope | No | No | Yes |
| Printed cards | No | No | No |
| Guest account required | Not published | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Yes | No | No |
| Event website | No | Yes | Partial |
| Registry links | No | Not published | Yes |
| Meal choice or seating | No | Not published | Partial |
| Calendar file | Partial | Yes | 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 | Luma | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guests need an account | Not published | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Yes | No | No |
| Animated opening | No | No | Yes |
| Personally addressed link | No | Not published | Yes |
| Add to calendar | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| Right-to-left and multilingual | Not published | Not published | Yes |
Questions
Is Doodle or Luma cheaper?
Doodle costs nothing at either guest count (ads shown). Luma works out to Free (RSVP event); $125 platform fee on 100 paid $25 tickets for 100 guests and Free (RSVP event); $312.50 platform fee on 250 paid $25 tickets for 250. Neither charges by guest count, so the difference does not grow with the list. Both were checked on 2026-09-16.
Which is better for a wedding, Doodle or Luma?
Doodle suits groups picking a date together — committees, teams, friend groups — where the question is when, not who is coming to a set event. Luma suits community, meetup, and startup organizers who want a fast, free event page with invites and light ticketing. 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 Luma?
Doodle does not publish whether guests need an account. Luma 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 Luma?
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 Luma free?
Yes. Luma publishes a 'Free, forever' plan with unlimited events and unlimited guests per event. Free events cost nothing. Paid events on the free plan carry a 5% platform fee, and Stripe processing fees apply separately.
How current is this comparison?
Doodle's published pricing was checked on 2026-09-16 and Luma'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 Luma
The full head-to-head, including where Luma is genuinely better.
Doodle alternatives
Eight products that do what Doodle does, ranked.
Luma alternatives
Eight products that do what Luma does, ranked.
More head-to-heads:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from Doodle and Luma'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
- Luma pricing — checked 2026-09-16
- Luma Plus overview — checked 2026-09-16
- Event registration process — checked 2026-09-16
- Setting your event visibility — checked 2026-09-16
- Inviting and adding guests to your event — checked 2026-09-16