Doodle vs Riley & Grey
Short answer: Doodle is the cheaper of the two. Doodle costs nothing at either guest count (ads shown). Riley & Grey works out to $299 (12-month membership) at both 100 and 250 guests. Riley & Grey earns the difference if you need custom domain is included in the membership rather than an extra charge.
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 Riley & Grey are built for different jobs, so the comparison is less about features and more about which job you are actually doing.
Doodle and Riley & Grey 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. Premium subscription wedding website platform with designer templates, custom domain, digital invitations, RSVP modes and cash registry. 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 | Riley & Grey | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free tier, paid upgrades | Subscription | 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. | Build a site, pick a design, draft invitations and set up a registry; publishing requires a paid membership. | Everything except Signature: all card designs, party pages, unlimited guests, sends, RSVP tracking and analytics. |
| Cost for 100 guests | Free (ads shown) | $299 (12-month membership) | Free |
| Cost for 250 guests | Free (ads shown) | $299 (12-month membership) | Free |
| Charges per recipient | No | No | 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 no per-recipient charge, so those are not the thing to decide on.
- Free to send. Doodle supports sending invitations without paying; Riley & Grey does not.
- RSVP tracking. Riley & Grey includes tracking who has replied outright; on Doodle it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Email delivery. Riley & Grey includes sending by email outright; on Doodle it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Guest account required. Riley & Grey does not do this. Doodle does not publish whether it does, so it is worth checking before you send.
- Event website. Riley & Grey supports a full event website; Doodle does not.
- Registry links. Riley & Grey supports linking a gift registry; 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 Riley & Grey is the better choice
Design-led couples wanting a premium, ad-free site with an included custom domain and unlimited digital invitations.
- Custom domain is included in the membership rather than an extra charge
- Unlimited digital invitation sending with no per-recipient fee
- Free to build and preview; payment only required to publish
- Simple and Advanced RSVP modes, with guest email addresses optional
- Print-ready high-resolution invitation files can be exported for outside printing
Where it costs you:
- No free publishing tier; the site stays unpublished until you pay
- $39 per month or $299 per year is materially above free competitors
- Monetary gifts carry a 2.95% transaction fee, paid by giver or couple
- Post-wedding PDF archive of the site is a separate $39 purchase
- Does not print or mail physical stationery; you export files and print elsewhere
What each one costs, in dollars
Neither Doodle nor Riley & Grey 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 | Riley & Grey | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free tier, paid upgrades | Subscription | Free |
| 100 guests | Free (ads shown) | $299 (12-month membership) | Free |
| 250 guests | Free (ads shown) | $299 (12-month membership) | 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. | Membership price is flat and Riley & Grey states there is no cost to send as many invitations as you like. | 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 to design; publishing costs $39 per month or $299 for twelve months, including a custom domain and unlimited invitation sending. Optional $39 domain reserve and $39 post-wedding PDF archive.
The third option: something that feels like an invitation
Neither Doodle nor Riley & Grey 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 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 | Riley & Grey | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to send | Yes | No | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | No | No | No |
| Unlimited guests | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| RSVP tracking | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| Custom RSVP questions | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Email delivery | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| SMS or WhatsApp | Not published | Not published | Partial |
| Per-guest personal links | No | Partial | Yes |
| Open tracking | No | Not published | Yes |
| Animated envelope | No | Not published | Yes |
| Printed cards | No | No | No |
| Guest account required | Not published | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Yes | Not published | No |
| Event website | No | Yes | Partial |
| Registry links | No | Yes | 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 | Riley & Grey | 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 | Partial | Yes |
| Add to calendar | Partial | Not published | Yes |
| Right-to-left and multilingual | Not published | Not published | Yes |
Questions
Is Doodle or Riley & Grey cheaper?
Doodle costs nothing at either guest count (ads shown). Riley & Grey works out to $299 (12-month membership) at both 100 and 250 guests. 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 Riley & Grey?
Doodle suits groups picking a date together — committees, teams, friend groups — where the question is when, not who is coming to a set event. Riley & Grey suits design-led couples wanting a premium, ad-free site with an included custom domain and unlimited digital invitations. 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 Riley & Grey?
Doodle does not publish whether guests need an account. Riley & Grey 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 Riley & Grey?
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.
How much does Riley & Grey cost?
Signing up and building a site is free; publishing costs $39 per month or $299 for a twelve-month package, which Riley & Grey describes as 36% savings. A $39 reserve option holds your domain and design, and that $39 is credited toward your future publishing cost.
How current is this comparison?
Doodle's published pricing was checked on 2026-09-16 and Riley & Grey'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 Riley & Grey
The full head-to-head, including where Riley & Grey is genuinely better.
Doodle alternatives
Eight products that do what Doodle does, ranked.
Riley & Grey alternatives
Eight products that do what Riley & Grey does, ranked.
More head-to-heads:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from Doodle and Riley & Grey'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
- Riley & Grey pricing and plans — checked 2026-09-16
- Riley & Grey FAQ — checked 2026-09-16
- Riley & Grey homepage — checked 2026-09-16