Evite vs Punchbowl
Short answer: Evite is the cheaper of the two. Evite works out to $0 free with ads, or $99.99 Premium at both 100 and 250 guests. Punchbowl works out to $59.88/year (Premium, billed annually) for 100 guests and $71.88/year (Platinum, billed annually) for 250. Punchbowl earns the difference if you need unlimited events on every paid plan, with no per-recipient 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.
The decision between Evite and Punchbowl is mostly a pricing decision. They overlap heavily on what they do; they differ on what they charge you to do it.
Evite and Punchbowl pricing checked 2026-09-16 against their own published pages. Sources · Method
On this page
Side by side
Long-running digital invitation service offering free ad-supported invitations plus paid Premium packages priced by guest count. Subscription invitation and digital greeting card service with licensed character designs and per-event guest caps by plan. 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.
| Evite | Punchbowl | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free tier, paid upgrades | Subscription | Free |
| What the free tier gives you | Free designs, up to 750 guests, RSVP tracking, read receipts and shareable link, with third-party ads shown. | A 7-day free trial only; after the trial a paid membership is required to send. | Everything except Signature: all card designs, party pages, unlimited guests, sends, RSVP tracking and analytics. |
| Cost for 100 guests | $0 free with ads, or $99.99 Premium | $59.88/year (Premium, billed annually) | Free |
| Cost for 250 guests | $0 free with ads, or $99.99 Premium | $71.88/year (Platinum, billed annually) | Free |
| Charges per recipient | Partial | No | No |
| Guests need an account | No | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Partial | Partial | 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 tracking who has replied, sending by email, letting guests reply without an account, linking a gift registry and adding the event to a calendar, so those are not the thing to decide on.
- Free to send. Evite includes sending invitations without paying outright; on Punchbowl it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Per-guest fees. Evite does this in some cases; Punchbowl does not. If no per-recipient charge matters to you, that is a point for Punchbowl.
- Open tracking. Evite supports seeing who opened the invitation. Punchbowl does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
When Evite is the better choice
Hosts of large casual gatherings who want a free, high-capacity invitation and can tolerate advertising beside their event details.
- Free tier sends to up to 750 guests with no per-recipient charge
- Read receipts and shareable links are available on the free tier
- Delivery by email, text message or shareable link
- Gift registry and website links can be added to the invitation
- Evite Pro covers unlimited invitations up to 2,500 guests for $249.99/year
Where it costs you:
- Free invitations display third-party ads to guests
- Removing ads requires a paid Premium package
- Premium packages are single-event; each new event is charged again
- Animated effects, envelopes and exclusive designs are Premium-only
- No printed or hard-copy option; Evite is digital only
When Punchbowl is the better choice
Frequent hosts who want licensed character designs and unlimited events for a flat annual fee rather than per-event charges.
- Unlimited events on every paid plan, with no per-recipient charge
- Licensed designs including Disney and Dr. Seuss characters
- Delivery by both text message and email with RSVP tracking
- Potluck lists and gift registries can be added to any invitation
- 7-day free trial and a published 30-day money-back guarantee
Where it costs you:
- No permanent free tier; sending requires a paid membership after the trial
- Ads are shown unless you subscribe to the Platinum plan or above
- Each plan caps guests per event, from 50 on Plus to 5,000 on Business
- Co-hosts and guest polling require Premium or higher
- Custom event links require the Platinum plan
What each one costs, in dollars
Neither Evite nor Punchbowl 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.
| Evite | Punchbowl | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free tier, paid upgrades | Subscription | Free |
| 100 guests | $0 free with ads, or $99.99 Premium | $59.88/year (Premium, billed annually) | Free |
| 250 guests | $0 free with ads, or $99.99 Premium | $71.88/year (Platinum, billed annually) | Free |
| How that is worked out | Premium is banded by guest count; both 100 and 250 guests fall in the $99.99 Diamond band (up to 750 guests), charged per event. | Cheapest plan whose per-event guest cap covers the headcount, at Punchbowl's advertised annual rate ($4.99 and $5.99 per month) multiplied by twelve. | Dawat has no per-guest or per-send charge, so the guest count does not change the price. |
As of September 2026: Free invitations carry ads and support up to 750 guests; Premium packages are $17.99 (12 guests), $36.99 (30), $68.99 (75) and $99.99 (750) per event. Evite Pro is $249.99/year. Four plans billed monthly or annually: Plus from $2.99/mo (50 guests), Premium from $4.99/mo (100), Platinum from $5.99/mo (500), Business from $39.99/mo (5,000), all annual-billed rates after a 7-day free trial.
The third option: something that feels like an invitation
Neither Evite nor Punchbowl 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 tracks replies the same way both of these do, and costs nothing to do it. All 53 card designs, unlimited guests and unlimited sends are free, with no card required. What the other two do not do is address each guest personally: the envelope opens with that guest's name on it 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 | Evite | Punchbowl | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to send | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | Partial | No | No |
| Unlimited guests | Partial | Partial | Yes |
| RSVP tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom RSVP questions | Partial | Partial | Yes |
| Email delivery | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SMS or WhatsApp | Partial | Partial | Partial |
| Per-guest personal links | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Open tracking | Yes | Not published | Yes |
| Animated envelope | Partial | Not published | Yes |
| Printed cards | No | No | No |
| Guest account required | No | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Partial | Partial | No |
| Event website | Partial | Not published | Partial |
| Registry links | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Meal choice or seating | Partial | Partial | Partial |
| Calendar file | Yes | Yes | 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
Hosts compare dashboards. Guests get one link, once, usually on a phone, often while doing something else. Everything standing between that tap and an answer costs you replies.
| What your guest gets | Evite | Punchbowl | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guests need an account | No | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Partial | Partial | No |
| Animated opening | Partial | Not published | Yes |
| Personally addressed link | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Add to calendar | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Right-to-left and multilingual | Not published | Not published | Yes |
Questions
Is Evite or Punchbowl cheaper?
Evite works out to $0 free with ads, or $99.99 Premium at both 100 and 250 guests. Punchbowl works out to $59.88/year (Premium, billed annually) for 100 guests and $71.88/year (Platinum, billed annually) 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, Evite or Punchbowl?
Evite suits hosts of large casual gatherings who want a free, high-capacity invitation and can tolerate advertising beside their event details. Punchbowl suits frequent hosts who want licensed character designs and unlimited events for a flat annual fee rather than per-event charges. 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 Evite or Punchbowl?
Evite does not require guests to have an account. Punchbowl 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 Evite and Punchbowl?
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 Evite free?
Yes. Evite publishes free designs that cost nothing to send, and free invitations support up to 750 guests. The trade-off is that free invitations display third-party ads to your guests. Removing ads, or adding envelopes, stickers, backgrounds or animated effects, converts the invitation to a paid Premium send.
Is Punchbowl free?
Not permanently. Punchbowl's help centre says new customers can send invitations free during a trial period and cancel any time; after the 7-day trial a paid membership is required. Returning customers are offered a special membership rate when they sign in.
How current is this comparison?
Evite's published pricing was checked on 2026-09-16 and Punchbowl'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 Evite
The full head-to-head, including where Evite is genuinely better.
Dawat vs Punchbowl
The full head-to-head, including where Punchbowl is genuinely better.
Evite alternatives
Eight products that do what Evite does, ranked.
Punchbowl alternatives
Eight products that do what Punchbowl does, ranked.
More head-to-heads:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from Evite and Punchbowl'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. Evite does not publish one.
Sources
- Evite Premium Pricing — checked 2026-09-16
- Evite Premium vs. Free — checked 2026-09-16
- Evite Invitation Pricing — checked 2026-09-16
- Evite Guest List Limit — checked 2026-09-16
- Evite Pro — checked 2026-09-16
- Punchbowl upgrade and plans — checked 2026-09-16
- Is Punchbowl Free? — checked 2026-09-16
- Will My Guests Need to Create An Account to RSVP? — checked 2026-09-16
- Can I Add A Gift Registry to My Invitation? — checked 2026-09-16
- How Can I Add A Potluck List to My Invitation? — checked 2026-09-16