Evite vs Zola
Short answer: price will not decide this one — both can be used without paying. Choose Evite if hosts of large casual gatherings who want a free, high-capacity invitation and can tolerate advertising beside their event details. Choose Zola if uS couples who want a free website, registry and RSVP tracking in one place and will buy printed paper.
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.
Evite and Zola are built for different jobs, so the comparison is less about features and more about which job you are actually doing.
Evite and Zola 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. Wedding planning suite with free websites, RSVP and guest list tools, a universal registry, and paid printed stationery. Dawat is shown as a third column for the part these two share with it: getting the invitation to people and getting an answer back. It does not print, so on the physical card it is not a substitute.
| Evite | Zola | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free tier, paid upgrades | Free tier, paid upgrades | 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. | Wedding website, RSVP collection, guest list manager, registry, password protection, and digital save the dates. | 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 | Free | Free |
| Cost for 250 guests | $0 free with ads, or $99.99 Premium | Free | Free |
| Charges per recipient | Partial | No | No |
| Guests need an account | No | Not published | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Partial | 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, tracking who has replied and linking a gift registry, so those are not the thing to decide on.
- Per-guest fees. Evite does this in some cases; Zola does not. If no per-recipient charge matters to you, that is a point for Zola.
- Custom RSVP questions. Zola includes asking your own questions outright; on Evite it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Email delivery. Evite includes sending by email outright; on Zola it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Open tracking. Evite supports seeing who opened the invitation. Zola does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
- Printed cards. Zola supports ordering printed stationery; Evite does not.
- Guest account required. Evite does not do this. Zola does not publish whether it does, so it is worth checking before you send.
- Event website. Zola includes a full event website outright; on Evite it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Calendar file. Evite supports adding the event to a calendar. Zola 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 Zola is the better choice
US couples who want a free website, registry and RSVP tracking in one place and will buy printed paper.
- Website, RSVP tracking and guest list manager are free with no guest-count charge
- Custom RSVP questions including meal choice and song requests on the free tier
- Universal registry and cash funds integrate directly into the website
- Printed stationery from $0.99 per save the date with free envelope addressing
- Free digital save the dates shareable by email, text or DM
Where it costs you:
- Does not offer digital invitations; only digital save the dates
- Digital save the dates are shared as a link or image, not sent by Zola
- Custom domain is a paid add-on starting at $17.99
- Business model depends on registry and print revenue from your guests
- Published guest-count limits for the free website are not stated
What each one costs, in dollars
Neither Evite nor Zola 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 | Zola | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free tier, paid upgrades | Free tier, paid upgrades | Free |
| 100 guests | $0 free with ads, or $99.99 Premium | Free | Free |
| 250 guests | $0 free with ads, or $99.99 Premium | Free | 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. | Website, RSVP and digital save the dates are free at any guest count; only a custom URL or printed paper adds cost. | 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. Website, RSVP, guest list and registry are free; a custom URL starts at $17.99, printed save the dates from $0.99 each and invitations from $1.79 each.
The third option: something that feels like an invitation
Neither Evite nor Zola 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 | Zola | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to send | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | Partial | No | No |
| Unlimited guests | Partial | Not published | Yes |
| RSVP tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom RSVP questions | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| Email delivery | Yes | Partial | 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 | Yes | No |
| Guest account required | No | Not published | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Partial | Not published | No |
| Event website | Partial | Yes | Partial |
| Registry links | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Meal choice or seating | Partial | Partial | Partial |
| Calendar file | Yes | Not published | 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
A wedding guest is usually being asked to do three things at once: read the details, reply, and find the registry. How many taps that takes is the difference between a finished guest list and six weeks of chasing.
| What your guest gets | Evite | Zola | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guests need an account | No | Not published | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Partial | Not published | No |
| Animated opening | Partial | Not published | Yes |
| Personally addressed link | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Add to calendar | Yes | Not published | Yes |
| Right-to-left and multilingual | Not published | Not published | Yes |
Questions
Is Evite or Zola cheaper?
Evite works out to $0 free with ads, or $99.99 Premium at both 100 and 250 guests. Zola does not charge by guest count. 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 Zola?
Evite suits hosts of large casual gatherings who want a free, high-capacity invitation and can tolerate advertising beside their event details. Zola suits uS couples who want a free website, registry and RSVP tracking in one place and will buy printed paper. 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 Zola?
Evite does not require guests to have an account. Zola does not publish whether guests need 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 Zola?
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 Zola's wedding website free?
Yes. Zola states its wedding websites are free to create and publish, with no fee for RSVP collection, the guest list manager, registry or password protection. The only website-related upsell is a custom URL, which starts at $17.99. Zola earns revenue from registry purchases and printed stationery.
How current is this comparison?
Evite's published pricing was checked on 2026-09-16 and Zola'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 Zola
The full head-to-head, including where Zola is genuinely better.
Evite alternatives
Eight products that do what Evite does, ranked.
Zola alternatives
Eight products that do what Zola does, ranked.
More head-to-heads:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from Evite and Zola'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
- Zola wedding websites (pricing and custom URL) — checked 2026-09-16
- Zola wedding paper (per-card prices) — checked 2026-09-16
- Zola help: Does Zola offer digital invitations? — checked 2026-09-16
- Zola help: Can I send digital save the dates through Zola? — checked 2026-09-16
- Zola help: How do I edit or add questions to RSVPs? — checked 2026-09-16