Facebook Events vs Riley & Grey
Short answer: Facebook Events is the cheaper of the two. Facebook Events is free to send. 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.
Facebook Events and Riley & Grey are built for different jobs, so the comparison is less about features and more about which job you are actually doing.
Facebook Events and Riley & Grey pricing checked 2026-09-16 against their own published pages. Sources · Method
On this page
- Side by side
- Where they actually differ
- When Facebook Events is the better choice
- When Riley & Grey is the better choice
- What each one costs, in dollars
- The third option: something that feels like an invitation
- Feature by feature
- What your guests experience
- Questions
- Other comparisons
- How these figures were checked
Side by side
Free event feature inside Facebook for creating an event page, inviting friends and collecting Going, Maybe or Interested responses. 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.
| Facebook Events | Riley & Grey | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free | Subscription | Free |
| What the free tier gives you | Everything: unlimited events, event page, guest responses and discussion, up to 500 invites per person per event. | 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 | $299 (12-month membership) | Free |
| Cost for 250 guests | Free | $299 (12-month membership) | Free |
| Charges per recipient | No | No | No |
| Guests need an account | Partial | 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 and tracking who has replied, so those are not the thing to decide on.
- Free to send. Facebook Events supports sending invitations without paying; Riley & Grey does not.
- Email delivery. Riley & Grey includes sending by email outright; on Facebook Events it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Guest account required. Facebook Events does this in some cases; Riley & Grey does not. If letting guests reply without an account matters to you, that is a point for Riley & Grey.
- Event website. Riley & Grey includes a full event website outright; on Facebook Events it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Registry links. Riley & Grey includes linking a gift registry outright; on Facebook Events it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
When Facebook Events is the better choice
Casual, social gatherings where the whole guest list is already active on Facebook and cost matters most.
- Completely free with no per-guest or per-event charge
- Invitees already have the app, so distribution and notifications need no setup
- Built-in event page with discussion, photos, co-hosts and privacy controls
- Non-Facebook users can be invited by email or SMS on supported events
- Attendance responses, updates and reminders are handled automatically
Where it costs you:
- Each person can send only 500 invites per event
- Facebook may reduce invite capacity if invites get poor response rates
- Responses are limited to Going, Maybe, Interested or Can't Go; no custom RSVP questions
- Email and SMS invites to non-users are not available for all events
- Guests see the event inside an ad-supported social network you do not control
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 Facebook Events 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.
| Facebook Events | Riley & Grey | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free | Subscription | Free |
| 100 guests | Free | $299 (12-month membership) | Free |
| 250 guests | Free | $299 (12-month membership) | Free |
| How that is worked out | Facebook charges nothing for events; the constraint is the published 500-invite-per-person-per-event cap, not price. | 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: Creating a Facebook event and inviting guests costs nothing; there is no paid tier for the event feature itself. 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 Facebook Events 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 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 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 | Facebook Events | Riley & Grey | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to send | Yes | No | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | No | No | No |
| Unlimited guests | No | Not published | Yes |
| RSVP tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom RSVP questions | No | Not published | Yes |
| Email delivery | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| SMS or WhatsApp | Partial | Not published | Partial |
| Per-guest personal links | Partial | Partial | Yes |
| Open tracking | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Animated envelope | No | Not published | Yes |
| Printed cards | No | No | No |
| Guest account required | Partial | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Yes | Not published | No |
| Event website | Partial | Yes | Partial |
| Registry links | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| Meal choice or seating | No | Not published | Partial |
| Calendar file | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| AI wording help | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Works inside ChatGPT / Claude | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Multilingual & right-to-left | Partial | 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
Your guest sees the event if the platform decides to show it to them. That is the whole guest experience question here, and it is not one you control.
| What your guest gets | Facebook Events | Riley & Grey | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guests need an account | Partial | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Yes | Not published | No |
| Animated opening | No | Not published | Yes |
| Personally addressed link | Partial | Partial | Yes |
| Add to calendar | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Right-to-left and multilingual | Partial | Not published | Yes |
Questions
Is Facebook Events or Riley & Grey cheaper?
Facebook Events is free to send. 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, Facebook Events or Riley & Grey?
Facebook Events suits casual, social gatherings where the whole guest list is already active on Facebook and cost matters most. 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 Facebook Events or Riley & Grey?
Facebook Events requires an account from guests in some cases. 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 Facebook Events 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.
Are Facebook Events free?
Yes. Creating a Facebook event, inviting guests and collecting responses costs nothing, and there is no paid upgrade for the events feature. The practical limit is that each person can send up to 500 invites per event.
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?
Facebook Events'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 Facebook Events
The full head-to-head, including where Facebook Events is genuinely better.
Dawat vs Riley & Grey
The full head-to-head, including where Riley & Grey is genuinely better.
Facebook Events alternatives
Eight products that do what Facebook Events 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 Facebook Events 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. Facebook Events does not publish one.
Sources
- How many people you can invite to a Facebook event — checked 2026-09-16
- Invite people to your Facebook event — checked 2026-09-16
- How event invitations work for people who are off of Facebook — checked 2026-09-16
- Respond to a Facebook event — checked 2026-09-16
- Create and customize an event — 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