Google Forms vs Hobnob
Short answer: price will not decide this one — both can be used without paying. Choose Google Forms if anyone who needs to collect answers at zero cost and does not care how the invitation looks. Choose Hobnob if hosts who want text-message invites and fast mobile RSVPs for casual gatherings and can live with credit limits.
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.
Google Forms and Hobnob are built for different jobs, so the comparison is less about features and more about which job you are actually doing.
Google Forms and Hobnob pricing checked 2026-09-16 against their own published pages. Sources · Method
On this page
Side by side
Free Google survey and form builder that collects responses into Sheets, available with any Google account and bundled in Google Workspace. Mobile-first invitation app, now Zazzle Events, that sends photo or video invites by text or email and tracks RSVPs. 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.
| Google Forms | Hobnob | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free | Free tier, paid upgrades | Free |
| What the free tier gives you | The whole product: unlimited forms, responses stored in Google Sheets, no ads, no branding fee. | Unlimited email invites (no credit cost), free social/link sharing, and 10 text-invite credits per month. | Everything except Signature: all card designs, party pages, unlimited guests, sends, RSVP tracking and analytics. |
| Cost for 100 guests | Free | Free by email; $59.99/year if sent by text | Free |
| Cost for 250 guests | Free | Free by email; $59.99/year if sent by text | Free |
| Charges per recipient | No | Yes | No |
| Guests need an account | Partial | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | No | 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, so those are not the thing to decide on.
- Per-guest fees. Hobnob does this; Google Forms does not. If no per-recipient charge matters to you, that is a point for Google Forms.
- RSVP tracking. Hobnob includes tracking who has replied outright; on Google Forms it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Custom RSVP questions. Google Forms supports asking your own questions. Hobnob does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
- Email delivery. Hobnob includes sending by email outright; on Google Forms it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- SMS or WhatsApp. Hobnob supports sending by text or WhatsApp; Google Forms does not.
- Open tracking. Hobnob supports seeing who opened the invitation; Google Forms does not.
- Guest account required. Google Forms does this in some cases; Hobnob does not. If letting guests reply without an account matters to you, that is a point for Hobnob.
- Ads shown to guests. Google Forms does not do this. Hobnob does not publish whether it does, so it is worth checking before you send.
When Google Forms is the better choice
Anyone who needs to collect answers at zero cost and does not care how the invitation looks.
- Completely free with no response charge, no ads and no upsell
- Unlimited custom questions with logic, sections and validation
- Responses flow straight into Google Sheets for sorting and analysis
- Familiar to almost every respondent; nothing to learn or install
Where it costs you:
- No invitation design, envelope animation or card rendering of any kind
- No guest list: it collects responses, not RSVP status per invited person
- Sign-in is forced for file upload questions, verified email collection, response editing or one-response limits
- No SMS or WhatsApp delivery and no per-guest personal links
- Bare, uniform form styling that does not read as a celebration invitation
When Hobnob is the better choice
Hosts who want text-message invites and fast mobile RSVPs for casual gatherings and can live with credit limits.
- Email invites cost no credits, so email-only sends are free at any guest count
- Sends real SMS invitations; guests reply by text with no app download
- Delivery and viewed-status tracking plus automated RSVP reminders on paid plans
- Paid plans include event ticketing and payment collection, polls and sign-up lists
- Annual pricing is low: $19.99 or $59.99 a year rather than per event
Where it costs you:
- Text invites are metered per recipient as credits, not unlimited
- Free members get only 10 text-invite credits per month
- Premium's 310 credits per year cap how many texts you can send annually
- Premium designs, reminders and ticketing require a paid membership
- Primarily a phone app; there is no full desktop invitation editor documented
What each one costs, in dollars
Hobnob is one of the 7 platforms in this dataset that charge per guest or per printed card. Google Forms is 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.
| Google Forms | Hobnob | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free | Free tier, paid upgrades | Free |
| 100 guests | Free | Free by email; $59.99/year if sent by text | Free |
| 250 guests | Free | Free by email; $59.99/year if sent by text | Free |
| How that is worked out | Forms is included at no cost with any Google account and Google publishes no per-response charge or response cap for it. | Email invites consume no credits at any guest count; text invites consume one credit each, and Premium's 310 credits cover 250 texts. | Dawat has no per-guest or per-send charge, so the guest count does not change the price. |
As of September 2026: Free with a personal Google account. Bundled in Google Workspace at $7 (Starter), $14 (Standard) and $22 (Plus) per user per month, with Enterprise quoted by sales. Free members get 10 text-invite credits a month and unlimited email invites; Essentials is $19.99/year (70 credits) and Premium $59.99/year (310 credits).
The third option: something that feels like an invitation
Neither Google Forms nor Hobnob 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 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 | Google Forms | Hobnob | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to send | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | No | Yes | No |
| Unlimited guests | Not published | Partial | Yes |
| RSVP tracking | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| Custom RSVP questions | Yes | Not published | Yes |
| Email delivery | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| SMS or WhatsApp | No | Yes | Partial |
| Per-guest personal links | No | Not published | Yes |
| Open tracking | No | Yes | Yes |
| Animated envelope | No | Not published | Yes |
| Printed cards | No | Not published | No |
| Guest account required | Partial | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | No | Not published | No |
| Event website | No | Yes | Partial |
| Registry links | No | Not published | Yes |
| Meal choice or seating | No | Not published | Partial |
| Calendar file | No | 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 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 | Google Forms | Hobnob | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guests need an account | Partial | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | No | Not published | No |
| Animated opening | No | Not published | Yes |
| Personally addressed link | No | Not published | Yes |
| Add to calendar | No | Not published | Yes |
| Right-to-left and multilingual | Not published | Not published | Yes |
Questions
Is Google Forms or Hobnob cheaper?
Google Forms is free to send. Hobnob does not charge by guest count. Because at least one of them bills per recipient, the gap widens as the guest list grows: what looks like a few dollars at 20 guests is a real decision at 250. Both were checked on 2026-09-16.
Which is better for a wedding, Google Forms or Hobnob?
Google Forms suits anyone who needs to collect answers at zero cost and does not care how the invitation looks. Hobnob suits hosts who want text-message invites and fast mobile RSVPs for casual gatherings and can live with credit limits. 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 Google Forms or Hobnob?
Google Forms requires an account from guests in some cases. Hobnob 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 Google Forms and Hobnob?
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 Google Forms free?
Yes. Google Forms is free with any personal Google account, with no charge per response and no ads shown to respondents. It is also included in every Google Workspace tier, from Business Starter at $7 per user per month to Plus at $22.
Is Hobnob free?
Partly. Hobnob's help centre states that email invites do not cost a credit to send and that sharing an event link on social media is free. Free members also receive 10 text-invite credits a month. Text invites beyond that, premium designs and RSVP reminders require a paid membership.
How current is this comparison?
Google Forms's published pricing was checked on 2026-09-16 and Hobnob'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 Google Forms
The full head-to-head, including where Google Forms is genuinely better.
Dawat vs Hobnob
The full head-to-head, including where Hobnob is genuinely better.
Google Forms alternatives
Eight products that do what Google Forms does, ranked.
Hobnob alternatives
Eight products that do what Hobnob does, ranked.
More head-to-heads:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from Google Forms and Hobnob'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. Google Forms does not publish one.
Sources
- Google Workspace pricing — checked 2026-09-16
- Google Docs Editors Help — publish and share your form — checked 2026-09-16
- Google Docs Editors Community — why respondents are forced to log in — checked 2026-09-16
- Hobnob memberships: Essentials vs Premium — checked 2026-09-16
- How can I send invites for free? (credit rules) — checked 2026-09-16
- Zazzle Events product page — checked 2026-09-16
- Hobnob homepage — checked 2026-09-16