Greenvelope vs Shutterfly
Short answer: Greenvelope is the cheaper of the two. Greenvelope works out to $99 (single mailing, up to 100 guests) for 100 guests and $249 (single mailing, up to 250 guests) for 250. Shutterfly works out to $135 (100 wedding invitations at the $1.35 starting per-card price) for 100 guests and ~$338 (250 wedding invitations at the $1.35 starting per-card price) for 250. Shutterfly earns the difference if you need free recipient address printing and a saved online address book.
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.
Shutterfly and Greenvelope are not really competitors: one puts a card in someone's hand, the other puts a link in their phone. The question is which medium your event needs, and whether you need a live guest list.
Greenvelope and Shutterfly pricing checked 2026-09-16 against their own published pages. Sources · Method
On this page
Side by side
Digital-only invitation service with animated envelope opening, email and text delivery, and RSVP tracking, priced per mailing. Consumer photo-printing company whose stationery arm prints personalised invitations, with free address printing and a mail-for-me service. 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.
| Greenvelope | Shutterfly | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | One-time fee per event | Priced per printed card | Free |
| What the free tier gives you | Trial mode: design, preview the full guest experience, and send a real mailing to up to 10 recipients. No credit card. | None for sending. Free extras on paid orders: address printing, an online address book, and design tools. | Everything except Signature: all card designs, party pages, unlimited guests, sends, RSVP tracking and analytics. |
| Cost for 100 guests | $99 (single mailing, up to 100 guests) | $135 (100 wedding invitations at the $1.35 starting per-card price) | Free |
| Cost for 250 guests | $249 (single mailing, up to 250 guests) | ~$338 (250 wedding invitations at the $1.35 starting per-card price) | Free |
| Charges per recipient | Partial | Yes | No |
| Guests need an account | No | 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 letting guests reply without an account, so those are not the thing to decide on.
- RSVP tracking. Greenvelope supports tracking who has replied; Shutterfly does not.
- Custom RSVP questions. Greenvelope supports asking your own questions; Shutterfly does not.
- Email delivery. Greenvelope supports sending by email; Shutterfly does not.
- SMS or WhatsApp. Greenvelope supports sending by text or WhatsApp; Shutterfly does not.
- Per-guest personal links. Greenvelope supports a personally addressed link per guest; Shutterfly does not.
- Open tracking. Greenvelope supports seeing who opened the invitation; Shutterfly does not.
- Animated envelope. Greenvelope supports an animated envelope opening; Shutterfly does not.
- Printed cards. Shutterfly supports ordering printed stationery; Greenvelope does not.
When Greenvelope is the better choice
Hosts of a single sizeable event who want polished digital invitations and detailed RSVP data for one predictable flat fee.
- Flat per-mailing price, not per-recipient credits, so cost is known up front
- Custom RSVP questions, meal preferences and dietary notes included at every paid tier
- Email, SMS and WhatsApp delivery, with open and delivery tracking
- Ad-free for hosts and guests; guests never create an account to reply
- Signature animated envelope opening with personalized liner
Where it costs you:
- Price is tiered by guest count, so larger lists cost more per mailing
- Digital only; Greenvelope does not print or mail paper invitations
- Paid accounts include up to 500 text messages; more cost extra
- Free trial caps a real send at 10 recipients
- No standalone event website builder, only a details panel on the invitation
When Shutterfly is the better choice
Hosts who want photo-led printed invitations and value having Shutterfly address, stamp and mail the whole batch.
- Free recipient address printing and a saved online address book
- Mail For Me service stamps, seals and mails invitations directly to guests
- Wide format range including flat, gate fold, tri-fold, foil and glitter
- Hundreds of wedding designs with custom colour palettes on selected styles
- Strong photo personalisation, reflecting the core photo-printing product
Where it costs you:
- Priced per printed card, so cost scales directly with guest count
- Postage is not included even when using the mail-for-me service
- No native digital invitation or online RSVP product documented
- RSVP is handled by printed reply cards, sold as a separate enclosure
- Upgrades such as foil push per-card prices toward the $6.51 upper end
What each one costs, in dollars
Shutterfly is one of the 7 platforms in this dataset that charge per guest or per printed card. Greenvelope 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.
| Greenvelope | Shutterfly | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | One-time fee per event | Priced per printed card | Free |
| 100 guests | $99 (single mailing, up to 100 guests) | $135 (100 wedding invitations at the $1.35 starting per-card price) | Free |
| 250 guests | $249 (single mailing, up to 250 guests) | ~$338 (250 wedding invitations at the $1.35 starting per-card price) | Free |
| How that is worked out | Greenvelope's own published single-mailing tiers; delivery is digital so there is no printing or postage cost. | Based on Shutterfly's published starting per-card price for its wedding invitation line; upgrades and postage are extra. | Dawat has no per-guest or per-send charge, so the guest count does not change the price. |
As of September 2026: Flat one-time fee per mailing set by guest-list size: $19 up to 20 guests, $59 up to 60, $99 up to 100, $249 up to 250. Annual memberships from $125. Printed wedding invitations start at $1.35 per card and run to about $6.51 per card depending on format, paper and finishes such as foil.
The third option: the same job, at no cost
Greenvelope and Shutterfly both want money before your guests see anything. Greenvelope works out to $99 (single mailing, up to 100 guests) for 100 guests and $249 (single mailing, up to 250 guests) for 250. Shutterfly works out to $135 (100 wedding invitations at the $1.35 starting per-card price) for 100 guests and ~$338 (250 wedding invitations at the $1.35 starting per-card price) for 250. It is worth knowing that the whole job — design, sending, replies, reminders — is available for nothing.
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 | Greenvelope | Shutterfly | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to send | Partial | No | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | Partial | Yes | No |
| Unlimited guests | No | Partial | Yes |
| RSVP tracking | Yes | No | Yes |
| Custom RSVP questions | Yes | No | Yes |
| Email delivery | Yes | No | Yes |
| SMS or WhatsApp | Yes | No | Partial |
| Per-guest personal links | Yes | No | Yes |
| Open tracking | Yes | No | Yes |
| Animated envelope | Yes | No | Yes |
| Printed cards | No | Yes | No |
| Guest account required | No | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | No | Not published | No |
| Event website | Partial | Not published | Partial |
| Registry links | Yes | Not published | Yes |
| Meal choice or seating | Partial | No | Partial |
| Calendar file | Not published | No | 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
A printed card is a wonderful thing to receive and a terrible thing to reply to. Whatever the envelope looks like, the reply has to happen somewhere, and that somewhere is what this section is about.
| What your guest gets | Greenvelope | Shutterfly | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guests need an account | No | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | No | Not published | No |
| Animated opening | Yes | No | Yes |
| Personally addressed link | Yes | No | Yes |
| Add to calendar | Not published | No | Yes |
| Right-to-left and multilingual | Partial | Not published | Yes |
Questions
Is Greenvelope or Shutterfly cheaper?
Greenvelope works out to $99 (single mailing, up to 100 guests) for 100 guests and $249 (single mailing, up to 250 guests) for 250. Shutterfly works out to $135 (100 wedding invitations at the $1.35 starting per-card price) for 100 guests and ~$338 (250 wedding invitations at the $1.35 starting per-card price) for 250. 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, Greenvelope or Shutterfly?
Greenvelope suits hosts of a single sizeable event who want polished digital invitations and detailed RSVP data for one predictable flat fee. Shutterfly suits hosts who want photo-led printed invitations and value having Shutterfly address, stamp and mail the whole batch. 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 Greenvelope or Shutterfly?
Greenvelope does not require guests to have an account. Shutterfly 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 Greenvelope and Shutterfly?
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 Greenvelope free?
There is a free trial rather than a free plan. You can create an account, design an invitation, preview the complete guest experience and send a real mailing to up to 10 people with no credit card. Beyond 10 recipients you pay a one-time mailing fee starting at $19.
How much are Shutterfly wedding invitations?
Shutterfly lists wedding invitations starting at $1.35 per card, with prices running up to about $6.51 per card for larger formats and finishes such as foil. At the starting rate that is roughly $135 for 100 cards and $338 for 250, before postage.
How current is this comparison?
Greenvelope's published pricing was checked on 2026-09-16 and Shutterfly'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 Greenvelope
The full head-to-head, including where Greenvelope is genuinely better.
Dawat vs Shutterfly
The full head-to-head, including where Shutterfly is genuinely better.
Greenvelope alternatives
Eight products that do what Greenvelope does, ranked.
Shutterfly alternatives
Eight products that do what Shutterfly does, ranked.
More head-to-heads:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from Greenvelope and Shutterfly's own published pricing or help pages on 16 September 2026, and each source is linked below. Where a vendor publishes a rate at one quantity and not another, the published rate is multiplied out and marked as an upper bound rather than presented as a quote. 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. Greenvelope does not publish one.
Sources
- Greenvelope pricing — checked 2026-09-16
- Greenvelope: How much does Greenvelope cost — checked 2026-09-16
- Greenvelope homepage (features) — checked 2026-09-16
- Greenvelope vs Paperless Post (vendor comparison) — checked 2026-09-16
- Shutterfly wedding invitations — checked 2026-09-16
- Shutterfly party RSVP cards — checked 2026-09-16
- Shutterfly wedding RSVP cards — checked 2026-09-16
- Shutterfly wedding cards and stationery — checked 2026-09-16