Greetings Island vs Joy
Short answer: price will not decide this one — both can be used without paying. Choose Greetings Island if budget hosts who want a free, unlimited-guest RSVP page and are happy to print or share a template design themselves. Choose Joy if couples who want a free, well-designed website, app and RSVP system with unlimited guests and optional paid stationery.
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.
Greetings Island and Joy are built for different jobs, so the comparison is less about features and more about which job you are actually doing.
Greetings Island and Joy pricing checked 2026-09-16 against their own published pages. Sources · Method
On this page
Side by side
Template-driven invitation and greeting card maker with free downloads, a free RSVP tool, and a premium design subscription. Free wedding website, app, registry and RSVP platform with optional paid domains, SMS messaging and premium digital or printed cards. 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.
| Greetings Island | Joy | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free tier, paid upgrades | Free tier, paid upgrades | Free |
| What the free tier gives you | Most templates, editing, download, sharing and unlimited-guest online RSVP with no signup; free designs carry a watermark. | Website, planning dashboard, registry, mobile app, unlimited guests, online RSVP, and hundreds of free digital invite designs. | Everything except Signature: all card designs, party pages, unlimited guests, sends, RSVP tracking and analytics. |
| Cost for 100 guests | $0 free, or $26.99/year premium | Free | Free |
| Cost for 250 guests | $0 free, or $26.99/year premium | Free | Free |
| Charges per recipient | No | Partial | No |
| Guests need an account | No | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | 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, an uncapped guest list, tracking who has replied, letting guests reply without an account and linking a gift registry, so those are not the thing to decide on.
- Per-guest fees. Joy does this in some cases; Greetings Island does not. If no per-recipient charge matters to you, that is a point for Greetings Island.
- Custom RSVP questions. Greetings Island supports asking your own questions. Joy does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
- Email delivery. Joy includes sending by email outright; on Greetings Island it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Printed cards. Joy includes ordering printed stationery outright; on Greetings Island it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Event website. Joy includes a full event website outright; on Greetings Island it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
When Greetings Island is the better choice
Budget hosts who want a free, unlimited-guest RSVP page and are happy to print or share a template design themselves.
- Free online RSVP tool advertised with unlimited guests and no signup
- No per-guest or per-recipient charge at any tier
- Custom RSVP questions, deadlines, guest limits and automatic reminders
- Designs can be downloaded and printed, or shared by link or QR code
- Single premium design purchase ($8.99 invitation) avoids a subscription
Where it costs you:
- Free downloads carry a watermark; removing it requires premium
- Premium designs are gated behind a subscription or single purchase
- Unlimited email invites and scheduled sending are premium features
- RSVP by text message to a phone number is a premium feature
- A single premium design purchase does not include other premium features
When Joy is the better choice
Couples who want a free, well-designed website, app and RSVP system with unlimited guests and optional paid stationery.
- Genuinely free core: website, registry, RSVP, mobile app and unlimited guests
- Hundreds of free digital invitation and save the date designs sent by email
- Guests do not need an account; signup is offered only after RSVP
- Multi-language support including English, German, Spanish, French, Italian and Japanese
- Paper invitations from $1.39 each with free recipient and return address printing
Where it costs you:
- Premium digital cards carry a 50-card minimum order and are sold in fixed bundles
- SMS delivery of premium cards is a paid add-on, US and Canada numbers only
- Messaging Plus, which unlocks text blasts and RSVP reminders, is a separate purchase
- Prices for Messaging Plus and premium digital cards are not published on help pages
- Custom domain costs extra, quoted at roughly $19.99 per year
What each one costs, in dollars
Neither Greetings Island nor Joy 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.
| Greetings Island | Joy | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free tier, paid upgrades | Free tier, paid upgrades | Free |
| 100 guests | $0 free, or $26.99/year premium | Free | Free |
| 250 guests | $0 free, or $26.99/year premium | Free | Free |
| How that is worked out | Greetings Island charges by design and subscription, not by guest; its RSVP tool advertises unlimited guests, so headcount does not change the price. | Free basic digital cards and RSVP carry no per-guest fee; premium cards and SMS bundles are priced only at checkout. | Dawat has no per-guest or per-send charge, so the guest count does not change the price. |
As of September 2026: Most designs and the online RSVP tool are free; premium unlocks 10,000+ designs and removes watermarks for $26.99/year, or $8.99 for a single premium invitation and $4.49 for a single card. Joy states the core product is $0/month with unlimited guests; paid extras are a custom domain (about $19.99/year), Messaging Plus SMS, premium digital cards (50-card minimum) and paper from $1.39 each.
The third option: something that feels like an invitation
Neither Greetings Island nor Joy 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 | Greetings Island | Joy | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to send | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | No | Partial | No |
| Unlimited guests | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| RSVP tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom RSVP questions | Yes | Not published | Yes |
| Email delivery | Partial | Yes | Yes |
| SMS or WhatsApp | Partial | Partial | Partial |
| Per-guest personal links | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Open tracking | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Animated envelope | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Printed cards | Partial | Yes | No |
| Guest account required | No | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | Not published | No |
| Event website | Partial | Yes | Partial |
| Registry links | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Meal choice or seating | Partial | Not published | Partial |
| Calendar file | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| AI wording help | Partial | Not published | Yes |
| Works inside ChatGPT / Claude | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Multilingual & right-to-left | Not published | Partial | 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 | Greetings Island | Joy | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guests need an account | No | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | Not published | No |
| Animated opening | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Personally addressed link | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Add to calendar | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Right-to-left and multilingual | Not published | Partial | Yes |
Questions
Is Greetings Island or Joy cheaper?
Greetings Island works out to $0 free, or $26.99/year premium at both 100 and 250 guests. Joy 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, Greetings Island or Joy?
Greetings Island suits budget hosts who want a free, unlimited-guest RSVP page and are happy to print or share a template design themselves. Joy suits couples who want a free, well-designed website, app and RSVP system with unlimited guests and optional paid stationery. 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 Greetings Island or Joy?
Greetings Island does not require guests to have an account. Joy 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 Greetings Island and Joy?
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 Greetings Island free?
Largely yes. Greetings Island says most features are free with no sign-up required, and its online RSVP tool is free for every invitation with unlimited guests and no credit card. Free downloads carry a watermark, and premium designs require a purchase or subscription.
Is Joy (withjoy.com) really free?
Yes for the core product. Joy's pricing page states 'Joy is free to use. $0/mo', covering the planning dashboard, wedding website, registry, mobile app, unlimited guests, online RSVP and hundreds of free digital invites. Joy earns revenue from registry purchases and optional upgrades such as domains, SMS and premium stationery.
How current is this comparison?
Greetings Island's published pricing was checked on 2026-09-16 and Joy'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 Greetings Island
The full head-to-head, including where Greetings Island is genuinely better.
Dawat vs Joy
The full head-to-head, including where Joy is genuinely better.
Greetings Island alternatives
Eight products that do what Greetings Island does, ranked.
Joy alternatives
Eight products that do what Joy does, ranked.
More head-to-heads:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from Greetings Island and Joy'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. Greetings Island does not publish one.
Sources
- Greetings Island homepage — checked 2026-09-16
- Greetings Island online RSVP — checked 2026-09-16
- How much does a premium subscription cost? — checked 2026-09-16
- How much does a single design cost? — checked 2026-09-16
- About premium membership & benefits — checked 2026-09-16
- Joy pricing — checked 2026-09-16
- Joy FAQ — checked 2026-09-16
- Joy help: Designing and sending Premium Digital Cards — checked 2026-09-16
- Joy help: Send text messages with Messaging Plus — checked 2026-09-16
- Joy help: General FAQs, custom domains — checked 2026-09-16