Greetings Island vs Paperless Post
Short answer: Greetings Island is the cheaper of the two. Greetings Island works out to $0 free, or $26.99/year premium at both 100 and 250 guests. Paperless Post works out to $105 (Premium feature set) for 100 guests and $263 (Premium feature set) for 250. Paperless Post earns the difference if you need large free design library sendable to the first 50 recipients at no cost.
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.
The decision between Greetings Island and Paperless Post is mostly a pricing decision. They overlap heavily on what they do; they differ on what they charge you to do it.
Greetings Island and Paperless Post pricing checked 2026-09-16 against their own published pages. Sources · Method
On this page
- Side by side
- Where they actually differ
- When Greetings Island is the better choice
- When Paperless Post 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
Template-driven invitation and greeting card maker with free downloads, a free RSVP tool, and a premium design subscription. Design-led online invitation and card service that charges virtual Coins per recipient for premium designs and features. 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.
| Greetings Island | Paperless Post | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free tier, paid upgrades | Charged per recipient | 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. | Free-feature-set designs sent to your first 50 recipients, plus unlimited distribution by shareable link. | 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 | $105 (Premium feature set) | Free |
| Cost for 250 guests | $0 free, or $26.99/year premium | $263 (Premium feature set) | Free |
| Charges per recipient | No | Yes | No |
| Guests need an account | No | Not published | 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 tracking who has replied, asking your own questions and linking a gift registry, so those are not the thing to decide on.
- Free to send. Greetings Island includes sending invitations without paying outright; on Paperless Post it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Per-guest fees. Paperless Post does this; Greetings Island does not. If no per-recipient charge matters to you, that is a point for Greetings Island.
- Unlimited guests. Greetings Island includes an uncapped guest list outright; on Paperless Post it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Email delivery. Paperless Post includes sending by email outright; on Greetings Island it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Open tracking. Paperless Post supports seeing who opened the invitation. Greetings Island does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
- Guest account required. Greetings Island does not do this. Paperless Post does not publish whether it does, so it is worth checking before you send.
- Event website. Paperless Post includes a full event website outright; on Greetings Island it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Calendar file. Paperless Post supports adding the event to a calendar. Greetings Island does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
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 Paperless Post is the better choice
Hosts of formal or design-sensitive events with modest guest lists who will pay per recipient for a polished, ad-free invitation.
- Large free design library sendable to the first 50 recipients at no cost
- Unlimited free distribution of free-feature-set designs via shareable link
- Custom RSVP questions: open-ended, multiple-choice, checkbox and mailing-address formats
- Delivery and open-rate tracking plus RSVP tracking on the guest list
- 25% discount published for nonprofits, charities, schools and universities
Where it costs you:
- Charges Coins per recipient, so cost scales directly with guest count
- Envelopes, liners, backgrounds, stamps and logos convert a free design to a paid send
- The free allowance covers 50 recipients, not an unlimited guest list
- An account is required to create and send
- Paid designs start at 2 Coins per recipient before any premium features
What each one costs, in dollars
Paperless Post is one of the 7 platforms in this dataset that charge per guest or per printed card. Greetings Island 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.
| Greetings Island | Paperless Post | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free tier, paid upgrades | Charged per recipient | Free |
| 100 guests | $0 free, or $26.99/year premium | $105 (Premium feature set) | Free |
| 250 guests | $0 free, or $26.99/year premium | $263 (Premium feature set) | 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. | Guest count multiplied by the published $1.05 Premium per-guest rate; Paperless Post states the per-guest price falls at higher volumes, so treat these as upper bounds. | 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. Paperless Post publishes per-guest rates of $0.00 (Free), $0.50 (Basic), $1.05 (Premium) and $1.44 (All Access), charged in Coins. Paperless Pro subscriptions start at $250/year for 250 annual guests.
The third option: something that feels like an invitation
Neither Greetings Island nor Paperless Post 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 | Greetings Island | Paperless Post | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to send | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | No | Yes | No |
| Unlimited guests | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| RSVP tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom RSVP questions | Yes | Yes | 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 | Yes | Yes |
| Animated envelope | Not published | Partial | Yes |
| Printed cards | Partial | Partial | No |
| Guest account required | No | Not published | 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 | Partial | Partial |
| Calendar file | Not published | Yes | Yes |
| AI wording help | Partial | Partial | 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
Hosts compare dashboards. Guests get one link, once, usually on a phone, often while doing something else. Everything standing between that tap and an answer costs you replies.
| What your guest gets | Greetings Island | Paperless Post | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guests need an account | No | Not published | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | Not published | No |
| Animated opening | Not published | Partial | Yes |
| Personally addressed link | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Add to calendar | Not published | Yes | Yes |
| Right-to-left and multilingual | Not published | Not published | Yes |
Questions
Is Greetings Island or Paperless Post cheaper?
Greetings Island works out to $0 free, or $26.99/year premium at both 100 and 250 guests. Paperless Post works out to $105 (Premium feature set) for 100 guests and $263 (Premium feature set) 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, Greetings Island or Paperless Post?
Greetings Island suits budget hosts who want a free, unlimited-guest RSVP page and are happy to print or share a template design themselves. Paperless Post suits hosts of formal or design-sensitive events with modest guest lists who will pay per recipient for a polished, ad-free invitation. 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 Paperless Post?
Greetings Island does not require guests to have an account. Paperless Post 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 Greetings Island and Paperless Post?
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 Paperless Post free?
Partly. Designs on the Free feature set can be sent to your first 50 recipients at no charge, and can be distributed to unlimited people via a shareable link. Adding envelopes, liners, backgrounds, stamps or logos moves the design to a paid feature set. Paid card designs start at 2 Coins per recipient.
How current is this comparison?
Greetings Island's published pricing was checked on 2026-09-16 and Paperless Post'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 Paperless Post
The full head-to-head, including where Paperless Post is genuinely better.
Greetings Island alternatives
Eight products that do what Greetings Island does, ranked.
Paperless Post alternatives
Eight products that do what Paperless Post does, ranked.
More head-to-heads:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from Greetings Island and Paperless Post'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
- Paperless Post pricing — checked 2026-09-16
- Paperless Post features — checked 2026-09-16
- Is Paperless Post free? Can I send for free? — checked 2026-09-16
- Card and Flyer Pricing — checked 2026-09-16
- How to Add Questions for Guests and Recipients — checked 2026-09-16