Dawat vs Hobnob
Short answer: as of September 2026, Hobnob charges by the head — Free by email; $59.99/year if sent by text for 100 guests, Free by email; $59.99/year if sent by text for 250. Dawat charges nothing at any guest count. Hobnob is still the better pick if you need email invites cost no credits, so email-only sends are free at any guest count.
Dawat is free at every guest count: 53 card designs, unlimited guests, unlimited sends, RSVP tracking with your own questions, and a personally addressed link for each guest. The only paid item is a Dawat Signature cinematic experience at $89 once per event.
Mobile-first invitation app, now Zazzle Events, that sends photo or video invites by text or email and tracks RSVPs. This page compares it with Dawat on the three things that decide the choice between two invitation products: what it costs once the guest list is real, what your guests see when they tap the link, and what each product will not do.
Hobnob pricing checked 2026-09-16 against its own published pages. Sources · Method
On this page
Side by side
| Dawat | Hobnob | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free | Free tier, paid upgrades |
| What the free tier gives you | Everything except Signature: all card designs, party pages, unlimited guests, sends, RSVP tracking and analytics. | Unlimited email invites (no credit cost), free social/link sharing, and 10 text-invite credits per month. |
| Cost for 100 guests | Free | Free by email; $59.99/year if sent by text |
| Cost for 250 guests | Free | Free by email; $59.99/year if sent by text |
| Charges per recipient | No | Yes |
| Guests need an account | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | No | Not published |
Where Dawat is different
- What the guest list costs. On Hobnob, every additional guest has a price. On Dawat the hundredth guest costs what the first one did: nothing.
- Per-guest fees. Hobnob does this. Dawat never does.
- Unlimited guests. Dawat includes an uncapped guest list in the free product. On Hobnob it is limited or sits behind a paid tier.
- Custom RSVP questions. Dawat includes asking your own questions. Hobnob does not publish whether it supports this.
- Per-guest personal links. Dawat includes a personally addressed link per guest. Hobnob does not publish whether it supports this.
- Animated envelope. Dawat includes an animated envelope opening. Hobnob does not publish whether it supports this.
- Ads shown to guests. Dawat never does this. Hobnob does not publish whether it does.
- Registry links. Dawat includes linking a gift registry. Hobnob does not publish whether it supports this.
Create your invitation — free →No card required. Unlimited guests. 53 designs.
When Hobnob is the better choice
A comparison published by one of the two products is worth nothing unless it can say this part plainly, so here it is: 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 Dawat does not compete with it:
- Digital only: Dawat does not print or mail paper stationery
And where Hobnob will cost you something:
- 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 Hobnob costs, in dollars
As of September 2026: 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).
7 of the 33 invitation, stationery and event platforms tracked in this dataset charge per guest or per printed card. Hobnob is one of them.
| Dawat | Hobnob | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free | Free tier, paid upgrades |
| 100 guests | Free | Free by email; $59.99/year if sent by text |
| 250 guests | Free | Free by email; $59.99/year if sent by text |
| How that is worked out | Dawat has no per-guest or per-send charge, so the guest count does not change the price. | Email invites consume no credits at any guest count; text invites consume one credit each, and Premium's 310 credits cover 250 texts. |
Dawat is free to send. Hobnob can also be used without paying; the differences are in what each free tier includes, which the table below sets out.
The guest experience compared
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.
| Feature | Dawat | Hobnob |
|---|---|---|
| Guest account required | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | No | Not published |
| Animated envelope | Yes | Not published |
| Per-guest personal links | Yes | Not published |
| Open tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Calendar file | Yes | Not published |
| Multilingual & right-to-left | Yes | Not published |
On Dawat, the link is addressed to the person holding it. The envelope opens with their name on it, their RSVP is already prefilled, and answering is one tap. Hobnob does not publish whether it addresses each guest individually. It does report opens, so you will see engagement even if it is not attributed per person.
What happens as the list grows
At 20 guests, the difference between Hobnob and Dawat is a few dollars and a matter of taste. At 250 guests it is Free by email; $59.99/year if sent by text against nothing, and it stops being a matter of taste.
This lands hardest on exactly the people with the biggest lists: extended families, community organisations, mosques and nonprofits, and anyone whose wedding invitation list has three hundred names on it because that is simply how many people there are. Per-recipient pricing quietly asks those hosts to shorten the list.
| Guest list | Hobnob | Dawat |
|---|---|---|
| 50 guests | about $30 | Free |
| 100 guests | Free by email; $59.99/year if sent by text | Free |
| 250 guests | Free by email; $59.99/year if sent by text | Free |
Email invites consume no credits at any guest count; text invites consume one credit each, and Premium's 310 credits cover 250 texts.
Switching, or running both
Most people pick one. If you are mid-way through a guest list on Hobnob, the sensible split is to leave the people who have already replied where they are and send Dawat invitations to the ones who have not.
If you are moving across, the fastest route is Dawat's import: paste the link to your existing invitation and Dawat reads the wording, date, venue and colour mood off the page and rebuilds it as a prefilled draft you can edit. Guest lists come in from your phone's contacts, a .vcf file, or pasted text.
What does not come across: Hobnob's designs, and any replies already collected there. Export your RSVPs before you switch, and send the Dawat invitation only to the people who have not answered.
Feature by feature
| Feature | Dawat | Hobnob |
|---|---|---|
| Free to send | Yes | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | No | Yes |
| Unlimited guests | Yes | Partial |
| RSVP tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Custom RSVP questions | Yes | Not published |
| Email delivery | Yes | Yes |
| SMS or WhatsApp | Partial | Yes |
| Per-guest personal links | Yes | Not published |
| Open tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Animated envelope | Yes | Not published |
| Printed cards | No | Not published |
| Guest account required | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | No | Not published |
| Event website | Partial | Yes |
| Registry links | Yes | Not published |
| Meal choice or seating | Partial | Not published |
| Calendar file | Yes | Not published |
| AI wording help | Yes | Not published |
| Works inside ChatGPT / Claude | Yes | Not published |
| Multilingual & right-to-left | Yes | Not published |
"Not published" means no vendor documentation could be found either way, not that the feature is missing. How this grid is built →
Questions
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 much does Hobnob cost per year?
Hobnob publishes two memberships: Essentials at $19.99/year with 70 automated invite credits, and Premium at $59.99/year with 310 credits. Both include unlimited polls and lists, delivery and viewed-status tracking, RSVP reminders, all premium designs, and event ticketing and payment collection.
Do guests need the Hobnob app to RSVP?
No. Zazzle Events states there is no app download required for guests. Invites arrive by text or email and guests can reply to the text to RSVP.
Is Hobnob the same as Zazzle Events?
Yes. Hobnob is now part of the Zazzle family and the product is branded Zazzle Events, with the help centre titled 'Zazzle Events (Hobnob) Help'. The same app listing carries both names.
Is Dawat free?
Yes. All 53 card designs and every party-page theme, unlimited guests, unlimited sends, RSVP tracking, custom questions and the per-guest analytics cost nothing, and no card is required. The only paid item is a Dawat Signature cinematic experience at $89 once for that event, and it is labelled as paid before you publish.
Does Dawat have designs as good as Hobnob?
Dawat's 53 designs are animated card experiences with an envelope opening, plus 8 long-scroll Signature experiences. Whether that beats Hobnob depends on whether you want a designed occasion or a quick notice.
Can I send printed invitations from Dawat?
No. Dawat is digital only. Hobnob does not print either.
Create your invitation — free →Takes about ten minutes. Sign in only when you publish.
Other comparisons
Hobnob alternatives
Eight products that do what Hobnob does, ranked and priced.
Online invitation makers
Every product in Hobnob's category, side by side.
Hobnob against the rest:
Dawat against the rest:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from 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. Hobnob does not publish one.
Sources
- 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