Luma vs Vistaprint
Short answer: Luma is the cheaper of the two. Luma works out to Free (RSVP event); $125 platform fee on 100 paid $25 tickets for 100 guests and Free (RSVP event); $312.50 platform fee on 250 paid $25 tickets for 250. Vistaprint works out to ~$84-$140 (100 cards at the $0.84 promotional to $1.40 list per-card price) for 100 guests and ~$210-$350 (250 cards at the same published per-card range) for 250. Vistaprint earns the difference if you need lowest advertised per-card pricing of the print vendors reviewed here.
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.
Vistaprint and Luma 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.
Luma and Vistaprint pricing checked 2026-09-16 against their own published pages. Sources · Method
On this page
Side by side
Event pages and calendars with RSVP, invites, ticketing, and check-in, popular with tech meetups and community organizers. Mass-market online printer whose stationery range includes low-cost printed invitations with envelopes and free envelope addressing. Dawat is shown as a third column for the guest-list half of the job. It does not sell tickets or take payment from guests, so for a paid public event it is not a substitute.
| Luma | Vistaprint | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free tier, paid upgrades | Priced per printed card | Free |
| What the free tier gives you | Unlimited events and guests, 500 invites or newsletters per week once verified, check-in, up to 3 admins. | None for sending. Envelopes, backside printing and envelope address printing are included on paid orders. | Everything except Signature: all card designs, party pages, unlimited guests, sends, RSVP tracking and analytics. |
| Cost for 100 guests | Free (RSVP event); $125 platform fee on 100 paid $25 tickets | ~$84-$140 (100 cards at the $0.84 promotional to $1.40 list per-card price) | Free |
| Cost for 250 guests | Free (RSVP event); $312.50 platform fee on 250 paid $25 tickets | ~$210-$350 (250 cards at the same published per-card range) | Free |
| Charges per recipient | No | 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.
- Free to send. Luma supports sending invitations without paying; Vistaprint does not.
- Per-guest fees. Vistaprint does this; Luma does not. If no per-recipient charge matters to you, that is a point for Luma.
- Unlimited guests. Luma includes an uncapped guest list outright; on Vistaprint it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- RSVP tracking. Luma supports tracking who has replied; Vistaprint does not.
- Custom RSVP questions. Luma supports asking your own questions; Vistaprint does not.
- Email delivery. Luma supports sending by email; Vistaprint does not.
- SMS or WhatsApp. Luma supports sending by text or WhatsApp; Vistaprint does not.
- Printed cards. Vistaprint supports ordering printed stationery; Luma does not.
When Luma is the better choice
Community, meetup, and startup organizers who want a fast, free event page with invites and light ticketing.
- Free plan covers unlimited events and unlimited guests per event
- Guests do not need a Luma account or sign-in to register
- Invites go out by email plus SMS, WhatsApp, and push
- CSV or paste-in guest import with automatic de-duplication
- Luma Plus removes the platform fee entirely on paid events
Where it costs you:
- Free plan takes a 5% platform fee on paid events
- Free plan capped at 500 invites or newsletters per week
- Private events are unlisted links, not a locked per-guest invitation
- Stripe processing fees apply on top of the platform fee
- Free plan limited to three calendar admins
When Vistaprint is the better choice
Budget-driven hosts who want serviceable printed invitations with envelopes and addressing at the lowest per-card cost.
- Lowest advertised per-card pricing of the print vendors reviewed here
- Envelopes and backside printing always included in the price
- Free addressing service prints recipient addresses onto envelopes
- Vistaprint publishes its own cost guide with concrete total ranges
- Broad print catalogue lets you match signage and day-of stationery
Where it costs you:
- Priced per printed card, so cost scales directly with guest count
- Postage is not included and is paid separately
- No digital invitation or online RSVP product documented
- Advertised $0.84 rate is promotional against a $1.40 list price
- Upgrades add cost: foil roughly $0.50 per card, shaped trim about $8 per 100
What each one costs, in dollars
Vistaprint is one of the 7 platforms in this dataset that charge per guest or per printed card. Luma 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.
| Luma | Vistaprint | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free tier, paid upgrades | Priced per printed card | Free |
| 100 guests | Free (RSVP event); $125 platform fee on 100 paid $25 tickets | ~$84-$140 (100 cards at the $0.84 promotional to $1.40 list per-card price) | Free |
| 250 guests | Free (RSVP event); $312.50 platform fee on 250 paid $25 tickets | ~$210-$350 (250 cards at the same published per-card range) | Free |
| How that is worked out | Free-plan 5% platform fee applied to $25 tickets; Stripe processing (about 2.9% + $0.30) is charged on top. | Based on Vistaprint's published wedding-invitation per-card price; envelopes are included but postage is extra. | Dawat has no per-guest or per-send charge, so the guest count does not change the price. |
As of September 2026: Free forever plan with unlimited events and guests and a 5% platform fee on paid events; Luma Plus is $59/month billed annually and drops the platform fee to 0%. Wedding invitations advertised from $0.84 each on promotion, list $1.40 each; Vistaprint's own guide puts 100-150 guest invitations at $82 to $210 total.
The third option: something that feels like an invitation
Neither Luma nor Vistaprint 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. It also covers an animated envelope opening — which neither Luma nor Vistaprint does.
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 | Luma | Vistaprint | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to send | Yes | No | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | No | Yes | No |
| Unlimited guests | Yes | 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 | Not published | No | Yes |
| Open tracking | Not published | No | Yes |
| Animated envelope | No | No | Yes |
| Printed cards | No | Yes | No |
| Guest account required | No | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | No | Not published | No |
| Event website | Yes | No | Partial |
| Registry links | Not published | No | Yes |
| Meal choice or seating | Not published | No | Partial |
| Calendar file | Yes | No | 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
Ticketing platforms are built around a stranger buying entry. A guest you already know is a different person with a different tolerance, and an account-creation screen is where that difference shows up.
| What your guest gets | Luma | Vistaprint | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guests need an account | No | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | No | Not published | No |
| Animated opening | No | No | Yes |
| Personally addressed link | Not published | No | Yes |
| Add to calendar | Yes | No | Yes |
| Right-to-left and multilingual | Not published | Not published | Yes |
Questions
Is Luma or Vistaprint cheaper?
Luma works out to Free (RSVP event); $125 platform fee on 100 paid $25 tickets for 100 guests and Free (RSVP event); $312.50 platform fee on 250 paid $25 tickets for 250. Vistaprint works out to ~$84-$140 (100 cards at the $0.84 promotional to $1.40 list per-card price) for 100 guests and ~$210-$350 (250 cards at the same published per-card range) 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, Luma or Vistaprint?
Luma suits community, meetup, and startup organizers who want a fast, free event page with invites and light ticketing. Vistaprint suits budget-driven hosts who want serviceable printed invitations with envelopes and addressing at the lowest per-card cost. 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 Luma or Vistaprint?
Luma does not require guests to have an account. Vistaprint 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 Luma and Vistaprint?
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 Luma free?
Yes. Luma publishes a 'Free, forever' plan with unlimited events and unlimited guests per event. Free events cost nothing. Paid events on the free plan carry a 5% platform fee, and Stripe processing fees apply separately.
How much are Vistaprint wedding invitations for 100 guests?
Vistaprint's own cost guide puts invitations for a 100 to 150 guest list at between $82 and $210 in total. Its store advertises wedding invitations from $0.84 each on promotion against a $1.40 list price, so 100 cards is roughly $84 to $140 before postage.
How current is this comparison?
Luma's published pricing was checked on 2026-09-16 and Vistaprint'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 Luma
The full head-to-head, including where Luma is genuinely better.
Dawat vs Vistaprint
The full head-to-head, including where Vistaprint is genuinely better.
Luma alternatives
Eight products that do what Luma does, ranked.
Vistaprint alternatives
Eight products that do what Vistaprint does, ranked.
More head-to-heads:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from Luma and Vistaprint'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. Luma does not publish one.
Sources
- Luma pricing — checked 2026-09-16
- Luma Plus overview — checked 2026-09-16
- Event registration process — checked 2026-09-16
- Setting your event visibility — checked 2026-09-16
- Inviting and adding guests to your event — checked 2026-09-16
- Vistaprint: How much do wedding invitations cost — checked 2026-09-16
- Vistaprint custom wedding invitations — checked 2026-09-16
- Vistaprint invitations and cards — checked 2026-09-16