Paperless Post vs Zazzle
Short answer: Paperless Post is the cheaper of the two. Paperless Post works out to $105 (Premium feature set) for 100 guests and $263 (Premium feature set) for 250. Zazzle works out to ~$179-$245 (100 cards at listed $1.79-$2.45 each, before volume discount) for 100 guests and ~$448-$613 (250 cards at listed $1.79-$2.45 each, before volume discount) for 250. Zazzle earns the difference if you need no minimum order quantity; you can buy a single card or hundreds.
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.
Zazzle and Paperless Post 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.
Paperless Post and Zazzle pricing checked 2026-09-16 against their own published pages. Sources · Method
On this page
Side by side
Design-led online invitation and card service that charges virtual Coins per recipient for premium designs and features. Print-on-demand marketplace selling customisable invitations with no minimum order, plus a separate free digital invitation app, Zazzle Events. 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.
| Paperless Post | Zazzle | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Charged per recipient | Priced per printed card | Free |
| What the free tier gives you | Free-feature-set designs sent to your first 50 recipients, plus unlimited distribution by shareable link. | Zazzle Events sends digital invites by text or email with RSVP tracking and a free event site; free design tool and templates. | Everything except Signature: all card designs, party pages, unlimited guests, sends, RSVP tracking and analytics. |
| Cost for 100 guests | $105 (Premium feature set) | ~$179-$245 (100 cards at listed $1.79-$2.45 each, before volume discount) | Free |
| Cost for 250 guests | $263 (Premium feature set) | ~$448-$613 (250 cards at listed $1.79-$2.45 each, before volume discount) | Free |
| Charges per recipient | Yes | Yes | No |
| Guests need an account | Not published | 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 by email, a full event website and linking a gift registry, so those are not the thing to decide on.
- RSVP tracking. Paperless Post includes tracking who has replied outright; on Zazzle it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Custom RSVP questions. Paperless Post supports asking your own questions. Zazzle does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
- Open tracking. Paperless Post includes seeing who opened the invitation outright; on Zazzle it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Printed cards. Zazzle includes ordering printed stationery outright; on Paperless Post it is limited or tied to a paid tier.
- Guest account required. Zazzle does not do this. Paperless Post does not publish whether it does, so it is worth checking before you send.
- Calendar file. Paperless Post supports adding the event to a calendar. Zazzle does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
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
When Zazzle is the better choice
Hosts who want an enormous design catalogue, no order minimum, and the option of a free digital invite alongside print.
- No minimum order quantity; you can buy a single card or hundreds
- Published quantity discount on invitation orders over 50 cards
- Very large marketplace catalogue plus a free browser design tool
- Zazzle Events offers free digital invites by text or email with RSVP tracking
- Specialty formats available including foil, letterpress and acrylic invitations
Where it costs you:
- Priced per printed card, so cost scales directly with guest count
- Postage is not included and is paid separately
- Envelopes are not automatically included and are added separately
- Listed prices are frequently promotional sale prices, so base rates differ
- Digital RSVP lives in a separate product, not in the printed-card checkout
What each one costs, in dollars
7 of the 33 platforms tracked in this dataset charge per guest or per printed card. Paperless Post and Zazzle are both among them.
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.
| Paperless Post | Zazzle | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Charged per recipient | Priced per printed card | Free |
| 100 guests | $105 (Premium feature set) | ~$179-$245 (100 cards at listed $1.79-$2.45 each, before volume discount) | Free |
| 250 guests | $263 (Premium feature set) | ~$448-$613 (250 cards at listed $1.79-$2.45 each, before volume discount) | Free |
| How that is worked out | 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. | Based on listed per-card sale prices in Zazzle's wedding invitations category; volume discounts reduce this and 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: 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. Wedding invitations list at roughly $1.79 to $2.45 per card at current sale prices, with a quantity discount on invitation orders over 50 and no minimum order.
The third option: neither of them is free at 250 guests
Both Paperless Post and Zazzle price by the head, which means the number that decides your bill is the one thing you cannot control: how many people you love. Paperless Post works out to $105 (Premium feature set) for 100 guests and $263 (Premium feature set) for 250. Zazzle works out to ~$179-$245 (100 cards at listed $1.79-$2.45 each, before volume discount) for 100 guests and ~$448-$613 (250 cards at listed $1.79-$2.45 each, before volume discount) for 250.
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 | Paperless Post | Zazzle | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to send | Partial | Partial | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | Yes | Yes | No |
| Unlimited guests | Partial | Partial | Yes |
| RSVP tracking | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Custom RSVP questions | Yes | Not published | Yes |
| Email delivery | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SMS or WhatsApp | Partial | Partial | Partial |
| Per-guest personal links | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Open tracking | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Animated envelope | Partial | No | Yes |
| Printed cards | Partial | Yes | No |
| Guest account required | Not published | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | Not published | No |
| Event website | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Registry links | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Meal choice or seating | Partial | Not published | Partial |
| Calendar file | Yes | 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 | 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 | Paperless Post | Zazzle | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guests need an account | Not published | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | Not published | No |
| Animated opening | Partial | No | Yes |
| Personally addressed link | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Add to calendar | Yes | Not published | Yes |
| Right-to-left and multilingual | Not published | Not published | Yes |
Questions
Is Paperless Post or Zazzle cheaper?
Paperless Post works out to $105 (Premium feature set) for 100 guests and $263 (Premium feature set) for 250. Zazzle works out to ~$179-$245 (100 cards at listed $1.79-$2.45 each, before volume discount) for 100 guests and ~$448-$613 (250 cards at listed $1.79-$2.45 each, before volume discount) 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, Paperless Post or Zazzle?
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. Zazzle suits hosts who want an enormous design catalogue, no order minimum, and the option of a free digital invite alongside print. 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 Paperless Post or Zazzle?
Paperless Post does not publish whether guests need an account. Zazzle 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 Paperless Post and Zazzle?
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 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 much are Zazzle invitations for 100?
Zazzle's wedding invitation listings show sale prices of roughly $1.79 to $2.45 per card, so 100 cards is about $179 to $245 at listed prices. Zazzle also applies a quantity discount on invitation orders over 50, which lowers that total. Envelopes and postage are extra.
How current is this comparison?
Paperless Post's published pricing was checked on 2026-09-16 and Zazzle'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 Paperless Post
The full head-to-head, including where Paperless Post is genuinely better.
Dawat vs Zazzle
The full head-to-head, including where Zazzle is genuinely better.
Paperless Post alternatives
Eight products that do what Paperless Post does, ranked.
Zazzle alternatives
Eight products that do what Zazzle does, ranked.
More head-to-heads:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from Paperless Post and Zazzle'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. Paperless Post does not publish one.
Sources
- 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
- Zazzle invitations category — checked 2026-09-16
- Zazzle wedding invitations — checked 2026-09-16
- Zazzle Events: digital invitations and event planning app — checked 2026-09-16
- Zazzle invitation postcards (no minimum quantity) — checked 2026-09-16