Partiful vs Riley & Grey
Short answer: Partiful is the cheaper of the two. Partiful is free to send. Riley & Grey works out to $299 (12-month membership) at both 100 and 250 guests. Riley & Grey earns the difference if you need custom domain is included in the membership rather than an extra charge.
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.
Partiful and Riley & Grey are built for different jobs, so the comparison is less about features and more about which job you are actually doing.
Partiful and Riley & Grey pricing checked 2026-09-16 against their own published pages. Sources · Method
On this page
Side by side
Free, mobile-first event page and invitation tool built around phone-number RSVPs, text blasts and shared photo albums. Premium subscription wedding website platform with designer templates, custom domain, digital invitations, RSVP modes and cash registry. 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.
| Partiful | Riley & Grey | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free | Subscription | Free |
| What the free tier gives you | Everything: event pages, RSVP tracking, custom questions, text blasts, photo albums and co-hosts, at no cost. | Build a site, pick a design, draft invitations and set up a registry; publishing requires a paid membership. | Everything except Signature: all card designs, party pages, unlimited guests, sends, RSVP tracking and analytics. |
| Cost for 100 guests | Free | $299 (12-month membership) | Free |
| Cost for 250 guests | Free | $299 (12-month membership) | Free |
| Charges per recipient | No | No | No |
| Guests need an account | Yes | 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 no per-recipient charge, tracking who has replied, sending by email, a full event website and linking a gift registry, so those are not the thing to decide on.
- Free to send. Partiful supports sending invitations without paying; Riley & Grey does not.
- Custom RSVP questions. Partiful supports asking your own questions. Riley & Grey does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
- SMS or WhatsApp. Partiful supports sending by text or WhatsApp. Riley & Grey does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
- Guest account required. Partiful does this; Riley & Grey does not. If letting guests reply without an account matters to you, that is a point for Riley & Grey.
- Ads shown to guests. Partiful does not do this. Riley & Grey does not publish whether it does, so it is worth checking before you send.
- Calendar file. Partiful supports adding the event to a calendar. Riley & Grey does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
When Partiful is the better choice
Social hosts running casual gatherings for a phone-native guest list who want zero cost and fast, mobile RSVP collection.
- Genuinely free with no paid tier, per-event fee or per-recipient charge
- Text blasts let hosts message confirmed guests without a group chat
- Custom questionnaire collects arbitrary information at RSVP time
- Shared photo albums, date polling, co-hosts and calendar sync included
- Registry or other links can be added to the event page
Where it costs you:
- Guests must verify a phone number by SMS code to RSVP
- Ticketing fees apply to paid tickets and are not published as a rate
- No printed or mailed card option
- No animated-envelope or formal stationery format
- Phone-number-centric flow, which not all guest lists suit
When Riley & Grey is the better choice
Design-led couples wanting a premium, ad-free site with an included custom domain and unlimited digital invitations.
- Custom domain is included in the membership rather than an extra charge
- Unlimited digital invitation sending with no per-recipient fee
- Free to build and preview; payment only required to publish
- Simple and Advanced RSVP modes, with guest email addresses optional
- Print-ready high-resolution invitation files can be exported for outside printing
Where it costs you:
- No free publishing tier; the site stays unpublished until you pay
- $39 per month or $299 per year is materially above free competitors
- Monetary gifts carry a 2.95% transaction fee, paid by giver or couple
- Post-wedding PDF archive of the site is a separate $39 purchase
- Does not print or mail physical stationery; you export files and print elsewhere
What each one costs, in dollars
Neither Partiful nor Riley & Grey 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.
| Partiful | Riley & Grey | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free | Subscription | Free |
| 100 guests | Free | $299 (12-month membership) | Free |
| 250 guests | Free | $299 (12-month membership) | Free |
| How that is worked out | Partiful publishes no per-guest or per-event charge; fees apply only when selling paid tickets, and free tickets carry no fee for anyone. | Membership price is flat and Riley & Grey states there is no cost to send as many invitations as you like. | Dawat has no per-guest or per-send charge, so the guest count does not change the price. |
As of September 2026: Partiful states its platform is "100% free, no paywalls" with no per-event or per-guest charge; only paid ticketing carries a fee, and free tickets have no fees. Free to design; publishing costs $39 per month or $299 for twelve months, including a custom domain and unlimited invitation sending. Optional $39 domain reserve and $39 post-wedding PDF archive.
The third option: something that feels like an invitation
Neither Partiful nor Riley & Grey 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 | Partiful | Riley & Grey | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to send | Yes | No | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | No | No | No |
| Unlimited guests | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| RSVP tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom RSVP questions | Yes | Not published | Yes |
| Email delivery | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SMS or WhatsApp | Yes | Not published | Partial |
| Per-guest personal links | Not published | Partial | Yes |
| Open tracking | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Animated envelope | No | Not published | Yes |
| Printed cards | No | No | No |
| Guest account required | Yes | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | No | 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 | 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
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 | Partiful | Riley & Grey | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guests need an account | Yes | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | No | Not published | No |
| Animated opening | No | Not published | Yes |
| Personally addressed link | Not published | Partial | Yes |
| Add to calendar | Yes | Not published | Yes |
| Right-to-left and multilingual | Not published | Not published | Yes |
Questions
Is Partiful or Riley & Grey cheaper?
Partiful is free to send. Riley & Grey works out to $299 (12-month membership) at both 100 and 250 guests. 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, Partiful or Riley & Grey?
Partiful suits social hosts running casual gatherings for a phone-native guest list who want zero cost and fast, mobile RSVP collection. Riley & Grey suits design-led couples wanting a premium, ad-free site with an included custom domain and unlimited digital invitations. 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 Partiful or Riley & Grey?
Partiful requires guests to have an account. Riley & Grey 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 Partiful and Riley & Grey?
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 Partiful free?
Yes. Partiful's own site says the product is "100% free, no paywalls" and "100% free, always," with no paid tiers or per-event charges. The only fees are ticketing fees on paid tickets, which hosts can absorb or pass to guests; free tickets carry no fee for anyone.
How much does Riley & Grey cost?
Signing up and building a site is free; publishing costs $39 per month or $299 for a twelve-month package, which Riley & Grey describes as 36% savings. A $39 reserve option holds your domain and design, and that $39 is credited toward your future publishing cost.
How current is this comparison?
Partiful's published pricing was checked on 2026-09-16 and Riley & Grey'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 Partiful
The full head-to-head, including where Partiful is genuinely better.
Dawat vs Riley & Grey
The full head-to-head, including where Riley & Grey is genuinely better.
Partiful alternatives
Eight products that do what Partiful does, ranked.
Riley & Grey alternatives
Eight products that do what Riley & Grey does, ranked.
More head-to-heads:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from Partiful and Riley & Grey'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. Partiful does not publish one.
Sources
- Partiful homepage — checked 2026-09-16
- What fees does Partiful charge? — checked 2026-09-16
- How do I RSVP to an event on Partiful? — checked 2026-09-16
- Where can I add a link in my event? — checked 2026-09-16
- Partiful (Wikipedia) — checked 2026-09-16
- Riley & Grey pricing and plans — checked 2026-09-16
- Riley & Grey FAQ — checked 2026-09-16
- Riley & Grey homepage — checked 2026-09-16