Riley & Grey alternatives
Short answer: the closest free replacement for Riley & Grey is Dawat — 53 card designs, unlimited guests, per-guest personal links and RSVP tracking, free at any guest count. The next closest are Joy, Partiful and Luma.
Riley & Grey works out to $299 (12-month membership) at both 100 and 250 guests. Below, 9 alternatives with their published prices and what each one gives up.
This page is published by Dawat, which is one of the products listed. Every price is linked to the vendor's own page and dated, so you can check the ones that matter rather than take our word for it. Riley & Grey pricing was checked on 2026-09-16.
On this page
Why people look for a Riley & Grey alternative
18 of the 33 platforms tracked here can send an invitation without payment. Riley & Grey is one of them, and Dawat is another.
The usual trigger is the bill. 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 limitations people run into:
- No free publishing tier; the site stays unpublished until you pay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
All alternatives, priced
| Alternative | Type | 100 guests | 250 guests | Charges per guest | RSVP tracking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dawat | Online invitation makers | Free | Free | No | Yes |
| Joy | Wedding platforms | Free | Free | Partial | Yes |
| Partiful | Online invitation makers | Free | Free | No | Yes |
| Luma | Event and ticketing platforms | Free (RSVP event); $125 platform fee on 100 paid $25 tickets | Free (RSVP event); $312.50 platform fee on 250 paid $25 tickets | No | Yes |
| Zola | Wedding platforms | Free | Free | No | Yes |
| Greenvelope | Online invitation makers | $99 (single mailing, up to 100 guests) | $249 (single mailing, up to 250 guests) | Partial | Yes |
| The Knot | Wedding platforms | Free | Free | No | Yes |
| Appy Couple | Wedding platforms | $99 (annual plan) | $99 (annual plan) | No | Yes |
| Evite | Online invitation makers | $0 free with ads, or $99.99 Premium | $0 free with ads, or $99.99 Premium | Partial | Yes |
Dawat — the free option
Cinematic digital invitations with per-guest personal links and built-in RSVP, free at any guest count. Everything in the core product is free: all 53 card designs, every party-page theme, unlimited guests, unlimited sends, RSVP tracking with up to five custom questions, and a per-guest funnel showing who was sent the invitation, who opened it and who answered. No card is required to create or send.
Better than Riley & Grey at: free at every guest count, with no per-recipient charge and no card required, every guest gets a personally addressed link with their rsvp prefilled and open tracking shows who has actually seen the invitation, not just who replied.
Worse at: digital only: dawat does not print or mail paper stationery and no ticket sales, payments from guests or door scanning.
The paid part: Dawat Signature, a long-scroll cinematic invitation, is $89 once for that event. Nothing else costs anything, and Signature is labelled as paid before you publish.
Dawat vs Riley & Grey, side by side →
Create your invitation — free →Sign in only when you publish.
The alternatives in detail
1. Joy
Free wedding website, app, registry and RSVP platform with optional paid domains, SMS messaging and premium digital or printed cards.
Price: Joy states the core product is $0/month with unlimited guests; paid extras are a custom domain (about $19.99/year), Messaging Plus SMS, premium digital cards (50-card minimum) and paper from $1.39 each.
Better than Riley & Grey at: genuinely free core: website, registry, rsvp, mobile app and unlimited guests, hundreds of free digital invitation and save the date designs sent by email and guests do not need an account; signup is offered only after rsvp.
Worse at: premium digital cards carry a 50-card minimum order and are sold in fixed bundles and sms delivery of premium cards is a paid add-on, us and canada numbers only.
Pick it if: Couples who want a free, well-designed website, app and RSVP system with unlimited guests and optional paid stationery.
Riley & Grey vs Joy, side by side →
2. Partiful
Free, mobile-first event page and invitation tool built around phone-number RSVPs, text blasts and shared photo albums.
Price: 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.
Better than Riley & Grey at: genuinely free with no paid tier, per-event fee or per-recipient charge, text blasts let hosts message confirmed guests without a group chat and custom questionnaire collects arbitrary information at rsvp time.
Worse at: guests must verify a phone number by sms code to rsvp and ticketing fees apply to paid tickets and are not published as a rate.
Pick it if: Social hosts running casual gatherings for a phone-native guest list who want zero cost and fast, mobile RSVP collection.
Riley & Grey vs Partiful, side by side →
3. Luma
Event pages and calendars with RSVP, invites, ticketing, and check-in, popular with tech meetups and community organizers.
Price: 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%.
Better than Riley & Grey at: free plan covers unlimited events and unlimited guests per event, guests do not need a luma account or sign-in to register and invites go out by email plus sms, whatsapp, and push.
Worse at: free plan takes a 5% platform fee on paid events and free plan capped at 500 invites or newsletters per week.
Pick it if: Community, meetup, and startup organizers who want a fast, free event page with invites and light ticketing.
Riley & Grey vs Luma, side by side →
4. Zola
Wedding planning suite with free websites, RSVP and guest list tools, a universal registry, and paid printed stationery.
Price: Website, RSVP, guest list and registry are free; a custom URL starts at $17.99, printed save the dates from $0.99 each and invitations from $1.79 each.
Better than Riley & Grey at: website, rsvp tracking and guest list manager are free with no guest-count charge, custom rsvp questions including meal choice and song requests on the free tier and universal registry and cash funds integrate directly into the website.
Worse at: does not offer digital invitations; only digital save the dates and digital save the dates are shared as a link or image, not sent by zola.
Pick it if: US couples who want a free website, registry and RSVP tracking in one place and will buy printed paper.
Riley & Grey vs Zola, side by side →
5. Greenvelope
Digital-only invitation service with animated envelope opening, email and text delivery, and RSVP tracking, priced per mailing.
Price: Flat one-time fee per mailing set by guest-list size: $19 up to 20 guests, $59 up to 60, $99 up to 100, $249 up to 250. Annual memberships from $125.
Better than Riley & Grey at: flat per-mailing price, not per-recipient credits, so cost is known up front, custom rsvp questions, meal preferences and dietary notes included at every paid tier and email, sms and whatsapp delivery, with open and delivery tracking.
Worse at: price is tiered by guest count, so larger lists cost more per mailing and digital only; greenvelope does not print or mail paper invitations.
Pick it if: Hosts of a single sizeable event who want polished digital invitations and detailed RSVP data for one predictable flat fee.
Riley & Grey vs Greenvelope, side by side →
6. The Knot
Wedding marketplace and planner offering free wedding websites, guest list and RSVP tools, registry, and paid printed stationery.
Price: Wedding website, RSVP and guest list tools are free; a custom domain is $19.99 for one year ($39.98 for two), with .wedding extensions at $99.99 per year.
Better than Riley & Grey at: free website with 100+ templates that coordinate with matching printed stationery, free guest list manager syncs addresses and rsvps with the website and free digital save the dates shareable instantly by email or text link.
Worse at: custom domain is a paid add-on at $19.99 per year and premium .wedding domain extensions cost $99.99 per year.
Pick it if: US couples wanting a free website plus a large vendor marketplace, registry and matching printed stationery in one account.
Riley & Grey vs The Knot, side by side →
7. Appy Couple
Paid wedding website and native guest app with matching digital stationery, multi-event RSVP tools and shared photo streams.
Price: One package covering website, guest app and digital invites at $99 per year or $12 per month, cancellable any time; custom domains cost extra, most about $19.99 per year.
Better than Riley & Grey at: single flat price covers website, native guest app and digital invitations, unlimited storage for guest list entries, rsvps, messages and photos and hundreds of boutique designs that coordinate across app, website and stationery.
Worse at: no free tier; publishing requires a paid subscription and custom domains cost extra, most around $19.99 per year.
Pick it if: Couples with multiple wedding events who want a designed guest app plus website for one predictable annual fee.
Riley & Grey vs Appy Couple, side by side →
8. Evite
Long-running digital invitation service offering free ad-supported invitations plus paid Premium packages priced by guest count.
Price: Free invitations carry ads and support up to 750 guests; Premium packages are $17.99 (12 guests), $36.99 (30), $68.99 (75) and $99.99 (750) per event. Evite Pro is $249.99/year.
Better than Riley & Grey at: free tier sends to up to 750 guests with no per-recipient charge, read receipts and shareable links are available on the free tier and delivery by email, text message or shareable link.
Worse at: free invitations display third-party ads to guests and removing ads requires a paid premium package.
Pick it if: Hosts of large casual gatherings who want a free, high-capacity invitation and can tolerate advertising beside their event details.
Riley & Grey vs Evite, side by side →
What to check before you switch
- Price at your actual guest count, not the headline. Multiply the per-recipient rate by the real number of people on your list.
- Whether guests need an account. Every sign-up screen between the link and the reply costs you responses, mostly from the relatives you most want there.
- Whether you can ask your own questions. Meal choice, plus-ones, which nights they are coming — if the product cannot ask, you will be asking by text.
- Whether you can see who opened it. Chasing the people who never opened it is a different job from chasing the people who did and have not decided.
- What happens to replies you already have. Export from Riley & Grey before you move, and invite only the people who have not answered.
Questions
What is the best free alternative to Riley & Grey?
Dawat. It 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 per guest — with no per-recipient charge and no card required. Joy, Partiful, Luma, Zola, The Knot and Evite are also free to use, with the trade-offs listed above. This page is published by Dawat, so weigh that and check the sources at the bottom.
Why do people switch away from Riley & Grey?
Most often because of a specific limitation rather than price. The recurring complaints are: 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 and does not print or mail physical stationery; you export files and print elsewhere.
Is Riley & Grey still worth using?
For the right event, yes — and it is worth saying so on a page like this. 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. The alternatives above matter when your situation is different, not because Riley & Grey is bad.
How much does Riley & Grey cost for 100 guests?
Riley & Grey works out to $299 (12-month membership) at both 100 and 250 guests. Membership price is flat and Riley & Grey states there is no cost to send as many invitations as you like. Checked against Riley & Grey's own published pricing on 2026-09-16.
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.
Does Riley & Grey have a free plan?
Only a free trial-style build. You can choose a design, build the website, design invitations and set up a registry without paying, but the site is not published and invitations cannot be sent until you start a paid membership at $39 per month or $299 per year.
More comparisons
Dawat vs Riley & Grey
The full head-to-head, including where Riley & Grey wins.
Wedding platforms
Everything in Riley & Grey's category, compared.
Head-to-heads with Riley & Grey:
Other alternatives guides:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from 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. Riley & Grey does not publish one.
Sources
- Riley & Grey pricing and plans — checked 2026-09-16
- Riley & Grey FAQ — checked 2026-09-16
- Riley & Grey homepage — checked 2026-09-16
- Joy pricing — checked 2026-09-16
- Joy FAQ — checked 2026-09-16
- Joy help: Designing and sending Premium Digital Cards — checked 2026-09-16
- Joy help: Send text messages with Messaging Plus — checked 2026-09-16
- Joy help: General FAQs, custom domains — checked 2026-09-16
- 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
- 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
- Zola wedding websites (pricing and custom URL) — checked 2026-09-16
- Zola wedding paper (per-card prices) — checked 2026-09-16
- Zola help: Does Zola offer digital invitations? — checked 2026-09-16
- Zola help: Can I send digital save the dates through Zola? — checked 2026-09-16
- Zola help: How do I edit or add questions to RSVPs? — checked 2026-09-16
- Greenvelope pricing — checked 2026-09-16
- Greenvelope: How much does Greenvelope cost — checked 2026-09-16
- Greenvelope homepage (features) — checked 2026-09-16
- Greenvelope vs Paperless Post (vendor comparison) — checked 2026-09-16
- The Knot free wedding websites — checked 2026-09-17
- The Knot help: Are wedding websites on The Knot free to use? — checked 2026-09-17
- The Knot help: How do I purchase a custom domain for my wedding website? — checked 2026-09-17
- The Knot digital save the date cards — checked 2026-09-17
- The Knot free guest list with RSVP tracking — checked 2026-09-17
- Appy Couple pricing — checked 2026-09-16
- Appy Couple homepage — checked 2026-09-16
- Evite Premium Pricing — checked 2026-09-16
- Evite Premium vs. Free — checked 2026-09-16
- Evite Invitation Pricing — checked 2026-09-16
- Evite Guest List Limit — checked 2026-09-16
- Evite Pro — checked 2026-09-16