Riley & Grey vs SignUpGenius
Short answer: SignUpGenius is the cheaper of the two. SignUpGenius costs nothing at either guest count (ads shown). 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.
Riley & Grey and SignUpGenius are built for different jobs, so the comparison is less about features and more about which job you are actually doing.
Riley & Grey and SignUpGenius pricing checked 2026-09-16 against their own published pages. Sources · Method
On this page
- Side by side
- Where they actually differ
- When Riley & Grey is the better choice
- When SignUpGenius is the better choice
- What each one costs, in dollars
- The third option: something that feels like an invitation
- Feature by feature
- What your guests experience
- Questions
- Other comparisons
- How these figures were checked
Side by side
Premium subscription wedding website platform with designer templates, custom domain, digital invitations, RSVP modes and cash registry. Sign-up sheet and volunteer scheduling tool for schools, churches, nonprofits and teams, with slots, reminders and payment collection. 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.
| Riley & Grey | SignUpGenius | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Subscription | Free tier, paid upgrades | Free |
| What the free tier gives you | Build a site, pick a design, draft invitations and set up a registry; publishing requires a paid membership. | Unlimited sign-up pages, email invites and reminders, duplicate/transfer sign ups, Google Maps — with third-party ads shown. | Everything except Signature: all card designs, party pages, unlimited guests, sends, RSVP tracking and analytics. |
| Cost for 100 guests | $299 (12-month membership) | Free (ads shown) | Free |
| Cost for 250 guests | $299 (12-month membership) | Free (ads shown) | Free |
| Charges per recipient | No | No | No |
| Guests need an account | No | Not published | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | Yes | 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 and sending by email, so those are not the thing to decide on.
- Free to send. SignUpGenius supports sending invitations without paying; Riley & Grey does not.
- Guest account required. Riley & Grey does not do this. SignUpGenius does not publish whether it does, so it is worth checking before you send.
- Event website. Riley & Grey supports a full event website; SignUpGenius does not.
- Registry links. Riley & Grey supports linking a gift registry; SignUpGenius does not.
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
When SignUpGenius is the better choice
Schools, sports teams, churches and volunteer coordinators filling time slots or item lists who can live with ads on a free account.
- Free tier has no published cap on sign-up pages or participants
- Purpose-built slot logic: dates, times, quantities, wish lists, volunteer hours reports
- Email invites and automatic reminders included at no cost
- Collects payments with no monthly fee, at 5% plus $0.50 per transaction
Where it costs you:
- Free accounts show third-party ads on sign-up pages and in the emails sent
- Ad-free is licensed per sign up: 1 on Silver, 10 on Gold, unlimited on Platinum
- Custom questions are capped at 2 (Silver), 5 (Gold) and 10 (Platinum)
- No invitation design or animation; output is a sign-up sheet page
- Text invites are paid-only: 150, 500 or 1,500 per month by tier
What each one costs, in dollars
Neither Riley & Grey nor SignUpGenius 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.
| Riley & Grey | SignUpGenius | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Subscription | Free tier, paid upgrades | Free |
| 100 guests | $299 (12-month membership) | Free (ads shown) | Free |
| 250 guests | $299 (12-month membership) | Free (ads shown) | Free |
| How that is worked out | Membership price is flat and Riley & Grey states there is no cost to send as many invitations as you like. | Sign-up pages are unlimited and free at any participant count; the cost is ads, and removing them on one sign up starts at Silver, $11.99/month. | Dawat has no per-guest or per-send charge, so the guest count does not change the price. |
As of September 2026: 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. Free plan with unlimited ad-supported sign-up pages; Silver $11.99/month ($107.89/year), Gold $29.99/month ($269.89/year), Platinum $59.99/month ($539.89/year). Payments collected cost 5% plus $0.50 per transaction.
The third option: something that feels like an invitation
Neither Riley & Grey nor SignUpGenius 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 | Riley & Grey | SignUpGenius | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to send | No | Yes | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | No | No | No |
| Unlimited guests | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| RSVP tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom RSVP questions | Not published | Partial | Yes |
| Email delivery | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SMS or WhatsApp | Not published | Partial | Partial |
| Per-guest personal links | Partial | Not published | Yes |
| Open tracking | Not published | Partial | Yes |
| Animated envelope | Not published | No | Yes |
| Printed cards | No | No | No |
| Guest account required | No | Not published | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | Yes | No |
| Event website | Yes | No | Partial |
| Registry links | Yes | No | Yes |
| Meal choice or seating | Not published | Partial | Partial |
| Calendar file | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| AI wording help | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Works inside ChatGPT / Claude | Not published | No | 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 form asks a question. An invitation makes someone want to answer it. Your guest experiences whichever one you sent, and the response rate follows.
| What your guest gets | Riley & Grey | SignUpGenius | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guests need an account | No | Not published | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | Yes | No |
| Animated opening | Not published | No | Yes |
| Personally addressed link | Partial | Not published | Yes |
| Add to calendar | Not published | Not published | Yes |
| Right-to-left and multilingual | Not published | Not published | Yes |
Questions
Is Riley & Grey or SignUpGenius cheaper?
Riley & Grey works out to $299 (12-month membership) at both 100 and 250 guests. SignUpGenius costs nothing at either guest count (ads shown). 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, Riley & Grey or SignUpGenius?
Riley & Grey suits design-led couples wanting a premium, ad-free site with an included custom domain and unlimited digital invitations. SignUpGenius suits schools, sports teams, churches and volunteer coordinators filling time slots or item lists who can live with ads on a free account. 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 Riley & Grey or SignUpGenius?
Riley & Grey does not require guests to have an account. SignUpGenius does not publish whether guests need an account. Anything that makes a guest sign up before replying costs you responses, particularly from older relatives.
Is there a free alternative to Riley & Grey and SignUpGenius?
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.
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.
Is SignUpGenius free?
Yes. The free plan includes unlimited sign-up pages, email invites and reminders, duplicate and transfer of sign ups, and admin tools. SignUpGenius states that ads may be visible to people signing up through a free account, and that ads fund the free tier.
How current is this comparison?
Riley & Grey's published pricing was checked on 2026-09-16 and SignUpGenius'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 Riley & Grey
The full head-to-head, including where Riley & Grey is genuinely better.
Dawat vs SignUpGenius
The full head-to-head, including where SignUpGenius is genuinely better.
Riley & Grey alternatives
Eight products that do what Riley & Grey does, ranked.
SignUpGenius alternatives
Eight products that do what SignUpGenius does, ranked.
More head-to-heads:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from Riley & Grey and SignUpGenius'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
- SignUpGenius printable pricing and feature sheet (PDF) — checked 2026-09-16
- SignUpGenius — about advertising — checked 2026-09-16
- Why SignUpGenius has ads and how to remove them — checked 2026-09-16
- How to choose the right SignUpGenius plan — checked 2026-09-16