Riley & Grey vs Splash
Short answer: pick Riley & Grey for design-led couples wanting a premium, ad-free site with an included custom domain and unlimited digital invitations. Pick Splash for corporate field-marketing and demand-generation teams running recurring, on-brand event programmes at scale.
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 Splash are built for different jobs, so the comparison is less about features and more about which job you are actually doing.
Riley & Grey and Splash pricing checked 2026-09-16 against their own published pages. Sources · Method
On this page
Side by side
Premium subscription wedding website platform with designer templates, custom domain, digital invitations, RSVP modes and cash registry. Event marketing platform for branded event pages, registration, email reminders, on-site check-in, and badge management. 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.
| Riley & Grey | Splash | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Subscription | Subscription | 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. | None published. Every tier is quote-only, and paid support is a separate add-on. | Everything except Signature: all card designs, party pages, unlimited guests, sends, RSVP tracking and analytics. |
| Cost for 100 guests | $299 (12-month membership) | Unknown | Free |
| Cost for 250 guests | $299 (12-month membership) | Unknown | Free |
| Charges per recipient | No | No | No |
| Guests need an account | No | Not published | 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 no per-recipient charge, tracking who has replied, sending by email and a full event website, so those are not the thing to decide on.
- Unlimited guests. Splash supports an uncapped guest list. Riley & Grey does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
- Custom RSVP questions. Splash supports asking your own questions. Riley & Grey does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
- Guest account required. Riley & Grey does not do this. Splash does not publish whether it does, so it is worth checking before you send.
- Registry links. Riley & Grey supports linking a gift registry. Splash does not publish whether it does, so treat it as unavailable until you have confirmed it.
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 Splash is the better choice
Corporate field-marketing and demand-generation teams running recurring, on-brand event programmes at scale.
- Unlimited events and unlimited registrations on every plan, with no per-attendee fee
- Deep CRM and marketing-automation integrations keep event data in the business systems
- Event ROI and email performance dashboards built for reporting to a marketing team
- Ticketed events supported through a Stripe partnership
- Governance features for large teams: custom roles, approvals, event visibility groups
Where it costs you:
- Publishes no price at any tier; Pro and Enterprise are both quote-only
- Built for event marketing programmes, not for a single private celebration
- Phone support is a paid add-on on top of the plan
- API access requires a consulting engagement
- No free tier is published, so there is no way to try it at a real guest count
What each one costs, in dollars
Neither Riley & Grey nor Splash 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 | Splash | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Subscription | Subscription | Free |
| 100 guests | $299 (12-month membership) | Unknown | Free |
| 250 guests | $299 (12-month membership) | Unknown | 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. | Splash publishes no dollar figure at any tier, so a per-guest cost cannot be derived; the page directs you to a demo instead. | 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. Splash publishes two tiers, Pro and Enterprise, and no prices for either; both are sold through sales with a demo. Its pricing page promises unlimited events and unlimited registrations with no hidden fees.
The third option: something that feels like an invitation
Neither Riley & Grey nor Splash 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. It also covers sending invitations without paying — which neither Riley & Grey nor Splash 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 | Riley & Grey | Splash | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to send | No | No | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | No | No | No |
| Unlimited guests | Not published | Yes | Yes |
| RSVP tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom RSVP questions | Not published | Yes | Yes |
| Email delivery | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| SMS or WhatsApp | Not published | Not published | Partial |
| Per-guest personal links | Partial | Not published | Yes |
| Open tracking | Not published | Not published | 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 | Not published | No |
| Event website | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Registry links | Yes | Not published | Yes |
| Meal choice or seating | Not published | Not published | Partial |
| Calendar file | Not published | 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
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 | Riley & Grey | Splash | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guests need an account | No | Not published | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | Not published | 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 Splash cheaper?
Riley & Grey works out to $299 (12-month membership) at both 100 and 250 guests. Splash does not publish a price you can check before you commit: splash publishes two tiers, Pro and Enterprise, and no prices for either; both are sold through sales with a demo. Its pricing page promises unlimited events and unlimited registrations with no hidden fees. 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 Splash?
Riley & Grey suits design-led couples wanting a premium, ad-free site with an included custom domain and unlimited digital invitations. Splash suits corporate field-marketing and demand-generation teams running recurring, on-brand event programmes at scale. 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 Splash?
Riley & Grey does not require guests to have an account. Splash 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 Splash?
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.
How much does Splash (splashthat.com) cost?
Splash does not publish list prices. Software directories list both its Pro and Enterprise tiers as 'Contact Vendor for Pricing', and procurement data shows annual contracts negotiated individually rather than a published rate card.
How current is this comparison?
Riley & Grey's published pricing was checked on 2026-09-16 and Splash's on 2026-09-17. 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 Splash
The full head-to-head, including where Splash is genuinely better.
Riley & Grey alternatives
Eight products that do what Riley & Grey does, ranked.
Splash alternatives
Eight products that do what Splash does, ranked.
More head-to-heads:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from Riley & Grey and Splash's own published pricing or help pages on 16 September 2026, and each source is linked below. Splash publishes no checkable price, so this page says so rather than estimating one. 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
- Splash pricing — checked 2026-09-17
- Cvent acquires Splash — checked 2026-09-17