Riley & Grey vs Vistaprint
Short answer: Vistaprint is the cheaper of the two. Vistaprint works out to ~$84-$140 (100 cards at the $0.84 promotional to $1.40 list per-card price) for 100 guests and ~$210-$350 (250 cards at the same published per-card range) for 250. 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.
Vistaprint and Riley & Grey 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.
Riley & Grey and Vistaprint 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 Vistaprint 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. Mass-market online printer whose stationery range includes low-cost printed invitations with envelopes and free envelope addressing. 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.
| Riley & Grey | Vistaprint | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Subscription | Priced per printed card | 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 for sending. Envelopes, backside printing and envelope address printing are included on paid orders. | Everything except Signature: all card designs, party pages, unlimited guests, sends, RSVP tracking and analytics. |
| Cost for 100 guests | $299 (12-month membership) | ~$84-$140 (100 cards at the $0.84 promotional to $1.40 list per-card price) | Free |
| Cost for 250 guests | $299 (12-month membership) | ~$210-$350 (250 cards at the same published per-card range) | Free |
| Charges per recipient | No | Yes | No |
| Guests need an account | No | 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 letting guests reply without an account, so those are not the thing to decide on.
- Per-guest fees. Vistaprint does this; Riley & Grey does not. If no per-recipient charge matters to you, that is a point for Riley & Grey.
- RSVP tracking. Riley & Grey supports tracking who has replied; Vistaprint does not.
- Email delivery. Riley & Grey supports sending by email; Vistaprint does not.
- Printed cards. Vistaprint supports ordering printed stationery; Riley & Grey does not.
- Event website. Riley & Grey supports a full event website; Vistaprint does not.
- Registry links. Riley & Grey supports linking a gift registry; Vistaprint 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 Vistaprint is the better choice
Budget-driven hosts who want serviceable printed invitations with envelopes and addressing at the lowest per-card cost.
- Lowest advertised per-card pricing of the print vendors reviewed here
- Envelopes and backside printing always included in the price
- Free addressing service prints recipient addresses onto envelopes
- Vistaprint publishes its own cost guide with concrete total ranges
- Broad print catalogue lets you match signage and day-of stationery
Where it costs you:
- Priced per printed card, so cost scales directly with guest count
- Postage is not included and is paid separately
- No digital invitation or online RSVP product documented
- Advertised $0.84 rate is promotional against a $1.40 list price
- Upgrades add cost: foil roughly $0.50 per card, shaped trim about $8 per 100
What each one costs, in dollars
Vistaprint is one of the 7 platforms in this dataset that charge per guest or per printed card. Riley & Grey is 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 | Vistaprint | Dawat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Subscription | Priced per printed card | Free |
| 100 guests | $299 (12-month membership) | ~$84-$140 (100 cards at the $0.84 promotional to $1.40 list per-card price) | Free |
| 250 guests | $299 (12-month membership) | ~$210-$350 (250 cards at the same published per-card range) | 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. | Based on Vistaprint's published wedding-invitation per-card price; envelopes are included but 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: 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. Wedding invitations advertised from $0.84 each on promotion, list $1.40 each; Vistaprint's own guide puts 100-150 guest invitations at $82 to $210 total.
The third option: something that feels like an invitation
Neither Riley & Grey nor Vistaprint 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 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. It also covers sending invitations without paying — which neither Riley & Grey nor Vistaprint 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 | Vistaprint | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free to send | No | No | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | No | Yes | No |
| Unlimited guests | Not published | Partial | Yes |
| RSVP tracking | Yes | No | Yes |
| Custom RSVP questions | Not published | No | Yes |
| Email delivery | Yes | No | Yes |
| SMS or WhatsApp | Not published | No | Partial |
| Per-guest personal links | Partial | No | Yes |
| Open tracking | Not published | No | Yes |
| Animated envelope | Not published | No | Yes |
| Printed cards | No | Yes | No |
| Guest account required | No | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | Not published | No |
| Event website | Yes | No | Partial |
| Registry links | Yes | No | Yes |
| Meal choice or seating | Not published | No | Partial |
| Calendar file | Not published | No | 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 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 | Riley & Grey | Vistaprint | Dawat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guests need an account | No | No | No |
| Ads shown to guests | Not published | Not published | No |
| Animated opening | Not published | No | Yes |
| Personally addressed link | Partial | No | Yes |
| Add to calendar | Not published | No | Yes |
| Right-to-left and multilingual | Not published | Not published | Yes |
Questions
Is Riley & Grey or Vistaprint cheaper?
Riley & Grey works out to $299 (12-month membership) at both 100 and 250 guests. Vistaprint works out to ~$84-$140 (100 cards at the $0.84 promotional to $1.40 list per-card price) for 100 guests and ~$210-$350 (250 cards at the same published per-card range) 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, Riley & Grey or Vistaprint?
Riley & Grey suits design-led couples wanting a premium, ad-free site with an included custom domain and unlimited digital invitations. Vistaprint suits budget-driven hosts who want serviceable printed invitations with envelopes and addressing at the lowest per-card cost. 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 Vistaprint?
Riley & Grey does not require guests to have an account. Vistaprint 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 Riley & Grey and Vistaprint?
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 are Vistaprint wedding invitations for 100 guests?
Vistaprint's own cost guide puts invitations for a 100 to 150 guest list at between $82 and $210 in total. Its store advertises wedding invitations from $0.84 each on promotion against a $1.40 list price, so 100 cards is roughly $84 to $140 before postage.
How current is this comparison?
Riley & Grey's published pricing was checked on 2026-09-16 and Vistaprint'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 Vistaprint
The full head-to-head, including where Vistaprint is genuinely better.
Riley & Grey alternatives
Eight products that do what Riley & Grey does, ranked.
Vistaprint alternatives
Eight products that do what Vistaprint does, ranked.
More head-to-heads:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from Riley & Grey and Vistaprint'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. 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
- Vistaprint: How much do wedding invitations cost — checked 2026-09-16
- Vistaprint custom wedding invitations — checked 2026-09-16
- Vistaprint invitations and cards — checked 2026-09-16