Dawat vs The Knot
Short answer: both are free to use. The difference is what you get: The Knot gives you free website with 100+ templates that coordinate with matching printed stationery, while Dawat gives you an uncapped guest list, asking your own questions, sending by email.
Dawat is free at every guest count: 53 card designs, unlimited guests, unlimited sends, RSVP tracking with your own questions, and a personally addressed link for each guest. The only paid item is a Dawat Signature cinematic experience at $89 once per event.
Wedding marketplace and planner offering free wedding websites, guest list and RSVP tools, registry, and paid printed stationery. This page compares it with Dawat on what the free tier actually covers, on how invitations reach guests, and on which parts of the wedding stack you would still be paying for.
The Knot pricing checked 2026-09-17 against its own published pages. Sources · Method
On this page
Side by side
| Dawat | The Knot | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free | Free tier, paid upgrades |
| What the free tier gives you | Everything except Signature: all card designs, party pages, unlimited guests, sends, RSVP tracking and analytics. | Wedding website with 100+ templates, RSVP collection, guest list manager, registry integration, and free digital save the dates. |
| Cost for 100 guests | Free | Free |
| Cost for 250 guests | Free | Free |
| Charges per recipient | No | No |
| Guests need an account | No | Not published |
| Ads shown to guests | No | Not published |
Where Dawat is different
- Unlimited guests. Dawat includes an uncapped guest list. The Knot does not publish whether it supports this.
- Custom RSVP questions. Dawat includes asking your own questions. The Knot does not publish whether it supports this.
- Email delivery. Dawat includes sending by email in the free product. On The Knot it is limited or sits behind a paid tier.
- Per-guest personal links. Dawat includes a personally addressed link per guest. The Knot does not publish whether it supports this.
- Open tracking. Dawat includes seeing who opened the invitation. The Knot does not publish whether it supports this.
- Animated envelope. Dawat includes an animated envelope opening. The Knot does not publish whether it supports this.
- Guest account required. Dawat never does this. The Knot does not publish whether it does.
Create your invitation — free →No card required. Unlimited guests. 53 designs.
When The Knot is the better choice
Dawat covers the invitation, not the whole wedding. The Knot covers more of the planning, and for some couples that settles it: US couples wanting a free website plus a large vendor marketplace, registry and matching printed stationery in one account.
- Free website with 100+ templates that coordinate with matching printed stationery
- Free guest list manager syncs addresses and RSVPs with the website
- Free digital save the dates shareable instantly by email or text link
- Secure RSVP restricts responses to names already on the guest list
- Large US vendor marketplace and registry integrated into the same account
Where Dawat does not compete with it:
- Digital only: Dawat does not print or mail paper stationery
- A smaller design catalogue than the largest stationery marketplaces
And where The Knot will cost you something:
- Custom domain is a paid add-on at $19.99 per year
- Premium .wedding domain extensions cost $99.99 per year
- Monetised through vendor marketplace, registry and print rather than subscriptions
- Vendor pricing pages block automated retrieval, so terms are harder to verify independently
- Guest-count limits for the free website are not published
What The Knot costs, in dollars
As of September 2026: 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.
18 of the 33 platforms tracked here can send an invitation without payment. The Knot is one of them, and Dawat is another.
| Dawat | The Knot | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free | Free tier, paid upgrades |
| 100 guests | Free | Free |
| 250 guests | Free | Free |
| How that is worked out | Dawat has no per-guest or per-send charge, so the guest count does not change the price. | The Knot charges nothing for the website, RSVP or digital save the dates at any guest count; domains and printed paper are optional. |
Dawat is free to send. The Knot can also be used without paying; the differences are in what each free tier includes, which the table below sets out.
The guest experience compared
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.
| Feature | Dawat | The Knot |
|---|---|---|
| Guest account required | No | Not published |
| Ads shown to guests | No | Not published |
| Animated envelope | Yes | Not published |
| Per-guest personal links | Yes | Not published |
| Open tracking | Yes | Not published |
| Calendar file | Yes | Not published |
| Multilingual & right-to-left | Yes | Not published |
On Dawat, the link is addressed to the person holding it. The envelope opens with their name on it, their RSVP is already prefilled, and answering is one tap. The Knot does not publish whether it addresses each guest individually.
What happens as the list grows
Guest count is not the axis here — The Knot does not bill per recipient. The thing that changes as the list grows is administration: chasing replies, keeping a headcount honest, and knowing who never opened the thing. Dawat gives every guest their own link, so the dashboard shows sent, opened and answered per person instead of a pile of replies you have to reconcile.
Switching, or running both
Running both is normal. Keep The Knot for the registry and the planning tools, and use Dawat for the invitation itself and the guest list, which is the part that has to work on a phone.
If you are moving across, the fastest route is Dawat's import: paste the link to your existing invitation and Dawat reads the wording, date, venue and colour mood off the page and rebuilds it as a prefilled draft you can edit. Guest lists come in from your phone's contacts, a .vcf file, or pasted text.
What does not come across: The Knot's designs, and any replies already collected there. Export your RSVPs before you switch, and send the Dawat invitation only to the people who have not answered.
Feature by feature
| Feature | Dawat | The Knot |
|---|---|---|
| Free to send | Yes | Yes |
| Per-guest fees | No | No |
| Unlimited guests | Yes | Not published |
| RSVP tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Custom RSVP questions | Yes | Not published |
| Email delivery | Yes | Partial |
| SMS or WhatsApp | Partial | Partial |
| Per-guest personal links | Yes | Not published |
| Open tracking | Yes | Not published |
| Animated envelope | Yes | Not published |
| Printed cards | No | Yes |
| Guest account required | No | Not published |
| Ads shown to guests | No | Not published |
| Event website | Partial | Yes |
| Registry links | Yes | Yes |
| Meal choice or seating | Partial | Not published |
| Calendar file | Yes | Not published |
| AI wording help | Yes | Not published |
| Works inside ChatGPT / Claude | Yes | Not published |
| Multilingual & right-to-left | Yes | Not published |
"Not published" means no vendor documentation could be found either way, not that the feature is missing. How this grid is built →
Questions
Is The Knot wedding website free?
Yes. The Knot states its wedding websites are free to use, including templates, design customisation, registry integration, RSVP collection and guest messaging. You can also customise the theknot.com address for free if you do not buy a custom domain. The Knot makes money from vendor advertising, registry and printed stationery.
How much does The Knot cost for 100 guests?
Nothing for the website itself. The Knot does not charge per guest or per RSVP, so a 100-guest wedding website and its digital save the dates are free. Optional costs are a custom domain at $19.99 per year and any printed invitations you order.
Are digital save the dates free on The Knot?
Yes. The Knot offers customisable digital save the dates and generates a shareable link you can send by email or text instantly, at no cost. Printed save the dates and invitations are sold separately through The Knot's paper shop.
How much is a custom domain on The Knot?
The Knot's help centre lists a custom domain at $19.99 for a one-year registration or $39.98 for two years, which covers registration, setup and hosting of the redirect. Premium .wedding extensions are listed at $99.99 per year.
Is Dawat free?
Yes. All 53 card designs and every party-page theme, unlimited guests, unlimited sends, RSVP tracking, custom questions and the per-guest analytics cost nothing, and no card is required. The only paid item is a Dawat Signature cinematic experience at $89 once for that event, and it is labelled as paid before you publish.
Does Dawat have designs as good as The Knot?
Dawat's 53 designs are animated card experiences with an envelope opening, plus 8 long-scroll Signature experiences. Whether that beats The Knot depends on whether you want a designed occasion or a quick notice.
Can I send printed invitations from Dawat?
No. Dawat is digital only. The Knot does print and mail stationery, and if a physical card matters to you that is a genuine reason to use it.
Create your invitation — free →Takes about ten minutes. Sign in only when you publish.
Other comparisons
The Knot alternatives
Eight products that do what The Knot does, ranked and priced.
Wedding platforms
Every product in The Knot's category, side by side.
The Knot against the rest:
Dawat against the rest:
How these figures were checked
Every figure above was read from The Knot's own published pricing or help pages on 17 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. The Knot does not publish one.
Sources
- 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