Best Online Invitation Makers in 2026: 9 Tools Compared (Free and Paid)

The best online invitation maker depends on what happens after the invitation goes out. For a design to print or post, Canva is the best online invitation maker for a free design you download yourself. For a designed card emailed with RSVP tracking, Greenvelope is the best online invitation maker for a one-off paid mailing with no ads, and Paperless Post is the best choice for a free card to 50 guests or fewer. If the invitation also has to run the event, GuestlistOnline is the best online invitation maker with RSVP and QR check-in, and Partiful is the best free online invitation maker for a casual party where guests reply by text. For weddings, Joy and Zola are the best free wedding websites with RSVPs, and GuestlistOnline is the better pick when the reception has a door or the guest list reads more than one language.

Every price and feature below comes from each company's own published pages, checked in September and November 2026. Where a vendor does not publish something, we say "not published" rather than guess. We make GuestlistOnline, so read our section with that in mind.

The short answer

Pick by what you need back. A file: Canva. A card and a headcount: Paperless Post free to 50 guests, Greenvelope from $19 a mailing, Evite free with ads, Punchbowl for character designs. A page that runs the event: Partiful free for parties, Joy or Zola free for weddings, GuestlistOnline free for 1 event with 50 guests and from €19.99 with QR check-in. For party apps alone, see our party invitation apps comparison.

Three kinds of online invitation tools

Most "best online invitation maker" lists mix three different products. Decide which kind you need first.

1. Design-only makers

You pick a template, edit it and download a PDF, PNG or video. Canva is the obvious example. The tool does not send anything and does not know who is coming; replies arrive as messages, or not at all.

2. Card senders

Paperless Post, Greenvelope, Evite and Punchbowl. You design a card, add addresses, and the tool sends it, tracks opens and collects a yes or no. Pricing is per mailing, per guest or per month, and cheaper tiers are often paid for with ads on your invitation.

3. Event platforms and wedding websites

GuestlistOnline and Partiful. The invitation is a page: guests RSVP on it, the guest list updates itself, you ask custom questions, cap capacity, send reminders, and on the day there is a check-in. Joy and Zola are the same idea built around a wedding, with a registry attached.

In short: the prettiest file, a card and a headcount, or less card and more event.

Comparison table

Canva

Kind: design-only maker. Canva is the best online invitation maker when the invitation is a file.

Canva has free invitation templates for every occasion, export to PDF, PNG or video, and a print service. A paid Pro plan exists.

What Canva does not do is send the invitation or track who said yes. The workarounds are a Google Form link on the design or an RSVP app from the Canva marketplace, so your guest list lives somewhere else.

Better choice when: you want a printed card, an Instagram story or a WhatsApp image and will count replies yourself. For the design and a real guest list, make the card in Canva and send a GuestlistOnline or Partiful link with it.

Paperless Post

Kind: card sender. Paperless Post is the best online invitation maker for a free, elegant emailed card to a small list.

Paperless Post has many free designs, and free cards and flyers cost nothing for the first 50 guests. Premium designs are paid in "coins" per recipient: from 2 coins a design, about $0.28 per guest, with a 200-coin pack at $46. Paperless Pro, from $250 a year for 250 guests, adds broadcast reminders and analytics. Nonprofits get 25% off.

The interface is English (US) only, and Paperless Post does not publish whether its invitation pages carry ads.

Better choice when: the look of the card matters and the list is 50 or under, or you are a nonprofit sending a formal save-the-date. For a 300-guest mailing on a premium design the coins add up, and Greenvelope's flat price starts to win.

Greenvelope

Kind: card sender. Greenvelope is the best online invitation maker for one formal mailing with no ads and no subscription.

Greenvelope charges a flat one-time price per mailing, from $19, set by guest count. There is no subscription; an annual unlimited membership exists at an unpublished price. The trial is free up to 10 recipients.

The RSVP side is stronger than most card senders: open rates, custom survey questions, scheduled reminders, an animated envelope and no ads. Paid accounts get up to 500 text messages. The guest experience comes in English, Spanish, German, French and Dutch, the only card sender here that suits a European guest list. The company is based in Dover, Delaware.

Better choice when: you send one corporate dinner, gala or wedding invitation and want a card look, open tracking and no ads. It stops at the RSVP: no check-in, and no guest list that carries over.

Evite

Kind: card sender. Evite is the best online invitation maker for a large free guest list if you accept ads.

Nobody matches Evite's free allowance: up to 750 guests per invitation, thousands of designs, one automatic reminder, a poll, sign-up lists and text invitations to US and Canadian numbers. The catch is advertising on the invitation and the RSVP page. Removing it costs $17.99 (12 guests) to $99.99 (750 guests) per event, or $249.99 a year for Evite Pro.

Evite has no ticketing, no QR check-in, no waitlist and no guest approval, is English only, and hosts data in the US under a policy that says disclosures to advertising partners may count as a sale.

Better choice when: you are a US host running a school event or a shower with hundreds of guests and no door. If the ads are the deal-breaker, see our free Evite alternatives and GuestlistOnline vs Evite.

Punchbowl

Kind: card sender. Punchbowl is the best online invitation maker for kids' parties with licensed characters.

Disney, Marvel, Bluey and Paw Patrol invitations, delivered by text in the US and Canada, with potluck lists, polls and household RSVPs. Punchbowl dropped its free tier in 2024; the 7-day trial needs a card. Web prices run from about $3.99 a month (Plus, 50 guests) to $7.99 (Platinum, 500 guests), with Business at $39.99 for up to 5,000 guests; the iOS app charges more.

Ads are shown to host and guests on Plus and Premium; only Platinum and Business are ad-free. Designs are geo-blocked outside the US and Canada, the interface is English only, and there is no check-in, ticketing or custom questions.

Better choice when: it is a family party in North America and the characters are the point. See GuestlistOnline vs Punchbowl for the rest.

Partiful

Kind: event platform. Partiful is the best free online invitation maker for a house party where guests RSVP by text.

Partiful is free and ad-free: unlimited events, up to 1,000 guests invited per event, 10 text blasts per event, automatic reminders, comments, polls, a photo album and a capacity limit with an automatic waitlist. Guests verify a phone number by SMS to RSVP, which is what makes the loop fast. Some designs are paid, at unpublished prices.

Ticketing is for US hosts only, with an unpublished per-ticket fee; Partiful's own example is a $112 ticket paying out $100. QR scanning exists only on ticketed events, in the app, with no offline mode published. English only, data processed in the US.

Better choice when: the party is casual, the crowd is on their phones and nobody scans at the door. For a club night, a launch or a non-US ticketed event, read GuestlistOnline vs Partiful first.

Joy

Kind: wedding website. Joy is the best free online invitation maker for a wedding with complicated RSVPs.

Joy's core is free forever: a wedding website, a registry, unlimited guests, online RSVP, hundreds of digital invitations and multiple editors. The RSVP engine is the strongest here: conditional follow-up questions, questions targeted by tag, a deadline with a grace period and automatic reminders six, three and one month out.

Paid extras are a custom domain at about $19.99 a year (it forwards rather than replaces withjoy.com), printing from $1.39 a card, and SMS at an unpublished price to US and Canadian numbers. Cash gifts are zero-fee through Venmo, PayPal or Cash App; card gifts carry a 3.5% fee paid by the guest, and bank transfers cost $1.70 each. Joy has six interface languages but no Dutch, no check-in, and a privacy policy that says it sells and shares identifiers with advertising partners.

Better choice when: you are a US or Canadian couple and the job is a website, a registry and RSVPs. GuestlistOnline vs Joy covers the door and language gaps.

Zola

Kind: wedding website. Zola is the best online invitation maker for US couples who want registry, paper and website from one brand.

Zola gives away a wedding website with 600+ designs, a guest list and RSVPs, with no subscription. Add-ons are one-off: a custom domain from $17.99, a $14.99 seating chart in the iOS app, guest messaging at $59.99 to $79.99 (US numbers only) and paper invitations from $1.79 to $4.49 a card. Card gifts to a cash fund carry a 2.5% fee, the lowest here, with a zero-fee Venmo route.

There are no digital invitations, only digital save-the-dates, and email is plain text. Payouts go to US banks only, the interface is English only, the Android app shut down in January 2023, and there is no check-in.

Better choice when: the wedding is in the US, you are on iPhones and the registry is the main event. See GuestlistOnline vs Zola.

GuestlistOnline

Kind: event platform. GuestlistOnline is the best online invitation maker with RSVP tracking, a guest list and QR check-in in one tool.

Your invitation is an RSVP page built from one of 9 templates, with your branding, custom questions, named plus-ones, dietary requirements, a capacity limit and guest approval. Email invitations and reminders go out in 7 languages, Dutch included. No ads on any plan, and hosting is in the EU.

The free plan covers 1 event with 50 guests, an RSVP page and manual check-in, no credit card. QR check-in is on the paid plans: Per Event at €19.99 one-off for unlimited guests on one event, or Pro at €29 a month or €249 a year for unlimited events. The scanner installs on any phone and works with no signal. There are no fees on free events; paid tickets cost 5% + €0.25 per ticket, processing included. See the pricing page and the invitations overview.

Where it is not the better choice: it does not produce a printable PDF card, so pair it with Canva for that. There are no text-message invitations, no registry and no licensed character designs. Evite's 750 free guests, Partiful's text loop and Joy's RSVP logic are real advantages.

How to choose: five questions

1. File or page? A file (Canva) is for printing and posting. A page is for replies.
2. How many guests, how many events? Under 50 once: Paperless Post or GuestlistOnline free. Hundreds once: Greenvelope per mailing or Evite with ads. Every month: Punchbowl or GuestlistOnline Pro, or Partiful free.
3. Will guests see ads? Greenvelope, Partiful and GuestlistOnline say no on every plan. Evite and Punchbowl's cheaper tiers say yes.
4. Is there a door? Only GuestlistOnline (QR on paid plans) and Partiful (ticketed US events, in-app) scan. Card senders and wedding websites hand you a list.
5. Which language, and where is the data? Greenvelope (five languages) and GuestlistOnline (7 languages, EU hosting) cover European guest lists. The other seven are English-first and US-hosted.

Verdict by occasion

Wedding

Joy for a free website, registry and the best RSVP logic in the US or Canada. Zola if you want paper and a seating chart from the same brand. GuestlistOnline if the reception has a door, the family reads Dutch, German or French, or you want EU hosting. Greenvelope for one formal emailed invitation.

Birthday or house party

Partiful for a casual party with text RSVPs. Punchbowl for a kids' party with licensed characters in North America. Evite for hundreds of guests free if you can live with ads. GuestlistOnline free for an ad-free page with custom questions, up to 50 guests.

Corporate event or launch

Greenvelope for one polished mailing with open rates. GuestlistOnline for custom questions, approval, team access, branding and QR check-in on the day, at €19.99 for the event. Paperless Pro if you already use Paperless Post and want reminders and analytics.

Club night

GuestlistOnline: QR per guest, an offline scanner, promoter links with commissions, and ticketing at 5% + €0.25 with no fees on free events. Partiful if the night is in the US, free to attend, and a text-message guest list is enough.

Charity gala

Paperless Post for a free card to a short list, with the 25% nonprofit discount. Greenvelope for the formal mailing. GuestlistOnline for table questions, dietary fields, approval and the door.

Whichever you pick, send early, set a reply deadline and send one reminder. If you are unsure what to ask guests for, start with what RSVP means.

Frequently Asked Questions