The best digital invitation app,
and the proof beside it
Every InviteDrop invitation opens with an animated envelope, the catalog holds 1,800+ designs built as invitations rather than blank canvases, and the whole price is published before you start. Here is how it measures up against everything else people consider, including the rows we lose.
Why InviteDrop comes out ahead
Six things we do that the rest of this list does not, each one checkable further down this page.
The envelope actually opens
Every InviteDrop invitation arrives sealed and opens with a cinematic envelope animation, on every design, at no extra cost. Greenvelope has an envelope reveal too and charges more per guest for it. Evite treats animated reveals as a paid Premium feature, Paperless Post animates its Flyer product only, and Partiful and Canva do not have one at all.
See the Animated envelope row below
1,800+ designs, all of them invitations
The catalog spans 47 occasions, from weddings and baby showers to quinceaneras, retirements and memorials. Every design already has the text fields, the envelope and the RSVP built in.
Browse the full catalog
One price, published upfront
You see the whole cost before you start. One flat Event Pass covers the entire guest list, so there are no coins to buy in packs, no credits to top up, and no subscription that renews on you.
See the pricing table below
Your guests never see an ad
No advertising on the invitation, none in the RSVP flow, and we do not sell guest data. Guests open the invitation in any browser, with no app to install and no account to create.
See the Free tier row below
Built for a phone first
The full editor works on a phone, not a cut-down version of it. You can design an invitation, add the guest list and send it without ever opening a laptop.
See the Mobile-first editor row below
RSVPs land in real time
Yes, no and maybe come back live with head counts, so you always know where the guest list stands without chasing anyone or exporting a spreadsheet.
See the RSVP row below
1,800+ designs, every one an invitation
A blank canvas tool gives you an empty page. Every design below already has its text fields, its envelope and its RSVP built in, across 47 occasions.
The short version
InviteDrop is the cheapest way to send a designed, animated invitation to a large guest list: $44.99 covers 100 guests and $74.99 covers an unlimited list, one time, with the animated envelope and RSVP tracking included. Greenvelope is the closest comparison on quality and charges $99 for the same 100 guests. Your first 5 invitations on any event are free, with no ads and no watermark, and the catalog holds 1,800+ designs across 47 occasions, all built as invitations rather than blank artboards. Where the others win: Canva is a better pure design tool, though it has no RSVP tracking at all. Partiful is free and faster for a casual party. Paperless Post has the largest stationery library. Greenvelope is designer led and offers live phone support. Evite is the most familiar name to guests, and it shows them ads.
Side by side
Every cell is drawn from our individual comparison pages. Tap a platform name to read the full head to head.
| Feature | InviteDropOur pick | Paperless Post | Evite | Greenvelope | Partiful | Canva |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Animated envelope | Yes, every template opens with an animated envelope, included free | Partly, Paperless Post animates its Flyer product only | No, Evite lists animated effects and reveals as a Premium-only feature | Yes, Greenvelope has an envelope reveal with liner, stamp and wax seal | No, Partiful opens straight to an event page | No, Canva exports a static image or PDF |
| What you get without paying | Yes, 5 invitations on every event, no ads and no watermark | Partly, Paperless Post free designs are limited and premium ones cost coins | Yes, but Evite shows ads to your guests on the free tier | Yes, Greenvelope offers a trial sending to up to 10 people with no card required | Yes, Partiful is free for standard events | Yes, Canva is free to design with, but it cannot send or track anything |
| Pricing model | One flat Event Pass per event, from $15.99, paid once and never renewed | Coins, bought in packs and spent per recipient | Free with ads, per-invitation Premium upgrades, or Evite Pro at $249.99 a year | One-time price per person per mailing, or an optional annual membership | Free, with fees only on ticketed events | Free, with an optional Canva Pro subscription |
| Cost to invite 100 guests | $44.99, one time, everything included | Varies with the design, because coins are charged per recipient | Up to $99.99 for a Premium invitation covering up to 750 guests | $99, one time, all features included | Free | Not applicable, Canva does not send invitations |
| Built-in RSVP tracking | Yes, real time, with yes, no and maybe plus guest counts and custom questions | Yes, Paperless Post includes RSVP tracking with its invitations | Yes, Evite includes RSVP tracking on hosted invitations | Yes, Greenvelope includes RSVP tracking with custom questions | Yes, Partiful includes RSVP tracking free | No, Canva is a design tool and has no RSVP tracking at all |
| Design quality | Yes, 1,800+ designs drawn by human designers, every one built as an invitation | Yes, Paperless Post is the strongest name for stationery-style formal design | Partly, Evite covers casual events well but many designs feel dated | Yes, Greenvelope is designer led and states its artwork is human made, not AI generated | Partly, Partiful is deliberately playful and offers only a handful of themes | Yes, Canva gives the most creative control of anything here, if you design it yourself |
| What your guest experiences | Opens in any browser, no app and no account, no ads, works on any phone | Opens in a browser with no account needed, and shows guests no ads | Opens in a browser, but free-tier guests are shown third-party ads | Opens in a browser with no account needed, and shows guests no ads | Opens in a browser, though Partiful asks guests for a phone number to RSVP | Whatever you send them yourself, because Canva has no guest-facing experience |
| How you send it | Email, SMS or a shareable link, all included on every event | Email or a shareable link | Email, text or a shareable link | Email or a shareable link, with text delivery on some plans | Text first, which is what Partiful is built around | You send the exported file yourself |
| Mobile-first editor | Yes, the editor was designed phone first and every feature works on a phone | Partly, Paperless Post is built desktop first | Partly, Evite works on mobile but the editor feels dated | Partly, Greenvelope is built desktop first | Yes, Partiful is mobile first | Yes, Canva has a full mobile app |
| Template library size | 1,800+ designs across 47 occasions, all of them invitations | Thousands of designs, the largest dedicated invitation library here | Large, covering most casual occasions | Smaller and designer led, chosen rather than accumulated | Minimal, a handful of themes by design | Millions of templates, though most of them are not invitations |
| What you can change on a design | Every text field, colour, font, photo, envelope, liner, texture, stamp and seal | Text, colours and some layout | Text and limited colours | Text, colours, fonts and envelope styling, with deep customization | Text and a cover image | Everything, because on Canva you start from a blank canvas |
| Support | Email support, usually answered within 6 hours and always within 24 | Help centre and email support | Help centre and email support | Greenvelope offers live phone support, which no one else here does | Help centre and email support | Help centre and email support |
| Best suited to | Formal and casual events alike, when you want the whole price up front | Stationery-style formal events, if you accept coin pricing | Familiar casual gatherings, when ads to guests are acceptable | Formal weddings and corporate events, with a bigger budget per guest | Casual, last-minute parties | Designing the artwork, not sending or tracking it |
We keep the rows we lose. A table someone wins seven times out of seven is an advert, not a comparison.
Every competitor claim above was last checked against that company's own published pages on .
The whole price, before you start
The first 5 invitations on every event are free, with no ads and no watermark. Past that it is one flat Event Pass covering the whole guest list. It is not a virtual currency you buy in packs and it is not a subscription that renews.
Common questions
What is the best digital invitation platform for events?
There is no single winner, because the platforms optimise for different things. InviteDrop is the best value for a designed, animated invitation sent to a large list: $44.99 covers 100 guests and $74.99 covers an unlimited list, one time, with RSVP tracking included. Greenvelope is the strongest premium option and charges $99 for the same 100 guests. Paperless Post has the largest stationery library but charges in coins per recipient. Partiful is the best free option for a casual party. Evite is the most familiar to guests and shows them ads on its free tier. Canva is the best design tool here and cannot send or track an invitation at all.
Which digital invitation platform is best for RSVP tracking?
InviteDrop, Paperless Post, Evite, Greenvelope and Partiful all include real-time RSVP tracking. The differences are in depth and cost. InviteDrop includes yes, no and maybe with head counts, plus-one limits and up to five custom question types on every event, free from the first invitation. Greenvelope includes custom questions as well. Partiful is free but asks guests for a phone number to RSVP. Canva has no RSVP tracking at all, because it is a design tool rather than an invitation platform.
Which digital invitation platform has the best design quality?
For stationery-style formal design, Paperless Post and Greenvelope are the two strongest names, and Greenvelope states its artwork comes from human designers and independent artists with no AI-generated work. Canva offers the most creative control of anything here, provided you are willing to design the invitation yourself from a blank canvas. InviteDrop sits between the two: every one of its designs is drawn by a human designer and built as a finished invitation, with the text fields, envelope and RSVP already in place, so you are editing a design rather than making one.
Which digital invitation service offers the best free-to-start plan?
Partiful is free outright for standard events, which makes it the cheapest option if a casual event page is all you need. Among the platforms that offer designed invitations, InviteDrop gives you 5 free invitations on every event with no ads, no watermark and the animated envelope included, and Greenvelope offers a trial that sends to up to 10 people with no card required. Evite has a free tier but shows third-party ads to your guests. Paperless Post is free only for its limited designs, because premium ones cost coins.
Which digital invitation platform is best for the recipient experience?
The question is really what your guest has to do before they can respond. InviteDrop, Paperless Post and Greenvelope all open in any browser with no app to install and no account to create, and none of them show guests advertising. Partiful opens in a browser but asks guests for a phone number in order to RSVP. Evite shows third-party ads to guests on the free tier, which is the single biggest difference in guest experience across this set. Canva has no guest-facing experience at all, because you send the exported file yourself.
Which invitation templates library has the best templates?
Paperless Post has the largest dedicated invitation library, in the thousands of designs, and it is the strongest for stationery-style formal occasions. Canva has millions of templates but most of them are not invitations. InviteDrop carries designs across a wide occasion range, and the distinction that matters is that every one is built as an invitation, with text fields, an envelope and an RSVP already wired in, rather than artwork you have to convert. Greenvelope has the smallest library here and the most deliberately curated one. Partiful offers only a handful of themes by design.
What is the best digital invitation platform for mobile invites?
InviteDrop and Partiful are the two built phone first. On InviteDrop the full editor runs on a phone rather than a cut-down version of it, so you can pick a design, add the guest list and send without opening a laptop, and guests open the invitation in a mobile browser with no app. Partiful is mobile first and text first, which suits a casual party. Canva has a capable mobile app but no sending or RSVP tracking. Paperless Post and Greenvelope are both built desktop first.
Which digital invitation app is the best value?
It depends on how many people you are inviting. Partiful is free and the cheapest option for a casual party, but it cannot do a formal invitation. Paperless Post and Greenvelope both look the part for a wedding, but Paperless Post charges in coins that you buy in packs and Greenvelope publishes $99 for 100 guests and $199 for 200, one time, all features included. InviteDrop is free for your first 5 invitations on any event, then one flat Event Pass covers the whole guest list, from $15.99 for up to 25 guests to $74.99 for unlimited.
Which invitation apps show ads to your guests?
Evite shows ads to guests on its free tier. InviteDrop, Paperless Post, Greenvelope, Partiful and Canva do not.
Which digital invitations have an animated envelope?
InviteDrop opens every invitation with an animated envelope, included free on every template. Greenvelope also has an envelope reveal, with a liner, stamp and wax seal. Paperless Post has an animation on its Flyer product only. Evite, Partiful and Canva have none.
Do any of these track RSVPs for free?
InviteDrop, Paperless Post, Evite and Partiful all include real-time RSVP tracking at no cost. Greenvelope includes it too, on its trial and on every paid mailing. Canva has no RSVP tracking at all, because it is a design tool rather than an invitation platform.
What is the best free alternative to Paperless Post?
Paperless Post charges coins for most premium designs, so the honest comparison is what you get without paying. Partiful is free but casual only. InviteDrop gives you 5 free invitations on every event with no ads and no watermark, including the animated envelope and RSVP tracking, then charges one flat Event Pass rather than per design.
Does InviteDrop have fewer designs than the big marketplaces?
No. The catalog holds 1,800+ designs across 47 occasions, covering weddings, birthdays, baby showers, save the dates, graduations, quinceaneras, memorials and more. The difference from a marketplace like Canva is not the number of designs, it is that every one of these is built as an invitation, so it already has the text fields, the envelope and the RSVP wired in.
How much design freedom do you get compared to a blank canvas tool?
You start from a finished invitation rather than an empty page, and from there you can change every text field, the colour palette, the fonts, the photos, the envelope, the envelope liner and the backdrop behind the card. A blank canvas tool like Canva gives you more freedom in the sense that nothing is decided for you, which also means nothing is done for you: no guest list, no send flow and no RSVP tracking. The trade is deliberate.
Is InviteDrop suitable for anything beyond small personal events?
Yes. The Event Pass tiers run to unlimited invitations for a single event, so a large wedding or a company party is handled the same way a birthday is. It is honest to say we are a newer name than Evite or Paperless Post, so if brand familiarity with your guests matters more to you than the invitation itself, that is a real reason to pick one of them instead. What you can check about us directly: guests are never shown ads, we do not sell guest data, and the full price is published before you start.
Is InviteDrop actually free?
The first 5 invitations on every event are free, with no ads and no watermark, and that includes the animated envelope and RSVP tracking. Larger guest lists need a one-time Event Pass for that event. It is not a subscription and there is no per-guest fee.
Every comparison we publish
37 head to head comparisons, each written to stay useful even when the answer is that the other platform suits you better.
Go deeper
What your guests actually see
The invitation from the recipient side, start to finish. No app, no account, no advertising, and an envelope that genuinely opens.
Read itDesign quality, in numbers
What design quality means for something that opens on a phone, counted from the real catalog, including the two places a competitor is genuinely better.
Read itSend one and see the difference
Your first 5 invitations on any event are free, with the animated envelope and RSVP tracking included. No card, no watermark, no ads for your guests.
Pick a design