Guides · 3 September 2026
Wedding websites and digital invitations: what each platform really costs (2026)
Cards on the table first: this guide is written by Weddara, one of the platforms in it. Which is exactly why we tied our own hands — every fact comes from each platform's official pages, verified in September 2026, prices in their original currency. Anything we could not verify is marked as such rather than made up.
And it does not matter which search brought you here — wedding website or digital wedding invitation — because it is the same decision: the wedding website is the complete digital invitation, the one that collects RSVPs as well as announcing the day. The whole guide fits in one sentence: with wedding websites, "free" rarely means you do not pay — it means you pay with something else.
The four tolls of "free"
1. Someone else's logo on your invitation. bodas.net's free wedding website carries their logo, and removing it costs €29–69 in non-cancellable yearly packs. Bodas.com works similarly: the watermark only goes away with a subscription (€24–59/year depending on guest count).
2. Mandatory apps for your guests. The number-one reason wedding photo albums end up empty: on Joy, guests must install the app to upload photos; on bodas.net it is their WedShoots app; and Zola's full seating chart is an in-app purchase available only on iPhone. Every mandatory download is a share of your guests left out.
3. You are the product. The big free portals live off funnelling couples into their vendor directories and selling stationery and upsells. No scandal — it is their model and it works — but the "free" website is the bait, and your wedding data is part of the deal.
4. Language and small print. Zola and The Knot are built for the US market, in English only (a bilingual site is manual work); a custom domain is never free ($17.99–19.99/year extra); and free portals tend to collect allergies as loose messages, not as a clean list you can hand the caterer.
What a one-time payment actually buys
Weddara costs from €89 as a single payment, no subscription: the website — your complete digital wedding invitation — is built for free with the live preview beside you, and you only pay when you publish. That payment buys back all four tolls:
- Your invitation, your name on it: no third-party logo, no ads, and we do not sell your data to vendors — we sell you the website, full stop.
- Zero apps: guests RSVP from their phone's browser, and the QR album lets them scan and upload photos with nothing to install.
- RSVPs as clean data: menus, allergies and plus-ones arrive structured, ready for the caterer in one click — and Premium (€139) adds the seating planner with dietary counts on the printable plan.
- Real multilingual support: built in Spain, native in Spanish and English, French, Italian, German, Catalan, Basque and Galician — with extra languages living on the same website (+€59 each).
- Your domain, included: Premium includes your own domain with the first year paid — on the "free" platforms it is always a yearly extra.
- Design without surprises: 9 wedding-only templates, each with a real browsable demo so you see it exactly as your guests will; Premium also lets you pick the palette.
- Published does not mean closed: the site goes live instantly and you keep editing it afterwards — changed schedules, last-minute shuttles, that new photo — without limits or fees.
Our own downsides, same yardstick? We are not free, and there is no US-style gift registry — here the registry is your account number or any link you like.
The table, at a glance
| Platform | Real price | Multilingual | RSVP with menus | Seating chart | Guest photos | Custom domain | No third-party logo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weddara | €89–139 one-time | 8 languages | Yes, clean data | Yes (Premium) | QR album, no apps | Included 1st year (Premium) | Yes |
| Joy | Free | Yes, English interface | Yes | No | Only via their app | Extra (~$20–40/yr) | Yes |
| Zola | Free | No | Yes | 15 guests; paid upgrade, iOS only | Own gallery | $17.99/yr | — |
| The Knot | Free | No | Yes | — | — | $19.99/yr | — |
| bodas.net | Free with their logo; removal €29–69/yr | Spanish | Via messages | Yes | Via their app | Only in the €69/yr pack | Only if you pay |
| Bodas.com | Subscription €24–59/yr | Spanish | Yes | Yes | QR album | — | Only if you pay |
| Minted | Free (one-time extras) | No | Yes | No | — | Custom URL ~$15 once | Yes |
Cells marked "—" could not be verified on official sources — we prefer a gap to a guess.
Which one fits your wedding?
If your budget is exactly zero and you accept the tolls — the logo, the apps, the English, the data — the big free platforms will serve you, eyes open. If your wedding is in Spain or bilingual and you want your digital wedding invitation without ads, RSVPs as clean data, seating and album with nothing for guests to install, paying once and owning what is yours: that is exactly the wedding Weddara was built for. Build it free and decide later — you only pay when you publish.
*Prices and features verified in September 2026 on each platform's official website. Spotted something outdated? Write to hola@weddara.com and we will fix it.*