Wedding website builders compared (2026)

What’s actually free — with the caveats

All six have a free path to a live wedding site, but “free” means slightly different things. Joy is the most straightforwardly generous: a completely free site including hosting, RSVP tools, and templates, monetized through registry commissions and optional upgrades. Zola’s websites are free to create and publish. The Knot’s builder is free but a free site uses a theknot.com subdomain.

Two are more conditional. RSVPify’s free tier is capped at 100 guests and one event, and RSVPify branding stays on the free plan (removing it is a Business-tier feature). Paperless Post is invitation-first rather than a site builder: a free self-designed Flyer sends to up to 50 guests, with premium designs paid in Coins. Duva’s wedding website, guest list, and RSVP are free with no subscription. Whether any of these free tiers display ads is mostly not documented on their official pages — only Paperless Post explicitly states its free invitations carry no ads.

• Joy. Fully free including hosting and RSVP; revenue from registry commissions and upgrades.
• The Knot. Free builder; free sites use a theknot.com subdomain.
• Zola. Free to create and publish; custom domain is the main website upcharge.
• RSVPify. Free tier capped at 100 guests / 1 event; RSVPify branding stays unless you upgrade.
• Paperless Post. Invitation-first; free Flyer to 50 guests, premium designs cost Coins.
• Duva. Free website, guest list, and RSVP; no subscription and no per-guest fee.

Custom domains and what they cost

If you want your own web address instead of a platform subdomain, most charge for it. The Knot’s custom domain is $19.99 for one year or $39.98 for two (it does not auto-renew). Zola offers a custom domain from $17.99. Joy lists custom domains as a paid upgrade but does not publish a figure on its pricing page. Duva gives every couple a clean address on its own domain at no charge, and generates a QR code for it for free.

For a lot of couples a subdomain is perfectly fine — guests reach the site by a texted link or a scanned QR either way — so treat the custom domain as a nice-to-have rather than a deciding factor unless a bespoke URL matters to you.

Design, customization, and guest privacy

On design, Joy leans on hundreds of free templates and a polished app, and Paperless Post is the clear leader if you think of the invitation as a beautiful object — a large catalog of designs and a strong paper aesthetic. Zola offers polished free and premium designs. These are matters of taste more than capability; look at the actual templates and pick what fits your wedding.

On privacy, if you would rather your site not be public, check for a password. The Knot’s free tier includes password protection and search-engine blocking. Duva offers optional password protection on the public wedding site as well. Not every builder makes privacy easy, so if it matters to you, confirm it directly before committing.

• Most templates / app polish. Joy (hundreds of free templates + guest app); Zola (polished free + premium).
• Design-led invitations. Paperless Post — best if the invitation-as-an-object is the priority.
• Password-protected sites. The Knot (free tier) and Duva both offer a passcode to keep the site private.

What comes bundled beyond the site

A wedding website rarely stands alone, so consider what each bundles. Zola and The Knot lead on registry — both universal, cash-funds-capable, and (for Zola) synced right into the site — and The Knot adds the vendor marketplace. Joy bundles a registry and a guest app with a shared photo gallery. RSVPify bundles the deepest RSVP and event-management logic rather than registry or vendors.

Duva bundles the guest-messaging side that the others largely charge for or lack: it sends RSVP invitations and reminders over SMS and WhatsApp — never metered by credits, behind a flat one-time $10 messaging unlock — routing by phone number, and delivers to international guests over WhatsApp, which none of the others do. If your site’s main job is to drive RSVPs from a guest list that includes people abroad, that bundle matters more than templates.

How to choose

Match the builder to your wedding’s center of gravity. For registry and vendor discovery, Zola or The Knot. For a free, polished all-in-one with a guest app, Joy. For a beautiful single-event invitation, Paperless Post. For the deepest RSVP and event logic (email-based), RSVPify. For a free multi-event site whose strength is reaching guests — including family abroad — by SMS and WhatsApp, Duva.

Whatever you lean toward, spend ten minutes on each product’s own site to confirm current prices, free-tier limits, and privacy options — they change, and the right choice depends on which of these details actually applies to your wedding.