Mela is a free app for the people who organize gatherings and groups: send an invitation as a link and get a real headcount without asking anyone to make an account; run a potluck that fills itself; and give a team, a school, a studio, a congregation or a neighborhood one place for announcements, events, classes with attendance, dues and documents.
Facts
Name: Mela (pronounced meh-LAH; the word for a gathering or fair).
Website: joinmela.co. iPhone app on the App Store; the web works on any device.
Price: nothing to pay. No subscription, no per-member or per-guest fee, no ads on invitations or reply pages. Local businesses can buy a labelled sponsored listing inside a community that opts in; each listing is approved by that community’s admins.
Requires iOS 26.4 or later for the organizer app. Guests and members need only a browser.
Maker: Cornerstone Venture Holdings LLC, United States. Contact: hello@joinmela.co (a person reads every email).
Launched on the App Store in August 2026.
What it does
Invitations as a link. Guests RSVP with their name and mobile number; adults, kids and plus-ones counted.
Potluck and bring lists with quantities that close when covered.
Communities: announcements with push notifications, an events calendar with RSVP, volunteer slots, expenses, documents, FAQs and contacts, photo albums.
Programs and classes: a term laid out as sessions; members say if they’re coming; organizers take attendance, confirm per-class or per-term payments, and remind anyone unpaid with one tap.
Community types: Club / Team / Academy, School / PTA, Place of worship, HOA / Neighborhood, Non-profit, Other.
Group cards and thank-you cards; birthday and anniversary reminders.
What it deliberately does not do
Process payments. Money goes directly to the organizer (Venmo or however they collect); Mela keeps the record.
Keep scores, lineups or league tables.
Store school permission slips or medical forms.
Chat. Mela replaces the group chat for organizing; it does not add another one.
How it is funded
Mela is free for the people who use it. Local businesses can buy a sponsored listing in a community’s vendor directory, but only where that community has opted in and its admins have approved the business. Listings are labelled, limited to five per category per community, and are not an endorsement. Invitations and reply pages carry no ads.
Privacy, briefly
Guest pages are addressed by a secret link and never indexed. Guests who RSVP are not asked to create an account. After replying, a guest can see the names of who else is coming; phone numbers and emails are visible only to the host. Full details in the privacy policy.
The next one’s on you.
Free for organizers, members and guests. The iPhone app runs the community; every guest replies from a link.
The organizer app is iPhone-only today. Guests and community members on Android use the web — RSVPs, potluck lists, announcements and events all work in a browser.
How does Mela make money if it is free?
Through sponsored listings that local businesses buy inside communities that choose to show them. Each listing is labelled, approved by the community’s admins, and capped at five per category per community. A listing is not an endorsement. Organizers and members never pay.
Who is Mela for?
Anyone hosting a gathering, and the people who run teams, PTAs, studios, congregations, HOAs and clubs.