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Looking for an Evite alternative? Here is the honest comparison.

Evite is the invitation site most guests have already met: a large design library, envelopes and stickers, greeting cards and party ideas. Where it charges is around the invitation — ads on the free designs, and a Premium price that rises with your guest count. Mela is free at any size, shows no ads on invitations, counts the people you actually have to feed, and keeps the group together after the party. Both let a guest reply without an account; the four real differences are below.

Side by side, from Evite’s own pricing and help pages
EviteMela
Price~Free designs; Premium per invitation from $17.99 (up to 12 guests) to $99.99 (up to 750); Evite Pro $249.99 a year for up to 2,500 per invitationFree at any guest count
AdsOn free invitations; “No ads” is a Premium featureNone on invitations or reply pages
How a guest replies~From the shareable link with an email address; no account requiredFrom the link with a name and mobile number; no account
Guest limits~Premium tiers at 12, 30, 75 and 750 guests; Pro up to 2,500No practical limit
DesignsHundreds, with animated effects, envelopes and stickers on Premium~Twelve clean designs, all included
Your own design~Upload Your Own Design takes a JPG or PNG; those templates are Premium, with a charge to sendUpload a card, or a 15-second video or GIF, at no charge
What it is~“Online invitations, greeting cards and party ideas”, in its own wordsInvitations plus the community after: announcements, classes, volunteers, dues

Checked on 6 September 2026 against the product’s own public pages. Prices are US list prices on that date. Evite and Partiful are trademarks of their respective owners, who are not affiliated with Mela and have not endorsed it. Tell us if anything here is out of date: hello@joinmela.co.

What Evite does well

Familiarity and choice. Guests recognise it, the design library is enormous, and Premium adds envelopes, animated reveals, a host photo gallery and your own uploaded design. Guests reply from the emailed link or the shareable link without an account. If the card itself is the point, Evite is hard to beat.

Where Mela is different

Sources

The facts above come from these pages, read on 6 and 9 September 2026.

Evite: invitation pricingEvite: Premium vs. FreeEvite: shareable linkEvite: Upload Your Own Design

Why hosts move from Evite to Mela

Free with no ads, at any sizeEvite’s ad-free tiers run from $17.99 to $99.99 per invitation, or $249.99 a year. On Mela a festival with 400 families costs the same as a dinner for eight: nothing. Bring your Etsy or Canva card, or a short video, at no charge.
The number you can cook forAdults and kids counted separately, plus-ones as a number, dietary notes on the reply, and a dish list with quantities that closes when covered. Evite counts yeses.
Built for the group chatGuests reply with a name and a mobile number, not an email — the one thing the neighborhood WhatsApp group already has. Mela still emails the guests who are not in the chat, shows who opened, and sends one reminder to those who have not replied.
The group staysThe guest list becomes a community with announcements, classes, volunteers, dues and albums. A PTA that hosts every month buys Evite Premium every month; on Mela the same people are already on the board.

The next one’s on you.

Free for organizers, members and guests. The iPhone app runs the community; every guest replies from a link.

Not sure yet? Try creating an event — nothing is sent or published.

Questions

Is Mela free the way Evite’s free designs are free?

Mela is free with no ads on invitations and no paid tier. Evite’s free designs carry ads; removing them is a Premium feature priced by guest count.

Do guests need an account on either?

No, on both. Evite guests reply from the emailed link or the shareable link; Mela guests from the link with a name and a mobile number. The difference is what identifies a guest: an email address on Evite, a mobile number on Mela.

Can my guests reply without an account?

Yes. They open the link and reply with a name and mobile number. Only the host sees the number.

Does Mela have as many designs as Evite?

No. Mela has a handful of clean designs, all included. If the card is the point, Evite has more.

Also worth reading

Why Mela →Mela vs. Partiful →Invitations →