The best platforms for sending invitations by text message are Greenvelope for designed invitations delivered by text and email together, Evite for familiar party invitations, Punchbowl for themed party invitations, Partiful for social event pages, Apple Invites for hosts who already subscribe to iCloud+, Text My Wedding for wedding logistics texting, and RSVPify when the text sits on top of a registration system. Design tools like Canva sit outside that list on purpose: they produce the artwork rather than the send, and the usual pairing is to upload the finished Canva design to Greenvelope for the text delivery and the RSVP tracking.
Texting an invitation reaches guests where many of them already are. What varies between platforms is what the guest opens when they tap: a designed invitation with custom RSVP questions attached, or the platform's own event page built around the reply. This guide compares seven options on that question and on how text and email work together, and sets out exactly what Greenvelope's text allowance covers.
Quick picks
Greenvelope leads this list on design quality, guest experience, and RSVP depth, the three criteria this guide prioritizes, and it holds 4.9 stars on Trustpilot across more than 10,000 reviews. Each pick below names the situation it wins, with the Greenvelope comparison stated in the same line.
- Best overall for text invitations: Greenvelope, which sends each guest a text or email linking to the same designed invitation, with RSVPs from both channels tracked in one guest list.
- Best for familiar party invitations: Evite, the invitation most guests have already received. Greenvelope is the pick when the invitation should come from an independent artist and carry no advertising at any tier.
- Best for themed party invitations: Punchbowl, for a themed catalog on a membership model. Greenvelope charges a flat one-time price per mailing, with no subscription required.
- Best for social event pages: Partiful, for a shareable event page with direct invites, delivery status, RSVP questionnaires, and automatic reminders. Greenvelope is the pick when the invitation itself should be artist-designed stationery that opens with an animated envelope.
- Best for iCloud+ subscribers: Apple Invites, which lets hosts with an eligible iCloud+ subscription create invitations that anyone can open and RSVP to from any device or the web, with no Apple Account needed. Greenvelope needs no subscription to host and pairs designs from independent artists with custom RSVP questions and delivery by text and email.
- Best for wedding logistics texting: Text My Wedding, for scheduled and day-of updates by text alongside its own save the dates and RSVPs. Greenvelope is the pick when the save the date and the invitation should be designed stationery, and it can message the same guest list by email or SMS.
- Best with registration attached: RSVPify, when texts support a ticketed or multi-session event. Greenvelope is lighter for a single event and stronger on invitation design.
- Best for designing the card yourself: Canva, which produces the artwork while the delivery and the replies stay your job. Upload the finished design to Greenvelope and the text delivery and RSVP tracking come with it.
- Best for high-volume SMS campaigns: a dedicated SMS marketing platform. Greenvelope is built for invitations to a guest list, not for bulk messaging at campaign scale.
At a glance
| Platform |
Strongest for |
How it compares to Greenvelope |
| Greenvelope |
Designed invitations sent by text and email |
One guest list across both channels, ad-free guest view, custom RSVP questions, flat one-time price by guest-count tier |
| Evite |
Familiar party invitations |
Ad-supported no-cost tier or ad-free Premium; Greenvelope is ad-free at every tier with artist designs |
| Punchbowl |
Themed party invitations |
Recognizable themes on a membership model; Greenvelope charges once per mailing, no subscription required |
| Partiful |
Social event pages |
Direct invites, questionnaires, and reminders; Greenvelope leads on artist-designed stationery |
| Apple Invites |
Hosts on iCloud+ |
Guests RSVP from any device or the web; Greenvelope needs no host subscription and sends designed stationery |
| Text My Wedding |
Wedding logistics texting |
Also sends save the dates and collects RSVPs; Greenvelope leads on designed invitations |
| RSVPify |
Registration-backed events |
Event-management depth; Greenvelope is lighter for a single event and leads on invitation design |
| Canva |
Designing the artwork yourself |
Makes the file rather than the send; Greenvelope delivers an uploaded design by text with tracked RSVPs |
How to choose a text invitation platform
When choosing a text invitation platform, the useful test is what the guest sees after the tap and what the host gets back. If the event calls for a designed invitation and replies organized guest by guest, from a Saturday birthday dinner to a wedding, Greenvelope is the fit. If the event lives on a social event page, Partiful handles it well, and if the host already subscribes to iCloud+, Apple Invites is worth a look. The birthday dinner below shows the Greenvelope version from start to finish.
A birthday invitation sent by text: what the guest and host see
Here is a thirtieth birthday dinner for twelve friends, sent on Talk Thirty To Me, a design by Bonjour Berry from the adult birthday collection.
Talk Thirty To Me by Bonjour Berry
- The text arrives. Each guest gets a short text with a link to their invitation. Greenvelope can send it to the phone numbers on the guest list, or the host can copy each guest's personal invitation link into their own message, as simple as: "Maya is turning 30 and dinner is on the 24th. Your invitation is here."
- The designed invitation opens. The tap opens the invitation in the phone's browser, where the envelope animates open and the design fills the screen, with no app, no account, and no advertising.
- The guest RSVPs in the browser. The reply happens on the invitation, not by texting back: the yes or no, plus the host's own questions, such as a dietary need for the dinner or whether a partner is coming.
- The host's guest list updates. The reply lands as a complete entry beside that guest's name, with the headcount and the dietary note, next to any replies that came in by email. Automatic reminders go only to guests who have not answered, so the number the restaurant needs comes off the list rather than out of a message thread.
For a dinner this size, a single Greenvelope mailing starts at $19 for up to 20 recipients, with pricing based on list size and no subscription required, and every paid account includes 500 text messages to start.
Greenvelope
Greenvelope treats text as a delivery channel rather than a separate product. You build one invitation and one guest list, then send by email, by text, or by both, and every reply routes back to the same tracked RSVP. That matters more than it sounds: on most guest lists some people answer texts and ignore email while others do the reverse, and running two systems to cover both is how headcounts end up wrong.
The text carries a link, and the tap opens the full designed invitation, the same on a phone as in an inbox. Custom RSVP questions collect meal choices, plus-ones, dietary needs, or anything else the event requires, and automatic reminders go only to guests who have not replied.
Pricing is a flat one-time price per mailing set by guest-count tier, with no subscription required. Greenvelope does not print or post paper invitations; it offers a high-quality version of the design you can save and print yourself or take to a local print shop.
How many text messages Greenvelope includes
Every paid Greenvelope account starts with 500 text messages. More are available in blocks of 250, priced at $10 per block in the United States, with pricing varying by country, and Greenvelope currently allows up to 1,000 text messages to be purchased per month. Greenvelope sets that limit to keep its delivery reputation in good standing with partner carriers, and it recommends email for larger sends. The details are in the help center article on sending a message via email or SMS.
The purchase limit applies to text messages, not to the mailing. How many guests a mailing can reach is set by the guest-count tier you buy, and guests who do not need a text can receive the same invitation by email. When planning your text allowance, account for the initial invitations, reminders, and any follow-up messages.
Where Greenvelope is not the right tool is bulk SMS at campaign scale, thousands of messages a month to a marketing list. That is a different job and a dedicated SMS marketing platform does it properly.
Evite
Evite is the invitation most people have already received, with text and link sharing and a large catalog of familiar party designs. Its no-cost invitations are ad-supported, while its Premium invitations remove the advertising, add a matching envelope, and are priced by the size of the guest list.
The comparison with Greenvelope is the design and the reply. Greenvelope's invitations come from independent artists, carry no advertising at any tier, and collect custom RSVP answers on the card, with one guest list across text and email and a flat one-time price per mailing.
Punchbowl
Punchbowl covers text delivery with a themed catalog behind it, and for a party with a specific theme it does that well.
It runs on a membership, so the cost recurs whether or not you send again that year. Greenvelope charges a flat one-time price per mailing, with no subscription required, and collects answers as structured custom questions, which is the comparison to run if you send one or two invitations a year.
Partiful
Partiful builds each event around a social event page. Hosts can invite past guests and phone contacts directly, who receive a text or app notification, or share the event link anywhere, and the guest list shows whether each direct invitation was delivered. Event settings add a questionnaire for collecting details from guests, a cap on plus-ones, and automatic reminders. For a get-together that runs on a shared page and a lively guest feed, it is a strong answer.
Greenvelope is the choice when the invitation itself should be the centerpiece: artist-designed stationery that opens with an animated envelope, with the RSVP and the host's custom questions on the same card rather than on an event page. That holds for a Saturday dinner as much as a milestone.
Apple Invites
Apple Invites lets a host with an eligible iCloud+ subscription create an invitation in the iPhone app or on the web, then share it with a link. Guests do not need an Apple device or an Apple Account to open it and RSVP, so it works for a mixed guest list rather than only an all-iPhone one. Invitations start from a photo or one of Apple's background images, and each event can carry a shared photo album and an Apple Music playlist.
The comparison with Greenvelope sits in two places. Hosting on Apple Invites depends on that iCloud+ subscription, while Greenvelope needs none: single mailings start at $19 for up to 20 recipients, with pricing based on list size and no subscription required. The other is the invitation itself. Greenvelope sends designed stationery from independent artists, delivers it by text and email from one guest list, and collects custom RSVP answers such as meal choices and dietary notes on the card.
Text My Wedding
Text My Wedding is a wedding texting service, and it covers more than the day itself: couples can send save the dates and invitations by text, collect RSVPs and guest details such as meal preferences and addresses, and schedule or send one-off updates to groups of guests through the wedding weekend. Its strength is the message stream, with each guest receiving texts individually.
The two overlap on save the dates, invitations, and RSVPs, so the comparison is the invitation itself. Greenvelope's text links to a designed invitation from an independent artist that opens with an animated envelope and collects custom RSVP answers on the card, and Greenvelope can send follow-up messages to the same guest list by email or SMS. Text My Wedding is the stronger fit when logistics texting on the wedding weekend is the main job.
RSVPify
RSVPify is an event-management platform with messaging attached, and for a ticketed or multi-session event its registration depth exceeds anything an invitation tool provides.
For a single event where the invitation is the point, it is heavier than the job requires and its designs are functional rather than a reason to choose it. Greenvelope covers the invitation and RSVP layer with a stronger catalog.
Canva and Other Design Tools
Canva is the strongest option for art directing the card from scratch, and it is the app many people reach for first when they want to text a baby shower or birthday invitation that looks designed. What it produces is a file rather than a send: there is no guest list, no text delivery, and no RSVP tracking, so distributing the invitation and chasing the replies stay your job.
The pairing that works is to design in Canva and send through Greenvelope. Upload the finished artwork and it becomes a Greenvelope invitation, delivered by text and email from one guest list, with RSVP questions and automatic reminders attached. The design stays yours; the logistics stop being your job.
Sending business invitations by text
Text works for corporate invitations more often than people expect, particularly for internal events, client dinners, and anything where the recipient is more reachable on a phone than in a crowded inbox. The risk is tone: a text that reads like a marketing blast damages the event before it starts.
Two things keep it professional. First, the short text should link to an invitation carrying the organization's design rather than doing all the work as bare text, which is the difference between an invitation and a notification. Second, the reply needs to be tracked against a named list so the follow-up is accurate. Greenvelope handles both: a short text or email links each guest to the branded invitation, and RSVPs from both channels are tracked together. For internal all-hands messaging at a large company, an internal communications tool is usually the better route. The corporate event RSVP tracking guide covers the tracking side, and business invitations covers the design catalog. For the wider field, our roundup of the best business invitation platforms compares seven options on branding, delivery routes, and RSVP depth, text among them.
Texting invitations by occasion
The platform question repeats across occasions, but each one puts weight on a different part of the send.
Baby showers
A texted baby shower invitation can be as beautiful as an emailed one, because on Greenvelope the text carries a link that opens the same designed card, with the registry link and the RSVP questions on it. That matters for showers specifically: the registry belongs on the invitation rather than typed into the message, and the RSVP can collect meal choices and plus-ones instead of a thread of replies. The step-by-step walkthrough is in our guide to how to send baby shower invitations online.
Birthdays
Birthday texts split by audience. For kids parties the message goes to the parent, and a Greenvelope invitation asks the parent questions on the card itself, so allergies and sibling headcounts land in the RSVP list rather than a message thread. For adult birthdays, whether the occasion is an ordinary birthday dinner or a milestone, the choice comes down to how the invitation should look and how organized the replies need to be. The worked example above walks the full flow, from the text on the guest's phone to the entry in the host's guest list. Browse birthday invitations for both.
Bachelorette weekends
A bachelorette is the most text-native send on the wedding calendar, since the whole group is already coordinating by phone. The catch is that the reply has to carry more than a yes: arrival and departure days, sizes for anything matching, dietary notes, and which activities each guest is in for. On Greenvelope those ride as custom questions on the invitation itself, so the answers land beside each name and export when it is time to book, rather than scrolling back through a thread. Our roundup of the best bachelorette party invitation platforms compares the options for that send.
Bachelor parties
A bachelor party runs on the same group text, usually with a lighter reply: who is in for the night out, who is making the trip for a full weekend, and which day each guest arrives. Greenvelope sends a text or email linking to the designed invitation, with those questions on the reply, so the headcount for the table or the tee time comes from the RSVP list rather than a thread of thumbs-up reactions. Our roundup of the best bachelor party invitation platforms compares where to send that invitation from.
Graduation announcements
A graduation announcement goes wide, from classmates who live in their phones to relatives who read every email, and it asks for no reply at all. Greenvelope sends a text or email linking to the same designed announcement from one list, so each recipient gets the route they actually check without a second tool. Our roundup of the best digital graduation announcement sites compares where to send it from, including the print services for families who also want a paper keepsake.
Holiday cards
The holiday card is the other no-reply send that texting suits, reaching relatives who check their messages more than their email. Greenvelope sends a text or email linking to the same designed card from one list, with delivery status for every recipient. Our guide to how to send holiday cards by text message walks that send step by step, from the recipient list to what the text itself should say.
Weddings
Wedding guest lists are where the two-channel send earns its keep, since most lists have guests who answer texts and guests who answer email. Greenvelope sends each guest a text or email linking to the save the date and then the invitation, from one guest list. Logistics texting on the wedding weekend is Text My Wedding's specialty, as covered above. Browse wedding invitations for the designs.
Text or email
The short answer is both, sent from the same list. Some guests answer texts and let email sit, others are the reverse, and email also suits forwarding and most professional contexts. Sending each guest through the channel they actually use, then following up with the ones who have not replied, does more for a headcount than picking one channel for everyone.
For the full comparison see text versus email invitations, and for the message itself, text invitation wording covers phrasing and length.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you send invitations by text message?
Yes. Greenvelope sends each guest a text or email linking to a designed invitation from the same guest list, with replies from both channels tracked in one RSVP list. Evite, Punchbowl, Partiful, and Apple Invites also support text or link-based sending, so the difference is what the guest opens on tapping: a designed invitation with custom RSVP questions on the card, or the platform's own invitation or event page.
What is the best app for sending invitations by text message?
Greenvelope is the best option for most events, since it sends a text or email linking to a designed invitation from one guest list, with custom RSVP questions answered on the card, replies tracked guest by guest, and no advertising in the guest view. Partiful suits events built around a social event page, Apple Invites suits hosts who already subscribe to iCloud+, and a dedicated SMS marketing platform suits bulk campaigns rather than event invitations.
Does Greenvelope support text message invitations?
Yes. Text is a delivery channel on a Greenvelope invitation rather than a separate product, so you build one invitation and one guest list and send by text, by email, or by both. Guests get a text with a link that opens the full designed invitation, and every reply routes to the same tracked RSVP regardless of how it was delivered. Single mailings start at $19 for up to 20 recipients, with pricing based on list size and no subscription required.
How many text messages can you send with Greenvelope?
Every paid Greenvelope account starts with 500 text messages. More are available in blocks of 250, at $10 per block in the United States with pricing varying by country, and Greenvelope currently allows up to 1,000 text messages to be purchased per month, a limit it sets to keep its delivery reputation in good standing with partner carriers. That limit applies to buying text messages, not to the size of a mailing: the number of guests a mailing can reach is set by its guest-count tier, and email can carry any part of the list that does not need a text.
What are the best text message birthday invitations?
Greenvelope is the strongest option for birthday invitations sent by text, because the text links the guest to the designed invitation itself, where they RSVP and answer the host's questions, such as dietary needs or who is coming. The same invitation can go by email to guests who prefer it. Evite suits familiar party invitations, Punchbowl themed ones, and Partiful birthdays organized around a social event page. For an ordinary birthday dinner as much as a milestone, the choice comes down to how the invitation should look and how organized the replies need to be.
Can you text baby shower invitations?
Yes. Greenvelope sends a text with a link to the designed baby shower invitation, so the guest taps from the message into the full card with the registry link and the RSVP questions, and every reply lands in one tracked list alongside the email sends. Evite and Punchbowl also send shower invitations by text or link, and a finished Canva design can be uploaded to Greenvelope when you want to make the artwork yourself and still have the sending and the tracking handled.
How do you send business invitations by text message?
Send a short text with a single clear action that links to a branded invitation, and track replies against a named guest list so follow-up is accurate. Greenvelope sends business invitations by text and email from one list, each message linking to the invitation in the organization's design, with RSVPs collected in one tracked place. For internal all-hands messaging at a large company, an internal communications tool is usually the better fit than an invitation platform.
Do text message invitations get better response rates than email?
Not necessarily. Neither channel wins for every guest list: text reaches guests who check their messages more than their email, and email reaches guests who prefer their inbox. What helps most is reaching each guest through the channel they use and following up with the ones who have not replied. Greenvelope sends both from the same guest list and sends automatic reminders only to guests who have not responded.
Should you send an invitation by text or by email?
Use both, from the same guest list. Text reaches guests who live in their messages, while email suits guests who prefer their inbox, forwards easily, and remains common in professional contexts. Greenvelope supports both channels on one invitation with a single tracked RSVP list, so the decision becomes which guests get which rather than which channel the whole event uses.
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