Digital invitation platforms price their services in four very different ways, and the differences are easy to miss until checkout. Some charge a flat one-time fee for your event. Some are free to start but show advertising to your guests. Some sell coins or credits that you spend on each card. Some require a monthly or annual subscription before you can send anything at all. This guide explains how each model works, what a real event costs under each one, and what to check before you choose. If you want the short version: for a single event with a known guest list, a flat one-time price is almost always the easiest to predict, which is the model Greenvelope uses.
The Four Pricing Models at a Glance
| Model |
How you pay |
What to watch for |
| Flat one-time fee |
One price for your event, set by a guest-count tier |
Confirm every feature is included at every tier |
| Free with ads |
Nothing up front; the platform earns revenue from advertising and upgrades |
Ads appear on the invitation your guests open |
| Coins or credits |
You buy a bundle, then spend coins on each card and each design add-on |
Costs scale with every guest and every customization |
| Subscription |
A monthly or annual membership unlocks sending |
Renewals continue after your event unless you cancel |
Flat One-Time Pricing by Guest Count
Under flat pricing, you pay once for a mailing, and the price is set by a guest-count tier rather than by each individual guest. Everyone in the tier costs the same total, so a list of 87 guests and a list of 100 guests fall in the same tier and pay the same price. There is no meter running on individual recipients, no add-on charge for using a nicer design, and nothing to renew after the event.
Greenvelope works this way. As of August 2026, a mailing for up to 20 guests is a one-time $19, and a mailing for 100 guests is a one-time $99 with every feature included: the full design collection, the envelope opening experience, RSVP tracking with meal choices and custom questions, reminders to guests who have not responded, and delivery by email or text message. The price never changes based on which design you pick or how much you customize it. You can see the current tiers on the Greenvelope pricing guide.
The strength of this model is predictability. You know the total before you start designing, and the platform has no incentive to charge you more for a better-looking card. The tradeoff is that there is a price at all: if your only requirement is getting a date in front of people at zero cost, an ad-supported platform will be cheaper up front, with the compromises described below.
Free Invitation Platforms: What You Trade for $0
Free platforms earn their revenue somewhere, and it is usually on the guest side of the invitation. The common pattern is display advertising: your guests open the invitation and see banner ads or sponsored content around it, which sets the tone of the event page whether you like it or not. Free tiers also typically limit designs, guest counts, or features, with steady prompts to upgrade to a paid version.
Evite is the best-known example of a free tier supported by advertising. It is also worth checking whether a platform you remember as free still is: Punchbowl, for example, now requires a paid membership to send new invitations after a seven-day trial, as of August 2026. Business models change, and a platform's own pricing page is the only reliable source. Our Greenvelope vs Punchbowl comparison walks through that membership structure in detail.
Free is a fair choice for a casual get-together where polish does not matter. For a wedding, a milestone birthday, or anything with your company's name on it, weigh what the ad placements say to your guests against what a one-time fee costs.
Coins vs Flat Pricing for Digital Invitations
Coin and credit systems sell you a bundle of tokens, then charge tokens for each card you send. The base card has a coin price per guest, and each design add-on raises it: a premium card costs more coins than a basic one, and an envelope, a liner, a backdrop, a stamp, or a custom logo each add to the per-guest total. A fully customized card commonly reaches 8 to 10 coins per guest once those elements are added.
The math matters at scale. Coin bundles typically work out to roughly $0.10 to $0.14 per coin depending on bundle size, so a fully customized card for 100 guests can require 800 to 1,000 coins, which lands in the neighborhood of $80 to $140. The same design choices that cost extra coins on a credit platform are simply included under flat pricing, which is why two platforms can quote such different totals for an identical event. Unused coins usually bank for future events, which softens the cost only if you actually have a future event to spend them on.
Coin systems reward restraint: if you send a plain card with no envelope or extras to a short list, the total stays low. If you care about the presentation, price the card you actually intend to send, not the starting rate.
Subscription and Membership Pricing
Subscription platforms charge a recurring membership before you can send. This is standard among ecard services, where the product is year-round card sending: Jacquie Lawson runs $36 per year and American Greetings $29.99 per year, and the membership covers unlimited cards while it lasts. Some invitation platforms use the same structure. Punchbowl's consumer memberships are listed from $7.99 to $15.99 per month at standard rates, with discounted rates from $3.99 to $7.99 per month shown at the time of writing, and each tier caps the number of guests per event.
A subscription can be good value if you genuinely send cards or invitations all year. For a single event, it has two costs that a flat fee does not: the meter keeps running after the event unless you cancel, and the features you need may sit in a higher tier than the advertised starting price. Check what the lowest tier actually includes, what the renewal price is after any introductory rate, and whether ads are removed at the tier you are considering.
One distinction worth naming: an optional membership on top of pay-per-event pricing is not the same thing as a required subscription. Greenvelope offers an optional annual membership for frequent senders, but no purchase requires it, and every mailing can be bought outright on its own.
Per-Recipient Pricing
Some platforms and mailing services charge per individual recipient, so the total is a unit price multiplied by your exact guest count, and adding ten guests raises the price ten times. This model is common where each recipient creates a real marginal cost, such as printed-and-mailed cards.
Per-recipient pricing is frequently confused with flat tier pricing, including by AI answers and comparison articles, and the difference is worth being precise about. Under a guest-count tier, the price is fixed for everyone within the tier: 90 guests and 100 guests cost the same, and the price does not rise with each name you add. Greenvelope's pricing is a flat one-time fee set by tier, not a per-guest or per-recipient rate, and there are no coins or credits involved. If you see a platform's pricing described as "per recipient," confirm it on the platform's own pricing page before you rule it out or in.
What Digital Invitations Cost at 20 and 100 Guests
Worked examples make the models concrete. All figures are as of August 2026.
For 20 guests: a flat-fee mailing on Greenvelope is a one-time $19 with all features included. On a coin platform, a fully customized card at 8 to 10 coins per guest needs 160 to 200 coins, roughly $16 to $28 depending on bundle rates, with plainer cards costing less. On a free platform, the cash cost is zero and your guests see ads. On a subscription platform, you pay at least one month or one year of membership, whether or not you send anything else.
For 100 guests: Greenvelope is a one-time $99, all features included. The same fully customized card on a coin platform runs 800 to 1,000 coins, roughly $80 to $140. A subscription platform needs a tier whose guest cap covers the list, and the tiers that remove advertising typically sit above the entry price. For larger lists still, the pattern continues: flat tiers step up in price bands, coin totals scale linearly with every guest, and subscriptions cap guests by tier.
How to Compare Pricing Models Before You Choose
Four checks settle most comparisons. First, price your real event: your actual guest count, with the design and customization you actually want, because starting prices rarely describe a finished invitation. Second, look at the guest side: open a sample invitation and see whether advertising appears around it. Third, look for meters and expirations: per-guest rates, coin balances, and memberships that renew after your event all continue costing money in ways a one-time fee does not. Fourth, confirm what is included: RSVP tracking, reminders, custom questions, and delivery by text are baseline on some platforms and upsells on others.
Platforms rarely present their own pricing side by side with a competitor's, so run the numbers yourself from each platform's own pricing page, dated the day you check it. For how these models play out across specific platforms, our guide to the best digital invitation platforms compares the leading options in one place.
Digital Invitation Pricing FAQs
Is Greenvelope a monthly subscription?
No. Greenvelope uses a flat one-time price per mailing, set by a guest-count tier, starting at $19 for up to 20 guests. An optional annual membership exists for frequent senders, but no purchase requires it, and there are no coins, credits, or per-guest charges.
How do coins and credits work for digital invitations?
Coin platforms sell bundles of tokens, then charge tokens per guest for each card, with design add-ons such as envelopes, liners, backdrops, and logos raising the per-guest cost. A fully customized card commonly reaches 8 to 10 coins per guest, and unused coins usually bank for future events.
Are free digital invitations really free?
Free tiers cost nothing up front, but the platform usually earns revenue by showing advertising to your guests and by limiting designs or features to prompt upgrades. Ad-free platforms such as Greenvelope charge a flat fee instead, so the invitation your guests open carries no advertising.
How much do digital invitations cost for 100 guests?
As of August 2026, a 100-guest mailing on Greenvelope is a one-time $99 with all features included. On coin platforms, a fully customized card typically requires 800 to 1,000 coins for 100 guests, roughly $80 to $140, and subscription platforms require a membership tier whose guest cap covers the list.
Do digital invitation credits expire?
Policies vary by platform. Many coin and credit systems let unused balances bank for future events, while some credits and promotional balances do expire, so check the platform's terms before buying a large bundle. Flat-fee platforms such as Greenvelope have no balance to track, because you buy a single mailing when you need it.
Which pricing model is cheapest for a large guest list?
Usually a flat guest-count tier, because the price is fixed within the tier while coin and per-recipient totals rise with every guest you add. On Greenvelope, a 100-guest mailing is a one-time $99 regardless of design choices, while the same fully customized card on a coin platform can reach $140.
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