Every wedding website builder says it is free. Most of them are, right up until you want your own domain name, or you hit a guest cap, or you realise the footer advertises the platform to all 140 of your guests. Zola, The Knot, Joy and Minted are genuinely free to build and publish; the money appears at the custom domain, the guest limits and the registry cut. Here is what each one actually gives you, and where it stops.
Five things decide this, and only five:
What it costs to publish, not what it costs to start
Whether a custom domain is included, and what it costs if not
RSVP handling, including meal choices and plus-ones
Registry integration, and whether the platform takes a cut of cash gifts
How the templates actually look on a phone, which is where your guests will open it
Everything else, template counts, mobile apps, password protection, is a tiebreaker.
*Prices checked 27 August 2026. These platforms change pricing; re-check before you rely on it.*
Builder | Price to publish | Custom domain | RSVPs | Registry | Best for |
Zola | Free | Available | Yes, with guest list management | Own registry, deeply integrated | All-in-one planning and registry in one account |
The Knot | Free | Around $20 to $40 a year | Yes, integrated | Own registry, integrated | Couples who want budget and checklist tools alongside |
Joy | Free | Available | Yes | Zero-fee cash registry | Modern design and multi-event weekends |
Minted | Free | Optional $15 upgrade | Yes | Yes | Matching your site to printed stationery |
Squarespace | From $16/month billed annually, 14-day trial | Included on annual plans | Via forms | Custom cash registry | Total design control |
⚑ The one number worth staring at: Squarespace is the only one on this list you cannot publish for free, and it is also the only one that gives you a genuinely custom site. That trade is the whole decision for a lot of couples.
The default for a reason. The website is free, it plugs straight into Zola's registry, and the guest list, RSVPs and invitations all live in the same account. Over 600 templates, which is more than anyone needs but does mean you will find something.
Where it stops: it is an ecosystem. The site is free because Zola would like you to run your registry, your invitations and your guest list through Zola too. That is a fair deal if you want one account for everything, and mildly claustrophobic if you do not.
Free, and the strongest of the group if you want planning tools rather than just a website. Budget tracker, checklist, vendor marketplace, all sitting alongside the site.
Where it stops: the custom domain is a paid add-on, around $20 to $40 a year. Not much, but it is the thing most couples assume is included and it is not.
The design-led free option, and the one Carats + Cake singles out for having a genuinely capable free plan rather than a free plan that is really a trial. Travel tools for guests, multi-event scheduling for weekends rather than single days, a guest-facing mobile app, and a zero-fee cash registry, which matters more than it sounds.
Where it stops: it is the newest of the big names, so if your guest list skews older, expect a few more "how do I open this" phone calls.
Pick Minted if the paper matters to you. The websites are free and the templates are the same artist-designed work as their save-the-dates and invitations, so the whole thing matches. Custom URL is an optional $15. They also run a stationery credit for couples who use a Minted site.
Where it stops: it is a stationery company that also does websites, not the other way around. The planning tooling is thinner than Zola's or The Knot's.
The only paid one here, from $16 a month billed annually with a 14-day trial, and the only one that produces a site nobody will recognise as a wedding template. Custom domain included on annual plans.
Where it stops: you are building a website, not filling in a wedding form. Budget a weekend, and know that RSVPs come through generic forms rather than a purpose-built guest list.
Best free all-rounder: Zola
Best genuinely free plan: Joy
Best if you want planning tools too: The Knot
Best if your stationery matters: Minted
Best design control: Squarespace
Best for a destination wedding: whichever one handles multiple events and travel information properly, which today is Joy
For most couples the free tier is genuinely enough. You will publish a good-looking site, collect RSVPs and link a registry without paying anyone.
You should expect to pay when you want one of three things: your own domain rather than a platform subdomain, the platform's branding off the footer, or design that does not look like a template. The first two are usually $15 to $40 a year. The third is Squarespace money.
The trap to avoid: building the whole site, sending it to 140 people, and only then discovering the address is `zola.com/wedding/yourname` when you wanted `annaandtom.com`. Decide the domain question first, because moving afterwards means re-sending the link to everyone.
This is the part the comparison tables skip. A free website that routes cash gifts through a registry taking 2.5% to 3% costs you real money on a $10,000 gift total, and it never shows up as a price anywhere.
Joy's zero-fee cash registry is the genuinely notable thing in this category, and it is why Joy keeps appearing in best-free lists written by people who have actually used these tools. If a meaningful share of your gifts will be cash, the registry cut matters more than the domain fee.
Be honest with yourself about two things before you commit to a free tier.
Guests in more than two countries. Free sites handle information, not logistics. Once you are tracking flights, room blocks and three events across a weekend, the website is the smallest part of the problem.
More than about 150 guests. RSVP chasing at that scale is a spreadsheet job, not a website job.
Is your registry already somewhere? If yes, pick the builder that matches it. Fighting a registry integration is not worth it.
Do you want a custom domain? If yes, price it as part of the decision, not as an afterthought.
Is it a single day or a weekend? Multi-event weddings need multi-event scheduling, and not every builder does it well.
Are your guests travelling? Then travel and accommodation blocks matter more than template count.
Do you care how it looks more than how fast it is? That is the Squarespace question.
Claim your URL first. Before templates, before photos. The good ones go.
Build the four pages that matter: the story, the details (date, venue, dress code, timings), travel and accommodation, and RSVP. Everything else is optional.
Write the details page as if the reader is stressed, because they are. Times, addresses, what to wear, whether there is parking.
Turn RSVPs on and test one yourself from a phone that is not yours.
Password-protect it if the address is public and you would rather it were not.
Send the link with the save-the-dates, not the invitations. It is an information hub, not an announcement.
How much does it cost to build a wedding website?
Nothing, on Zola, The Knot, Joy or Minted. All four are free to build and publish. The costs that do appear are a custom domain, roughly $15 to $40 a year depending on the platform, and design-led builders like Squarespace which start at $16 a month billed annually. *(Checked 27 August 2026.)*
Can I use my own domain name?
Yes, on all of them, and it is the most common thing couples pay for. Included on Squarespace annual plans, an optional $15 on Minted, roughly $20 to $40 a year on The Knot.
Is Zola actually free?
Yes, for the website, guest list, RSVPs and registry. Zola earns from the invitations, paper and gifts couples buy through it rather than from the website itself.
What is the best free wedding website to use?
Joy has the strongest genuinely free plan, including a zero-fee cash registry. Zola is the best all-in-one if you want the registry and guest list in the same account. The Knot is the best if you also want budget and checklist tools.
Studio is not competing with Zola on free. It is an annual membership, and if all you need is a free page with an RSVP form, one of the five above will serve you better and we would rather say so.
Where it makes sense is when the website is the smallest part of the problem. Studio's builder ships six templates organised by tradition rather than by colour scheme, and each arrives with the ceremonies, accommodation blocks and FAQs already structured for that celebration. The South Asian template builds mehndi, sangeet, baraat and the pheras as separate events. The Arab one covers the henna night, the nikah and the zaffe. There is a Chinese tea ceremony template, a Mediterranean one, an Afro-Caribbean one and a Western modern classic. Everything stays editable afterwards, and you can start from a blank canvas instead.
That is the real difference, and it is worth being precise about it. All five builders above are built around a single-day Western ceremony. If your celebration runs across three days with a different dress code each night, you are fighting their structure from the first screen.
The website also sits on the same data as the rest of the suite, which is where an annual membership starts to pay for itself. An RSVP lands and it updates your headcount, drops the guest onto the seating plan with their meal choice attached, and pushes their dietary requirements into the menu builder. The guest list asks which city and country each person is travelling from, because that is the number that decides your accommodation blocks. Vendors autofill from Wedded Wonderland's own listings and attach to specific moments on the run sheet.
Two honest caveats. Studio does not run a gift registry, so if registry integration is the reason you are choosing a builder, one of the five above is the better answer. And it is a paid membership, not a free tier.
If what you actually have is a destination wedding, guests in four countries and a spreadsheet that has stopped being funny, that is the problem Studio is built for. Take a look inside Wonderland Studio, or see all eleven planning tools.
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