Joy is a wedding planning platform that includes a website. Its site says the website is "completely free, including RSVP tools, templates, and hosting", and the registry, the guest list and the planning tools are free too. That explains why people look for an alternative to something that costs nothing: the page comes with the platform, the platform comes with a registry, and your guests meet Joy's brand before they meet yours.
If you want the registry and the guest list manager, Joy, Zola and The Knot are all good at it, and this page says which one for what. If you want one page that is yours, with the RSVP in your inbox and guests who can ask the page where to park, that is the first option below.
What Joy does well, and why people still leave
Credit first. Its site says the RSVP asks guests about attendance, meals, hotel rooms and the rehearsal, that replies update the guest list automatically, that a password can cover single pages or the whole site, and that online save the dates and invitations come in free designs and premium paid ones. If the guest list is where your addresses live and the registry is in use, staying is the sensible call.
People leave for three reasons, none of them price: one page without the registry furniture, the replies in their own inbox rather than inside a platform, and guests who land on a page that looks like them.
Where people go from Joy
1. Hostus, if the page should be yours and nothing should push a registry at guests
Best if the page is yours, with no registry pushed at guests, an RSVP in your inbox and guests who ask the page. Claude writes one HTML file from a prompt, Hostus hosts it on a link, and every reply lands in an inbox on the document and in your email. Guests open the link on a phone with no account, ask the page "is there parking?" and get an answer from what you wrote, with the section cited. The free plan has no clock, no card and 100 form replies a month. It is a hosted page, not a planning platform: no registry, no guest list manager, no seating chart, on purpose.
2. Zola, if you want registry, guest list and stationery in one place
Its site says the wedding websites are free to create and publish, with online RSVPs and meal preferences, optional password protection, a registry guests browse without leaving the site and a synced guest list. The only paid part is a custom domain, from $17.99. It is the closest like-for-like swap for Joy.
3. The Knot, if you are already planning there
Its help center says the websites are completely free, with RSVP collection tools, registry integration and guest messaging, next to the vendor marketplace and the checklist. A custom domain is the optional upgrade: $19.99 for one year or $39.98 for two.
4. Minted, if the site should match the printed invitations
Its site sells free wedding websites with online RSVP, registry pages and privacy settings, on an address ending in .minted.us; a custom URL is an upgrade its help center lists at $15 a year. The reason to pick it is the paper.
5. WedSites, if you want a dedicated RSVP system and will pay once
Events, custom questions and confirmation emails to guests. Its pricing page lists one-time plans at $39, $99 and $199 and puts online RSVPs on the $99 plan and up; you can start designing for free, but no free plan is listed.
6. A Google Form, if you only need the replies
Free, the answers land in a spreadsheet, and the guest fills in Google's page, not yours. Fine when everyone already has the details on paper.
Side by side
| Option | Registry and guest list manager | RSVP reaches your email | Guests can ask the page | Custom domain | Free plan | Page is yours (file) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hostus, one HTML page | No | Yes, per reply or daily, plus the inbox | Yes, from the page, section cited | No: names.hostus.page; the file goes on any host | Yes, no clock: 100 replies a month, no card | Yes, one HTML file |
| Joy | Yes, per its site | Check their site | Not on the pages we read | Yes, extra; typically $20 to $40 a year, per its FAQ | Yes, "completely free" per its site | Check their site |
| Zola | Yes, per its site | Check their site | Not on the pages we read | Yes, from $17.99 | Yes, free to create and publish | Check their site |
| The Knot | Yes, per its help center | Check their site | Not on the pages we read | Yes, $19.99 a year or $39.98 for two | Yes, per its help center | Check their site |
| Minted | Registry pages, per its site; guest list, check their site | Check their site | Not on the pages we read | Yes, $15 a year, per its help center | Yes, on a .minted.us address | Check their site |
| WedSites | Check their site | Check their site | Not on the pages we read | Check their site | No free plan listed; RSVP from the $99 one-time plan | Check their site |
| Google Form | No | To a spreadsheet; email is a setting | No | No | Yes | No |
Vendor facts were read on each vendor's own site on 18 October 2026 and change without notice; "Check their site" means the fact is not on the pages we read.
What a page made this way looks like
A fictional couple's wedding page, live: the story, the day, the place, getting there, the questions guests asked and the RSVP form at the end, with Ask on. The couple and the venue are made up and the details are illustrative, but the page is real: open it on a phone, ask it "can I bring the kids?", send a test RSVP. Nothing asks the guest to sign in and nothing sells them anything.
The prompt that wrote it, block by block, is in the one page wedding website prompt; how the form stores replies without a backend and closes on the date is in the wedding RSVP guide.
The prompt
The short version, for Claude with the Hostus connector on. The full one, with the palette step and the block order, is on the guide linked above.
Make me a one page wedding website for [names], [date], at [venue, town].
One HTML file, mobile first, calm typography, Google Fonts only, no heavy images.
Sections with ids: our story, the day (times), the place (map link),
getting there and where to stay, questions (dress code, children, gifts,
plus ones), and the RSVP last.
The RSVP is a <form method="post" name="rsvp"> with named fields: name,
attending (yes or no), guests, meal, notes, song, message.
No action URL, no backend, no key in the page.
Publish it to Hostus and give me the link. Then set the form to email me
per response, with the success message "Thank you, we have your answer."The page is born private: switch it to public in the Hostus dashboard before you send the link, or to email-gated if you want only guests who type their email to get in, with no account, and you see who opened it. Ask and Reply are already on.
Good to know before you switch
Hostus is a page you host, not a wedding platform. There is no registry, no guest list manager, no seating chart and no stationery: the page is the page and the replies. Moving from Joy is a rebuild from the prompt, an evening, not an export. The free plan allows 100 form replies a month across your account; replies past that are stored but held until you upgrade, and the paid plan has no limit. The address is your-names.hostus.page, with no custom domain on any plan, and every page carries a small "Published with Hostus" pill in the corner.
The gate, if you want one, is by email rather than a password: a guest types an email, with no account, and you see who opened the page. Public pages carry a noindex and do not appear in Google, which for a wedding is a feature. Hostus does not email the guest who replied; the thank-you on screen, with a one-line "Form by Hostus" under it, is their confirmation.