How Much Paperless Post Really Costs for a Wedding in 2026 (Coin Table, Per-Function Math, Cheaper Options)

You have a guest count and a card you like. You want one number. The reason you cannot find one is that the Paperless Post cost for a wedding is quoted three different ways across the articles that come up when you search, and two of those ways are arithmetic that does not survive contact with the checkout screen.

This guide does the math the way you will actually pay it: in whole coin packs, not in per-coin rates. It prices a single send at five guest counts, then prices the thing no other cost breakdown prices at all, which is a wedding weekend with four functions and four different guest lists. It also names, with sources, every figure currently in circulation that contradicts another figure, so you can see why one carefully built table is worth more than five confident ones.

Key takeaways

• Coins are sold in fixed packs. You cannot buy 900 coins, so a 150-guest fully dressed send does not cost 900 times the per-coin rate. Under the published pack table it costs a 1,000-coin pack, and you eat the 100 leftover coins.
• A fully dressed card is quoted at 6 coins per recipient: 2 for the base card, then 1 each for liner, backdrop, stamp and envelope customization. That is per send, not per event.
• The published price of the 1,000-coin pack appears as $140 in one article and $115 in two others. That single disagreement moves a 250-guest budget by $25 and a four-function weekend by $50.
• The free tier is reported as 50 recipients per year across all your events, not 50 per event. A 40-person birthday in March can leave you paying from the first coin in September.
• Priced by function rather than by mailing, a 150-guest wedding with a welcome party, rehearsal dinner, ceremony and farewell brunch works out to roughly 2,400 coins and 600 recipient-sends. Buying that as separate packs per send costs about $445; buying it as one block costs about $357.
• Coins buy design. They do not buy a separate RSVP count per function, they do not buy a video invitation, and they do not buy a shared photo timeline after the wedding.

Read this before you budget. Every Paperless Post, Greenvelope, Evite, Joy, Zola and Mixily figure in this guide is that platform's published pricing as collected on 22 August 2026, drawn from public pricing pages and secondary coverage. None of it was live-verified against a checkout screen for this draft, and as the next section shows, several figures are published inconsistently. Open the vendor's own pricing page and confirm your specific pack and guest count before you spend anything.

Verify before you budget: the contradictions in circulation

Here is why one table matters. The figures below are all currently published, and they disagree with each other. Several of them disagree inside a single article. We are listing them rather than quietly picking a favorite, because if you are pricing a real send you need to know which numbers are load-bearing.

Two things follow from that table. First, treat any single quoted total for a Paperless Post wedding send as an estimate until you see it on your own checkout screen. Second, notice the pattern in rows 2, 3, 4 and 6: the low end of every range comes from multiplying a coin count by the cheapest per-coin rate in the pack table. That is not a price you can pay. The next section explains why.

How Paperless Post coins work: packs, rates and add-on costs

Paperless Post bills through a prepaid virtual currency called coins. You buy a pack, then spend coins per recipient per send. Free Flyer templates and the basic free Card designs cost nothing. The envelope animation, the liner, the custom stamp and the photo backdrop, which is the look most couples are picturing, run on coins.

The published coin packs

All figures are published pricing collected on 22 August 2026 and need re-verification. The 450-coin row is printed with a rate its own price does not produce, and the 1,000-coin row is the single most contested number in this category.

What each design element costs per recipient

Three build levels come out of that, and they are the three columns you will see in every table below.

• Minimal: base card only, 2 coins per recipient.
• Mid: card, liner and stamp, 4 coins per recipient.
• Fully dressed: all five elements, 6 coins per recipient.

One separate note on the base card. A different published account puts a premium Card at 2 coins per recipient and then prices "50 premium invitations with the works" at 200-plus coins, which implies about 4 coins per guest rather than 6. If your design plan sits between the minimal and fully dressed rows, price both and assume the higher one.

The pack-price trap: why per-coin math understates your bill

The mistake in almost every published cost estimate is treating coins as a continuous unit. They are not. They come in seven fixed sizes, and your bill is the cheapest combination of packs that covers your requirement, rounded up.

Take 150 guests fully dressed. That is 900 coins. Multiply 900 by the best rate in the table, $0.14, and you get $126, which is where the low end of published ranges like "$120–$145" comes from. But there is no 900-coin pack. Your real options are a 1,000-coin pack at $140, or a 600 plus a 300 at $153, or a 600 plus a 450 at $173. You pay $140 and carry 100 unused coins.

The same distortion runs through the round numbers people quote most:

The gap is 8 to 12 percent on a single send, and it compounds every time you buy again. It also runs the other way at small volumes: the cheapest rate only exists inside the largest pack, so a 40-guest send at 6 coins a head needs 240 coins and you buy a 300-pack at $57, an effective $0.19 a coin. Small weddings pay the worst unit price on the board.

Confirm two things on the vendor's own pages before you build a budget: whether coins expire, and whether leftover coins carry between events. The block-buying strategy below depends on the answer.

Coin math at 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 guests

Here is a single send, priced as the cheapest purchasable pack combination under the published table, using the $140 figure for the 1,000-coin pack.

Cost per guest, which is not what you would expect

The curve flattens hard after 100 guests. Between 150 and 250 guests you pay within a cent of the same rate per guest, so the volume discount at the top of the pack table is mostly already spent by 150. Adding 20 guests to a 150-person list does not earn you a better rate. It just moves you into another pack.

The same table if the 1,000-coin pack is $115

Under 150 guests the disagreement does not touch you, because you never reach the 1,000-coin pack. At and above 150 guests it is a flat $25 per 1,000-coin pack you buy. This is the one figure worth screenshotting at checkout.

And at the US average guest count

The Knot's 2026 Real Weddings Study, which surveyed 10,474 couples married in 2025, puts the average US wedding at 117 guests. That figure is reported consistently across the articles we checked, though it is a study finding rather than a live price, so treat it as a benchmark and not as your list.

At 117 guests, fully dressed, you need 702 coins. The cheapest combination is a 600 plus a 100 plus a 25, which is $133, and you buy 723 coins to spend 702. A single 1,000-pack is $140 and leaves you 298 coins toward the thank-you send. That second option is usually the better buy, which is a good illustration of why the arithmetic has to be done in packs.

The free-tier trap: 50 recipients per year, shared across every event

The free tier is reported as 50 recipients per year, not 50 per event and not 50 per send, with the allowance resetting annually. This is the single most useful fact in this whole category and it is the one that catches people at the worst possible moment.

Work it through on a normal wedding timeline. A 25-person engagement party invitation in February, then a 20-person bridal shower invitation in May, is 45 of your 50 recipients gone on two events you were not counting as wedding spend. By the time the formal invitation goes out in September you are paying coins from recipient number six.

The free tier genuinely works for one scenario: a wedding under about 40 guests, on an account that has sent nothing else in the same 12-month window, using a free design. Outside that, budget for coins from the first send.

Two details to check on the Help Center, because we could not verify them live: whether the 12-month window runs from your account creation or on a calendar year, and whether a recipient who appears on two events counts once or twice.

The hidden multipliers: extra sends, list growth and resends

Coins are charged per recipient per send, which means the number that drives your bill is not your guest count. It is recipient-sends: guests multiplied by mailings.

The last row is the one nobody prices, and it is usually the largest. Every published cost breakdown for this platform stops at one guest list.

Cost per function: pricing a wedding weekend, not a single mailing

A modern wedding is not one mailing. It is a welcome party, a rehearsal dinner, a ceremony and reception, and a farewell brunch, and the four guest lists are different sizes with different names on them. On a per-recipient platform, four functions is four sends, before you have sent a save-the-date or a thank-you.

Here is the arithmetic for a 150-guest wedding with four functions, priced in whole packs.

Now buy the same 2,400 coins in one block up front. Two 1,000-packs and one 450-pack is 2,450 coins for $357. Same sends, same design, $88 less, purely from not buying six times. Under the $115 figure for the 1,000-pack, the block costs $307 and the per-send route costs $420.

That is the most actionable finding in this guide, and it depends entirely on whether coins expire and carry across events. Check that first.

Two things the table does not fix. The four functions still share one RSVP surface, so you are reading four sets of responses out of a system built to count one send at a time. And 600 recipient-sends, not your 150-person guest list, is the number to carry into every comparison below, because a per-recipient platform prices that.

Is the annual Pro subscription worth it for one wedding?

It depends on an ambiguity in how the plan is described, and nobody publishing on this resolves it. The Pro subscription is listed at around $250 per year covering up to 250 guests annually. Whether that 250 is 250 unique guests with unlimited sends, or 250 recipient-sends, changes the answer completely.

Published commentary generally assumes the second reading and concludes the subscription rarely makes sense for one wedding. That is sound under that assumption. But if the cap is unique guests, a multi-function wedding at 150 guests or fewer is exactly where Pro wins, which is the opposite of the standard advice. Confirm which it is before you dismiss it, and check whether the plan auto-renews after your wedding. A $250 annual charge for a one-day event is only good value if it does not quietly become $500.

Cheaper alternatives compared on total cost, ads and RSVP depth

Every figure in this table is published pricing collected on 22 August 2026, unverified against a live checkout. The two right-hand columns are the ones no other comparison in this category publishes.

Read that table by column, not by row. On the cost columns, the honest summary is that three platforms here charge nothing for the send and the gap between them is not price. It is what happens to your four guest lists and your video file.

The comparison people actually want: Paperless Post versus Greenvelope

For one 150-guest send they are close. Paperless Post lands at $140 in whole packs, or $115 if the disputed pack price is the right one. Greenvelope lands at $149 to $177 at its published per-recipient rate. Greenvelope is modestly more expensive for a single mailing and considerably more expensive across a full cycle, unless its annual plan applies, and the annual plan's price is itself one of the contradictions in the table above.

For the four-function weekend the difference is decisive. Greenvelope bills all 600 recipient-sends, which is $594 to $708. Paperless Post bills 2,400 coins, which is $357 as one block. Neither of them gives you a separate RSVP count per function, so you are paying the higher amount for the same missing capability.

What you cannot buy with coins

Coins buy design and reach. There are three things they do not buy at any pack size, and all three cost real money or real hassle somewhere else in your budget.

A separate RSVP count per function

Coins price a mailing. They do not create a structure where the rehearsal dinner has its own guest list and its own yes-or-no tally, distinct from the reception. On a per-send platform, four functions means four sends and four separate response pools to reconcile by hand, usually into a spreadsheet, usually the week the caterer needs final numbers.

This is what per-function RSVP tracking means on Lumhe. One event holds every function, and each function carries its own date, time, venue and guest list, so the 40 people at the rehearsal dinner are a different list from the 150 at the reception and each function returns its own live count. Reminders go only to the people who have not responded to that specific function, which is the send you would otherwise pay coins for twice. That is free, with no per-event and no per-guest charge.

A video invitation

None of the platforms in the comparison table publishes support for a video file as the invitation itself. If your invitation is a 40-second clip your cousin edited, a coin pack does not help you, because the coin buys a template treatment for a card. Lumhe takes the invitation you already made in whatever form it exists: an image exported from Canva or any other tool, a video, a PDF, or text you type in. Lumhe does not design the invitation for you. A template library is coming soon, and until it ships, bring your own file.

After the wedding: the send nobody budgets for

Every cost breakdown in this category ends at the thank-you note. Nothing in a coin pack collects the 900 photos your guests took, and the default outcome is a group chat where the good pictures scroll out of reach by the following spring. Moments is a shared photo timeline for the event. Guests upload, everything lands in one organized place, and it does not expire or disappear after the event ends. It is included at no cost.

For couples with Indian family: cash gifts

If your guests are more likely to give money than a boxed gift, Digital Lifafa handles it without a coin cost and without an envelope in someone's jacket pocket. You add your payment ID, whatever you already use, whether that is a UPI app, PayPal, Wise, Venmo, Zelle, Cash App or a bank transfer. Your guest pays from their own preferred app and uploads the receipt, and it arrives wrapped in an occasion-themed digital envelope you open. The transfer is direct between your guest and you. Lumhe never touches the money. The only paid item anywhere in Lumhe is an optional themed envelope design at $0.49 to $1.99.

What Paperless Post is genuinely worth paying for

The design library is the best in this category and it is not close. If the envelope animation and a letterpress-textured card are the point of your invitation, that is a real product difference and coins are what it costs. The open-and-click tracking is solid, the RSVP tools work, and guest communication is cleaner than an email chain. Against the benchmark of $510 that couples reportedly spend on invitations and stationery per The Knot's 2026 study, and postage alone reportedly running $234 or more for 150 invitations with reply cards per Greenvelope's cost breakdown, a $140 digital send is not expensive. We compare the print and digital routes properly in our guide to how much wedding invitations cost. <!-- link to: US-45-how-much-do-wedding-invitations-cost -->

The complaint worth making is not the price. It is that you cannot see the price until you have designed the card, and that published figures disagree by up to 40 percent on the same send. Know your coin count before you open the design tool.

Where Lumhe is not the right answer

Three cases, stated plainly.

• You want the invitation designed for you. Lumhe does not design invitations. You upload the file you already have. The template library is not live yet. If you have no design and no tool, Paperless Post or Greenvelope will get you further faster.
• You want printed stationery. Lumhe is digital. If you want a card in an envelope with a real stamp, this is the wrong tool, and Zola or a print stationer is the right one.
• You want a full wedding website with a registry. Lumhe is not a website builder and has no registry. Keep your Zola or Joy registry and use Lumhe for the invitations, the per-function RSVPs and the photos.

Nine ways to cut the coin bill without dropping the design

• Count your coins before you open the design tool. Guests times coins per recipient times number of sends, then find the cheapest pack combination that covers it.
• Buy one block, not six packs. On the four-function example that saved $88.
• Confirm first whether coins expire and carry across events. The block strategy fails if they do not.
• Lock your guest list before you buy. Top-ups land you at the $0.25 or $0.48 per-coin rate.
• Price the mid build as well as the fully dressed one. Dropping the backdrop and envelope customization takes 6 coins per recipient down to 4, which is a third off.
• Send the save-the-date on the minimal build at 2 coins and spend the design budget on the invitation itself.
• Do not pay coins to chase RSVPs. Reminder mailings are charged again per recipient. Nudge non-responders somewhere that does not bill per send.
• Move the small functions off the paid platform. The 40-person rehearsal dinner does not need a $57 coin pack.
• Check whether your free 50 recipients for the year are already spent before you assume anything is free.

FAQ: Paperless Post cost for a wedding

How much does Paperless Post cost for 100 wedding invitations?

Under the published pack table, a fully dressed 100-guest send needs 600 coins, which is a single 600-coin pack at $96. A minimal base-card send needs 200 coins, which is a 200-coin pack at $46. Be aware that other published sources put the same 600-coin send at $84, at $84 to $114, and at $58 to $115, so verify the pack prices at checkout before you commit.

Is Paperless Post free for weddings?

Only for a very small wedding on an otherwise unused account. The free tier is reported as 50 recipients per year across all your events, not 50 per event, resetting annually. If you already sent an engagement party or shower invitation this year, those recipients came out of the same 50. Free designs are also the basic ones, so the look most couples want costs coins regardless.

Does Paperless Post charge per guest or per event?

Per recipient, per send. The number that drives your bill is recipient-sends, meaning guests multiplied by mailings. A 150-guest wedding with a save-the-date, an invitation, a thank-you note and three extra functions is 600 recipient-sends, not 150.

What is the cheapest digital wedding invitation option?

Three platforms charge nothing for the send: Joy, Lumhe, and Mixily's free tier within its caps. Among those, the deciding factor is not price. It is whether each function of your weekend gets its own guest list and RSVP count, which Lumhe does inside a single event, and whether you can upload the invitation format you already have, including video. Joy's free tier is uncapped on guests but carries reported email deliverability complaints, so tell guests to check spam.

Can I use Paperless Post for both a save-the-date and a wedding invitation?

Yes, but each is a separate send with a separate coin charge. At 150 guests, a 2-coin save-the-date plus a 6-coin invitation is 1,500 coins. Bought in whole packs from the published table, that is a 1,000 plus a 600, which is $236. A widely quoted figure of $200 to $210 for that same pair comes from multiplying by the best per-coin rate, which is not a purchasable price.

Is the Paperless Post Pro subscription worth it for one wedding?

It hinges on whether the 250-guest annual cap means 250 unique guests or 250 recipient-sends, and the published descriptions do not settle it. If it is unique guests, a 150-guest multi-function wedding is covered for around $250 against roughly $357 in coins, so Pro wins. If it is recipient-sends, 600 sends blows through the cap and you buy coins anyway. Confirm on the plan page, and check the auto-renewal terms.

Is Paperless Post or Greenvelope cheaper for a wedding?

For one 150-guest send they are close: about $140 in coins against a published $149 to $177 at Greenvelope's per-recipient rate. Across a multi-function wedding, Paperless Post is meaningfully cheaper, roughly $357 against $594 to $708, because coins are cheaper per recipient in bulk than a flat per-recipient fee. Greenvelope's annual plan could change that, but its price is published as $225 in one place and $125 in another, so verify it.

Why do published Paperless Post prices disagree with each other?

Two reasons. First, the same coin pack is published at two different prices, most notably the 1,000-coin pack at $140 and at $115. Second, most quoted totals multiply a coin requirement by the best per-coin rate in the table instead of pricing whole packs, which understates the real bill by 8 to 12 percent. Our full Paperless Post reviewwalks through the product itself rather than the pricing. <!-- link to: UC-12-paperless-post-review -->

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Planning a wedding weekend? Upload the invitation you already made to Lumhe, whether that is an image, a video, a PDF or typed text, then find and connect with your guests by name, phone number or email inside Lumhe and send it to them directly. Add each function separately, so the rehearsal dinner and the reception have their own guest lists and their own RSVPs, and you always know the headcount for each one. After the wedding, everyone's photos collect in Moments, a shared timeline that does not expire. Guests who want to send money instead of a gift can do it through Digital Lifafa. You add your payment ID, they pay from whichever app they already use and upload the receipt, and it arrives wrapped in a digital envelope you open. Lumhe never touches the money. You can also share your invitation link on WhatsApp, iMessage, Instagram or any other platform. Explore Lumhe.

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