# Which Invitation Apps Don't Make Your Guests Sign Up?

> Some invitation products ask your guests for an account, a phone number or a verification code before they can reply. Here is exactly what each one asks for, checked 25 August 2026.

Source: https://rsvora.com/blog/invitations-no-account-for-guests
Publisher: RSVora (https://rsvora.com)
Updated: 2026-08-25

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**Short answer:** **RSVora** asks a guest for nothing at all — they open the link and reply. **Evite, Paperless Post, Punchbowl, Mixily, Greenvelope and Hobnob** also let guests reply without an account. **Partiful** requires a phone number and a code texted to it. **Facebook Events** requires a Facebook account. Ticketing platforms — **Eventbrite, Luma, Eventzilla, Cvent, Splash** — all require registration, because registration is the product.

This matters more than it sounds. Every extra thing you ask a guest for is a place where somebody quietly does not reply, and the people it stops are disproportionately the ones you most want at the party: an older relative, a colleague who does not want to hand over a mobile number, a friend whose phone is a work device.

## What each product asks a guest for

Checked 25 August 2026 against each company's own help documentation.

| Product | What a guest must provide to RSVP |
| --- | --- |
| [RSVora](/create) | Nothing. Open the link, tap yes or no |
| [Evite](/compare/evite) | Nothing. No account required to reply |
| [Paperless Post](/compare/paperless-post) | Nothing |
| [Punchbowl](/compare/punchbowl) | Nothing |
| [Mixily](/compare/mixily) | Nothing |
| [Greenvelope](/compare/greenvelope) | Nothing |
| [Hobnob](/compare/hobnob) | Nothing. Reply by text or open the web invite |
| [Zola](/compare/zola) / [The Knot](/compare/the-knot) / [Joy](/compare/joy) | Nothing, though Joy also offers an app |
| [Partiful](/compare/partiful) | Name, phone number, and a verification code texted to it |
| [Facebook Events](/compare/facebook-events) | A Facebook account |
| [Eventbrite](/compare/eventbrite) | Registration; an account is the normal path |
| [Luma](/compare/luma) | Registration; an account or email is required |
| [SignUpGenius](/compare/signupgenius) | Nothing for most sign-ups |
| [Doodle](/compare/doodle) | An account requirement applies in the current free tier |
| [Google Forms](/compare/google-forms) | Not by default, but restricting duplicates usually means requiring sign-in |

## The phone number question

Partiful is the interesting case, because it is otherwise one of the better free products in the category — genuinely free, no advertising, funny, with date polling and waitlists built in. The trade is explicit: a guest enters a name and phone number and then types a code texted to that number to complete the RSVP.

Partiful's own help documentation describes what the number is then used for: automatic reminders, host text blasts, and surfacing events that a guest or their mutuals are invited to. That is a coherent product decision — it is what makes the mutuals feature work — but it is a broader use of a number than answering one question about one Saturday.

If your guest list is young and entirely mobile, nobody will blink. If it has a school class, a set of colleagues and a grandparent in it, this is the step where replies stop coming.

## The Facebook question

A Facebook event is free and requires nothing of the people who are already there. It requires everything of the people who are not: anyone who has left the platform, or never joined, cannot see or answer your invitation at all.

Two other things worth knowing before you use it for a private event. Facebook does not let you convert a public or group event to a private one after it has been created, so a privacy mistake at creation is not fully reversible. And a Facebook event counts people, not headcounts — there is no way to record that one invitee is bringing two adults and three children, which is precisely the number you need for catering.

## What "no account" looks like in practice

On RSVora, a guest receives a link. Opening it shows a sealed envelope that opens with confetti and reveals the invitation, rendered in their own device language. They tap yes or no, set how many adults and children are coming, and can leave a note. That is the entire flow. No email, no phone number, no password, no code, no app.

The link itself is the credential: each guest's page lives at an unguessable token URL, disallowed in robots.txt so it is never indexed. It is the same model as a password reset email, and it is why nothing further needs asking.

## The practical rule

If the event needs a headcount, remove every step between the link and the answer. If the event needs a *ticket*, or a payment, or capacity control with a waitlist, then registration is doing real work and a product that requires it is the right tool.

Most parties are the first kind.

## Common questions

### Which invitation sites let guests RSVP without an account?

RSVora, Evite, Paperless Post, Punchbowl, Mixily, Greenvelope and Hobnob all let a guest reply without creating an account. Partiful requires a phone number and a texted verification code. Facebook Events requires a Facebook account. Most event-ticketing platforms — Eventbrite, Luma, Eventzilla, Cvent, Splash — require registration.

### Can guests RSVP without giving a phone number?

Yes on RSVora — a guest opens the link and replies, and nothing is required beyond that. Partiful is the main product where a mobile number is effectively mandatory: guests enter a name and phone number and then type a code texted to that number.

### Why do some invitation apps ask guests for a phone number?

Because the number becomes the identity. Partiful documents using collected guest phone numbers to send automatic reminders, to let hosts send text blasts, and to send guests events that they or their mutuals are invited to. That is a broader use than a single RSVP.

### Do guests have to download an app to RSVP?

Not on any of the web-based products. Hobnob is an app for the host but guests can reply by text or open a web invite. RSVora has no app at all on either side — the invitation is a web page.

### What happens if a guest does not have a smartphone?

On RSVora, any browser on any device works, so a laptop or tablet is fine. On Partiful the RSVP flow is built around a mobile number, so a guest without one has no straightforward route to reply.

### Is a no-account RSVP less secure?

No. On RSVora each guest's RSVP page lives at an unguessable token URL that is disallowed in robots.txt and never indexed. The link is the credential, which is the same model as a password reset email.