Cheap Wedding Invitations: Online Printers vs DIY vs Digital, With Real 2026 Prices

The cheapest wedding invitations are the ones you print at home on cardstock: about 5 cents a card plus ink, so roughly $5 to $10 for a 100-guest wedding before stamps. Online printers like Zazzle cost $1.53 to $2.71 a card, and a digital invitation service runs about $1 a guest, with no postage at all.

Which one is right depends less on the card and more on three things: whether your printer can handle thick paper, how many of your guests actually read their email, and how much you are willing to spend on stamps. Here is the honest comparison, with prices we checked in October 2026.

The three ways to do it, side by side

Option	Cost per invitation	For 60 invitations (about 100 guests)	Postage needed?
Print at home, 2 cards per sheet of 110 lb cardstock	about 5 cents plus ink	about $3 plus ink	Yes
Zazzle 5 x 7 flat card, on sale	from $1.53	about $92	Yes
Zazzle 5 x 7 flat card, regular price	$2.71	about $163	Yes
Greenvelope digital, up to 100 guests	under $1 a guest	$99 flat	No

Prices from Zazzle, Staples and Greenvelope. Online printers run sales nearly every week, so never pay the regular price if you can wait a few days.

Online printers: easiest, and cheaper than you think on sale

Ordering from an online printer is the low-stress route. You pick a design, type in your names, proof it on screen and the cards turn up at your door. Zazzle's base 5 x 7 flat card on matte paper is $2.71, and during sales we saw designs from $1.53 to $2.68 each. There is no minimum order, so you can buy exactly what you need.

Where the price creeps up is the extras. Zazzle charges 20 cents more per card for rounded corners, 64 cents more for linen, pearlescent or soft touch paper, and $1.05 more for its thickest double-layer paper. Add foil and you are past $3 a card before you have bought a stamp. If you go this way, keep the base paper and square corners, and choose a design that looks good in plain ink.

Worth it when: you have no printer, you are short on time, or you have more than about 150 households to invite and do not want to spend an evening trimming paper.

DIY printing at home: cheapest by far, if your printer cooperates

A 250-sheet pack of 110 lb ivory cardstock is $25.29 at Staples. Two 5 x 7 invitations fit on one letter-size sheet, so that pack makes up to 500 cards, which works out to about 5 cents each. Even with ink and a few ruined test sheets, a 60-invitation run stays in single digits.

The catch is the printer. Many home inkjets struggle with heavy paper, so check the maximum paper weight in your manual before you buy. If yours tops out lower, a 65 or 80 lb cover stock still feels like a proper card. The Staples listing describes its 110 lb index stock as thicker than 65 lb cover and a little lighter than 80 lb cover, which is a good middle point.

A plain printed card does not have to look plain. Our wax seal invitations come to about 54 cents each including the card, envelope and seal, and our pressed flower invitations are about 53 cents each. Both look far more expensive than a $3 online card.

Not worth it when: your printer jams on anything thicker than copy paper, you need more than about 150 cards and nobody wants to help cut, or your design has a full-color background that eats ink. In that case, order online on sale and spend your DIY energy elsewhere.

Digital invitations: no paper, no stamps

Digital invitations have stopped feeling cheap. Services like Greenvelope send an animated envelope by email or text and track RSVPs for you. Greenvelope charges a flat fee per mailing: $59 for up to 60 guests and $99 for up to 100 guests. Each person on your list counts as one guest, so check how they count couples before you pick a package. Paperless Post works with coins instead and has a selection of free designs (Paperless Post).

Digital makes the most sense for younger guest lists, destination weddings and short timelines. The common compromise: send digital to everyone, then print 10 to 15 paper copies for grandparents, a keepsake box and your photographer's flat lay.

Postage: the cost people forget

In the US, a stamped 1 oz letter costs 82 cents in late 2026, and each extra ounce adds 29 cents (USPS). For 60 invitations, that is $49.20 in stamps.

Two things push the price up fast:

• Weight. A card, an envelope, an RSVP card and a return envelope can tip you over 1 oz. At 2 oz, each invitation costs $1.11. Weigh one finished invitation at the post office before you buy stamps.
• Nonmachinable envelopes. Square envelopes, lumpy wax seals, ribbons and rigid envelopes add a 49 cent surcharge per letter, because they have to be sorted by hand. A square invitation with a seal costs $1.31 to mail, or $78.60 for 60.

The cheapest swap: skip the RSVP card and its stamp, and ask guests to reply on your wedding website or by text. That alone can save you another 82 cents per invitation.

How many invitations to order

You need one invitation per household, not per guest. A couple gets one card, a family of four gets one card. Shutterfly's guide puts it at 55 to 65 invitations for 100 guests, and suggests 10 to 20 extras for mistakes, last-minute additions and keepsakes (Shutterfly).

Guests	Invitations	With extras
50	30 to 35	about 45
100	55 to 65	about 75
150	80 to 90	about 100

When you print at home, you can print extras later, so order the paper for the full amount but only print what you need. With an online printer, order the extras in the first batch. A reorder of 10 cards later often costs more than 20 extra in the first order, plus shipping again.

Paper choices that look good for less

• Matte or uncoated cardstock looks the most expensive and is the cheapest to buy. Glossy paper looks like a flyer.
• Ivory, cream or soft grey hides small printing imperfections better than bright white.
• Flat cards beat folded ones. A single 5 x 7 card uses half the paper, fits a standard A7 envelope and keeps you under 1 oz.
• One insert instead of three. Put the RSVP details, hotel info and dress code on your website and print the address on the back of the invitation.

If you want a matching set, print your invitations, programs and table numbers on the same cardstock with the same fonts. It looks planned, and you only buy one pack of paper. Our wedding program wording article has examples you can reuse on the same paper.

What to write if you are asking for cash

If you would rather have money toward a trip than a toaster, put that on your website or on a small insert card, not on the main invitation. Our honeymoon fund wording article has polite examples you can copy.

The short version

Count households, not guests, and add 10 to 20 extras. Print at home on 110 lb cardstock for about 5 cents a card if your printer can handle it. Otherwise, wait for an online sale and keep the base paper. Go digital if your guests live on their phones. And keep envelopes flat, light and rectangular, because the stamp often costs more than the card.