Is Punchbowl Free? Only During the 7-Day Trial
No, with one exception. As of October 2026, Punchbowl requires a paid membership to send invitations for a new event. New customers get a 7-day free trial, and invitations sent during those seven days cost nothing. To start the trial you pick a plan and enter payment details, and the subscription begins if you don't cancel.
If you remember Punchbowl as a free service, that's why searching "is Punchbowl free" gets confusing. Punchbowl's help center has an article titled "Changes on Punchbowl" that says it in one line: "For new events, you must have a paid membership." Plenty of comparison articles still describe a free tier, older posts on this blog among them. I checked Punchbowl's upgrade page and help center this week, and the details below come from there.
Is Punchbowl free during the trial?
Yes, and the trial is the only free option. Here is how Punchbowl describes it:
- It lasts 7 days.
- To start it you choose a membership plan, create an account and enter payment details.
- You can cancel at any time during the trial. If you don't, the paid subscription starts when the trial ends.
- It's offered on the Plus, Premium and Platinum plans. The Business plan shows a "Join now" button with no trial.
- The trial is described as being for new customers. Repeat customers are told to sign in for discounted membership pricing.
Punchbowl also advertises a 30-day money-back guarantee with "no questions asked."
Punchbowl's FAQ suggests you can send one party's invitations inside the trial and then cancel. It says new customers can send invitations for free during the trial, and that after canceling you can still track RSVPs and manage the event in its free iOS or Android app. I haven't run that sequence myself, so set a reminder for day six and check your account before relying on it.
The contrast with Lemonvite, the platform this blog belongs to, is in what you hand over before you see anything. Lemonvite asks for no card to design. A new account gets five free design generations, and you pay once, $5, at the moment you publish. Nothing renews, so there's no cancellation date to remember. You can start a design and decide whether to pay after you've seen it.
Punchbowl cost: the plans after the trial
Punchbowl's upgrade page lists four memberships. Each plan shows a crossed-out price and a current "from" price per month. The page doesn't say which billing period the "from" price assumes, so your checkout summary is the place to confirm what you're being charged.
| Plan | Guests per event | Price shown, per month | Ads removed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plus | up to 50 | from $2.99 (crossed out: $5.99) | No |
| Premium | up to 100 | from $4.99 (crossed out: $9.99) | No |
| Platinum | up to 500 | from $5.99 (crossed out: $11.99) | Yes |
| Business | up to 5,000 | from $39.99 (crossed out: $79.99) | Yes |
Every plan includes unlimited events, delivery by text or email, RSVP tracking and customer support. Premium adds co-hosts and guest polls. Platinum adds ad-free invitations and a custom event link.
One billing detail from the help center: an annual membership is charged for the full year and can't be partially refunded after only one month. The upgrade page doesn't mention annual billing at all, so read the order summary before you confirm.
Paying for Punchbowl doesn't remove the ads
This surprised me more than the missing free plan. On the Plus and Premium plans you are a paying member and your guests still see advertising on the invitation. Punchbowl's help center says removing ads takes a Platinum or a Business membership.
It also says ads can only be removed from accounts with an active membership. Cancel Platinum and your invitations are no longer ad-free.
Lemonvite has no ads on any invitation. There isn't a tier that removes them, because there's only one price.
How Punchbowl counts guests
The guest limits in the table are per event, and Punchbowl counts every person on the list. Its FAQ gives the example of a family: the partners and the children in it each count.
That matters most on Plus. Twenty families for a kids' birthday can pass 50 people quickly, and Punchbowl's help center says a list of 51 to 100 needs Premium and a list of 101 to 500 needs Platinum. You can add guests after sending and upgrade if you go over.
Lemonvite's $5 covers up to 150 guests on one event. Up to 50 of those can be phone guests who get a text, and each further batch of 50 phone guests costs another $5 to cover texting. Co-hosts are included at that price, where Punchbowl puts them on Premium and above.
What the same party costs on Lemonvite
Take a child's birthday with 60 people on the list. Everyone gets a text and you don't want ads on the invitation.
On Punchbowl that needs Platinum, since Plus and Premium both show ads and Plus stops at 50 guests. Platinum is listed from $5.99 a month (crossed out: $11.99), and it's a membership that renews until you cancel it.
On Lemonvite it's $10 once: $5 for the event plus $5 for the second batch of phone guests. If 10 of those guests are invited by email, it's $5. The terms are on the pricing page.
For a host who throws one or two parties a year, a one-time price per event is the simpler arrangement. For someone who sends invitations every month, a Punchbowl membership with unlimited events can work out cheaper per event, and that's a fair reason to choose it.
What Punchbowl is good at
Licensed characters. Every Punchbowl plan lists "exclusive characters from Disney & more," and for a five-year-old who wants one specific character on the invitation, that's reason enough to choose Punchbowl. Lemonvite doesn't offer licensed characters.
Lemonvite works from a description instead. You type what the party is, something like "dinosaur dig in the backyard, bright green and orange," and the design engine makes an invitation for that party. You can also upload a photo or your own artwork. Guests open their link and RSVP without creating an account. If the party is a birthday, the birthday invitations page shows the kind of thing it produces.
Punchbowl's guest limit is also much higher. Platinum allows 500 guests per event and Business allows 5,000, against 150 on Lemonvite.
Can you send invitations for free somewhere else?
Yes, if free is the requirement.
Evite is free for up to 750 guests, with ads on the invitation. Paperless Post is free for your first 50 Flyer invites and has no ads, though most of its Card designs cost Coins per guest. Both are better answers than Punchbowl for a host who will not pay anything.
If you're willing to pay a little to skip both the ads and the membership, Lemonvite's $5 per event is the option in between. I compared the two older services side by side in Evite vs Punchbowl.
If you stay with Punchbowl, budget for Platinum if you don't want your guests looking at ads, and count every family member before you choose a plan. If a subscription is more than one party calls for, describe the party at Lemonvite and look at the invitation it makes before you enter a card anywhere.