Zola vs Joy: Which Wedding App is Best?

About
Latest Posts

Lauren is a writer, artist, jewelry designer, and ceramicist who has been selling her artwork since 2007. She creates jewelry based on her original nature photographs, using beads, wire, plastic, and glass. She has sold her work at craft fairs and operates an Etsy shop where she sells nature-inspired candles made from hand-poured concrete and soy wax. Her favorite materials are porcelain and uncut or semi-precious gemstones. With a deep appreciation for the sentimental value of jewelry, she's dedicated to helping you discover pieces that hold a special place in your heart and may become cherished family heirlooms.

At the End of the Day, Zola has my Heart

I like both sites, but I definitely prefer Zola. Their site was a bit more user-friendly, I liked their designs more, and they offer a ton of planning resources and vendor information that’s just not available through Joy.

Zola vs. Withjoy for Wedding Websites

Designs

I browsed a few public wedding websites and registries on both sites and I have to say—the ones on Joy felt less personal to me. Now, there’s a chance I might have just chosen the wrong ones (I was just searching random common names) but it feels like Joy’s sites are less customizable than Zolas. Even the ones that had different backgrounds still had the exact same layout, which felt a little utilitarian.

It also looks like Joy suggests text to autofill into the sites, which isn’t a bad thing per se (I’ll be the first to tell you that the writer’s block that comes from agonizing over the perfect way to word something is REAL). Unfortunately, this meant that pretty much every site I browsed had the exact same wording on a few of their pages, registry included.

This isn’t a huge issue since I can’t imagine your guests are planning on comparing your registry to a bunch of strangers’ (unless I’m invited to your wedding), but if you want your website to feel really personal, it’s definitely something to keep in mind.

RSVP Tracking and Guest List Management

Both sites offer some form of RSVP tracking, which includes tracking for multiple events (you can elect to only invite certain guests to some events), meal choices, allergy prompts, and custom questions (you can ask for song requests, for example).

Parties can respond together, which makes it easier for couples and families to RSVP, and you can lock RSVPs to named guests only, which makes it easy to enforce plus ones. Both sites can also help you gather your guests’ contact info and create table arrangements.

One thing I noticed that Joy offers that I thought was cool was the ability to ask private questions to only some of your guests. Zola doesn’t have the same feature, but you can work around it by creating custom questions and manually selecting which guests to ask them to.

Further Customization

Zola makes it easy to edit your website and preview the changes before making them go live.

Joy can be a bit glitchy (I’ve heard a lot of complaints about things disappearing on people) and I found it frustrating trying to add new pages to a site. I would say that if you like one of the templates on Joy and don’t plan on changing much more than the text, go for it, but if you want to further customize your site and add a lot of extra pages (for different wedding weekend events, suggestions for guests to do around town, etc.) you’ll probably find Zola a lot easier to work with.

Zola vs. Withjoy: Paper Products

Both companies sell print and online invitations and save the dates, including ones that match their website themes. They also both allow you to upload your own designs.

While their prices are comparable, I think that Zola wins out across the board here. Not only do they have a larger selection to choose from, they also offer more customization options for that selection. Almost all of their designs come in multiple colorways, and they offer luxe designs with features like foil or letterpress (be prepared to pay extra for these). Some of Joy’s designs come in multiple colorways and they do have a few metallic options, but they just don’t have the selection that Zola has. I also just like a lot of Zola’s designs more—but that’s just my personal opinion.

One thing I love is that both Zola and Joy offer free guest addressing for your envelopes, something that was non-negotiable for me. (Pro tip: I made sure to snag my thank you notes from a company that addressed the envelopes as well. It’s amazing how much more organized it keeps you and how much time it saves). You can have the names and addresses from your RSVP spreadsheet printed directly on the envelopes. It saves you time and peace of mind since it’s another way to double-check that you’ve actually got an invitation for each person on your list.

Zola vs. Withjoy for Wedding Planning Solutions

Zola isn’t just a wedding website and registry platform—they also have a ton of ways to help you plan your wedding. You can browse and contact venues and vendors, sorting them by your needs, and view their reviews. They also have an extensive blog, budgeting and seating chart tools, and a boutique where you can buy anything from groomsman gifts to your wedding shoes.

In addition to their website, RSVP, and invitation services, Joy has a blog, hotel block booking platform, and virtual address book where you can store your guests’ contact info. They don’t have any sort of database of venues and vendors the way Zola does.

I didn’t like that in order to even access the hotel blocking I had to enter my email and create an account. I definitely prefer that Zola lets me browse venues before giving out any contact information.

Zola vs. WithJoy for Wedding Registry

Registry Store

Zola has their own registry shop with a ton of items covering a wide variety of categories and brands. I like it when registry services do this because (1) it makes it easier for guests to shop everything all from one page and (2) it means you’re likely to be offered some sort of a “registry completion” discount on those items if no one purchases them by your wedding date (both sites will give you 20% off). Joy also has their own store, and I like that they offer some cool alternatives that you don’t see on a lot of other registry sites. They have a whole selection of cocktail kits, gourmet food baskets, plants, and sweet, personal gifts like bouquet preservation services.

The one downside to these internal registry shops is that they can feel limiting. Zola gets around this by allowing you to link products from any store to their registry—so if they don’t carry a specific brand you want, you can still add it to your registry. You can even link items from small independent sellers, like a piece of artwork or pottery on an artist’s website.

One of my favorite features is that Zola displays an image of products from outside sites, making the registry visually seamless. Many other platforms only offer a basic text link at the bottom of the page for external registries, which can often go overlooked.

The only drawback is that when guests click on these external registry items, they’re redirected to the original site to complete the purchase instead of buying directly on Zola’s platform, which can be annoying for guests trying to purchase multiple small items (and confusing for less tech-savvy guests.

Joy has options to either “sync” an external registry (like Zola does) or “transfer” it, which allows you to manage it through your Joy registry. In theory, the transfer method is more convenient and less confusing for your guests, but both systems only work with about half a dozen big-name registries like Target, West Elm, etc. As long as you don’t plan on adding items from smaller artists or boutiques, this won’t be a problem. If you do, you’re unfortunately stuck with just a link.

I will say that both sites have generous return policies, so there’s no worry if you accidentally receive two of the same gift (or simply change your mind about something you registered for).

Cash Funds

Both sites allow you to link your Venmo to create fee-free cash funds. They also have plenty of experiences, gift cards, and charity funds listed. Both also offer group gifting, where several guests can contribute toward the purchase of a larger item.

What I Think Zola Does Better:

Their sites are more customizable
They offer a larger selection of paper goods
The size is all-around more user-friendly, less buggy, and easier to navigate
It’s easier to add items from small boutiques and independent sellers to your registry

What I Think WithJoy Does Better:

Joy might be better for you if you face option paralysis. I could see their pared-down offerings being a blessing for some overwhelmed brides and grooms!
Joy has better “unconventional” gifts in their registry shop, like plants, cocktail kits, and bouquet preservation services
If you’re only registering with a handful of big brands, Joy’s “transfer” feature makes managing your registry more straightforward

If Neither Choice is Your Perfect Match, Consider These Alternatives:

The Knot: Another big player in the game, The Knot is closer to Zola than Joy, in that it offers a ton of planning tools in addition to a registry and an extensive selection of website and invitation designs.

Honeyfund: If all you want is to set up a simple cash fund in lieu of a registry, Honeyfund might work better for you.

Minted: Minted has a ton of artist-designed invitations (and all the other paper goods you’ll need) and a wedding website feature, but they don’t offer anything in terms of registry. You’ll have to link to an outside site hosting your registry if you use them. That being said, I’ve ordered from them before, and they do a great job with their paper goods.

My Final Take? I’m Actually a Little Surprised at How Much I Preferred Zola

Not that I have anything against Joy, but I think Zola just offers so much more all around. Like I said, if I’m checking off items on my to-do list, Zola’s going to help me cover a lot more of them a lot easier than Joy will. I like that I can browse vendors in my area, collect RSVPs, and create a registry all in one place. I also just liked their designs more, and that they have a wider selection of them.