The Knot vs Zola: Head-to-Head Comparison

There’s a good chance that getting married can give you “knots” in your stomach when it comes to picking which wedding registry will be the best choice for you and your wedding guests. Two of today’s top wedding registry services many couples will come across are The Knot and Zola. And picking between the two often comes as its own challenge. After all, the last thing you need when planning your wedding is another challenge. That’s why we’ve put together this head-to-head comparison between The Knot vs Zola to help you make the right decision for your special day!

Read also: What is a Wedding Gift Registry?

Bottom Line Recommendation

Zola and The Knot are both excellent choices for your wedding website and your wedding registries. Picking between the two comes down to factors like personal preferences, specific features, and customer support.

For the most part, the two offer extensive wedding planning resources and free wedding websites for couples to host their registry and other wedding details. And for many couples, that alone is enough.

But if one aspect of Zola vs The Knot is a higher priority for you, for example, if you prioritize more customer support options over what registry brands you can choose from, then having a preference between Zola vs The Knot would help you make your decisions easier.

All in all, you can’t go wrong picking one over the other.

Features & Benefits

The Knot and Zola are two wedding registries that share a lot in common. This makes it harder for couples to know the main differences and to decide which one is better. Here are a few features of each to help you differentiate between the two wedding websites.

The Knot

For starters, couples can create their own free wedding websites from pre-made templates.

This wedding website will host all your wedding information like wedding date, RSVP function, and a wedding registry, along with a custom URL

This makes it really easy for your guests to find your wedding registry and makes gift giving a whole lot easier.

Read also: The Knot vs Honeyfund: Which Wedding Registry is Better?

The Knot also offers the ability for couples to create a cash fund to help with financial goals like a down payment on a house or a dream honeymoon vacation.

And finally, it’s common for couples to have questions or need help along the way of their wedding planning process. So The Knot offers plenty of wedding resources, personalized tips, and guides to help couples out.

Read also: How To Make a Wedding Registry on Amazon

To recap, here are the features that The Knot offers:

• Create a free wedding website from their large selection of themes and ready-to-use templates

• Add items to your wedding registry from large big box stores like Bed Bath & Beyond, Williams Sonoma, Amazon, Target, Wayfair, and more!

• Set up a honeymoon fund and receive cash to put towards a dream vacation, or use the money for a down payment on a house

• Get personalized wedding tips, and read through a large library of resources and guides to help you every step of the way

Zola

On the other hand, Zola is the new kid in town.

Zola offers a similar approach to The Knot, but Zola positions itself as a more “one stop shop” source for wedding registries.

Read also: How To Make a Crate & Barrel Wedding Registry

Zola does pretty much what The Knot does but takes it a step further and handles paper invitations (save the dates), plus offers 20% off post-wedding purchases (more on this soon).

Read also: Zola vs Honeyfund: Choosing The Perfect Wedding Registry

They also partner with many smaller local brands as opposed to The Knot that partners with many big box retailers for their wedding registry. But rest assured, you can still find many of those same big box retailers on Zola as well.

Here’s a quick list of Zola’s features:

• Get a free wedding website – choose from over 250 pre-made, easy-to-customize wedding templates and themes to share with friends and family

• Create cash honeymoon funds – instead of a coffee maker or a toaster, have your guests contribute to a cash fund to put towards an unforgettable honeymoon. Or use the funds for a down payment on a house instead!

• Wedding registry – browse big box stores or local small businesses to add to your gift registry. Comes with free shipping and returns too!

• Save the dates – these are basically wedding invitations you send out to your guests before the wedding to “save the date”. Zola makes it super easy to get your wedding details out to the world!

• 20% off post-wedding purchases – did you have items in your wedding checklist that didn’t get purchased by guests? There’s no need to worry anymore because Zola will let you purchase those items at a whopping 20% discount!

Read also: Here’s Exactly When You Should Make and Share Your Wedding Registry

Pricing & Fees

Zola

Zola charges a 2.5% processing fee on credit card transactions for cash gifts.

You have the option to let your guests pay for this fee or you can choose to absorb the costs yourself.

The exception to this fee comes if you choose to redeem the cash funds from your registry in the form of gift cards.

If you redeem your cash in the form of gift cards, there is no fee.

When it comes to purchasing items off the wedding registry, there is free shipping, delivery, and returns.

Other features like setting up the website, using the registry, invitations, creating the guest list, wedding planning resources, etc. do not have any fees.

Read also: How Much Should a Bridesmaid Spend on a Wedding Gift?

The Knot

Similar to Zola, The Knot charges a 2.5% credit card processing fee on cash transactions.

The only difference is that guests have to cover this fee and cannot be absorbed by you.

There are no other fees associated with using the registry.

They offer free shipping, delivery, and returns.

Read also: Do You Need To Give A Gift If You Don’t Attend The Wedding?

Zola vs The Knot on Reddit

Reddit is a great place to get some second opinions on Zola vs The Knot. Here’s what a few users are saying about the two:

Seems like users on Reddit really love Zola and have had a wonderful experience!

It’s important to keep in mind that these comments are 4 years old and The Knot has made some improvements since then.

As always, take these comments with a grain of salt.

Read also: Do Bridesmaids and Groomsmen Give Wedding Gifts?

Customer Support

The Knot

To get in touch with the customer support team at The Knot, you can email help@theknot(.)com or call (1-877) 843-5668.

Although live chat is a popular feature amongst people these days, The Knot does not offer live chat which was unfortunate.

Zola

Zola gets ahead of the competition when it comes to customer support options.

It’s a common struggle for couples to need help along the way when making a wedding website or having a wedding registry.

As a result, Zola offers couples a free registry advisor to walk you through the entire wedding registry process.

The best part is that it’s a real human you’re talking to. And all you need to do is book an appointment online at a time that’s most convenient for you.

You can also reach out to them via email at support@zola(.)com or you can call them at (1-408) 657-9652.

Recap

At the end of the day, Zola and The Knot are both excellent choices for your wedding website and your wedding registries. Picking between the two comes down to personal preferences, specific features, and customer support.

For the most part, the two offer extensive wedding planning resources and free wedding websites for couples to host their registry and other wedding details. And for many couples, that alone is enough.

But if one aspect of Zola vs The Knot is a higher priority for you, for example, if you prioritize more customer support options over what registry brands you can choose from, then having a preference between Zola vs The Knot would help you make your decisions easier.

All in all, you can’t go wrong picking one over the other.