Git Hitched vs Joy (WithJoy)

Git Hitched is a free, open-source wedding website template built with Ruby on Rails for couples who host and customize it themselves. Guests enter a shared invite code, then RSVP by household for each invited event, including meal selections and dietary notes. The system records children and childcare requests, with dashboard views by age bracket and event. Administrators can manage invitations and guests, send bulk messages, review RSVP and attendance reports, import invites from a Google Sheets CSV URL, and export guest or seating workbooks. Seating tools support event tables, drag-and-drop assignments, and Excel export. Guests can reserve hotel rooms through Stripe Checkout, while administrators manage bookings and refunds. Invitation, RSVP, reminder, and hotel emails use configurable delivery providers such as SendGrid or Postmark. Nine configurable content pages, branding, events, and visibility settings support customization. Deployment configuration covers Render and Kamal. It runs self-hosted or on the web and is MIT licensed.

Joy combines a wedding website, registry, and planning dashboard for couples and their guests. Its free dashboard includes a guest list, online RSVP tools, and website features. Couples can assemble a registry with Joy Shop products, gifts from other stores, and cash funds; cash contributions can use Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App, while card payments go through Stripe. Guests can use the mobile app to add photos to a shared album and leave messages in a virtual guest book. The app also provides travel details, map integrations, accommodation booking, and ride-sharing integrations. Google Maps previews can show directions for schedule events. Couples can password-protect event pages and manage whether events appear in Joy search or search engine results, though search engines may take a few days to a few weeks to reflect indexing changes. Email messaging is free; text delivery and scheduled messages require the paid Messaging Plus upgrade. Card contributions carry a 3.5% processing fee paid by the guest and a $1.70 fee to transfer the Stripe balance. Joy is available on the web, Android, and iOS.