Are wedding registries actually free?

Most wedding registries are free to set up and free for physical gifts, but charge 2.5%–2.9% on cash-fund contributions paid by credit or debit card. Zola, The Knot, and Joy all charge 2.5%. Honeyfund charges 2.9%. MyRegistry and Donum charge 0%. "Free" usually means free on physical gifts only; the cash side is where the fee lives.

The split exists because physical-gift registries make money on retailer affiliate commissions, while cash funds generate no retailer commission and have real card-processing costs. Each platform handles that gap differently.

Free on physical gifts: yes, almost universally

If you add a $200 KitchenAid mixer from Williams Sonoma to a registry on Zola, Joy, The Knot, MyRegistry, Amazon, Target, or Donum, the couple pays nothing and the guest pays the retailer's listed price. The registry earns an affiliate commission from the retailer (typically 1–8%). That commission is invisible to both the couple and the guest. The retailer absorbs it as a marketing expense.

This is the part everyone calls "free." It is genuinely free to the couple and the guest. It is also where the entire industry's money has historically come from.

Not free on cash: the part nobody advertises

Cash funds (honeymoon funds, down-payment funds, "first dinner out" funds) generate no retailer commission. They also have to be processed somehow, which means card-processing fees. Standard US card processing online runs about 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction.

Here's how each major platform handles that cost:

| Platform | Platform fee on cash | Who pays | |---|---|---| | Zola | 2.5% | Couple | | The Knot | 2.5% | Couple | | Joy | 2.5% | Couple | | Honeyfund (PayPal) | 2.9% + 30¢ | Couple | | MyRegistry | 0% | Platform absorbs | | Donum | 0% | Guest covers (default-on, ~80% adoption) | | Amazon | n/a | No cash funds |

On a $500 cash gift paid by card on Zola, $487.50 reaches the couple. On Honeyfund, about $485.20 reaches them. On Donum, $500 reaches them when the guest covers (the default), or about $485.20 when they don't.

What "platform fee" actually means

The 2.5% Zola charges is a platform fee, not a passthrough. Zola negotiates lower processor rates with their volume (closer to 2.0–2.3%) and keeps the difference. The Knot and Joy do the same thing. They describe it as a "credit card processing fee" on their fee schedules, but it isn't passed through at cost.

Honeyfund is more transparent about the math: they charge 2.9% + 30¢, which is roughly the actual card-processing rate. They aren't keeping margin on it; they're just not absorbing it.

Donum's model is different again. We don't take a platform fee at all (application_fee_amount = 0 on every gift). Stripe Connect routes funds directly to the couple's connected bank account. The processing fee is real (about 2.9% + 30¢), but at checkout the guest is asked if they'd like to cover it for the couple. That box is checked by default. Industry-typical adoption is ~80%, which means most cash gifts arrive at 100%.

The platform is funded by affiliate revenue from physical-gift purchases, the same revenue source every other registry already has. We just don't double-dip on the cash side.

Are there other hidden costs?

A few worth checking on any platform:

• Cash-fund caps. Some platforms cap individual contributions or total cash-fund balances; rare but worth checking.
• Payout delays. Standard is 2–7 business days from gift to bank. Anything longer is a red flag.
• 1099-K reporting. In the US, cash-fund payouts above the federal threshold trigger a 1099-K. This isn't a fee, but it's paperwork. The merchant of record on the payment processor issues it; on Donum, that's the couple themselves through Stripe Connect, never Donum.
• Wedding website upcharges. Free on Zola, Joy, The Knot. Donum and MyRegistry don't have a website builder in v1; paste your registry link into Zola or The Knot's free site if you need one.

So is it free or not?

For a physical-gifts-only registry on any major platform: yes, genuinely free.

For a cash fund: free on Donum and MyRegistry, 2.5% on Zola/Knot/Joy, 2.9% on Honeyfund. There is no major US registry where cash gifts are free and the underlying card processing is fully transparent to the couple, except the model where the guest is asked to cover at checkout.

Related

• The best zero-fee wedding registries in 2026
• Zola's 2.5% cash fund fee, explained

Bottom line: "free" almost always means free on physical gifts. Ask specifically about the cash-fund fee before you sign up. If you want a registry that's actually free on both sides, we built one.