The best zero-fee wedding registries in 2026

There are exactly two wedding registries in 2026 that don't take a percentage of your cash gifts: Donum and MyRegistry. Every other major name (Zola, The Knot, Joy, Honeyfund) charges between 2.5% and 2.9% on credit-card cash contributions. The list below is short on purpose.

A "free registry" is not the same as a "registry that's free on cash." Most platforms blur the two. Here's the actual tally.

The actually-zero-fee list

Donum: 0% on everything

No platform fee on cash gifts. Stripe Connect handles card processing (2.9% + 30¢, the going rate for cards), and at checkout guests are asked to cover that fee for the couple. Default-on, ~80% adoption industry-typical. The platform is funded by affiliate revenue from physical-gift purchases, not by skimming cash. Donum is the only modern registry built around that model.

MyRegistry: 0% platform fee, dated UI

MyRegistry has been free on cash for years. The catch is the product itself: the UI is roughly a decade behind everything else, mobile is rough, and the universal-add experience is clunkier than it should be. If aesthetics and speed don't matter to you, it's a legitimate zero-fee option.

That's the entire list. Two names.

The ones that quietly take a cut

Zola: 2.5% on cash funds (credit/debit)

Free for physical gifts. On a $500 cash gift paid by card, $487.50 reaches the couple. On a median wedding with $8,000 in card-paid cash gifts, that's $200 to Zola. Bank transfers are free, but >80% of guests pay by card.

The Knot: 2.5% on cash funds

Identical fee structure to Zola. Same parent company (WeddingWire/XO Group), same math. Adds the further cost of being widely complained about for guest-data sharing and post-signup vendor spam.

Joy: 2.5% on cash funds

Modern UI, genuinely good wedding website builder. Same 2.5% on credit-card cash contributions. They market themselves as "free": the registry is free, the cash fund isn't.

Honeyfund / PayPal Honeyfund: 2.9% + 30¢

The cash-fund-first option, and the most expensive of the bunch. Slightly higher than Zola/Knot/Joy because it passes raw card-processing cost to the couple with no markdown. On $8,000 in card cash gifts, that's about $232 to PayPal plus $24 in flat fees, or roughly $256.

Amazon Wedding Registry: n/a, but no cash funds

Amazon doesn't take a cut because Amazon doesn't do cash. If you only want a physical-gifts registry from Amazon's catalog, it's free. If you want a honeymoon fund or a down-payment fund, you can't have one.

Why so few platforms are actually free on cash

Cards cost money to process. About 2.9% + 30¢, every transaction. That cost has to land somewhere: on the couple, on the guest, or on the platform.

Zola, The Knot, and Joy land it on the couple at 2.5%, which is the processing cost minus their volume discount, kept as margin. Honeyfund passes raw card cost to the couple. MyRegistry eats the fee out of its existing affiliate-driven business. Donum asks the guest to cover it at checkout (default-on, ~80% take it) and funds the platform with affiliate revenue from physical gifts.

There is no fourth option. Anyone telling you their cash fund is "free" without explaining which of these four mechanics they use is hand-waving.

What to ask before picking one

1. What's your platform fee on cash gifts, separate from card processing? If they don't disambiguate, the answer is "all of it."
2. Is the fee waived on bank transfer only, or on cards too? Cards are >80% of guest payments. ACH-only waivers are mostly cosmetic.
3. Who pays the underlying processing fee (couple, guest, or platform)? All three are valid. Zero of three is not.

Related

• Are wedding registries actually free?
• Zola's 2.5% cash fund fee, explained

Bottom line: in 2026, exactly two major registries are zero-fee on cash. Pick the one whose product you actually want to use.