Donum vs The Knot
The Knot wants
to be everything.
We pick one thing.
The Knot is a marketplace, a magazine, a planner, and a registry. The registry pays for the rest by taking 2.5% from your cash gifts. We run a registry. That is all.
What The Knot
wants to be.
- 01
the registry
- 02
the wedding website
- 03
the planning checklist
- 04
the vendor marketplace
- 05
the dress search
- 06
the venue search
- 07
the photographer marketplace
- 08
the honeymoon-fund product
- 09
the email magazine
- 10
the sponsored vendor inbox
- 11
And the 2.5%.
None of this is wrong. It is a business model. The cost of bundling eleven products is that one of them, the registry, carries a margin on top of card processing.
The fee,
in dollars.
Three wedding sizes. All cash by card, which is how guests actually pay.
Public pricing as of April 2026. Donum’s number is the same at every wedding size.
Use The Knot for
- Vendor discovery if you have not booked your photographer or DJ.
- The wedding-website builder if you want one prebuilt template.
- Planning checklists if you like a long, structured to-do list.
- Brand familiarity for older relatives who already know the name.
Use Donum for
- 0% platform fee on cash. Forever.
- Items from any retailer, not just the marketplace partners.
- One link guests give from in 30 seconds, no account.
- Zero vendor marketing in your guests’ inboxes.
Common
questions.
- What does The Knot actually charge?
- 2.5% on every credit and debit cash contribution to a Knot cash fund, taken from the couple. ACH is free in theory but most guests choose cards.
- Why do guests get marketing emails after using The Knot?
- The Knot's vendor marketplace funds itself by promoting paying vendors to wedding guests. Sign up there and your guest list becomes part of the marketing surface. Donum sends transactional email only.
- Is The Knot bigger than Donum?
- Yes, by an enormous margin. The Knot has been operating since 1996. Donum's claim is narrower: a registry that does not take a cut of cash gifts.
- Can we use The Knot for the website and Donum for the registry?
- Yes. Many couples do. Link your Donum registry from your Knot site and let cash gifts flow through Donum, where the platform fee is 0%.
One thing,
done whole.
Use The Knot for what The Knot is for. Use Donum for the registry.