I recently posted some of my frustrations with the free email invitation service Evite.com. Since then I’ve done some research to see if there are any viable alternatives offered on the web.

Upcoming.org
This site is a bit more community-focused than Evite. Users can join “Metros” or metropolitan areas, and browse events that take place in that area. The invite itself is very bare, allowing users to confirm attendance with a “yes”, or “watch” the invite. In addition, there is a blog-like comments area at the bottom. The organizer has few options (far less than Evite) — there are no design tools, and all features are automatically activated. The only usable option is the privacy filter, which allows the organizer to hide an event from the general public (only registered “friends” can view it).

The main problem I see with Upcoming.org is that users are required to register in order to use the service. An event organizer can invite via email, but anyone new to the service will have to fill out a short form and wait for an activation email before being able to respond to the invitation. For groups of people who tend to be early adopters, this is a nice alternative to Evite, but most groups are a mixed bag, and I can’t imagine many of the people I know taking the time to fill out the application or remembering their login and password the next time they receive an Upcoming.org invite.

Overall, Upcoming.org is an interesting site for promoting events for a specific group, but doesn’t really measure up as an Evite replacement. I think novice users will like the simple, no-nosense format, but in the end Evite just allows for better event planning. Keep an eye on this one though.

Darkguest
Another option is Darkguest, a service that was created by a small group of programmers as an ad-free invitation service. Darkguest is extremely basic and offers very few customization options. Every invite uses the same, simple interface that neither looks very nice or is all that easy to read. Just like Evite, the actual RSVP form is pushed down below the event info, and can appear below the fold if the event description is long. The RSVP list, on the other hand, appears in the top right corner and seems to be floating with no anchor.

Aside from being a working alternative to Evite, the main attraction to Darkguest is in the emails that get sent to invitees. Instead of a huge, useless Evite envelope, Darkguest produces a concise email that gives the user three options (via link): accept (without viewing), decline (without viewing) and view the entire reservation. The one problem here is that there isn’t any actual information about the event, and it is somewhat rare that a person would RSVP without even reading about the event. That said, the easier it can be for someone to respond to the invitation, the higher the chances that they actually will. If this email only contained the event description, it would be HUGE improvement over the evite invitation email. (It already is a moderate improvement.)

iVite
Lastly, there is a PHP-Nuke app called iVite that offers all the same features as Evite, but can be privately hosted. The page about this product itself doesn’t offer enough information to justify paying for it ($20), but I’m certainly intrigued.

My final conclusion is that there really is not a free, viable alternative to Evite at this point. Certainly someone well versed in database programming could probably build one without too much effort, especially if it didn’t need the scalability of an Evite. Until I meet one of those people, however, I guess its Evite or good old regular email. Bah!