Quick answer
You add your guests, the platform emails each one a private link, they tap it and answer on a page built for your event, and their reply lands against their name in your dashboard — no account for them, no spreadsheet for you.
Step 1: your guest list
Everything starts with names and one contact method each — usually email, sometimes a phone number. You can add guests one by one, or import a spreadsheet you already keep. A good import will flag duplicates rather than silently creating a second "Aunt Ruth".
If several guests share an address, group them into a household. That way one invitation covers a couple or a family, and you stop counting the same reply twice.
Step 2: the invitation
An invitation is an email (or text) that carries two things: the look of your event, and a link that is unique to that guest. Because the link identifies the guest, their reply comes back attributed automatically.
That link is the credential. There is no password to forget and no account to create — which matters most for the guests least comfortable with technology, who are often the ones you most want to hear from.
Step 3: the event page
The link opens your event page: the details, the schedule, directions, and the RSVP form. One page answers the questions that would otherwise arrive as individual messages — what time, where exactly, is parking available, what should I wear.
You control what that page shows. If you would rather not publish a home address to the open web, you can show the venue name publicly and reveal the full address only to invited guests.
Step 4: the reply
The guest taps accept or decline. If you allow plus-ones, they add a name. If you are catering, they pick a meal and note allergies. If your event has several parts — a ceremony and a dinner, or three conference sessions — they reply per part, and only for the parts they were invited to.
Replies are not final. A guest can come back to the same link and change their answer, which is far better than them deciding it is too awkward to tell you.
Step 5: reminders
Some guests will not reply the first time. Rather than chasing manually, you set a rule once — for example, remind non-responders five days after the invitation, and again three days before the deadline — and the reminders go out to the pending group only.
Step 6: the numbers
What you are working toward is a headcount you can hand to a caterer without hedging. A live dashboard shows attending, declined and pending, plus meal choices and dietary notes, and you can export the list when your venue asks for it in their own format.
What it costs
For a small event, nothing: Inviterio's free plan covers one active event with up to 100 guests, including the event page and RSVP tracking. Paid plans raise the limits and add the extras — budget tracking, seating, text invitations, your own web address — as one-time payments per event rather than an ongoing subscription.