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Comparison · Events and stages

Zola seating chart alternatives: free tools that work from your guest list

By Blink Brief · Updated  · How pages are made

Zola's seating chart is free for up to 15 guests; for more, you unlock it, at $14.99 in Zola's iPhone app. It pulls in your Zola guest list and prints as a PDF or Excel sheet. Free alternatives that work from the same list: PlanSeats (free up to 4 tables), seatplan.io (free to design, $8 once to save and export) and our free Seating Chart tool. PerfectTablePlan is $29.95 once on Windows or Mac.

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Quick picks

  • Free for a small room

    PlanSeats

    One event, unlimited guests and up to 4 tables free, on a laptop, tablet or phone.

    Free; $50 once for more

    planseats.com

  • No guest limit

    seatplan.io

    Design free with CSV upload or paste; pay once to save and export a PDF or Excel file.

    Free; $8 once to export

    seatplan.io

  • One payment, cards too

    PerfectTablePlan

    Windows and Mac software that prints floor plans, place cards and escort cards.

    $29.95 once

    perfecttableplan.com

What Zola's seating chart costs and does

  • Free part: "try it for free (for up to 15 Guests)", then "unlock the Premium Version to add more Guests".
  • Price: Zola's help gives none. Its App Store listing shows the in-app purchase "Seating Chart" at $14.99, and Zola's own blog, updated April 17, 2026, says "the seating chart ($14.99)".
  • Guests: "Your confirmed guests are automatically pulled in from your Zola guest list", already in groups such as family or coworkers. You place them yourself: tables are dragged and dropped, round or rectangular, with the seat count you set.
  • Where: "available on the Zola iOS APP, and Desktop", kept in sync between them.
  • Output: download as a PDF or Excel sheet to print. Zola's page names no escort or place cards.

Price and free tier

Tool Price Free tier Phone or computer
Zola $14.99 in the iPhone app (App Store); Zola's help gives no price Up to 15 guests Zola's iOS app and desktop
Joy "a one-time purchase per event"; amount not published A sample floor plan; your guests appear after you unlock it Some features limited on mobile
PerfectTablePlan Home $29.95, Advanced $74.95, Professional $299.95, each "a single payment" Free trial; can't save, export or print plans of more than 30 guests Windows and Mac; no phone app
seatplan.io Pro $8 once (90 days of saving and export); Collaborate $14 once The full designer, no guest or table limit; no saving, no PDF export Any browser, mobile included
PlanSeats Plus $8.99/month, or $50 once 1 event, unlimited guests, up to 4 tables Laptop, tablet or phone
Blink Brief Seating Chart Free No guest limit, no sign-up A browser; the list stays in it

Read on each vendor's own pages on 4 November 2026. In US dollars; seatplan.io shows each visitor the prices in their own currency, and these are the ones it shows in the US. The Knot's and AllSeated's sites refused the check that day, so they aren't in the tables.

Import from your Zola guest list

Any tool other than Zola needs the list out of Zola first. Zola's help: "You sure can from a desktop computer!", and "Right now this option isn't available from the app." You can export the full list, the addresses, or the RSVPs with meal choices. Exporting a guest list from Zola, The Knot, Joy or Minted has the steps.

Tool Guest import Households kept together
Zola From the Zola guest list, automatically Guests come in groups; you drag them to seats
Joy From the Joy guest list, with RSVPs, meals and tags A "Keep parties together" option when it seats guests; drag and drop
PerfectTablePlan "Import guests lists from spreadsheets or other applications" Rules such as next to, near to, not near to, then automatic seating
seatplan.io Upload a CSV or "Paste from a spreadsheet" Not stated
PlanSeats Paste from a spreadsheet, or type names "Keep families together, and exes apart"
Blink Brief Seating Chart Paste, or a CSV with a Name column; .xlsx is refused, save it as CSV Yes: a Group or Household column keeps each one at one table, and every split is listed
  • Zola: a PDF or an Excel sheet.
  • Joy: table assignments and meal counts as CSV files, and a floor plan PDF with names.
  • PerfectTablePlan: prints "floor plans, guests lists, seating charts, place cards, table cards, address labels, escort cards", and exports PDF.
  • seatplan.io: "print-ready PDF and Excel exports", on a paid plan.
  • PlanSeats: PNG and CSV free; PDF on Plus.
  • Blink Brief Seating Chart: a CSV with the columns Name, Table, Table number and Group, and "Print escort list and tables": an A–Z list for the entrance and one list per table for the venue.

Cards for each guest come next. Our free Place Cards tool reads the Seating Chart's CSV, or any list of names, and prints folded place cards or flat escort cards with the table on them.

Which one fits: 3 questions

  1. More than 15 guests and happy in Zola? The $14.99 unlock keeps the chart next to your RSVPs, with nothing to export.
  2. Want households seated for you? Joy's "Keep parties together", PerfectTablePlan's rules, or our free tool's Group column. In Zola and seatplan.io you place them yourself.
  3. Want to pay nothing? PlanSeats up to 4 tables; seatplan.io to design but not to export; our free tool for the table assignments and the printouts, with no guest limit.

A free browser tool

Our free Seating Chart takes your guest list, pasted or as a CSV, and assigns tables: guests with the same Group or Household sit together, tables fill evenly, and every group it had to split is listed. Set the seats per table and the number of tables, then download the CSV or print the A–Z list and the table lists. There is no guest limit, no sign-up, and your list is never uploaded.

It doesn't draw a floor plan, and it doesn't follow RSVP changes: when the list changes, run it again. How to turn your guest list into a seating chart covers plus-ones and children.

Our product · in development

Blink Seats: a drag-and-drop floor plan, RSVP changes applied automatically, and a share link for the venue. Planned price $19 per event; planners $15/month.

Join the early list

More seating chart apps are in seating chart apps compared.

Questions

Is Zola's seating chart free?

For up to 15 guests. Zola's help says you can "try it for free (for up to 15 Guests)" and unlock the Premium Version for more. Zola's App Store listing shows the Seating Chart in-app purchase at $14.99.

Does Zola's seating chart work on a computer?

Yes. Zola's help says the seating chart is "available on the Zola iOS APP, and Desktop", and the two stay in sync. It can be downloaded as a PDF or an Excel sheet to print.

What is a free alternative to Zola's seating chart?

PlanSeats is free for one event with unlimited guests and up to 4 tables, with PNG and CSV export. seatplan.io's designer is free with no guest or table limit, but saving and PDF export cost $8 once. Our free Seating Chart tool takes your guest list as a CSV, keeps households at one table, and prints an A–Z list and a list per table.

Can I use my Zola guest list in another seating chart tool?

Yes. Export it from Zola on a computer (Zola says the export "isn't available from the app"), then upload the file or paste the name and party columns into the other tool.

Sources

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