Amella vs Zola (2026): Which Works for an Australian or NZ Wedding?

Zola is probably the biggest name in wedding websites. Free, polished, and beloved in the United States — which is exactly the thing to understand before choosing it for a wedding in Melbourne, Auckland, or anywhere else this side of the Pacific.

This comparison is written for couples marrying in Australia or New Zealand. That context changes the answer.

At a glance

What Zola does brilliantly

Zola's product is genuinely good. The website builder is simple, the templates are attractive, RSVPs sync neatly with the guest list, and the registry experience — the heart of Zola's business — is best-in-class for American couples. If you were marrying in California, this would be a short conversation.

The catch for AU/NZ couples

Zola is free because it earns from the surrounding commerce: the registry store, stationery, and its vendor marketplace — all built around the American market. For a couple here, that means the parts of Zola that make Zola special are the parts you can least use:

• The vendor marketplace is American. Searching for a florist in Christchurch or a photographer in the Yarra Valley won't get you far.
• The registry store is built for US guests and US retail. Cash funds work, but the product registry — Zola's centrepiece — isn't designed around what your guests here would naturally buy or how they'd have it delivered.
• The defaults are American — spellings, date formats, planning content, and assumptions about how weddings run.

You'd be using the free shell of a platform whose real value sits in a market you're not in.

What Amella is instead

Amella inverts Zola's model. There's no commerce layer funding a free site — the site is the product, so it's built to be worth paying for.

Editorial design, finished for you. Themes arrive with typography, layout and styling already resolved by a design studio. You add your photos and words. The result looks commissioned rather than templated — the first impression most of your guests will have of your wedding.

A planner that works where you are. The built-in assistant knows your date, guests, style and budget. She finds vendors in your style across Australia and New Zealand by searching the open web — no paid directory, so no one pays to be recommended to you — and drafts your vendor emails. Quotes and conversations live in one vendor inbox.

A registry your guests will actually use. Cash gifts go straight from guests to your own bank account or PayPal — never through Amella, never a cent taken. Guests pay with any card, no account needed. Amella keeps track of who gave what so thank-yous are graceful rather than a spreadsheet.

One payment, no subscription. Free to build, plan, publish, and collect RSVPs from up to 15 guests. When you're ready to invite everyone: $99 AUD (Wedding Pass) or $199 AUD (Premium, with a custom domain included for two years). NZD is charged at parity, and prices rise after 31 August 2026.

Choose Zola if

• You're marrying in the United States, or most of your guests are American
• The product registry is central to how you want to receive gifts
• Free is non-negotiable and template design is fine

Choose Amella if

• You're marrying in Australia or New Zealand
• You want a site that looks designed, and a planner doing the searching and chasing
• You want gifts going directly to you, and a platform whose incentives are simply: make the product good

Frequently asked questions

Can Australian couples use Zola? Yes — the website builder and cash funds work anywhere. But Zola's registry store, vendor marketplace and planning content are built for the American market, which is where most of its value lives.

Is Amella available outside Australia and New Zealand? Amella is built for AU/NZ couples first — including couples here planning a wedding overseas — with vendor discovery and defaults designed around this region.

Why pay for Amella when Zola is free? Zola is free because its revenue comes from US commerce you likely can't use. Amella charges once because the site and planner are the product. You can build and publish free first, and only pay when you invite your full guest list.

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Amella is a wedding website and planning platform built in Auckland. Start your site free →