Comparison

Occasions vs Guest

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Occasions

Simplify event planning with this comprehensive tool. Keep all essential details organized in one accessible place, from guest lists and budgets to vendor bookings and to-do lists. Reduce stress and make any event run smoothly.

Highlights
  • Countdown timer
  • Budget planner
  • Guest list management
  • To-do lists
  • Vendor booking tracker
  • Seating planner
  • Schedule organizer
Features
Read full description

Birthdays, anniversaries, christenings, retirement dos, work parties, fundraisers, reunions. Everything you need to run them, on your iPhone and iPad. ONE APP, NOT FIFTEEN TEMPLATES Nothing here assumes what kind of event you are running. You define its parts: a drinks reception and a dinner, a ceremony and a lunch, or one long afternoon. Guests, suppliers and schedules attach to a part rather than the whole event. A fiftieth birthday and a company away-day are not the same event, and neither has to pretend to be a wedding. THE OVERVIEW Open the app and the event is there. How long you have, how many have replied, what the budget is doing, which suppliers are still owed. Every number comes from the plan, and anything overdue rises to the top on its own. THE GUEST LIST Invite people to the whole event or one part of it, track who has replied, and keep plus-ones attached to whoever brought them. Headcounts update as replies come in, so the number you give the venue is the number you have. Dietary and access needs sit on the guest, not in a note somewhere else. SEATING Build the room from what the venue gives you: round tables, long tables, a bar, a stage, a dance floor. Put people in seats while the app counts who is still standing, and it flags a seat held by somebody who dropped out. Print it or send a PDF when the venue asks. MONEY Set what you expect to spend by category, and the app fills in what you have committed from the suppliers you have booked. Categories cannot out-promise the budget, and going over is reported rather than rewritten. THE RUNNING ORDER Doors at seven, speeches after the main course, band on at nine. Build the running order for the event, and separate ones for the set-up and the clear-down. The gaps show between the entries, because the empty half hour matters as much as the things either side. SUPPLIERS The venue, the caterer, the band, the hire company. Contacts, quotes, what is agreed and what is still owed. Each supplier is filed under a budget category, so booking one updates the budget without you telling it twice. Deposits carry dates, so money due next month is visible this month. TO-DOS A new plan arrives with a checklist in it: the things most events need doing, roughly when they are usually done. Take what is useful, ignore the rest, and share the tasks out. SCRAPBOOK A wall you pin things to: photographs, links, sketches, a voice note from the caterer. Keep several boards, one per undecided thing. ON THE HOME SCREEN Three widgets in every size, plus Lock Screen countdowns and Control Centre buttons. Tick a task off from the Home Screen and it is done in the app. On the night a Live Activity holds the running order on the Lock Screen, with a button to move things on when one runs late. ALSO IN THERE Catering by course. Colour palettes lifted from a photograph. Thank-you tracking. Spreadsheet import and PDF export. Fifteen accent themes and six app icons. A finished event is archived in full rather than deleted. SYNC AND SHARING With a subscription your event syncs through your own iCloud, so every device shows the same guest list and balance owing. Then share it with whoever is running it with you: a partner, a co-organiser, whoever books the venue. They open it on their own Apple Account and are in the same event, not a copy. They do not need a subscription of their own. It all goes through Apple: no account to create with us, and no copy of your guest list on a server we control. WHAT IT COSTS Free to use for one event, with up to twenty-five items in each list. A subscription lifts the limits, adds sync and sharing, and covers Occasion Plans: Weddings too. Personal covers one event, Planner up to ten, and Unlimited as many as you need. Each is sold monthly or yearly and starts with one month free. Personal Forever is a single payment for one event and does not renew. Terms of Use: https://www.occasionplans.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://www.occasionplans.com/privacy

About

Guest

Features
Read full description

Guest-ly is the calm place for every guest and every question at a wedding. FOR GUESTS Open your invitation with the code the couple sent you. Find your name, answer for each person and each event, and add everything to your calendar. Ask the concierge anything about the day: parking, hotels, the dress code, the shuttle. Questions only the couple can answer reach them, and their reply lands back in the app. On the wedding day the app tells you where to be right now. FOR COUPLES See every RSVP as it arrives, the questions guests are asking, and the few things that need you today. Answer a guest from your phone. Record an RSVP you received in person. On the day, check guests in at the door with a scan, even without signal. FOR PLANNERS Your weddings in one place: guest lists, requests to the couple, tasks. Propose a change; the couple approves and it applies itself. Guest-ly is a companion to the wedding a couple set up at guest-ly.com. There is nothing to buy in the app.

Screenshots

Occasions4 screens
Guest4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Guest at none against Occasions's 10. Guest also leads on update cadence (every 3 days vs every 2 months) and iOS requirement (16.4 vs 18.0). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Occasions sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $3.99 per month. Guest asks for nothing beyond the download.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Occasions ships an update every 2 months, Guest every 3 days. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard3 real differences · 7 level
Occasions versus Guest: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterOccasionsGuest
PriceFreeFree
Rating—5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews37.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings—2 — better
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsEvery 3 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases—
DevicesiPhone, iPad — betteriPhone
Requires iOS18.016.4 — better
Further details — not scored
Size46 MB53 MB
Age rating4+12+
DeveloperCreateful LtdNICOLAS GABRIEL ZANLQRQ QASJFH-ANQS

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Occasions

Subscriptions5
  • Personal Monthly1 Month trial$3.991 Month
  • Planner Monthly1 Month trial$12.991 Month
  • Personal Yearly1 Month trial$29.991 Year
Show 2 more
  • Planner Yearly1 Month trial$99.991 Year
  • Unlimited Yearly1 Month trial$149.991 Year
One-time5
  • 1 Additional Plan Bundle$0.99
  • Full version$2.99
  • 5 Additional Plan Bundle$3.99
Show 2 more
  • 10 Additional Plan Bundle$14.99
  • Personal Forever$49.99
None

Guest

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Occasions free?
Occasions is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Guest free?
Guest is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Occasions or Guest have ads?
Neither Occasions nor Guest shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Occasions or Guest?
Occasions ships an update every 2 months, and Guest every 3 days. Most recently, Occasions was updated on October 24, 2026 and Guest on October 24, 2026.

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