Paperless Post has been around since 2009 and has genuinely beautiful designs. If you've received a digital invitation from them, you know the quality. The templates are polished, the customization options are real, and for formal occasions they produce cards that look like they came from a stationery studio.
But when you sit down to actually send a card, a few things start to feel off — particularly if all you want to do is send something personal and be done with it.
The coin system
Paperless Post uses a coin-based pricing model. You start with a small free allotment, and each card you send costs coins depending on the design you choose. A basic free design might cost 0 coins. A premium stamp or a more elaborate template can cost 10, 15, or 25 coins. Buying coins means buying a package — 25 coins for roughly $3, scaling up from there.
The issue isn't that coins cost money. The issue is that the system makes the pricing opaque. You can't easily tell how much something will cost until you've built the card, chosen the design, and gotten to the send screen. And the coins run out faster than you expect.
For a one-off personal card to a friend or family member, this is unnecessary complexity. You want to know upfront what you're dealing with.
TinyCard is straightforwardly free. No coins, no payment required to create and send a card. You create a card, you get a link. There's an optional $3.99 upgrade if you want the card to last a full year instead of 14 days, but the core product is completely free.
Account requirements
Paperless Post requires an account. You create a login, verify your email, and then work inside a platform that remembers your address book and purchase history. For people who send a lot of formal invitations to recurring audiences, this is useful. For someone sending a birthday card to their sister, it's friction.
TinyCard requires no account at any step. You open the site, make the card, copy the link.
Design approach
This is where honest comparison requires acknowledging Paperless Post's genuine strength. Their template catalog is large, and some of the premium designs are legitimately beautiful — illustrated florals, hand-lettered typography, occasion-specific artwork. If you want a card that looks like it was illustrated by an artist, they have options that TinyCard doesn't.
TinyCard takes a different approach: instead of illustrated templates, every card is built around a photograph chosen from Unsplash. The result tends to feel more personal and contemporary, but it's a different aesthetic. If you need a specific illustrated design — a watercolor birthday cake, a holiday scene — Paperless Post has it and TinyCard doesn't.
For personal messages accompanying a gift, the photographic approach often works better anyway. A photograph of a place, a season, or something meaningful to the recipient carries more specific weight than a generic illustrated pattern.
When to use which
Paperless Post is the better choice when you need a large illustrated template library, when you're sending formal invitations that benefit from their RSVP features, or when you're comfortable navigating their coin system for a premium design.
TinyCard is the better choice when you want something free with no account, when the card is personal and the photograph approach suits it, and when you want the process to take two minutes rather than ten.
For most personal cards — birthdays, thank-yous, cards sent alongside gifts — TinyCard is faster and free for the full experience. For formal events with specific design requirements, Paperless Post's template library is worth the complexity.