The best e-card sites in 2026, and who each one is for
Six ways to send something to a screen instead of through the post, and what each one does best. We make one of them, so we’ve said plainly where the others win.
An e-card used to mean one thing: an animated picture, with your name typed underneath. Now the word covers the big card shops’ own e-cards, invitation sites, group boards that a whole office signs, and videos with forty people in them. They’re good at different things. Here’s each one, what it costs, and who it suits.
We make Stampgoose, so read this knowing that. We’ve tried to say plainly where each of the others is the better pick, because for plenty of things it is.
At a glance
| Best for | What they get | Your own photos and video | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moonpig | A card-shop design, today | One of their printed-card designs, by email | Your photos on photo designs | £0.99 an eCard |
| Jacquie Lawson | Beautiful cards, sent often | An animated card, with your message inside | A photo or a video, in the Postbox Collection | Membership: £27 or $36 a year, or £6 or $8 a month |
| Paperless Post | Invitations, and cards to a crowd | A designer card, by email | Photo and video on invitations; you can upload your own design | Free designs, or Coins per recipient for premium ones |
| Kudoboard | A message from a whole team | A shared board of messages, photos and GIFs | Video posts on the Premium board and up | $6.99 to $19.99 a board |
| Tribute | A group video | One video made from everyone’s clips | It’s all video | From $35 to make it yourself, $99 for them to edit it |
| Stampgoose | One person, with room to say it | A sealed envelope with their name on it: a letter, photo postcards and a film | Up to ten pieces, and a film of up to 1 GB | $1.29 with letters and postcards, $5 with a film, paid once |
Prices are each site’s own, in the currency it showed us, on 9 October 2026. They change, so check before you buy.
Moonpig: for a card-shop design, sent today
Most people know Moonpig for printed cards in the post, but nearly every design can also go as an eCard: you add your photos and a message inside, just as you would on paper, and it arrives by email straight away for £0.99. With an eGift, they can also open an experience voucher inside it.
- Pick it if you want the look of a shop card, with a joke on the front or their face on it, and you want it there today.
- Look elsewhere if you want to write more than fits inside a card, or send a film with it.
Jacquie Lawson: for beautiful cards, sent often
The one most people mean by an e-card. The cards are painted and animated in-house, they’re lovely, and there’s one for almost every day of the year. You choose a card, pick or write a caption, and add up to 1,500 characters of your own. You can send it now or schedule it, by email or as a link, and their Postbox Collection lets you upload a photo or a video of your own.
- Pick it if you send a lot of cards through the year, to a lot of people, and you love the artwork.
- Look elsewhere if you only send a few, or want to write more than a message: it’s a membership, so a handful of cards a year costs the same as fifty.
We’ve compared the two more closely in Stampgoose vs Jacquie Lawson.
Paperless Post: for invitations, and cards to a crowd
Best known for invitations, with designs from well-known stationers and an address book that tracks who’s opened what and who’s replied. Many designs are free; premium ones cost Coins for each person you send to, and heavy senders can pay a yearly subscription instead.
- Pick it if you’re inviting people to something, or sending the same smart card to your whole list.
- Look elsewhere if it’s one person and you want to say something long, or send them a film.
Kudoboard: for a message from the whole office
One board, and everyone adds a post: a message, a photo, a GIF, and on the Premium board, a video. It’s the modern version of the card that goes round the office in an envelope, and it’s very good at that. A board is $6.99 for up to 20 posts, $9.99 for up to 100 with video, or $19.99 for unlimited posts, and companies can subscribe.
- Pick it if a team, a class or a big group all want to sign something.
- Look elsewhere if it’s from you, or from a family: a board of forty short posts is a different thing from one long letter.
Tribute: for a group video
You invite people, they record clips on their phones, and Tribute turns them into one video, with reminders to chase the slow ones. Doing the editing yourself costs $35 for a video up to 30 minutes, $49 up to an hour and $99 beyond that, or $99 for their editors to do it. It’s free to start a draft.
- Pick it if dozens of people want to say something on camera: a retirement, a fortieth, a wedding.
- Look elsewhere if it’s you and a few others, and you’d rather write than film.
More in Stampgoose vs Tribute.
Stampgoose: for one person, with room to say it
An envelope with their name on the front, sent as one link by text, WhatsApp or email. They tap the wax seal and it opens on their screen: your letter, as long as it needs to be, the photos as postcards, and a film of you saying it. It can stay sealed until a day and time you choose, with a countdown on the envelope, and a passphrase if it’s only for them. No app to install, no subscription: $1.29 for letters and postcards, $5 with a film.
- Pick it if it’s one person and it matters: a birthday far away, an anniversary, a thank you that deserves more than a text.
- Look elsewhere if you want an animated design, or to send the same card to fifty people. One person makes each envelope, though they can put everyone’s lines, photos and clips in it.
If it has to be on paper: Moonpig and Funky Pigeon
Sometimes the point is the card on the mantelpiece. Moonpig and Funky Pigeon both print your card, with your photos and message, and post it for you. A standard card was £4.19 at Moonpig and £3.99 at Funky Pigeon, plus £1.90 or £1.80 for First Class postage, so about £6 to land on the doormat in one to three days. Airmail abroad takes about a week, and up to ten working days outside Europe. Moonpig also lets you add a video message to many of its printed cards for free, which they play by scanning a QR code inside.
We’ve set them side by side with an envelope in Stampgoose vs Moonpig and Funky Pigeon.
Which one to pick
- A shop card, today: a Moonpig eCard.
- A card on the mantelpiece: Moonpig or Funky Pigeon, posted.
- The same card to lots of people: Paperless Post, or Jacquie Lawson if you send all year round.
- A whole team signing one thing: Kudoboard.
- Forty people on camera: Tribute.
- One person, and something real to say: an envelope.
Questions people ask
What is the best e-card site?
It depends what you’re sending. For a card-shop design today, a Moonpig eCard. For a beautiful animated card to lots of people through the year, Jacquie Lawson. For invitations, Paperless Post. For a message from a whole team, Kudoboard, or Tribute if it’s a group video. For one person, with your own letter, photos and a film, Stampgoose.
Can I send an e-card with my own video in it?
Yes, on several. Jacquie Lawson’s Postbox Collection takes a photo or video, Kudoboard’s Premium board takes video posts, Tribute is built around video, and a Stampgoose envelope can hold a film of up to 1 GB alongside a letter and photos.
Which e-card sites have no subscription?
Moonpig charges per eCard, Kudoboard and Tribute per board or per video, Paperless Post charges in Coins per card and has free designs, and Stampgoose charges once per envelope. Jacquie Lawson is a membership, by the month or the year.
What’s the difference between an e-card and a digital envelope?
An e-card is a design someone else made, with your message added. A digital envelope holds your own things, a letter, photos and a film, and opens like a real one when they tap the seal.
Not sending one today?
We’ll remind you before Diwali and Christmas: a few emails a year, a week or so before the days people send envelopes for. Nothing else, and one click stops them.
