In the span of a year and a half, I had two weddings (one was a Covid-lockdown elopement, the other a post-lockdown reception) and a baby shower. I made multiple online registries in that time, because in true product reviewer fashion, I wanted to try every single popular one before choosing my favorite.
A good wedding registry or baby registry is easy for you to create, and for your loved ones to shop on your behalf without worrying whether you already have an air fryer or high-quality bed sheets. The best registries are easy to navigate and buy from because, let’s be honest: You’re not getting as many gifts if it’s a pain in the rear to shop for you. Not all registries are equal, and there are a ton of options to navigate. Here’s what you should keep in mind as you choose an online registry and which ones we like best—based on my own research and testing plus feedback from other WIRED reviewers.
Updated May 2024: We’ve added notes on Joy’s baby registry.
Table of Contents
- How Online Registries Work
- Do You Need a Registry?
- What About Cash Funds (and Fees)?
- Best Wedding Registries
- Best Baby Registries
- Why We Don’t Recommend Store-Specific Registries
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How Online Registries Work
Online registries are designed so you can put together a wish list on a webpage shared over various forms of electronic communication and are even searchable by you and your partner’s names. They’re either a universal registry, which means you’re able to add gifts from any stores you’d like, or brand- and store-affiliated registries, which let you register only for goods at that specific store (think Crate & Barrel or Anthropologie).
Both styles want you and your gift-givers to stay onsite and purchase gifts through them since that’s how they make money, generating a cut from the product purchased by the gift-giver. Universal registries let you add other sites, but there are benefits to sticking with products available from a specific registry—it’s easier to track who bought you what, you can control when everything ships and it’s convenient for your guests to check out without leaving the site and not have to worry about anything else.
Do You Need a Registry?
Need is a strong word, but when you’re getting married or having a kid, everyone asks for a link to your registry. A good registry makes it more convenient for people to buy you a gift without having to spend much time looking around or worrying about what to get you, where to ship it, and whether you’ll use it.
It’s always best to keep low expectations for what you’ll receive, and I was sure to have a range of price points to fit everyone’s budget. In my experience, folks who couldn’t come to the wedding loved buying nice things like plate sets, while those who took on the cost of travel bought us more affordable items like candle sticks and sateen sheets.
What About Cash Funds (and Fees)?
Universal registries have an option for cash funds and let you theme them around milestones such as a honeymoon or a future home. Most of these sites charge you a processing fee of 2.5 percent when you cash out (and can charge fees based on the volume of the gift to your gift giver), but not every site does. Both of our top recommendations for wedding registries either don’t charge a fee or have a fee-free option. Store-specific registries, however, such as Amazon, only let you give cash in the form of a store gift card.
Best Wedding Registries
When I think of wedding registries, I think of the scene from 27 Dresses where Katherine Heigl’s character is going around scanning an insane variety of things for the bride’s registry, some of which she added just to annoy said bride. I’d do the same thing if I had to deal with anyone else’s registry—I barely wanted to work on my own, and it took an annoyingly long time to go through pages and pages of gift options and types with my soon-to-be-husband.
Wedding registries were originally designed to help couples get everything they need for their first home together. If you’re anything like my husband and me, you might already have the basics, but a registry is a nice opportunity to invest in things you can use for years to come (and finally get rid of your crappy Ikea plates).
Best Universal Registry (and Fee-Free Cash Funds)
The universal registry Joy has been popular among my fellow married friends for their weddings for one very important reason: no fees for cash gifts. While most other registries will charge a processing fee for handling the money, Joy’s registry has no such fee. You’re able to theme your funds as you see fit, and Joy also lets you register for regular gifts both on its site and off of it.
Joy also has a website maker, but it’s not as eye-catching as designs from Zola or the Knot. You can set up a registry there without using the website, and you can link to it on your wedding website of choice if you go with a different site maker. The website has tools to send out save the dates and invites, and it makes managing a guest list and RSVPs simple. Joy also has a baby registry, too, so you can have one account for both now and later (and fee-free funds for diapers!).
Also consider: MyRegistry is another good universal registry, but it charges fees that can go as high as almost 7 percent, depending on the size of the cash gift.
Best Website-Registry Combo
I distinctly remember making websites on both Zola and the Knot on the same day to see which I wanted to use, and I very quickly went with Zola. It has a better library of website designs, while the Knot was a little too focused on helping me plan the wedding and generating insanely long to-do lists. All I wanted was one place for everything, with an on-theme website that wasn’t hideous, and Zola easily pulled ahead.
The registry tool is easy to use. It organizes gifts into types and has a fairly sizable library of well-regarded (and often pricier) brands. Zola is also a universal registry—I was able to add gifts from outside stores (you can choose to get cash for these or direct the gift giver to the external site), and my friends and family were able to mark those outside gifts as purchased on Zola. There are also options for cash gifts, though Zola does have fees.
