Best Wedding Seating Chart Tools

Pick the row that sounds like you. Each pick is explained in its own section below.

• A big wedding, list already in a spreadsheet

  Lovely Seating

  Paste or import a CSV, no guest cap on the free plan, and Auto-Seat places everyone by relationship in one click.

  Also consider: PerfectTablePlan, if you’d rather install desktop software (a licence is needed past 30 guests).

• A tight deadline

  Lovely Seating

  AI import sorts a messy list into households and +1s, Auto-Seat fills the tables, and a Find Your Seat page (Pro) means late changes need no reprint.

  Also consider: SeatPlan.io, for a quick manual chart with no sign-up when the guest list is small.

• A planner with several client weddings

  Lovely Seating Agency ($79/month)

  Unlimited weddings and seating plans in one account, with white-label exports.

  Also consider: Planning Pod, if you also want CRM, invoices and contracts (venue-level subscription).

• Free and simple

  WeddingWire

  Free, including print and export, and synced to its guest list. You seat every guest by hand.

  Also consider: Lovely Seating’s free plan if you want Auto-Seat (downloads need Pro).

• Already planning on Zola

  Zola

  The best chart among the all-in-one platforms, with your guests already in it.

  Also consider: A dedicated tool if you pass 15 guests and don’t want Premium, or want auto-seating.

• No internet at the venue, or you prefer desktop software

  PerfectTablePlan

  Real automatic seating that works offline on Windows or Mac.

  Also consider: Lovely Seating, if you also want to plan from your phone.

• Only the display sign

  Canva

  Beautiful templates for the board guests see on the day.

  Also consider: Plan the seating in a seating tool first, then design the sign.

The 12 tools side by side on the six things that decide the choice. Lovely Seating is our own tool, so it’s highlighted; the other rows match our individual comparison pages.

• Lovely Seating

  Works on

  Browser on any device, incl. a full mobile editor

  Auto-seat

  Yes, by relationship (free)

  Floor plan

  Room at real size (m/ft); upload your venue’s plan

  Guest QR finder

  Yes (Pro)

  Free version

  1 plan, unlimited guests and tables; watermarked preview

  Paid

  $39 once per wedding (Pro) · Agency $79/month

• Zola

  Works on

  iOS app + desktop (no Android app)

  Auto-seat

  No

  Floor plan

  Tables plus dance floor, bar, cake and head tables

  Guest QR finder

  None found

  Free version

  Up to 15 guests

  Paid

  Premium unlock past 15 guests (check the app for the price)

• WeddingWire

  Works on

  Web

  Auto-seat

  No

  Floor plan

  Tables plus dance floor, DJ booth, bars

  Guest QR finder

  None found

  Free version

  Everything, incl. print and export

  Paid

  Free

• The Knot

  Works on

  Web

  Auto-seat

  No

  Floor plan

  No digital chart yet (“working on it”); printable templates

  Guest QR finder

  None found

  Free version

  Guest list free

  Paid

  Free

• Joy (WithJoy)

  Works on

  Web + apps

  Auto-seat

  No

  Floor plan

  Table assignments; no floor plan in its docs

  Guest QR finder

  —

  Free version

  Free

  Paid

  Free

• PerfectTablePlan

  Works on

  Windows or Mac install (works offline)

  Auto-seat

  Yes

  Floor plan

  Yes, size set in m/ft

  Guest QR finder

  —

  Free version

  Trial: no save, export or print past 30 guests

  Paid

  One-time per user, from $29.95 (Home)

• Top Table Planner

  Works on

  Web (PC, Mac, iPad, phone)

  Auto-seat

  No

  Floor plan

  Table diagram with cake and gift tables, dance floors

  Guest QR finder

  —

  Free version

  Free trial

  Paid

  One-off from $20 for 6 or 12 months’ access

• SeatPlan.io

  Works on

  Browser, no sign-up to start

  Auto-seat

  No

  Floor plan

  AI floor-plan import; CAD/DXF on Event Manager

  Guest QR finder

  Yes (Collaborate, Event Manager)

  Free version

  Designer without save or export

  Paid

  £8 or £14 one-time (90-day saves) · Event Manager £40/mo

• PlanSeats

  Works on

  Browser on laptop, tablet or phone

  Auto-seat

  Paid plans only (Plus, Pro)

  Floor plan

  Room drawn to scale, dance floor and bar

  Guest QR finder

  Not listed

  Free version

  1 event, 20 guests, 4 tables; PNG and CSV export

  Paid

  $50 once (Lifetime Plus) or from $8.99/mo

• Canva

  Works on

  Browser + apps

  Auto-seat

  No (design tool)

  Floor plan

  No, it’s a graphic

  Guest QR finder

  No

  Free version

  Free templates

  Paid

  Free / Pro subscription

• Prismm (AllSeated)

  Works on

  Web; being retired (access ends June 2027)

  Auto-seat

  No

  Floor plan

  3D venue diagramming

  Guest QR finder

  No

  Free version

  No

  Paid

  Enterprise, from ~$49/mo (annual)

• Planning Pod

  Works on

  Web

  Auto-seat

  Yes

  Floor plan

  To-scale diagrams

  Guest QR finder

  Staff check-in app, not a guest page

  Free version

  No (demo / subscription)

  Paid

  Subscription; most venues pay $199–$319/mo, per its homepage

Verified against each tool’s own site, help center or pricing page in October 2026. “—” means we couldn’t confirm it there; “None found” means we looked and found no such feature. Free limits and prices change, so check current pricing before you commit. Sources: Zola Help Center, WeddingWire Help Center, The Knot Help Center, Joy Help Center, PerfectTablePlan purchase page, Top Table Planner features, SeatPlan.io, PlanSeats pricing, Canva, Cvent (Prismm migration timeline), Planning Pod.

We started from the tools couples actually ask about: the seating charts inside the big wedding platforms, the dedicated seating apps, the design tools people use for the sign, and the venue software planners meet. Then we judged each one on five questions:

• Does it seat guests for you? Automatic seating that keeps couples and families together and keeps certain guests apart, or drag-and-drop for every guest yourself. The median guest list across 409 weddings planned on Lovely Seating (Jul–Oct 2026) is 84, so that’s a lot of dragging.
• Does it show your real room? Tables, dance floor and bar laid out like your venue, ideally at real size, so you know it fits before the venue does.
• Does it hold the details? RSVPs, meals, dietary and access needs, plus-ones and households: what your caterer and venue will ask for.
• What can you print, and when do you pay? A chart guests can read, place cards and a caterer list, and whether the paywall shows up only at the finish line.
• Price and platform. One-time or subscription, how long paid access lasts (several “one-time” passes expire after 90 days to 6 months), and whether it runs in a browser, only on one phone platform, or as a desktop install. Couples do 77% of their seating-chart work on a laptop or desktop, so a good big-screen editor matters even if you also want your phone.

No tool paid to be listed, and there are no star ratings here: we don’t have independent ratings to stand behind, so we don’t invent them. Where a tool beats us (PerfectTablePlan works offline, SeatPlan.io opens without an account, WeddingWire prints for free) the table says so.

Best for: couples who want to seat their own wedding properly, without a spreadsheet and without paying before they’ve finished. It’s built for the seating job only, on the web, on any device.

• Your room at real size. Round, long, head and sweetheart tables, dance floor and bar, in a room set in meters or feet. Upload the venue’s PDF or photo, confirm one wall, and pick from ready table layouts.
• Seats guests for you. Tag who must sit together, who should be kept apart and who belongs to which household, and relationship-aware Auto-Seat places everyone not yet seated in one click. It never moves guests you’ve placed, and one click undoes it.
• Every guest detail in one place. RSVPs, meals, dietary notes, access needs, +1s, ages, groups and households, joined to the seat, so you can hand the caterer a per-table meal count.
• Bring your list. Paste from a spreadsheet, import a CSV (guided for The Knot, Zola and Joy), or let AI import read a messy list into households and +1s.
• The finished chart (Pro). Nine export types, from the floor-plan chart and A–Z list to place cards and a caterer CSV, in 7 themes; see the printable seating charts.
• Guests find their own seat (Pro). A Find Your Seat page and QR sign lets guests look up their table on their phone, and it stays current when you move someone, so a late change needs no reprint.
• Free vs. Pro. Free: 1 wedding with 1 seating plan, unlimited guests and tables, Auto-Seat and a watermarked on-screen preview. Pro, $39 one-time: up to 5 seating plans for your wedding, print-ready exports and place cards, Find Your Seat, collaboration and version history. No subscription.

Where it falls short. It doesn’t build a wedding website or collect RSVPs from guests, and your list comes in once by CSV rather than staying synced with Zola or The Knot. It needs an internet connection (no offline mode), one person edits at a time when you share it, and nothing prints until you upgrade.

For wedding planners: the Agency plan ($79/month) adds unlimited weddings and seating plans, white-label exports with no Lovely Seating credit line, version history across all plans and priority support. More on the planner plan.

Best for: couples already using Zola’s website and registry who want a visual chart in the same place. It’s the strongest seating tool among the all-in-one platforms: drag-and-drop tables, a dance floor, bar, cake and head tables, separate floor plans per event, and guests pulled in from your Zola list. It runs in Zola’s iOS app and on desktop (no Android app).

The catches: it’s free only up to 15 guests (Zola’s help center says you unlock Premium to add more, without listing the price on its seating chart pages), and there’s no automatic seating. You can export a PDF or Excel file. Our Zola seating chart comparison goes through it row by row.

Best for: a free, web-based chart tied to a free guest list. WeddingWire’s seating planner costs nothing, including printing and export, and syncs with its guest list so attending guests pull straight in. You can add a dance floor, DJ booth and bars, and plan seating for more than just the reception.

It’s all manual: no auto-seating and no keep-together or keep-apart rules, and the chart shows names only, with meals and other details back in the list. If that’s enough for your wedding, it’s hard to beat on price; see the WeddingWire seating chart page for where a dedicated tool differs.

Best for: its excellent free guest list, not seating (yet). The Knot’s help center answers “Do you offer a digital seating chart?” with “We’re working on it” and points couples to printable seating chart templates in the meantime.

Until it ships, the practical route is to export your guest list as a CSV and seat it elsewhere. The The Knot seating chart alternative page shows how that import works.

Best for: a polished, free wedding website and RSVPs. Joy lets you drag guests into table assignments, and new RSVPs appear in the guest list. Its documentation shows no floor plan and no automatic seating, so when someone declines you re-place guests by hand. Keep Joy for the website and use a seating tool for the chart; our Joy seating chart comparison has the details.

Best for: people happy to install software who want powerful automatic seating. PerfectTablePlan genuinely auto-assigns guests with sit-together and keep-apart rules, sets the floor plan size in meters or feet, imports from spreadsheets and works offline, which no browser tool here does.

The trade-offs: it’s a Windows or Mac install, with no browser or phone version, and the interface feels dated next to web apps. Licences are one-time per user, from $29.95 for Home; without a key you can’t save, export or print plans with more than 30 guests. The PerfectTablePlan comparison sets it beside a browser-based option.

Best for: a simple web planner if you’re happy to place every guest by hand. It runs in the browser on PC, Mac, iPad or phone, with cake and gift tables, dance floors, RSVP and meal tracking, Word/Excel import, and PDF plans, a meal summary, posters and place or escort cards. Your partner, venue or parents can log in too.

The trade-offs: no automatic seating and no keep-together or keep-apart rules, and it’s a one-off payment from $20 for 6 or 12 months of access (Personal accounts save 5 plans, Professional 20). Read our Top Table Planner review for the full picture.

Best for: a quick chart in the browser, often for a small fee. SeatPlan.io opens with no sign-up, reads a floor plan with AI, offers real-time collaboration and sells a guest QR seat finder on its Collaborate and Event Manager plans. Seating is manual, and the one-time plans (£8 or £14) save your plan for 90 days. We compare it in our SeatPlan.io alternative page.

PlanSeats draws the room to scale and has a free plan for 1 event with up to 20 guests and 4 tables, including PNG and CSV export. Its seating rules and auto-assign are on the paid plans: Lifetime Plus at $50 once, or monthly plans. The PlanSeats comparison covers the limits.

A long tail of smaller makers (SeatCanvas, Pix, Wedibox and others) let you drag tables and names and export, mostly for free or a small one-time fee. They’re manual, with basic layouts and few guest details: fine for a small, simple wedding.

Best for: couples who want one-click seating and don’t need a room layout. A cluster of newer apps market rules-based or “AI” seating with together and apart tags. Most assign guests to tables on a schematic rather than a floor plan, keep few guest details, and several are subscriptions or charge to export. Check those three things before you commit.

Best for: designing the seating sign once you know who sits where. Canva has gorgeous templates and prints up to 24 × 36 in, but it’s a design tool with no guest list and no seating logic: every name is a text box you type and retype when RSVPs change. The Canva seating chart comparison explains how couples pair it with a planner; for display styles, browse these seating chart ideas.

Best for: venues, hotels and event businesses. These tools draw detailed, room-accurate plans and handle many events, but they’re B2B software with sales demos or subscriptions, far more than a couple planning one wedding needs (our AllSeated alternative page covers the couple-sized option). Social Tables (Cvent) is sold through Cvent, so check current pricing with them.

Prismm (formerly AllSeated) is being retired. Per Cvent’s migration timeline, new events can only be created in Cvent Event Diagramming since 26 August 2026, and Prismm access ends in June 2027. If your plan lives there, export it before then; here’s what happened to AllSeated and Prismm, with dates and an export checklist.

Planning Pod is a full event-business suite (CRM, invoices, contracts) with auto-seating, to-scale diagrams and a staff check-in app; its homepage says most single-location venues pay $199–$319 a month. It’s a strong fit for a venue or a planning business that wants one system for everything, not for one wedding.