Best Wishlist Apps in 2026: 5 Compared
There is no single best wishlist app. Pick by what you need: Giftster for a private family group, Elfster for Secret Santa, MyRegistry for a wedding or baby registry with store perks, Amazon Lists if you only shop on Amazon, and Onelist if you want one free link with gifts from any store that guests can open and reserve from without signing up.
Last checked: November 8, 2026. Prices and features change, so check each company's site before you commit.
Quick picks
- Best for family groups and kids' lists: Giftster
- Best for Secret Santa and group exchanges: Elfster
- Best for wedding and baby registries with store perks: MyRegistry
- Best if you only buy from Amazon: Amazon Lists
- Best for one shareable link, any store, no account for guests: Onelist
Wishlist apps compared
| Onelist | Giftster | Elfster | MyRegistry | Amazon Lists | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, no premium tier | Free | Free | No charge for a registry; small fee on cash gift funds | Part of your Amazon account |
| Gifts from any store | Yes, paste a link | Yes, paste a link or use the extension | Yes, links from any store | Yes, extension or app | Built around Amazon products |
| Guests need an account to see the list | No | Lists can be public; groups are for members | Invite link joins without an account (per its FAQ) | No: a registry opens without a password (the password is optional) | No: anyone with the link can view a list shared as view-only |
| Reservations | Yes, guests enter name and email; hidden from the list owner until the event date has passed | Yes, purchase status is hidden from the list maker | Yes, inside an exchange | Guests mark a gift as purchased (“I bought this gift already”) | Purchased items disappear from the list; optional “spoil my surprises” setting |
| Secret Santa | Yes, free name-draw tool (no account for participants) | Yes | Yes, its main feature | Yes, with draw exclusions | No |
| App / browser extension | Web only for now | Mobile app and web extension | iOS and Android apps | App with barcode scanner and extension | Amazon app |
| Interface languages | English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German | English only | English, Spanish, French | English, Spanish, French (by country site) | Follows the Amazon store |
Onelist
Onelist is a free wishlist where you paste a link from any store, it pulls in the title, photo and price, and you share one link. Guests open it without an account and reserve a gift with a name and email. The list owner does not see who reserved an item until the event date has passed, so the surprise stays intact. There is also a free Secret Santa generator and an RSVP invitation tool, a QR code for each list (PNG or SVG) for printed invitations and cards, and the interface works in five languages. See the universal wishlist page for how it works.
- Best for: birthdays, Christmas, baby showers and weddings where you want a simple shareable link and no sign-up for guests.
- Limits: no mobile app or browser extension yet and no cash funds.
- Price: free, no premium tier.
Giftster
Giftster describes itself as the original private family gift registry (established 2009, 3.75 million members on its site). It is built around private groups where each person keeps a list, reservation status prevents duplicates, and the purchase status is hidden from the list maker. You can add gifts from any store by pasting a link, there is a web extension and a mobile app, and parents can add child accounts to manage kids' lists. Public lists can be shared with people who do not have an account.
- Best for: extended families that gift together every year.
- Limits: it is organised around groups, so it is more setup than a single link for a one-off birthday; the interface is English only.
- Price: free; the company says it is funded by affiliate link fees.
Elfster
Elfster is a free gift exchange and wishlist platform with built-in name drawing, anonymous questions, price-drop alerts on items added by link, and iOS and Android apps. Wishlists can include links from any store. Its FAQ says participants can click an invite link and join without creating an account, though an account is needed to manage a wishlist. Elfster says it has 47 million gift givers and supports English, Spanish and French.
- Best for: Secret Santa and White Elephant exchanges at work or with friends.
- Limits: wishlists are secondary to the exchange; a one-person birthday list is not what it is designed around.
- Price: free.
MyRegistry
MyRegistry's pitch is “All Stores, One Registry”: you add gifts from any store with a browser extension or the app (which includes a barcode scanner for in-store items) and can sync existing store registries while keeping their perks, discounts and completion bonuses. It also offers cash gift funds and a Secret Santa tool with draw exclusions. A registry opens for guests without a password (the password is optional), and guests mark what they bought with “I bought this gift already”. There is no charge to have a registry, but cash gift funds carry a small transaction fee.
- Best for: wedding and baby registries where you want store perks and cash funds.
- Limits: more of a registry than a simple list, and the cash-fund fee is a cost to compare.
- Price: free to have a registry; fee on cash funds.
Amazon Lists
Amazon's lists (called Wish Lists) let you add items from product pages, set priorities and comments, share with an “Invite” link, email or text, and get push alerts when a price drops in the Amazon app. As items are bought they disappear from the list so nobody buys duplicates, and a “spoil my surprises” setting controls whether the owner sees what was purchased.
- Best for: people who buy almost everything from Amazon.
- Limits: built around Amazon's own catalogue, so gifts from other shops do not belong in it.
- Price: part of your Amazon account.
How to choose
- Is it one occasion or a yearly family tradition? One occasion: Onelist or MyRegistry. Every year with the same relatives: Giftster.
- Is it a name-draw exchange? Elfster, or Onelist's Secret Santa generator if you want no accounts for participants.
- Do you need store perks and cash funds? MyRegistry.
- Will your guests refuse to sign up? Pick a tool where guests can open the link and reserve without an account: Onelist, or Giftster's public lists.
- Do you only shop on Amazon? Amazon Lists is already on your phone.
How we compared
We read each company's own website on November 8, 2026 and compared price, guest access, reservations, store support and apps. We build Onelist, so we have tried to state its limits as plainly as the others'. Onelist's own gift guides contain affiliate links to stores such as Amazon, which is how we keep the tools free; the comparison itself does not depend on them.
Sources: giftster.com, elfster.com, myregistry.com and its help center, aboutamazon.com and Amazon's Share Your List help page.
Questions about wishlist apps
It depends on the use. For a private family group, Giftster. For Secret Santa, Elfster. For one shareable link from any store with no sign-up for guests, Onelist. All three are free.
Yes with Onelist, Giftster, Elfster and MyRegistry: you paste a link (or use an extension) from any store. Amazon Lists is built around Amazon products.
On Onelist, no: guests enter a name and email and get an email code in case they need to cancel. Giftster public lists can be opened without an account, Elfster says an invite link joins without one, and a MyRegistry registry opens without a password. Check the table above for each app.
Use reservations. On Onelist, Giftster and Amazon Lists, bought or reserved items are marked for other guests, and the list owner's view is limited so the surprise stays intact.
Not really. It is designed for products on Amazon. Use a universal tool such as Onelist, Giftster or MyRegistry when gifts come from several stores.
Giftster lets parents add child accounts. On Onelist parents can create and manage a list on a child's behalf; there is no minimum age and viewers need no account.