The Best Elfster Alternatives for Secret Santa in 2026

It's mid-November, and you're organizing the family Secret Santa again. Last year the draw waited a full week on two people who never finished signing up, and one of them was the person who suggested Secret Santa in the first place.

Elfster does a lot well, and people still look elsewhere for a few plain reasons, each stated on Elfster's own pages. Below are the alternatives, ours included, with every fact taken from each tool's own site or store listing.

The short answer

• DrawNames: suits a group that wants no registration and no ads, with wishlists and couples kept apart.
• Secret Santa Organizer: suits a group where every match should arrive by email and nobody makes an account.
• Sneaky Santa: suits a group happy to make free accounts, with one invite link and an organizer who can check the draw.
• Giftster: suits a family that wants one private group for wishlists all year, with a draw even the organizer can't see.
• GiftList: suits a group that wants a phone app for the draw and the wishlists, and doesn't mind free accounts.
• GoWish: suits a group that already keeps its wishlists in GoWish, in the US, Canada, Australia or the UK.
• The Wishes Secret Santa generator: suits a group that wants the whole draw in one link with no sign-up, and a wishlist reached from each match.

Why people look for an Elfster alternative

Three questions come up most.

Is Elfster free?

Yes. Its App Store listing says "100% FREE: No hidden fees, subscriptions, or premium upgrades". The same listing names "Advertising" under what the app contains, and its Google Play listing says "Contains ads".

Do participants need an Elfster account?

Mostly, yes. Elfster's help center says "Everyone needs to have their own Elfster account." Its how it works page says "Each participant signs up and builds a Wishlist from Elfster's shop or any retailer."

Its blog FAQ gives two answers on one page: participants "can click the invite link and join immediately", and also "You'll create a free account and automatically join the exchange."

There is a Draw Now option with no accounts, but Elfster explains the catch: "Since participants won’t have accounts, they won’t be able to create Wishlists or view their draw themselves."

Can the Elfster organizer see the matches?

Its help center says "The only people who can view who everyone has drawn are the Organizers and the Assistants." Its blog says the opposite, "Even the organizer doesn't see who got whom", so the help center, the more specific page, is the one this table follows.

Elfster alternatives compared

What each option says about itself, checked on its own site or store listing on November 8, 2026.

For more ways to draw names, a hat included, see Secret Santa apps and websites compared.

DrawNames

DrawNames puts its pitch in one line on its how to page: "Fast, fun and free. No registration required. No ads and no selling of personal data either."

The same page lists "The option to set who can’t draw whom", "Draw names with online wish lists" and "Ask your giftee questions anonymously". Invitations go out "via email, text or Facebook Messenger", and its site says "The drawnames Secret Santa App is available for iPhone and Android."

On the matches, its FAQ says "Only the organizer can view the list of drawn names, and only after the celebration date has passed."

Worth knowing: "You can add exclusions to a celebration with at least 4 members", and once the names are out, "Unfortunately, you can't redraw the names."

Secret Santa Organizer

Its home page covers the whole job in one sentence: "Draw the names online, let everyone fill in a wishlist, exclude couples if you want, and send the invites by email. No account needed." It is "available in 17 languages", and you can "Import your previous party and skip the hassle of re-entering everyone."

Per its FAQ, "every participant receives their assignment by email", and "No app download is needed."

The organizer sees the matches only on purpose: "You can optionally see the combinations and wishlists on the management page. There are buttons for that, you won't see this by default."

Worth knowing: it is "completely and permanently free" and "supported by non-intrusive advertising". Exclusions "can be configured if your party has 4 participants or more".

Sneaky Santa

Sneaky Santa has been drawing names "for Christmas for over twenty years", per its home page. You create a group and "you get a unique invite link that you can share with your group members", with "No app to install, no spam or junk email".

Group members can send what the site calls an anonymous "Sneaky Message" to the person they picked, and it says "Sneaky Santa does not limit what you can add to your list."

Worth knowing: everyone signs up. Its sign up page says "You need an account so that you can log in to manage your own wishlists", and per its home page the group leader gets "built-in tools to check who picked who when you need it".

Giftster

Giftster is a family wishlist app first. Its App Store listing says "Create and share wish lists, add gifts from any store, and keep your whole family organized in one private group", and "The person who made the list never sees what's been claimed."

The draw lives inside that group: "Add a Secret Santa drawing to your Giftster group. Set exclusions, privately reveal each person's pick, and keep the entire drawing secret, even from the organizer." Its advertising page says "Giftster currently does not allow display advertising".

Worth knowing: you set up the draw on the website, because "Secret Santa is not currently available on the iOS or Android app" (generator page). Its help center says joining a group means you "login to your existing account or create an account", and to keep a couple apart, its draw help says "To prevent drawing each other, add two exclusions."

GiftList

GiftList runs its exchange in its iPhone and Android apps as well as on its site. Per its exchange page, you "add 3 to 100 people and draw names", and "Each person chooses a linked GiftList wishlist or the Mystery Q&A."

Couples are covered ("Organizers can pair people off so couples or roommates never draw each other"), and on cost it says "Yes, completely free." Its App Store listing names "Advertising" under what the app contains.

Worth knowing: its exchange page says "Participants need a free account to see their match." The draw is "not hidden from the organizer", and its FAQ says "Once names are drawn, GiftList doesn't accept new people".

GiftList also has a separate Secret Santa generator that it calls "100% free with no signup or ads", but there "The organizer, and anyone with the results link, can see every pairing."

GoWish

GoWish is a wishlist app with a draw built in. Its help center says "Secret Santa Exchange makes it easy and fun to organize Secret Santa with friends, family, or colleagues directly in GoWish", and "you can add a wishlist to your Secret Santa Exchange".

It "supports up to 100 participants in the same exchange" and is offered in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.

Worth knowing: it "is currently only available in the app", and "All participants must have a GoWish profile to take part." The organizer sees the matches "starting the day after the event date."

The Wishes Secret Santa generator

This one is ours, so here is exactly what it does. The Wishes Secret Santa generator is free, and nobody needs an account or an email address to draw names or see their match. You type 3 to 50 names, pick any couples to keep apart, add a budget and an exchange date if you like, and tap Draw names.

You get one group link for the group chat. Each person opens it, taps their own name and sees who they drew, with the budget and the date.

Emails are optional: add them and Wishes sends the invites. The organizer page shows who has joined, never who gives to whom, so the organizer can play too.

After the draw, each person can tap Make my wishlist on their own match, free with a quick sign-in. Their Santa opens it without an account, and booking a gift (a quick sign-in too) marks it as taken, so nobody buys it twice.

Worth knowing: the group link opens any name, so it goes only to your group. There are no anonymous messages or questions, the draw runs on the web, and a booked gift shows as taken to the wishlist's owner too, where Elfster and Giftster say they hide it.

When Elfster is still the right pick

Elfster's exclusions go further than a couples rule. Its App Store listing lets you "Set exclusions so couples don't draw each other", "Prevent kids from being paired with adults" and "Exclude last year's matches for variety".

By default, "messages to the person you drew are marked to send anonymously", and the listing says it can "Handle groups of any size (from 3 to 300+ people)".

If your group already lives in Elfster, with everyone's account and wishlist in it, staying put is the easy choice. For how it stacks up as a family wishlist app, see Elfster vs Giftster.

FAQ

Is there an Elfster alternative with no sign-up?

Yes. DrawNames, Secret Santa Organizer, GiftList's separate generator and the Wishes generator draw names with no account for anyone, while Sneaky Santa, Giftster, GoWish and GiftList's full exchange ask everyone to make one.

Elfster vs DrawNames?

Both are free and keep couples apart. DrawNames needs no registration and says it has no ads, while Elfster asks for accounts and its store listings show ads.

After the names are drawn

Whichever tool you pick, drawing the names is the quick part. The part that takes your Santa an evening is the gift.

Telling them what you'd like isn't greedy. It saves them a lap of the mall on the 23rd: the dark green thermos, the paperback you meant to buy in August, the wool socks in a size 10, all inside a $25 budget.

Then the paper comes off, and it's the thing you actually wanted.