Someone in the family group chat has just asked "so which app are we using this year?", and three people have answered with three different names. That's normally where the thread dies, because Elfster and Giftster sound like the same thing and nobody wants to be the one who sets everything up and gets it wrong.
They aren't the same thing. Elfster is built around a Secret Santa draw. Giftster is built around one private family group you keep for years. Amazon Wishlist is built around Amazon. Wishes, which is where you're reading this, is built around a wishlist you make in a minute and share with one link. Each of them is the right answer to a different question, and this page is the honest version of which question is yours.
The short answer
- Elfster: choose it if the job is drawing names. The draw, the exclusion rules and the private emails to each person are the whole point.
- Giftster: choose it if your extended family will all join one private group and use it every Christmas, birthday and baby shower from now on.
- Amazon Wishlist: choose it if nearly everything you'd ask for is on Amazon anyway.
- Wishes: choose it if you want a wishlist from any store, built in minutes, that a grandparent can open from a link with nothing to install. It also runs a free Secret Santa draw, without Elfster's exclusion rules or emails.
If you only came for that, you can stop here. The rest is what each one actually does, quoted from its own pages, including the things each does better than we do.
Elfster vs Giftster: the real difference
People compare these two because both offer a Secret Santa draw and both hold wishlists. The difference is which half is the product.
Elfster is the draw first. Its App Store listing leads with the name generator, which lets you "set exclusions so couples don't draw each other" and "prevent kids from being paired with adults." Its own how-it-works page says the system "ensures no one is assigned themselves and notifies each person of their assignment via email." The wishlist is the second half: you add items from "any online store, just paste the link," and your match shops from it.
Giftster is the group first. Its App Store listing describes it as a way to "make and share wish lists in a private family group for Christmas, birthdays, baby showers, weddings, and other holidays." The draw is there too, and "picks remain a secret for everyone, including the organizer," but it lives inside the group. Giftster also has child accounts, so a parent can "keep track of gift ideas for kids & pets."
So the question that settles it is not "which is better." It's "are we running an exchange, or are we a family that wants one place for every occasion?" An office Secret Santa is Elfster. A family that swaps wishlists three times a year is Giftster.
What each one does about surprises
This is the detail most comparisons skip, and it's the one that actually changes how Christmas morning feels. When someone marks a gift as bought, who can see that?
- Elfster hides it from the wishlist owner. Its help center says that when you mark a wish as purchased "it won't notify or show up for the Wishlist owner," while "other people viewing the wish will see that the wish has already been bought."
- Giftster hides it too. Its App Store listing says plainly that "the gift status is hidden from the list maker to keep purchased gifts a surprise."
- Amazon Wishlist gives you the choice. According to Amazon's own guide, you can choose whether to "spoil my surprises," meaning you won't see which items have been purchased unless you try to buy one someone already bought.
- Wishes does not hide it from you. A booked gift shows as taken on your own wishlist as well as to everyone else, so it stays accurate and nobody buys it twice. No Wishes app or page shows who booked it, but you will know that something was claimed. If you want the surprise, the honest workaround is to not look at your own wishlist in December.
That's a genuine point in Elfster's and Giftster's favor. If keeping the wishlist owner in the dark matters more to your family than keeping setup short, pick one of those two.
Where the sign-up step decides it
The second thing that decides it in practice is how many people have to sign up before the wishlist is useful.
Elfster wishlists can be shared outside Elfster, but only once you set them to Public. Its help center walks through it: "Set the Wishlist Privacy to Public so you can share outside of Elfster," and then the wishlist "is visible to those who have the link." For the draw itself, participants get "an email inviting them to join in the Secret Santa game and sign up on Elfster."
Giftster is a group by design, so the value comes from everyone joining it. That's a strength for a family that will, and the reason it's a weaker fit for a wishlist you just want to send to a few people this year.
Amazon Wishlist shares by link. Amazon's guide says your wishlists "will remain private until you're ready to share," and then you "copy the link, or choose the Email or Text Message option." Anyone shopping from it will be buying on Amazon, which is either the whole point or the whole problem.
Wishlists on Wishes open in a browser with no account and no app. Booking a gift is the one step that asks the person for a free sign-in with Apple or Google, which keeps the wishlist accurate without asking your whole family to install anything first.
An honest look at Amazon Wishlist
The other question people ask is whether Giftster beats Amazon's wishlist, so Amazon deserves its own paragraph. It wins on friction if you already live in Amazon: the account exists, adding an item is one click on the product page, and a gift bought from the wishlist ships like any other order.
It loses on everything that isn't Amazon. The browser button that used to push products from other sites into an Amazon wishlist is gone. Amazon's own extension listing says it made "the decision to discontinue Amazon Assistant on March 28, 2023" (Amazon Assistant for Firefox, published by Amazon.com). So the moment someone wants the sweater from a small shop or the tickets from a venue, the wishlist can't hold it, and you're back to the group chat.
Giftster, Elfster and Wishes all take a pasted link from any store. If your family's gifts come from more than one place, that alone rules Amazon out.
Where Wishes fits and where it doesn't
With Wishes you paste a link from any store, add a note on size or color if it matters, and share the whole wishlist with one link. The people shopping for you open it on their phone, see what's still available, and book what they're giving so nobody else buys the same thing. You can make the wishlist in the app or on wishes.app in a browser.
Two things to know, so you're not surprised later:
- The Wishes Secret Santa draw is the simple version. The organizer shares one invite link, and everyone joins with an Apple or Google sign-in and gets a wishlist for the group. Each Santa sees the wishlist of the person they drew. Nobody sees who drew them, the organizer included. There are no exclusion rules and no emails or reminders, and it runs on the web: the Wishes apps open the same page. If your group needs couples kept apart or each match emailed out, that's Elfster's job. The longer version is in what to put on a Secret Santa wishlist.
- Wishes does not hide bookings from the wishlist owner. Covered above: a booked item reads as taken to you too, and no surface shows who booked it.
If neither of those is a dealbreaker, what you get in return is the shortest path from "what do you want?" to a wishlist a relative can actually open. Wishes is free for your first three wishlists, and Wishes Plus lifts that limit and adds every theme.
Which one should you pick?
- You're organizing a Secret Santa that needs exclusion rules or emailed assignments. Elfster.
- You want a simple Secret Santa from one link, with everyone's wishlist attached. Wishes.
- Your whole extended family will join one private group and reuse it every year. Giftster.
- Keeping the wishlist owner from seeing what's been bought matters most. Elfster or Giftster.
- Nearly everything you want is already on Amazon. Amazon's own wishlist.
- You want a wishlist from any store that opens from a link with nothing to install. Wishes.
For the wider field, including MyRegistry, GiftList and Listery, see the best wishlist apps and websites in 2026, or the Christmas-only version at the best Christmas wishlist app in 2026. If the draw is what you're choosing for, the best Secret Santa apps and websites puts Elfster and Giftster side by side with DrawNames, Secret Santa Organizer and the rest.
Frequently asked questions
What is better, Elfster or Giftster?
Elfster if you need a Secret Santa draw with exclusion rules, because the draw is what it's built around. Giftster if your extended family will keep one private group for every occasion, because the group is what it's built around. Both hide purchased gifts from the wishlist owner, and both take items from any store.
Is Giftster better than Amazon's wishlist?
For a family that shops in more than one place, yes. Giftster takes a pasted link from any store and hides purchases from the wishlist owner. Amazon's wishlist is the easier choice only when the gifts are all on Amazon, since the browser extension that added items from other sites was discontinued in 2023.
Does Elfster require everyone to have an account?
To take part in a draw, yes: Elfster invites each participant by email to sign up. A wishlist set to Public can be viewed by anyone with the link, whether or not they have an Elfster account.
Does Wishes run a Secret Santa draw?
Yes, a simple one, and it's free. The organizer shares one invite link, everyone joins with an Apple or Google sign-in and gets a wishlist, and once at least three people are in, the organizer draws names. Nobody sees who drew them, the organizer included. There are no exclusion rules and no emails or reminders, so Elfster is the better fit for a group that needs those.
Can the wishlist owner see what's been booked on Wishes?
Yes. A booked gift shows as taken on the owner's wishlist as well as to guests, so nobody buys it twice. No Wishes app or page shows who booked it. Elfster and Giftster hide the purchase from the wishlist owner entirely, so pick one of those if that's the deciding factor.
Are Elfster, Giftster and Wishes free?
Elfster's App Store listing says it is "100% free with no hidden fees, subscriptions, or premium upgrades." Giftster is listed as free on the App Store. Wishes is free for your first three wishlists, and Wishes Plus lifts that limit.
Whichever one your family lands on, the point is the same: one place to say what you'd actually like, and one fewer duplicate under the tree.
