How to send WhatsApp invitations to 100 people without a group
Use a broadcast list if every guest has saved your number: WhatsApp sends each person a private copy, up to 256 contacts a list, and their replies come back to you one by one. Anyone who hasn’t saved your number never receives a broadcast, so send them a message each, or use a service like Avently, which sends every guest a personal invitation by name from its own WhatsApp Business number and writes their answers into your guest list.
By Junaid Siddiqui, founder of Avently · Updated 28 October 2026
Option 1: A broadcast list
A broadcast list sends the same message to many contacts at once. Each person gets it as a private message from you and can’t see who else received it, and their reply comes back to your one-to-one chat with them.
Two limits come from WhatsApp itself: a list holds up to 256 contacts, and every contact on it must have saved your number in their address book (WhatsApp). The second is the one that catches hosts out. A guest who hasn’t saved your number simply never sees the invitation, and you get no warning. With 100 guests, some of them almost certainly haven’t.
A broadcast works well when the guests are people you message often: family, close friends, a team. For a club mailing list, a community event or anyone who knows you only from a sign-up sheet, plan for part of the list not to receive it.
Option 2: One message to each guest
A message to each guest reaches everyone, whether or not they’ve saved your number, and reads as personal because it is. Write the invitation once, then paste it into each chat and change the name.
It’s fine for thirty or forty people. At 100 it’s an evening of pasting, and the harder part comes after: the answers arrive in 100 separate chats, and you copy each one into your list by hand. The WhatsApp RSVP guide covers how to keep that list straight.
What to avoid
- Bulk-sender extensions.Tools that send messages in bulk from your personal WhatsApp break WhatsApp’s terms, which rule out “bulk messaging, auto-messaging, auto-dialing, and the like” (WhatsApp), and WhatsApp can suspend accounts that break its messaging guidelines (WhatsApp). The number at risk is yours.
- A group made only for the invitation.Everyone in a group sees everyone else’s phone number, and 100 people answering in one thread is hard to count. A group suits guests who already know each other.
- A WhatsApp Event on its own. An Event lives inside a chat, so it reaches only the people in that chat. For 100 guests that means a group or 100 separate Events. See whether WhatsApp Events can replace an RSVP tool.
Option 3: A service that sends from its own number
Businesses reach people who haven’t saved their number through WhatsApp’s Business Platform, which sends approved message templates from a business number. An RSVP service built on it sends the invitations for you, from its number rather than yours. The guide to WhatsApp RSVP bots explains why that matters for your own number.
How Avently does it
- Step 01
Connect your guest list
A Google Sheet with each guest’s name and phone number. Avently checks the numbers and shows which ones it will skip, such as US numbers, before you pay.
- Step 02
Avently sends each guest their own invitation
Every guest gets a WhatsApp message with their name, the event name and date, and Yes and No buttons, from Avently’s WhatsApp Business number. Your number sends nothing, and guests don’t need to have saved it.
- Step 03
Guests answer in the chat
A tap answers yes or no. Guests who say yes answer your follow-up questions, such as dietary needs or plus-ones, in the same chat. No form, no app.
- Step 04
Every answer lands in your sheet
Replies are written into your guest list as they arrive, and you can remind the guests who haven’t answered, up to 2 times each, without messaging anyone who already has.
The first 25 invitations each month are free. In a month with nothing sent yet, an event of 100 invitations costs $49 CAD in all, paid when you send (pricing). One limit: WhatsApp doesn’t deliver event invitations to US phone numbers, so Avently suits guest lists outside the US.
Which to use
- Everyone has saved your number: a broadcast list, then tally the replies yourself.
- Up to about 40 guests: one message each.
- 100 guests, many of whom don’t have your number: a service that sends from its own number and keeps the list for you.
Common questions
Why didn’t everyone get my WhatsApp broadcast?
WhatsApp delivers a broadcast only to people who have saved your number in their phone’s contacts. Anyone who hasn’t saved it never receives the message, and WhatsApp doesn’t tell you who was missed. Send those guests a message of their own, or use a service that sends from its own WhatsApp Business number.
How many people can a WhatsApp broadcast list reach?
Up to 256 contacts per list, so 100 guests fit in one list. The limit that matters more is that only contacts who have saved your number receive it.
Can I send WhatsApp invitations from a number guests haven’t saved?
Yes, through WhatsApp’s Business Platform, which sends approved message templates from a business number. Avently does this for event invitations: it sends each guest a personal invitation by name from Avently’s own WhatsApp Business number, so guests don’t need to have saved yours, and it writes each answer into your guest list.
Is it safe to use a bulk WhatsApp sender extension?
No. Browser extensions and scripts that send many messages from your personal WhatsApp break WhatsApp’s terms, which rule out bulk messaging and auto-messaging, and WhatsApp can suspend the number. Use a broadcast list, send by hand, or use a service that sends through WhatsApp’s Business Platform.
How much does it cost to invite 100 people on WhatsApp with Avently?
The first 25 invitations each month are free. In a month with nothing sent yet, an event of 100 invitations costs $49 CAD in all, paid when you send. Avently skips US phone numbers before you pay, because WhatsApp doesn’t deliver event invitations to them.
Should I just make a WhatsApp group for 100 guests?
Only if the guests already know each other and expect to chat. A group shows every member’s phone number to everyone else, and 100 people answering in one thread is hard to count. Private messages keep numbers private and keep each answer separate.
Avently sends each of your guests their own WhatsApp invitation from its own number, takes their answers in the chat, and writes each one into your guest list. The first 25 invitations each month are free.
Create your free eventInvitations don’t reach US numbers.