GiftList vs DrawNames: Which Gift Exchange Tool Wins?

Quick Answer: GiftList and DrawNames are both free, ad-free Secret Santa tools that draw names, handle exclusions, support wish lists, and let you ask your match anonymous questions. DrawNames is a focused, polished draw-and-wishlist app. GiftList runs the same draw but ties it to a full universal wishlist platform — link the lists you already keep, send anonymous Santa Mail, fill out a Mystery Q&A, hold the identity reveal until your exchange date, and add co-organizers — so the exchange and everyone's year-round gifting live in one place. Set up a free gift exchange in a couple of minutes.

If you're organizing a Secret Santa this year, you've probably landed on two names: DrawNames, the long-running draw-and-wishlist app, and GiftList, a universal wishlist platform with a built-in Gift Exchange. Both are free, both keep the draw anonymous, and both let people share what they actually want. This is a fair, feature-by-feature comparison so you can pick the right one — whether you want a single-purpose draw tool or one hub that carries the exchange and the rest of your gifting all year.

Want the rules first, before you pick a tool? Start with our guide to 10 Secret Santa rules everyone should know, then come back here to choose where to run it.

Quick Comparison: GiftList vs DrawNames

Here's the at-a-glance view. Everything in the DrawNames column is drawn from DrawNames' own site and app listing (linked in Sources); we kept it honest and left a few cells as "not stated" where the company doesn't publish a clear answer.

The headline: these tools overlap a lot on the fundamentals. Where they split is scope. DrawNames is excellent at one job. GiftList does that same job and wires it into a year-round gifting platform.

What DrawNames Does Well

Let's be fair to DrawNames first, because it's genuinely good at what it sets out to do.

DrawNames is a focused, well-polished Secret Santa tool. You enter the names, add exclusions for who shouldn't draw whom, set group details, and send invitations by email, text, or Facebook Messenger. As the company puts it, there's "no more risk of drawing yourself, or drawing the same person twice, and no slips of paper to lose." Each participant gets a wish list, and there's a built-in gift finder you can filter by age, gender, budget, and category.

A few things stand out:

• No registration required. You can spin up a draw without making anyone create an account — handy for casual or one-off groups.
• A genuine privacy posture. DrawNames states it's "Fast, fun and free. No registration required. No ads and no selling of personal data either."
• An optional live draw. Beyond the standard private draw, DrawNames notes it's "also possible to watch the drawing live, so that everyone sees whose name they've drawn at the same time" — a nice touch for groups that want the suspense of a shared moment.
• Anonymous questions. You can "ask your Secret Santa target questions anonymously," so you can nail down a size or a preference without giving yourself away.
• Mobile apps. DrawNames offers iOS and Android apps with strong store ratings.

If all you want is a clean draw with a per-event wish list and a gift finder, DrawNames covers it. The question is whether you want the exchange to connect to anything else.

Where GiftList Pulls Ahead

GiftList runs the same core draw — random matching, exclusions, anonymous questions, wish lists — but treats the exchange as one feature inside a universal wishlist platform. That changes what the tool can do around the draw.

An Organizer-Blind Draw, Set and Forget

On GiftList the draw is organizer-blind: the person running the exchange never sees who drew whom — not even their own match if they're playing too. The matching happens server-side and stays sealed, so there's no "the organizer secretly knows everyone's giftee" asterisk that nags at family or office groups. You can also set an auto-draw date and walk away — names draw themselves on the day you pick, including anyone who joined late. And next year, "Run it again" pre-fills last year's group, budget, and exclusions so you're not rebuilding from scratch.

Link the Wish List You Already Keep

This is the biggest practical difference. On GiftList, participants link their existing GiftList wishlists into the exchange. The same universal wishlist you keep for birthdays and the holidays — with items added from any online store, not one retailer — feeds the Secret Santa. Nobody rebuilds a list per event, and your giver sees real, current picks instead of a one-time list made in a hurry. On DrawNames, each participant gets a wish list, but it lives inside that specific draw rather than a list you carry across every occasion.

Because the wishlist is a real GiftList list, claiming a gift uses the same surprise-preserving reserve the rest of the app uses: when you reserve an item on your match's list, it's hidden from them so the surprise holds, and it's marked for everyone else so two Santas never buy the same thing. (If your match goes the Mystery Q&A route instead, you simply log what you bought.)

Anonymous Santa Mail and a Mystery Q&A

GiftList matches DrawNames' anonymous questions and goes a step further. After the draw, your match card gets a "Message anonymously" button that opens a two-way Santa Mail thread: your notes arrive on your giftee's side from "Your Secret Santa," with your name stripped on the server so it never reaches their device. Separately, every participant fills out a Mystery Q&A — sizes, interests, things to avoid, and a fun question or two — so their Santa shops with real information. Participants can even opt to share one lighthearted answer to the group activity feed ("Sarah's dream gift: a pizza oven 👀") to keep the energy up without leaking anything sensitive.

The Reveal Is Held Until Your Exchange Date

In a GiftList exchange, who's gifting whom stays anonymous until the exchange date you set. Givers know their own assigned person (they have to, in order to shop and ask anonymous questions), but the wider reveal is gated to gift day — so the surprise survives weeks of shopping and shipping. It's the kind of detail that matters most for remote teams, where the gap between draw and reveal can stretch out. If that's your situation, our guide to hosting a virtual Secret Santa for remote employees walks through the timing.

Co-Organizers for Group Events

Office and big-family exchanges are rarely run by one person. On GiftList you can add a co-organizer — a collaborator who helps manage details, settings, and exclusions — while sensitive actions like deleting the exchange or changing the organizer stay owner-only. It's a small thing until the week of the event, when sharing the load suddenly matters.

A Real Gift Finder, Powered by AI

Both tools help you find a gift. DrawNames offers a gift finder you filter by age, gender, budget, and category. GiftList adds Genie, an AI gift finder: tell it your match's interests and your budget and it returns real products with live prices, and a Gift Ideas feed refreshed daily and filterable by recipient age and gender. When you're stuck on what to buy your match, that's the difference between browsing and getting a concrete shortlist.

Setup Speed: How Fast Can You Start?

Both tools are quick. DrawNames' edge is that it needs no registration — you can launch a draw without anyone signing up, which is ideal for a one-off casual group. GiftList asks the organizer for a free account, and that's the trade: in exchange for that one step, the exchange plugs into linked wishlists, Santa Mail, the held reveal, co-organizers, and a platform your group can reuse next year. If you expect to do this again — or you already keep wishlists for other occasions — GiftList's small upfront step pays off fast. If you want the absolute lowest-friction one-time draw, DrawNames' no-account flow is hard to beat.

Either way, the setup pattern is the same: pick a date, set one budget, add people and exclusions, and let the tool draw. For the full checklist, see how to run a Secret Santa step by step.

Cost, Ads, and Privacy

Good news: cost is a tie. Both tools are free to run a gift exchange, and both publish a clean ads-and-data stance. DrawNames states it shows "no ads and no selling of personal data." GiftList is 100% free — no premium tiers, no item limits, no fees, no credit card — and gift-givers never need an account to view a list, reserve an item, or buy. Neither tool gates the core Secret Santa experience behind a paywall, so price shouldn't be your deciding factor. Decide on scope instead.

How to Choose

Use this quick decision framework:

• Choose DrawNames if you want a focused, no-account draw for a casual or one-time group, you like the optional live-draw moment, and a per-event wish list plus a gift finder is all you need.
• Choose GiftList if you want the exchange tied to a universal wishlist you reuse all year, an organizer-blind draw with auto-draw and a one-tap "run it again," surprise-preserving reserve that stops duplicate gifts, anonymous Santa Mail and a Mystery Q&A, an identity reveal held until your exchange date, co-organizers for a group event, and an AI gift finder — all free.

There's no wrong answer here; both are solid. The split is whether you want a single-purpose tool or one hub for everything gifting. If you're weighing several apps, not just these two, our broader look at common gift exchange problems and smart solutions covers the pitfalls every tool has to solve.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is GiftList or DrawNames better for Secret Santa?

Both run a free, anonymous name draw with exclusions and wish lists. DrawNames is a clean, single-purpose draw-and-wishlist app. GiftList suits you better if you want the exchange connected to a full year-round wishlist platform — linking lists you already keep, anonymous Santa Mail, a Mystery Q&A, and co-organizers. Pick by whether you want a focused tool or one hub for all gifting.

Are GiftList and DrawNames free?

Yes. Both are free to run a gift exchange, and both state they show no ads and do not sell personal data. DrawNames says it is "Fast, fun and free. No registration required. No ads and no selling of personal data either." GiftList is 100% free with no premium tiers, item limits, or fees, and gift-givers never need an account to view a list.

Can you send anonymous messages in a Secret Santa exchange?

Yes, both tools support it. DrawNames lets you "ask your Secret Santa target questions anonymously." GiftList adds anonymous Santa Mail — a two-way thread where your messages reach your giftee as "Your Secret Santa" with your name stripped server-side, plus a Mystery Q&A so your match can share sizes, interests, and one fun answer without revealing who they are.

Does GiftList let you use a wish list you already have?

Yes. In a GiftList exchange, participants link their existing GiftList wishlists, so the same list you keep for birthdays and holidays feeds the exchange — no rebuilding it per event. Items can come from any online store. DrawNames also gives each participant a wish list, but it lives inside the DrawNames draw rather than a universal list you reuse everywhere.

When do Secret Santa names get revealed on GiftList?

In a GiftList exchange, who is gifting whom stays anonymous until your set exchange date, so the surprise holds through shopping and shipping. Givers still know their own assigned person in order to buy and ask anonymous questions; what is gated is the wider reveal. This keeps the mystery intact for the whole group right up to gift day.

Can more than one person organize a gift exchange?

On GiftList, yes — you can add a co-organizer (collaborator) who helps manage details, settings, and exclusions, while actions like deleting the exchange or changing the organizer stay owner-only. That is useful for office or family exchanges run by a committee. Confirm current co-organizer options in each tool, since exchange features change between seasons.

Run Your Gift Exchange on GiftList

If you want the draw and a place for everyone's year-round gifting, start a free Gift Exchange: draw names with exclusions, have everyone link a universal wishlist, use anonymous Santa Mail and the Mystery Q&A, and let the identity reveal land on your exchange date. Prefer a one-time draw with no extras? Our free Secret Santa generator draws names in seconds with no signup. Not sure which format fits your group? Take the gift exchange quiz or set house rules with the gift exchange rules customizer.