Elfster has run the office Secret Santa for two decades. This comparison with WishApp looks at the name draw, the apps and browsers you can use, and whether either app is worth keeping the other fifty weeks of the year.
Last updated: June 2026
Looking for an Elfster alternative? Nobody beats Elfster's automated Secret Santa draw, with its exclusions, budgets and recurring groups. But it's ad-supported, English-only and built for December. WishApp is free with no ads, works on every platform all year, and auto-fills items from any store. Among Elfster alternatives, WishApp is the one we recommend.
Each row reflects what the apps do today. Elfster clearly wins the gift-exchange rows, and those are marked.
| Feature | Elfster | WishApp |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing & value | ||
| Free to use | Free | Free forever |
| No ads | Ad-supported | No ads |
| Unlimited lists and items | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| No data selling | Affiliate + ads | Privacy-first |
| Platforms & devices | ||
| iPhone and Android apps | Both | Both |
| Native iPad and tablet layouts | Not optimized | Yes |
| macOS desktop app | No | Yes |
| Browser extensions | Chrome only, 2.7★ | Five browsers |
| Raycast quick-add | No | Yes |
| Sharing & privacy | ||
| Share with one link | Yes | Yes |
| Friends reserve from a shared link | Account to mark | Yes |
| Hidden reservations on any list | Exchanges only | Any list |
| More than one language | English only | 26 languages |
| Gifting & group features | ||
| Secret Santa / gift exchange | Yes | Yes |
| Automated name draw with exclusions | Best in class | Not offered |
| White Elephant / Yankee Swap formats | Yes | No |
| Reserved and received tracking | No | Yes |
| Collaborative lists | Exchanges only | Yes |
| Ease of use | ||
| Add from any store by pasting a link | Unreliable | Auto-fills |
| Save a product in one click while browsing | Weak extension | Yes |
| Works year-round, not just holidays | Holiday-focused | Any occasion |
Both apps are free, so the difference is what you pay in attention. Elfster earns affiliate commissions and shows ads in the free experience, with sponsored gift guides pushed all over. WishApp is affiliate-funded as well, but it never shows ads and sells no data. Both cost nothing, but WishApp leaves out the promoted clutter.
WishApp reaches further. Elfster has solid iPhone and Android apps, both well rated and actively updated, and that's about where it stops. The iPad build isn't optimized, there's no native macOS app, and the lone Chrome extension sits at 2.7 stars, with no Firefox, Safari or Edge version. WishApp has native tablet layouts, a Mac app, working extensions for five browsers and a Raycast add-on, so the same list follows you everywhere.
The two part ways here. Elfster stops duplicates by letting people mark an item as purchased so others can see, but that only works inside a formal exchange, and a participant has to create an account just to mark a gift. WishApp hides reservations on any shared list, the owner never sees who claimed what, and friends reserve straight from the link whenever they like. For an ordinary birthday list shared with friends, that difference matters.
Elfster wins the draw, no contest. Its name-draw engine handles exclusions for couples, kids and repeat years, supports White Elephant and Yankee Swap, sets budgets and deadlines, and remembers your group from one year to the next. WishApp has nothing that deep. It does have Secret Santa, plus collaborative lists and reserved-and-received tracking, but if an organized office draw is the whole reason you're here, Elfster does it better.
Setting up an Elfster exchange is quick and well guided. Adding the gifts themselves is the weak spot. You either search Elfster's catalog or paste a URL that often fails to pull an image, and on mobile the flow is broken enough that reviewers complain about it. WishApp takes any product link and fills in the title, image and price, or saves it in one click from the browser extension, so you never have to fight a catalog.
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