April 21, 2026
10 min read
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Restaurant Reservation Pricing: What You Actually Pay
Per-cover fees, tiered plans, contact-sales opacity. We compared the real cost of reservation systems across 4 markets so you do not have to. The gap between advertised and actual price is where margins disappear.
42% of restaurant operators were not profitable in 2025.
Their reservation system was still billing them per cover.
Small full-service restaurants with sales below $2 million operate on a pre-tax income margin of 1.1%. The median across all full-service restaurants hovers around 2-4%.
At these margins, the difference between a $29 monthly subscription and a $600 monthly bill is not a line item. It is the difference between staying open and closing. Yet restaurants continue spending on technology -- the average monthly tech spend is $196, which is just 1.97% of revenue compared to 7% across other industries.
That 1.97% needs to earn its place. Here is what reservation systems actually cost.
The four pricing models
Before comparing specific systems, understand how the models work -- because they are designed to be incomparable.
Flat rate means a fixed monthly fee regardless of volume. Simple, predictable. Your bill does not change if you have a strong month.
Per-cover fees mean you pay for every guest who books through the platform's network or discovery channels. A restaurant processing 400 network covers monthly at $1.50 per cover pays $600 on top of any subscription.
Tiered pricing gives you a set number of bookings at a base price, with overage fees or automatic upgrades if you exceed the limit. Growth costs more.
Commission-based systems take a percentage of prepaid reservations or deposits. Fine dining with high-value prepaid bookings can see this add up fast.
The fourth model -- "contact sales" -- is not a model at all. It is a negotiation. Only 4% of SaaS product profiles publicly list their prices, according to a G2 audit of their marketplace.
That means 96% require you to talk to a salesperson whose job is to assess your willingness to pay before quoting a number.
US market
The US has the most expensive reservation systems globally, and the market is consolidating fast. Resy and Tock merged in early 2026 under American Express ownership. DoorDash acquired SevenRooms for $1.2 billion.
OpenTable remains the dominant US platform with roughly 46% market share. Three tiers: Basic at $149/month plus $1.50 per network cover and $0.25 per website cover. Core at $299/month with $1.00 per network cover. Pro at $499/month with $1.00 per network cover.
A mid-sized restaurant on the Basic plan processing 300 network covers monthly pays $149 + $450 = $599/month. At 500 network covers: $149 + $750 = $899/month. Growth means a higher bill.
Resy (now merging with Tock) offers Platform at $249/month and Platform 360 at $399/month, both flat rate with no per-cover fees. Full Stack runs $899/month for enterprise.
Tock had Plus at $199/month plus 2% on prepaid reservations, and Pro at $699/month with no commission. Post-merger pricing with Resy is still being finalized.
SevenRooms targets enterprise from $499/month with custom pricing. Public pricing is not listed.
Yelp Guest Manager starts at $159/month for Basic (capped at 500 covers) and $349/month for Plus, both flat rate.
European market
European pricing is generally lower, but per-cover fees are common -- and one major player is disappearing.
TheFork (TripAdvisor-owned) charges approximately EUR 2.60 per cover from its network. No published monthly subscription for the base product. A restaurant receiving 200 network covers monthly pays roughly EUR 520/month for a system with no listed subscription fee.
Quandoo charges EUR 29/month plus approximately EUR 2.50 per network cover. At 200 network covers: EUR 29 + EUR 500 = EUR 529/month. Note: Quandoo is shutting down operations on December 31, 2026, with restaurant onboarding ending September 30, 2026.
Tableo uses tiered pricing: a free plan with 100 bookings, then approximately EUR 49/EUR 83/EUR 141 per month (annual billing) for increasing volumes with overage fees.
easyTable charges EUR 53-67/month flat rate in the DACH region.
resOS offers a free tier plus paid plans at approximately $35/$65/$95 per month with no commission.
Nordic market
GastroPlanner (Norway) charges 2 NOK per guest with no monthly subscription. At 400 guests monthly, that is 800 NOK (~EUR 70). Simple, but it scales linearly -- the more successful you are, the more you pay.
Bordsbokaren (Sweden) charges 795 SEK/month (~EUR 70) flat rate.
UK market
ResDiary charges approximately GBP 89-245/month depending on volume tier, flat rate with no per-cover fees. One of the more affordable UK options.
Collins (Access Group / DesignMyNight) starts from GBP 149/month plus GBP 2 per cover from the DesignMyNight network.
OpenTable UK applies the same per-cover model as the US, with GBP 2.00 per network cover on top of monthly fees.
The math that pricing pages hide
Here is what a restaurant doing 400 covers per month actually pays across different models, all-in:
| System | Model | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Nine Tables | Flat rate | $29 |
| resOS (Basic) | Tiered | ~$35 |
| easyTable | Flat rate | ~EUR 64 |
| GastroPlanner | Per-guest | ~800 NOK |
| Tableo (Growth) | Tiered | ~EUR 83 |
| ResDiary | Flat rate | ~GBP 89 |
| Yelp Basic | Flat rate (capped) | $159 |
| Resy | Flat rate | $249 |
| OpenTable Basic | Sub + per-cover | $149 + covers |
| TheFork | Per-cover | ~EUR 520 |
| Quandoo | Sub + per-cover | ~EUR 529 |
| SevenRooms | Enterprise | $499+ |
| Tock Pro | Flat rate | $699 |
The gap between the cheapest and most expensive is 20x. And the most expensive systems are not 20 times better.
What the per-cover model actually costs
Per-cover pricing has a subtle problem that the pricing page does not advertise. When a guest searches your name on Google, finds your listing, and books through the platform's embedded widget, that often counts as a "network" cover -- at the higher per-cover rate. The guest was already looking for you. The platform did not bring them. But the platform charges as if it did.
Fred Castellucci of Castellucci Hospitality Group in Atlanta described paying $2,000 to $3,000 per month per restaurant in per-cover fees before switching systems.
Vedge in Philadelphia estimated saving $30,000 per year by leaving a per-cover platform. The calculation: $249/month plus $1 per network cover on a high-volume restaurant versus $99/month flat.
Anne Quatrano of Bacchanalia in Atlanta went from approximately $1,000 per month to $89 per month -- a 91% cost reduction -- by switching from per-cover to flat-rate.
These are not edge cases. They are the predictable result of a pricing model that penalises volume. A restaurant that grows from 200 to 500 covers sees its tech bill grow proportionally. On a flat-rate model, the bill stays the same.
Put that in margin context. A restaurant doing $150,000 in monthly revenue with a 3% net margin earns $4,500 in profit. At EUR 1 per cover and 150 daily covers, the reservation system alone costs EUR 4,500 per month -- consuming the entire margin. For a deeper look at how these hidden fees compound, we wrote about the full cost structure of per-cover pricing.
Why pricing opacity persists
Researchers have a name for the strategy of revealing fees incrementally: drip pricing. A study published in Marketing Science found that drip pricing increases total spending by causing consumers to select higher total-cost options -- and they remain dissatisfied afterward.
The mechanism works because once a buyer has invested time in evaluating a product at an advertised base price, they rationalise the additional fees rather than start over. In reservation systems, that means a restaurant that has already done a demo, trained staff, and imported guest data is psychologically committed by the time the full cost becomes clear.
Regulators have started to notice. The FTC's Junk Fees Rule, effective May 2025, requires all-in pricing for ticketing and lodging. Restaurant technology is not yet directly covered -- but the direction is clear. California's SB 478, effective July 2024, mandates all-in pricing across all consumer transactions in the state.
If your vendor's pricing model would not survive a requirement to show the all-in price upfront, that tells you something about the model.
What to look for when comparing
Before signing or renewing with any system, run this exercise:
Calculate your real monthly cost. Take your busiest month's cover count. Apply per-cover fees. Add the subscription. Add every add-on you use. That number -- not the pricing page -- is what you are evaluating.
Model growth. If your covers increase 20% next year, what happens to your bill? Flat-rate: nothing. Per-cover: 20% more. Growth should lower your per-unit cost of technology, not raise it.
Check what is included. Some systems charge extra for SMS, analytics, multi-language support, or additional locations. Ask for the all-in price with every feature you use.
Request a sample invoice. Ask: "Show me what my invoice looks like at 400 covers per day, with 5,000 guests in my database, using waitlist and analytics." If they will not give you a straight answer, that is itself an answer.
Assess switching costs. Can you export your guest data? What notice period? Early termination fees? The harder it is to leave, the less pressure the vendor has to keep pricing honest. We wrote more about the switching process.
Where Nine Tables fits
Nine Tables costs $29/month. Flat rate. No per-cover fees. No network commissions. No tiered limits. No overage charges. Every feature included: booking widget, SMS confirmations, waitlist, guest database, analytics, 30+ languages, multi-location support.
The $29 price is our launch offer for early adopters. We are building Nine Tables with the first 99 restaurants who join. They get every feature at this price and keep it as long as they remain customers. We explained the reasoning behind why we chose flat-rate pricing and why we believe small restaurants deserve the same tools as large ones.
The trade-off is real. We do not capture the upside when a restaurant grows from 50 to 500 covers per day. Our revenue stays the same while our infrastructure costs increase. We are betting that clear value at a predictable price keeps restaurants longer, and that retention is worth more than per-transaction extraction.
The transparency test
The restaurant industry runs on trust. Guests trust that the price on the menu is the price they pay. The relationship between a restaurant and its technology vendor should operate on the same principle.
When a system advertises one price and charges another -- through per-cover fees, automatic upgrades, add-ons that should be standard -- it is not creative pricing. It is a misaligned incentive dressed up as a business model.
Your reservation system is the only software you use where success is penalised. Your POS does not charge more when you serve more guests. Your accounting software does not bill per transaction. Only your reservation system gets more expensive when you get busier.
That structure deserves scrutiny. And the all-in monthly cost -- not the number on the pricing page -- is the only honest way to apply it.
pricing comparison reservation-systems costs