An OpenTable Alternative: Resy, Tock, or Reservations You Own
OpenTable charges a monthly plan plus a fee for each diner its network seats. Resy and Tock, now one company, charge a monthly plan, with fees on card payments and prepayments. A reservation system on your own website costs once and nothing for each diner, but brings no diners of its own.
OpenTable is the reservation platform most diners know, and its network is what restaurants pay for. What owners search for is usually the bill: a monthly plan plus a fee for every guest the network seats. The alternatives are Resy and Tock, which American Express now owns together, and a reservation system on your own website. We build the last kind, so read our view with that in mind. Every competitor figure here was read on that company's own pages on 9 November 2026; prices change, so check before you decide.
How does OpenTable compare with a reservation system you own?
| OpenTable | Your own system (OC Systems) | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly plan | Basic $149 (US only), Core $299, Pro $499 | None. One build: from $1,900 for the reservation system on a site you have, from $3,900 with a new site |
| Fee for each diner the network seats | $1 on Core and Pro; $1.50 on Basic after the first 30 days | None |
| Bookings from your own website | Free on Core and Pro; on Basic, $0.25 a diner or $49 a month flat | Free: they are your own bookings |
| Phone bookings, walk-ins, no-shows | No cover fee: OpenTable charges only for seated diners, and not for phone bookings or walk-ins | No fee |
| Contract | One year as standard, renewing automatically each year; 30 days' notice before the renewal date | One build, fixed in writing; nothing to renew |
| Diners who find you | OpenTable's site, app and partners show you to diners who have not chosen yet | None of its own: diners come from Google, your site and your regulars |
| Prepaid dinners and deposits | Prepaid experiences and ticketing carry a 2% service fee | Card on file or deposits by party size or day; your card processor's fees apply |
When is OpenTable, Resy or Tock the better choice?
- A real share of your covers comes from diners browsing OpenTable, Resy or Tock who had not chosen a restaurant yet; that is what the platforms are paid for, and a site you own brings none of them
- You are new, in a busy dining area, and need to be found before your Google reviews can do the work
- American Express card members are a real share of your guests: Resy states it offers eligible card members Resy Credit to dine at its US restaurants
- You sell ticketed or prepaid dinners and events, which the Tock-powered plans on Resy's pricing page are built around
- You want reservations running next week rather than waiting for a build
When is your own reservation system the better choice?
- Most of your diners already find you through Google, your website or a previous visit, so the network's diners are a small part of what you pay for
- You would rather pay once for the system than pay a plan every month for as long as you take reservations
- You want the guest list, visit history and notes in a system you own
- Your website needs rebuilding anyway, so the reservation system comes in the same build
What do OpenTable, Resy and Tock charge?
The three platforms side by side, as each describes itself on its own pricing page, with a system you own in the last column. Tock's pricing page now redirects to Resy's, under a banner saying Tock is part of the Resy network; Resy's pricing page lists Resy's own plans and the Tock-powered ones together.
| Item | OpenTable | Resy | Tock (now part of Resy) | Your own system |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly plan | Basic $149 (US only), Core $299, Pro $499 | Platform $289, Platform 360 $459 | Essential $289, Premium $459 | None; one build from $1,900 |
| What else is charged | A fee for each diner its network seats ($1 on Core and Pro, $1.50 on Basic after 30 days); Basic also charges for bookings from your website; 2% on prepaid experiences and tickets | Standard payment processing fees, per its pricing page | 3% on prepayments on Essential, 2% on Premium | Your card processor's fees on deposits; hosting and support optional |
| Contract | One year, renewing each year; 30 days' notice before renewal | Not stated on its pricing page | Not stated on its pricing page | Nothing to renew; the build is fixed in writing |
| Owned by | Booking Holdings | American Express | American Express, through Resy | You |
| Diners who find you | OpenTable's site, app and partners | Resy's app and network | The Resy network | None of its own: Google, your site, your regulars |
Read on each company's own pages on 9 November 2026: opentable.com/restaurant-solutions/plans-ld, resy.com/join/plans-pricing (where exploretock.com/join/pricing now redirects) and resy.com/join. Resy's and Tock's plans are monthly fees plus payment fees; their pricing page lists no fee for each diner seated. Prices change, so check each page before you decide.
How much do OpenTable's cover fees add up to?
On Core, OpenTable's middle plan, the bill is $299 a month plus $1 for each diner seated through OpenTable's site, app or partners. The fee counts diners, not bookings, so a table of four is four. Diners who book by phone, walk in, or book through OpenTable on your own website are not charged on Core and Pro, so only the network's share counts.
The table shows what that comes to at three made-up levels of network diners. Set it against a reservation system you own, a one-time build from $1,900, which brings no network diners at all: the honest question is how many of those diners would have found you anyway.
| Hypothetical diners seated through OpenTable's network, a month | OpenTable Core, a month | OpenTable Core, a year |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | $499 | $5,988 |
| 600 | $899 | $10,788 |
| 1,200 | $1,499 | $17,988 |
Hypothetical illustration: the diner counts are chosen to make the arithmetic easy, not taken from any restaurant. Plan and fee from OpenTable's plans page, read 9 November 2026; it leaves out prepaid-experience fees and any card processing.
Can you keep OpenTable and run your own reservations too?
Yes, and many restaurants should, at least for a while. The platform stays listed for discovery, your website and your Google Business Profile send diners to the system you own, and the tables or services are split between the two so a table cannot be booked twice — for instance the platform keeps weekend prime time and your own system takes the rest.
Be clear about where the saving is. On OpenTable Core and Pro, bookings made through OpenTable on your own website already carry no cover fee, so moving them to your own system saves nothing while you keep the plan. The money is in the plan itself and in the network fee, and both stop only if you leave. Running both for a few months is how you find out what the network's diners are worth to you before deciding.
What does your own reservation system cost?
The reservation system alone, on a website you already have, is a fixed build from $1,900. With a new restaurant website around it, from $3,900, quoted in writing after one call. There is no fee for each diner, no platform plan and no contract to renew; hosting and support after launch are optional and priced separately.
It takes party size, time slots and table limits, holds a card or a deposit by party size or day, sends the confirmation and reminder texts, and keeps the guest list in a system you own. What it does not do is find diners for you: that comes from Google Maps, search and your reviews, which the site is built to support.
So should you leave OpenTable?
If the OpenTable network fills tables you would not fill otherwise, the plan and the cover fee are the price of those diners and may well be worth paying; the same goes for Resy if American Express card members are a real share of your guests, and for Tock if you sell ticketed dinners. If most of your diners already know where you are, you are paying every month for bookings you would have had anyway, and a system you own costs once. Decide from your own statement: the plan, the network diners, and how many of them were new to you.
Frequently asked questions
How much does OpenTable cost?
What are OpenTable's cover fees?
How do Resy and Tock charge?
Is there an OpenTable contract?
Can I keep OpenTable and add my own reservation system?
What does a reservation system of your own cost?
Want the sum done for your restaurant?
Send last month's reservation statement and we'll show what the plan and the cover fees came to, and what a system you own would cost instead. If the platform still wins on the numbers, we'll say so.
Ask for the comparison