Restaurant reservation systems: what they do, what they cost and how to choose

A restaurant reservation system takes bookings from your website, Google and booking apps, puts them on a floor plan your host seats from, and texts guests before they arrive. The main US options are OpenTable, Resy (which now includes Tock), SevenRooms, Yelp Guest Manager, Toast Tables and Eat App. Choose by where your guests book and which POS you run.

Two questions settle most of the choice. How does the system charge: a flat monthly fee, a plan plus a charge per seated guest, or a quote? And does it talk to your POS, so the host can see which tables have paid? The feature lists overlap a lot. The table below shows what each one is built around.

What does a reservation system do?

Most systems do the same eight jobs. Resy's plan table and Toast's Toast Tables page list nearly all of them.

• Online booking: a button on your website, plus listings on the vendor's app, Google and other channels.
• Table management: a floor plan on a tablet that shows which tables are open, seated or ready to turn.
• Waitlist: a queue for walk-ins, with a text when the table is ready.
• Guest profiles: visit history, allergies, birthdays and VIP tags that the host sees at the door.
• Card holds and deposits: a card on file to charge for no-shows, or money taken at booking, under the policy you set.
• Reminders and texts: confirmations, reminders and two-way messages so guests can change plans.
• POS link: table status and spend passed between the POS and the host stand.
• Reports: covers, no-shows, turn times and where bookings came from.

Which reservation systems do restaurants use, and what do they cost?

Each row below comes from the vendor's own pages. Prices are what the vendor prints, with the plan name. Where a vendor prints no price, the row says so.

System	Built around	Printed price	Start here if
OpenTable	A diner network; OpenTable says it works with more than 70,000 restaurants. Three plans: Basic, Core and Pro.	Its help center names the three plans and points to its plans page for prices. Its billing help describes invoices that list billable covers.	You want many partner tools to choose from, including phone AI that books into it
Resy (Platform, Platform 360)	American Express backing and its diner app; no per-cover fees, per Resy	Platform $289/month; Platform 360 $459/month	You want one flat monthly bill
Resy powered by Tock (Essential, Premium)	Tickets, events and prepaid experiences	Essential $289/month plus a 3% fee on prepayments; Premium $459/month plus a 2% fee on prepayments	You sell tasting menus, wine dinners or other prepaid seats
SevenRooms	Guest CRM and marketing, with add-ons such as Voice AI and event management	No price printed; you get a quote. It lists a one-time setup fee and a transaction fee on pre-sales.	You run a group and guest data and marketing matter most
Yelp Guest Manager	Tables listed on Yelp, Reserve with Google, Apple Maps and ChatGPT; waitlist tools; no cover fees, per Yelp	$129 to $349/month	Walk-ins matter as much as bookings and guests find you on Yelp
Toast Tables	Runs alongside Toast POS, with table and order status from the POS	No price on the product page. Toast Tables covers up to 25 reservations a month; Toast Tables Plus lifts that cap.	You run Toast and seat mostly walk-ins
Eat App	Printed tiers and a 14-day free trial	Lite $99/mo, Core $199/mo, Pro $389/mo on monthly billing; a free plan for up to 100 guests a month	You want to see a price and try it before a sales call

Tock joined the Resy network, and in August 2026 Resy added Tock venues to its app. That is why the Resy pricing page now shows four plans, two of them "powered by Tock."

How do the pricing models differ?

There are three models. Resy, Yelp Guest Manager and Eat App print a flat monthly fee. OpenTable sells a plan and bills some covers on top: its billing help describes invoices with a list of billable covers. SevenRooms and Toast Tables quote you a price.

Payment fees sit on top of all three. Resy powered by Tock takes a percentage of prepayments, and SevenRooms' pricing FAQ lists a transaction fee on pre-sales through its booking widgets. Card processing is extra on most plans.

Here is the yearly plan cost for the systems that print a monthly price, before payment fees and taxes:

Plan	Printed monthly price times 12
Eat App Lite	$99 × 12 = $1,188
Yelp Guest Manager, low end of range	$129 × 12 = $1,548
Eat App Core	$199 × 12 = $2,388
Resy Platform or Tock Essential	$289 × 12 = $3,468
Yelp Guest Manager, high end of range	$349 × 12 = $4,188
Eat App Pro	$389 × 12 = $4,668
Resy Platform 360 or Tock Premium	$459 × 12 = $5,508

For OpenTable, SevenRooms and Toast Tables, put the plan fee and any per-cover or setup charges from your quote in the same column before you compare.

Do you need a full reservation system?

If most guests walk in, a waitlist may be all you need. Toast built its base tier for this: Toast's help center says Toast Tables suits walk-in restaurants and handles up to 25 reservations a month, and Toast Tables Plus is for restaurants that take bookings online or by phone. Eat App's free plan covers up to 100 guests a month.

If you fill most tables ahead of time, take deposits for large parties, or sell events, you need the full set: online booking, card holds, guest profiles and reports.

What should you check before you sign?

1. Count where bookings come from now. Split last month's reservations into phone, your website, Google and each app. A system's diner network matters only if guests use it to find you.
2. Price it at your volume. Add the plan fee, any per-cover charges, payment fees on deposits and prepayments, setup fees and add-ons such as text marketing.
3. Check the POS link. Ask which POS it connects to and what moves across: table status, check totals, guest spend. See what a restaurant POS does if you are choosing both at once.
4. Check deposits and card holds. Ask which payment processor it needs. OpenTable's booking policy help says Stripe is required for card holds and deposits.
5. Check the way out. Ask how you export guest profiles and future bookings. OpenTable's guestbook export downloads a CSV with contact details, visit history and notes.
6. Read the contract term. Yelp's Guest Manager page says annual contracts carry an early termination fee if you cancel during the 12-month term: $600 on the Basic plan and $1,500 on the Plus plan.
7. Decide who books phone calls. If a host or an AI phone agent will book calls, confirm the phone tool connects to this system (see below).
8. Run a real shift. Have the host team run one busy night on the new system before you move the booking button on your website and Google.

How do phone bookings fit in?

Guests still call to book, and someone has to answer. AI phone agents connect to specific reservation systems, so pick the two together. Slang AI's pricing page lists OpenTable, SevenRooms, Yelp and Fishbowl. SevenRooms sells its own Voice AI add-on that books inside SevenRooms. Yelp says Yelp Host added OpenTable bookings in July 2026.

Maple sells a phone agent that works with a reservation system. Maple Pro books, changes and cancels reservations on OpenTable, and costs $350/month on monthly billing or $220/month on annual billing. The Maple OpenTable page lists what to test in a demo, and our AI reservations guide covers phone setup and test calls.

Published by Maple, which sells AI phone answering that books reservations on OpenTable. This AI-assisted guide combines the reservation vendors' own pricing, product and help pages with an original checklist and cost table. It does not rank the systems or report a test of any of them.