OpenTable vs Resy: Which One Should Your Restaurant Actually Use?
August 24, 2026 · 11 min read
The Resy vs OpenTable question changed in 2026. American Express folded Tock into Resy, OpenTable added a 2% fee on prepaid transactions, and the pricing gap between the two models got wider. One platform charges you for every diner its marketplace sends. The other charges a flat monthly rate no matter how busy you get. Which one wins depends entirely on where your covers come from — so this comparison runs the actual numbers, with published August 2026 rates and a calculator for your own volume.
The Verdict
Buy OpenTable if you need it to fill seats. Buy Resy if your seats fill themselves.
- Largest diner marketplace: 60,000+ restaurants and decades of booking habit
- Best for new rooms, tourist districts, and suburban markets
- Per-cover fees mean you pay only when diners actually show up
- Flat $289-$459/month with zero per-cover fees, per Resy's published pricing
- Cheaper than any OpenTable tier past roughly 90 marketplace covers a month
- Tock-powered ticketing and a restaurant-owns-the-data stance
Bottom line: Most established independents save four figures a year on Resy. Restaurants that depend on marketplace discovery should pay OpenTable's cover fees and treat them as marketing spend.
OpenTable vs Resy at a Glance
Nine things operators actually shop on, side by side. Green checks mark which platform has the edge. Pricing reflects each company's published rates as of August 2026.
| Feature | OpenTable | Resy |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Subscription ($149-$499/mo) plus per-cover fees on marketplace bookings | Flat subscription ($289-$459/mo). Your bill is the same in July and January |
| Per-cover fees | $1.50/cover on Basic, $1.00 on Core and Pro for network covers. Website covers: $0.25 each (or $49/mo flat) on Basic, free on Core/Pro | None, on any plan, per Resy's published pricing |
| Diner network | 60,000+ restaurants worldwide. The biggest reservation marketplace in the US | 25,000+ venues after absorbing Tock in August 2026. Skews big-metro and chef-driven |
| Waitlist | Built-in waitlist and table management on all plans | Built-in walk-in waitlist on all plans |
| Deposits & ticketing | Card holds, deposits, and prepaid Experiences. 2% service fee on prepaid transactions (added early 2026) | Card holds and deposits on all plans. Full Tock-style event ticketing on its Essential and Premium tiers (2-3% prepayment fee) |
| POS integrations | Wide integration list across major POS systems | Included on Platform, Platform 360, and Premium. Not on Essential |
| Marketing reach | Marketplace browsing, boosted placement, and a massive diner email list | Amex cardmember exposure, editorial hit lists, Global Dining Access perks |
| Contract terms | 12-month auto-renewing agreement, per 2026 industry reporting | Not published. Quoted during the sales demo |
| Support | Onboarding plus ongoing support on all plans | Chat and email on all plans. Phone support on Premium only |
Sources: resy.com published plans and pricing (August 2026); OpenTable published rates as verified through 2026 industry pricing reports. Confirm final numbers with each sales team before signing.
What Each Platform Actually Costs
The structural difference matters more than any single number. OpenTable charges a subscription plus a fee for every diner its marketplace sends you. Resy charges a flat subscription and, per its own pricing page, “no per-cover fees… no matter how many diners come through your door.” One bill scales with your volume. The other does not. Budget accordingly in your monthly operating budget.
OpenTable fees (August 2026)
| Plan | Monthly | Network covers | Your-website covers | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $149 | $1.50/cover | $0.25/cover or $49/mo flat | Entry tier. The $1.50 network fee stings at volume |
| Core | $299 | $1.00/cover | Free | The tier most full-service independents land on |
| Pro | $499 | $1.00/cover | Free | Adds relationship management and marketing automation |
On top of the per-cover fees, OpenTable added a 2% service fee on prepaid transactions (deposits, no-show penalties, Experiences) in early 2026. Contracts run 12 months and auto-renew.
Resy pricing (August 2026)
Platform
$289/mo
Reservations, table management, waitlist, POS integrations
Essential
$289/mo
Tock-powered: event ticketing and prepaid experiences, 3% prepayment fee, no POS integrations
Platform 360
$459/mo
Platform plus advanced analytics and automated guest insights
Premium
$459/mo
Tock-powered: everything in Essential, 2% prepayment fee, POS integrations, phone support
The Essential and Premium tiers are the old Tock product living inside Resy after the August 2026 merger. If you sell prepaid tasting menus or ticketed events, those are the tiers to look at. Contract length is not published; Resy quotes it on the demo call.
Worked example: 60 seats, 300 covers a week
Say you run a 60-seat bistro doing 300 covers a week — about 1,300 a month. A realistic split for an established spot: 60% of bookings come through the platform's marketplace (780 covers), 40% through your own website and walk-ins (520 covers).
- Core subscription
- $299
- 780 network covers × $1.00
- $780
- 520 website covers
- $0
- Monthly total
- $1,079
- Platform subscription
- $289
- 780 marketplace covers
- $0
- 520 website covers
- $0
- Monthly total
- $289
The gap: $790 a month, about $9,480 a year at this volume on OpenTable Core vs Resy Platform. On OpenTable Basic the same month runs roughly $1,368 ($149 + 780 × $1.50 + $49 flat website fee). Resy Platform stays cheaper than even OpenTable Basic once you take more than about 90 marketplace covers a month.
The honest counterpoint: if OpenTable's marketplace genuinely sends you 780 covers you would not otherwise get, that fee buys real revenue — 780 covers at a $30 average check is $23,400 a month. The math only favors Resy when your seats would fill anyway.
Monthly Cost Estimator
Plug in your own volume. Drag the marketplace share down if most of your bookings already come through your website, Instagram, or the phone — that is where OpenTable's math falls apart and Resy's flat rate shines.
OpenTable Basic
$149 + 780 × $1.50 + website covers
$1,368/mo
OpenTable Core
$299 + 780 × $1.00
$1,079/mo
OpenTable Pro
$499 + 780 × $1.00
$1,279/mo
Resy PlatformCheapest
Flat, no cover fees
$289/mo
Resy Platform 360
Flat, no cover fees
$459/mo
Estimate only, based on published rates as of August 2026. Excludes deposit/prepayment processing fees, add-ons, and negotiated discounts.
Diner Network Reality: Who Actually Books Where
60,000+
restaurants on OpenTable worldwide
per 2026 reporting on the reservation wars
25,000+
venues on Resy after the Tock merger
per Resy's own announcement, August 2026
OpenTable's diner base is broader in every sense: older, more suburban, heavy on business dinners, birthdays, and travelers who default to the app they have used for twenty years. If you are in a hotel district or a mid-size city, OpenTable is usually where your bookable demand lives. That discovery engine is a genuine sales channel, which is exactly why you pay for it by the cover.
Resy's diner skews young, urban, and food-obsessed. Its density is strongest in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and similar big metros, where landing on a Resy hit list drives real bookings. Owned by American Express since 2019, it also puts you in front of Amex cardmembers through perks like Global Dining Access. Outside major metros, Resy's marketplace is thinner, and you should treat it as booking software rather than a discovery channel.
What happened to Tock?
American Express bought Tock in 2024 and folded it into Resy in August 2026. Tock's restaurants, wineries, and prepaid experiences now live on the Resy app, and Tock's ticketing engine survives as Resy's Essential and Premium tiers. If you were shopping “Resy vs Tock,” that decision has been made for you.
The practical test: search your own neighborhood on both apps. Where do the rooms you compete with list? A first-time opener with zero name recognition usually needs the bigger marketplace. A neighborhood spot with a following mostly needs software that answers the phone.
No-Shows, Deposits, and Who Owns Your Guest Data
No-show and deposit tools
Both platforms let you take credit card holds, charge cancellation fees, and require deposits on prime slots — the single best defense against a dead Saturday eight-top. The differences are at the edges:
Card holds, deposits, and prepaid “Experiences” on paid plans. Since early 2026 it takes a 2% service fee on prepaid transactions, including no-show penalties. Diners with repeat no-shows can be flagged network-wide.
Card holds, cancellation fees, and deposits on every plan. The Tock-powered tiers add true prepaid ticketing (3% fee on Essential, 2% on Premium) — sell the tasting menu like a concert ticket and the no-show problem disappears entirely.
Whichever you pick, waitlist tools only work if someone runs the door. Put a host on the schedule for peak shifts — a brunch rush with an untended waitlist burns more goodwill than any no-show.
Data ownership
This is the quiet long-term cost. A diner who books through OpenTable's marketplace is an OpenTable member first: the platform controls the relationship and markets other restaurants to the same diner. You see them at the table; OpenTable keeps the audience. Resy has built its restaurant pitch around the opposite stance — guest profiles, visit history, and contact details from your bookings are treated as yours to use.
Either way, export your guest list regularly and move those diners onto a channel you own. A booking platform can raise fees or change terms; your email list cannot be taken away, and it is the cheapest repeat-visit engine in the building.
Which Should You Choose?
Strip away the feature lists and the decision comes down to one question: are you buying demand, or buying software?
Choose OpenTable if…
- You are new, unknown, or in a tourist or hotel district and need the biggest marketplace filling seats from day one
- Empty tables cost you more than $1.00-$1.50 per seated diner in per-cover fees
- Your diners are older, suburban, or business travelers who default to OpenTable out of habit
- You want the deepest POS integration list and network-wide no-show flagging
Choose Resy if…
- Your seats mostly fill through your own reputation, and a flat $289/month beats fees that scale with success
- You are in a major metro where Resy's food-scene density and Amex cardmember perks actually drive bookings
- You sell prepaid tasting menus, events, or wine dinners — the Tock-powered tiers are built for exactly that
- Owning your guest data for direct marketing matters more than marketplace reach
Worth a look before you sign
- Tock: no longer a separate choice — merged into Resy in August 2026; its prepaid ticketing lives on in Resy's Essential and Premium tiers.
- Yelp Guest Manager: flat-priced reservations and waitlist that taps Yelp's search traffic; strongest for casual, walk-in-heavy spots.
- SevenRooms: operations and CRM depth with no consumer marketplace at all; custom pricing, built for groups and hotels.
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