restaurant reservation software
OpenTable vs Resy
OpenTable and Resy are the two names most independent operators weigh when they pick a reservation system, and the choice is less about features than about business model and audience. On paper they do the same job: online booking, table management, waitlists, and the automated SMS and email confirmations that keep a night on track. OpenTable is the incumbent and the largest network by a wide margin, with 60,000+ restaurants / 1B+ guests seated per year. Resy, owned by American Express, built its following among high-demand urban independents and prices itself deliberately against OpenTable's model.
The real split is how each one makes money from your dining room, and that matters more than any feature checklist on a 3-5% net margin business. OpenTable's advantage is demand: its marketplace can put your open tables in front of diners who were already browsing for somewhere to eat, but you pay for that reach through cover-based pricing, and it recently added a 2% service charge on some bookings. Resy's pitch is predictable flat monthly pricing with no per-cover fees, so a busy Saturday does not cost you more, plus access to an Amex-linked guest base. The trade is that Resy is less of a pure discovery engine for a room nobody has heard of yet.
One thing both get right, and it is the reason to use either over a paper book, is that they crush no-shows. About 30% of Americans no-showed, yet on platforms that fire automated confirmations and reminders the rate collapses to roughly ~2% of booked reservations were no-shows. Where they both stop is everything around the booking: neither one builds your website, runs your online ordering, answers your reviews, or runs loyalty and marketing beyond a reservation reminder, and that is the gap this comparison ends on.
| OpenTable | Resy | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | OpenTableCover-based and subscription pricing, and it recently added a 2% service fee on some bookings. You pay more as the network sends you more diners, so your cost scales with the traffic you get from it. | ResyFlat monthly SaaS tiers with no per-cover fees. A packed Saturday costs the same as a slow Tuesday, which makes the line predictable and rewards a room that already fills itself. |
| Discovery and demand | OpenTableThe larger engine by far: a consumer marketplace with 60,000+ restaurants / 1B+ guests seated per year. If you need to be found and fill seats, that is genuine incremental demand, not just a booking widget on your own site. | ResyA smaller, more curated network, but tied to American Express, so it reaches a card-linked, often urban and upscale audience. Strong for buzz and fit, weaker as a fill-the-room discovery engine for an unknown restaurant. |
| Best fit | OpenTableRestaurants that value marketplace traffic: newer, suburban, or broad-appeal rooms that want the network to bring diners and are comfortable paying per cover for it. | ResyIn-demand, urban, reservations-tight independents that do not need discovery, want predictable cost, and like the Amex guest base and brand association. |
| No-show tooling | OpenTableAutomated SMS and email reminders plus stronger enforcement: a four-strikes diner suspension policy, credit-card holds, and support for a $15-per-person no-show fee. Deposit-style commitments push furthest here (and Tock goes further still). | ResyAutomated reminders and waitlist notify, leaning on the same confirmation loop that takes platform no-shows to about ~2% of booked reservations were no-shows. Lighter on financial enforcement, which some independents prefer for guest experience. SMS is the right channel for it, since 81% have opted in to business texts. |
| Guest data | OpenTableYou capture diner contact details and history, but the guest arrived through OpenTable's brand and marketplace, so the discovery relationship is theirs as much as yours. | ResyGuest CRM with the Amex ecosystem behind it. You still get first-party guest data, though as with any network the platform sits between you and how the diner found you. |
| The catch (both) | OpenTableOpenTable is a booking front-end, not your operations layer: it does not build your site, run online ordering, manage reviews, or run loyalty and marketing beyond reminders. | ResySame for Resy: it manages the reservation and the table, and leaves the rest of your digital operation for you to assemble from other tools. |
The verdict
Which one, and the catch either way.
Bottom line
Questions
What buyers ask.
Is OpenTable or Resy cheaper for a small restaurant?
Does OpenTable or Resy bring in more diners?
Do I still need other tools if I use OpenTable or Resy?
References
Every figure on this page drills down.
6 sourced statistics cited here across 5 publications. Each number links to the research hub, and each entry there links out to its primary source.
- 01Restaurant Dive, OpenTable launches initiative to combat diner no-shows (2024)
- 02Restaurant365, What Is the Average Profit Margin for a Restaurant? (2024)
- 03The Philadelphia Inquirer, OpenTable begins adding a 2% service fee to some transactions, including no-show fees (2026)
- 04Toast (via The Globe and Mail), Toast Data: How Reservation and Full-Service Restaurant Dining Trends Shifted In the Last Year (2025)
- 05EZ Texting, 2024 SMS Marketing Consumer Behavior Report (2024)
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