Best Restaurant Reservation Software and Apps: Top 11 Restaurant Reservation Software (2024)

Restaurant reservation apps take the guesswork out of keeping your tables flipped and filled. Digital reservation solutions ensure that your restaurant is as profitable as possible.

We’ve done research on the top restaurant reservation apps. Choose the best for your eatery with this guide to the pros and cons.

• Toast Tables
• OpenTable
• Resy
• Yelp Guest Manager
• Tock
• Hostme
• Eat App
• Table Agent
• Wisely
• Eveve
• simpleERB
• e-Reservation

Choosing the Best Restaurant Reservation App – What to Look for?

Before reading our reviews, get an idea of what features your restaurant will need. 

Restaurant reservation apps are all about making it easier for you to communicate with customers and keep your tables filled. Many also maintain a marketplace to help you reach potential guests.

For a full-scale solution, view the best overall restaurant reservation apps. These solutions all offer powerful reporting that can help you boost your restaurant’s efficiency and ROI. Others are best suited for small restaurants. 

Many of these applications offer integrations for your restaurant’s point of sale system to streamline operations. Think about how much support your restaurant needs and which reservation software will help you to meet those needs.

Best Overall Restaurant Reservation Apps

Toast Tables

Toast's integrated waitlist is built to enhance hospitality, simplify table management, and keep guests coming back. One feature that differentiates Toast Tables from the competition is the ability to automatically update table status without the host having to do so manually. This is possible because Toast Tables interfaces with your Toast POS. Therefore, when a table cashes out it will automatically update, letting your host know that the table is about to be available.

Pros of Toast Tables

• Instant set up
• Automated table status updates
• Server rotations
• Waitlist status
• Guest profiles
• 2-way SMS
• Loyalty sign-ups
• Data-driven marketing
• Floor plan import
• Application compatible with iOS 12 and Android 11 and later
• Accurate wait times
• Made for restaurants

Cons of Toast Tables

• Available for Toast customers only

Price of Toast Tables

$50/month

OpenTable

Pros:

• Large network of 31 million diners.

• Guests can access your open reservations anytime through the app.

• Highlight your restaurant with photos, and make your menu and safety precautions accessible.

• Purchase a boost for your restaurant’s visibility on the app.

• Confirm bookings with guests through text messages.

• Core and Pro packages empower restaurants with data collection and visualization of performance.

Cons:

• OpenTable is the industry leader, which means there is a lot of competition for visibility on its app.

• Restaurants that can afford to boost their visibility on the app have a better chance of success than smaller restaurants.

Pricing

It costs $39/month to list your restaurant on OpenTable with their Basic plan, but to maximize your restaurant’s seating, the Core plan for $249/month is recommended. 

The OpenTable Pro package includes advanced marketing features and customer relationship management for $449/month.

Resy

Pros:

• Maximize your table turnover and income with Resy’s seating optimization.

• Sell tickets to events to create new streams of revenue.

• Reporting tools track, visualize and maximize performance.

• Contact guests about reservations with text messages and provide a contactless payment.

• Survey guests about their experiences using the Resy app.

• Resy’s team works with restaurants to market to the right customers.

Cons:

• Their dining network is small and there isn’t a lot of marketing support for restaurants, so it’s not a great fit for newer restaurants who don’t have an established customer base.

Pricing

The cost for entry for Resy is $249/month with their Basic plan, which includes many of the tools that make Resy popular. 

Their Pro plan at $399/month is a full-service reservation solution. Resy’s Enterprise package at $899/month offers advanced reporting and individualized insights into the restaurant’s operations.

Yelp Guest Manager

Pros:

• Integrate your restaurant reservation solution on Yelp’s popular business listing page.

• Communicate with guests through text messaging.

• Advertise your restaurant to Yelp’s massive user base.

• Manage seating in your restaurant with Yelp’s Guest Manager.

• Provide iPad devices to customers to access and manage their Yelp reservations.

Cons:

• Doesn’t offer advanced insights into guest management or seating optimization.

• Less competitive marketing assistance for restaurants than competitors.

• You have to compete against restaurants and other businesses listed on the Yelp app for customers’ attention.

Pricing

Get started with Yelp for restaurants with their Basic plan at $99/month. If you want access to advanced guest management and communication features, the Guest Manager Plus package starts at $299 per month. 

Yelp’s Enterprize solutions for restaurants with more than ten locations offer additional integrations – pricing is custom for each business.

Tock

Tock is a restaurant reservation solution powered by Squarespace.

Pros:

• Advanced table management maximizes profitability. 

• Features high-profile clients and restaurant partners.

• Advanced online marketing assistance to keep your restaurant in the spotlight.

• Offers advanced customer relationship tools like benefits, VIP discounts, and post-visit questionnaires.

• Integrated digital carry-out ordering and contactless payments.

Cons:

• Tock requires that you access and manage features on your own hardware. However, that means any laptop, iPad or smartphone can work with Tock.

Pricing

Access to the complete range of features from Tock starts at $199/month per location, with a 2% fee on prepaid reservations. 

The Pro package comes with no fee on prepaid reservations at $699/month, and Tock offers custom pricing for enterprise solutions with access to advanced support and tools.

Hostme

Hostme is an intuitive and customizable restaurant reservation system.

Pros:

• Intuitive interface reducing setup time and staff training.

• Waitlist, floor management, server rotation, digital guestbook, and online ordering included.

• Booking confirmations sent via texts and emails.

• Comprehensive analytics to view performance.

• Proprietary guest data to the restaurant never shared or used for marketing by Hostme or third party.

• Sell tickets to events or allow guests to pre-order to increase revenue.

• Ability to collect a deposit or charge cancellation fees to reduce no-shows.

• Premium support via chat and phone.

Cons:

• No marketplace to reach new customers.

• POS integration with a limited number of players.

Pricing

Plans start with Piccolo at $59/month. The plan is limited to 300 parties per month but includes all available features. Mezzo plan, at $109/month, offers unlimited number of parties, users, and connected devices. The Grande plan at $169/month additionally includes POS integration, and customization. All plans can be canceled at any time. Hostme offers a 2 week free trial.

Eat App

A powerful reservation solution designed with restaurants in mind that offers a free entry plan.

Pros:

• Keep track of staffing, reservations, and the entire guest experience in one place.

• Turn guests into regulars with automated email marketing tools.

• Reduce no-shows and increase sales by taking control of your waitlist, reservations, and seating.

• Analytics and reports help you analyze trends and maximize profits.

Cons:

• No marketplace to instantly expand your reach and potential customer base.

• Doesn’t offer integrations for restaurant point-of-sale systems.

Pricing

Your restaurant can get access to EatApp’s software for free, but their starter plan is $49/month. 

The Basic package from EatApp is $199/month and includes advanced text messaging with customers. The Pro package for $209/month gives you access to the full range of solutions.

Best Free Restaurant Reservation App

Table Agent

TableAgent is a surprisingly powerful and completely free restaurant reservation solution.

Pros:

• Manage your restaurant’s waitlist, reservations, seating, and table status in one application.

• Communicate with guests via text messaging.

• Send special offers and discounts to guests through the app.

• Use a digital guestbook and guest management tools.

• Reports and visualizations help you maximize your restaurant’s seating.

Cons:

• TableAgent doesn’t have a marketplace where they can showcase your restaurant.

• The customer support options from TableAgent are limited.

Pricing

TableAgent is completely free and delivers a lot of tools at no cost to the restaurant.

Best Restaurant Reservation Apps for Small Restaurants

Wisely

Pros:

• Wisely’s reservation system integrates with popular point of sale systems to reduce the hardware you need.

• Powerful email and text messaging marketing tools.

• Powerful table management software and analytics to help improve your restaurant’s performance.

• Pick-up ordering options and contactless payment processing.

• The Wisely app is integrated with Olo delivery services.

Cons:

• No marketplace to help your restaurant advertise to new customers.

• No custom pricing packages for large-scale restaurants. 

Pricing

Access to Wisely’s reservation software and marketing tools starts at $240/month per restaurant. 

Advanced marketing and insights are available for $390/month per location and the full range of solutions is offered at $525/month per location.

Eveve

Pros:

• Efficient table customized to your restaurant’s market with 24/7 booking for guests.

• Advanced guest management tools that allow you to send discounts and marketing to VIP customers.

• Comprehensive analytics and reporting that help you make the best decisions for your restaurant.

Cons:

• Eveve does not offer many of the marketing solutions that its competitors do.

• There is no marketplace for Eveve to advertise your restaurant to customers.

Pricing

Eveve offers a standard pricing model in which there are no cover charges. Contact them for more details and get your custom quote.

simpleERB

simpleERB offers a paired-down restaurant reservation solution for those that want to keep things easy.

Pros:

• Simple, easy-to-learn reservation and waitlist software.

• Optimization for your restaurant’s listing on business pages such as TripAdvisor.

• Reacts to the day-to-day changes in your restaurant with flexible software.

• Builds a database of regular customers.

Cons:

• Does not integrate with restaurant point of sale systems.

• simpleERB has little support for marketing and no marketplace for their partner restaurants.

Pricing

simpleERB is inexpensive compared to the competition, starting at $24/month per restaurant with up to 200 covers per month. 

The Plus package with up to 1000 per month and contactless payment is $52/month. The Pro plan with the full range of features and unlimited covers is $89/month per location.

For large restaurant chains, simpleERB offers pricing at $277/month paid annually for small chains, and custom enterprise pricing for more than 5.

e-Reservation

E-reservation is a simple, streamlined restaurant reservation and waitlist management software for restaurants that don’t need additional marketing solutions.

Pros:

• Simple software that anyone can use on any hardware since all the data is stored securely in the cloud.

• Use the e-reservation app on your favorite hardware.

• Contact your customers directly through the application via email or text message.

• Reports on your confirmed and canceled reservations help you make the best decisions for your restaurant.

Cons:

• Does not integrate with restaurant point of sale systems.

• No marketing assistance.

Pricing

The pricing packages for e-Reservations all come with the same features and are based on the size of your restaurant. 

e-Restaurant is available for $60/month for restaurants with up to 50 seats, $85/month for restaurants with up to 100 seats, and $122/month for restaurants with over 100 seats.

Recommendations for Restaurant Reservation Apps

Before you choose which of these reservation apps is the best for your restaurant, consider what solutions you need. Think about which service works for your restaurant’s size and location.

Choose the restaurant reservation app that will help you reach your customers and provide the marketing and support that your restaurant needs to succeed!

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