At a glance: OpenTable's three plans
| Plan | Monthly fee | Per-cover (network) | Per-cover (direct) | Contract |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | ~£118 | £1.19 | ~£0.20 | 2 years |
| Core | ~£237 | £0.79 | £0 (typically) | 2 years |
| Pro | ~£395 | £0.25 | £0 (typically) | 2 years |
Source: OpenTable published pricing as of May 2026, converted from USD at ~1.27 GBP/USD. "Network" = bookings made via the OpenTable app, website, or partner network. "Direct" = bookings made via the OpenTable widget embedded on the restaurant's own site.
OpenTable Basic — what it costs and what you get
Basic
The entry tier. Includes the booking widget for the restaurant's own site, basic table management, the OpenTable diner-marketplace listing, automated guest emails, and the OpenTable mobile dashboard.
- Network covers — diners who find your restaurant via OpenTable's app or site cost £1.19 per seated cover
- Direct covers — diners who use the widget on your own website cost approximately £0.20 per cover (this varies by region)
- Contract — typically 2 years, with an early-termination fee if you leave
The Basic plan is the tier OpenTable typically pitches to independent restaurants, and the one where the per-cover fees do the most damage. At 300 covers/month through the network you're at £475/month all-in. At 500 covers, you're at £713/month — more than 35× what a flat-rate alternative like Postonero charges at the same volume.
OpenTable Core — for restaurants with consistent volume
Core
Adds richer reporting, guest CRM features, and floor-plan / table-management tools. The per-cover fee on network bookings drops to £0.79, and direct widget bookings are typically free.
- Same 2-year contract as Basic
- Higher monthly fee, but the lower per-cover usually pays off above ~300 network covers/month
- Stronger reporting and segmentation in the dashboard
At 500 network covers, Core costs approximately £632/month — slightly less than Basic but still 30× a £20 flat-rate alternative.
OpenTable Pro — for high-volume restaurants and groups
Pro
OpenTable's enterprise tier — full guest CRM, multi-venue support, advanced analytics, dedicated account management. Per-cover fees drop dramatically to £0.25 on network bookings.
- Targeted at restaurants with 1,000+ covers/month or restaurant groups
- Best per-cover economics if you genuinely use OpenTable as a discovery channel
- Onboarding is heavier — more training, more configuration
What you'd pay at different volumes
Here's the all-in monthly cost on each plan at three realistic volumes, assuming all bookings come through the OpenTable network. Direct bookings via your own widget are cheaper or free, but most restaurants on Basic see 60–80% of bookings come through the network.
| Volume | Basic | Core | Pro | Postonero (flat) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 covers/mo | £237 | £316 | £420 | £20 |
| 300 covers/mo | £475 | £474 | £470 | £20 |
| 500 covers/mo | £713 | £632 | £520 | £20 |
| 1,000 covers/mo | £1,308 | £1,027 | £645 | £20 |
| 2,000 covers/mo | £2,498 | £1,817 | £895 | £20 |
Assumes all bookings flow through the OpenTable network. Mixed direct/network usage on Core and Pro can reduce the effective cost. Postonero column is the flat-rate alternative — same £20 regardless of volume because there are no per-cover fees.
The crossover threshold: at any volume above approximately 50 covers/month through the network, OpenTable Basic costs more than 6× a flat-rate alternative. At 500 covers/month the gap is 35×. The more successful your restaurant, the worse the maths gets.
Hidden and add-on costs to know about
The published per-cover fee and monthly subscription are not the full picture. Restaurants signing with OpenTable typically encounter:
- Setup fee — varies by region; typically a one-time fee for installation, training, and account setup
- Additional staff training — beyond the initial onboarding, training fees apply for new staff added to the dashboard
- Early termination fee — leaving before the 2-year contract ends typically incurs a fee equivalent to the remaining months on the subscription
- Payment processing fees — on prepaid bookings or experiences, OpenTable charges processing fees in addition to the per-cover
- Chargeback fees — disputed payments incur a separate chargeback fee
- Marketing add-ons — premium placement, featured listings, and promoted reservations are sold separately
Real-world example: a 500-cover/month bistro
A 40-cover independent bistro in central London does roughly 500 covers/month. About 70% of bookings come via OpenTable's network (the diner-discovery app), 30% direct from the restaurant's own website widget.
Annual OpenTable cost on Basic: £118 × 12 = £1,416 subscription · 350 network covers/month × £1.19 × 12 = £5,000 in fees · 150 direct covers/month × £0.20 × 12 = £360 · = £6,776/year all-in. The same 500 covers/month on Postonero: £240/year. Difference: £6,536 saved annually — enough to hire a part-time staff member or run a meaningful marketing campaign.
The flat-rate alternative
The single biggest argument for switching from OpenTable is the per-cover fee. If your restaurant gets most of its bookings from your own website, Instagram, and Google — i.e. you'd be getting those diners anyway — paying £1.19 per cover for a system to record the booking is hard to justify when £20/month flat does the same job.
The flat-rate options worth comparing:
- Postonero — £20/month flat, no per-cover, no contract, embeds via one script tag. See Postonero vs OpenTable head-to-head
- SevenRooms — from ~£555/month, no per-cover, but enterprise-priced and contract-locked
- Tableo — from ~£60/month, no per-cover on starter tier, monthly billing
- Resy — from ~£198/month, no per-cover on direct bookings (network bookings still incur a fee)
See the full ranked list of 8 OpenTable alternatives →
When OpenTable still makes sense — and when the network claim is misleading
OpenTable's pitch is that the per-cover fee is justified by its diner-discovery network — the OpenTable app and website actively bringing your restaurant new diners who would not have found you otherwise. Sometimes true, especially in OpenTable-strong markets like Manhattan and central London where diners genuinely browse the app to choose where to eat.
But operator critiques on /r/restaurantowners and similar forums regularly question how much of OpenTable's "network booking" attribution represents genuinely new business versus traffic the restaurant would have got anyway. Specific complaints include:
- OpenTable bids on the restaurant's own brand name in Google Ads. A diner Googling your restaurant clicks the top result, which is an OpenTable-paid ad, lands on OpenTable's site, books — and you pay a per-cover fee on a diner who already wanted to book with you specifically.
- Network attribution captures Google, Apple Maps, and other inbound traffic that flows through OpenTable's widget. Bookings you'd have got via your own website are charged at the network rate.
- OpenTable cross-markets your guests to competitors via "you'd love these places" emails after they dine with you.
- You don't get the diner's email or contact info — communication has to flow through OpenTable, so the relationship belongs to them, not you.
One operator on /r/restaurantowners reported switching multiple restaurants in a tourist destination off OpenTable and seeing no measurable drop in bookings — saving five figures per month in fees that they reinvested into marketing and staff pay. See the full operator-perspective breakdown for more.
The honest framework: if you can independently verify (not just trust OpenTable's attribution dashboard) that the network is bringing you genuinely incremental diners — and the per-cover fee is less than what you'd otherwise spend acquiring those diners via paid ads — then OpenTable's pricing model can make sense. For restaurants whose bookings come predominantly from Instagram, Google Maps, word-of-mouth, or their own marketing, the per-cover fee is a tax on traffic you already had.
Frequently asked questions
How much does OpenTable cost a restaurant per month?
What is OpenTable's per-cover fee?
Does OpenTable have a contract?
How much does OpenTable cost at 500 covers per month?
Are there hidden fees with OpenTable?
Is there a flat-rate alternative to OpenTable?
How do I cancel an OpenTable contract early?
Related guides
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