This site is built and maintained by the team at Resos — the people who've been building restaurant reservation software since 2014. Between us, we've spent the last decade talking daily with restaurant owners, building product for them, supporting them through busy services, and watching what actually works (and what doesn't) across the booking-system market.
We saw how much time and money restaurants waste on the wrong booking system. Overcomplicated features, hidden per-cover fees, contracts that lock you in. So we built RestaurantBookingSystem.com — a resource that helps restaurant owners understand what's actually out there, written by people who use these tools every day, not by content marketers.
Why this site exists
Choosing a booking system shouldn't require a PhD in SaaS pricing. But between the jargon, the hidden fees, and the "contact us for pricing" pages, it often feels that way.
Our team talks to restaurant owners every day. The same questions come up again and again: What does this actually cost? Will it work for my size of restaurant? Do I really need all these features? We built this site to answer those questions. Clearly, honestly, and without the marketing spin.
What you'll find here
- Side-by-side comparisons with real pricing, real pros and cons, and real recommendations based on restaurant type
- Best-of guides that rank systems based on what actually matters to restaurant owners, not vendor partnerships
- Practical academy guides on everything from reducing no-shows to optimizing table turnover
- A glossary of restaurant industry terms that goes beyond simple definitions
How we keep it honest
Having skin in the game could be a bias problem. We think it's actually an advantage, as long as we're transparent about it. Here's how our team holds itself accountable:
- We show real pros and cons for every platform, including Resos
- We don't automatically rank Resos first. We recommend what genuinely fits each use case
- Pricing claims are verified directly with providers and updated when things change
- Every comparison page has a clear disclosure at the top
- We cite our sources. No made-up statistics or vague "studies show" claims
- Articles are reviewed by the editorial lead before publication and on a quarterly refresh cycle
Our evaluation methodology
Every comparison and best-of guide on this site is built from the same evaluation framework. The team assesses each platform on five dimensions:
- Real total cost — subscription fees, per-cover charges, setup fees, and contract terms. We model the actual monthly bill at three volume levels (small / medium / high-volume) instead of just quoting headline prices.
- Core reservation features — online booking widget, table management, waitlist, automated reminders, deposit collection, no-show protection. We test the actual flow as a guest and as an operator.
- Operational fit — staff training time, mobile experience, multi-location support, POS integrations, data export. Features that look good in a demo but fail at 7pm on a Saturday are flagged.
- Vendor track record — how long the company has operated, who owns it, recent product or pricing changes, and any documented reliability or support issues.
- Fit by restaurant type — small single-location vs multi-location group, fine dining vs casual, pub vs café. The best platform for a 150-seat chain is rarely the best for a 30-seat bistro.
We update pricing and feature claims when we notice they've changed — typically every quarter, immediately when a major platform changes plans. The updatedDate on each guide reflects the last verified review of that specific page.
Who's behind it
This site is written and maintained by the Resos editorial team — a mix of restaurant software engineers, customer-success people, and former hospitality operators who've spent years working directly with restaurants on what does and doesn't work in the booking-system market. Drafts are researched and written by the team, then reviewed by the editorial lead before publication and again on a quarterly refresh cycle.
The editorial lead is Emil Falk Knudsen, Co-founder and CEO of Resos. Emil started Resos in 2014 and has spent the last decade talking with restaurant owners across Europe and North America about what actually works. He reviews and signs off on every comparison and best-of guide on this site — that's the editorial accountability for what gets published.
When in doubt, the team errs on the side of being more transparent about the trade-offs of Resos than strictly necessary — because the reputation of this site (and the trust of every restaurant owner who reads it) depends on you being able to tell when we're recommending Resos because it genuinely fits, vs. because we built it.
Get in touch
Spot something outdated? Think we got a comparison wrong? Just want to say hi? The team would genuinely love to hear from you. For editorial questions, you can reach the editorial lead directly:
- General inquiries: hi@resos.com
- Our product: resos.com