TheFork alternatives for UK restaurants
TheFork charges a commission on covers booked through its marketplace and does not publish its subscription price, which is usually what sends venues looking. Its own-website bookings are commission-free, so the question is normally whether the marketplace half is earning its keep. Here is what else is available.
Who publishes this: NomNom, one of the systems listed below. We have put ourselves in the same grid as everyone else rather than at the flattering end of a rigged table, and where a competitor does something better than us we have left that in.
The alternatives at a glance
| System | Headline price | Per-cover commission | Contract | Diner marketplace |
| NomNom | £29.99 a month, everything included | No | None — rolling monthly | No |
| OpenTable | Quote only in the UK | Yes — a fee on every cover booked through its network | 12 months, auto-renewing (estimated) | Yes — one of the largest |
| ResDiary | Quote only | No on bookings — but 1.2% on deposits and payments, and 3% on gift vouchers | Annual by default, 90 days' notice | Yes — Dish Cult |
| SevenRooms | Quote only | No | Annual | No |
| Sugarvine | £75 + VAT a month (or £799 + VAT a year) | No | 12 months | Yes — the Sugarvine dining guide |
| resOS | Free up to 25 bookings a month, then roughly £38–£105 a month | No | Rolling monthly | No |
What you would be leaving
Europe's big diner marketplace, now being acquired by American Express. The subscription is quote-only and marketplace covers carry a commission; bookings through your own website or widget are commission-free.
The options in detail
NomNom
One plan, one published price, everything in: commission-free booking on your own branded page, Stripe deposits and card holds, SMS reminders, an allergy-aware guest database, gift vouchers, multiple venues and unlimited devices. No contract, no setup fee, 14-day free trial. The honest gap is discovery: there is no diner marketplace.
NomNom vs TheFork, side by side
OpenTable
The big marketplace name, with genuine discovery reach. The model is a subscription plus a fee for every cover that arrives through OpenTable itself; bookings you take on your own site are not charged per cover. The UK site shows "Contact us for pricing" on both its Core and Pro plans, so there is no published pound figure.
OpenTable vs TheFork, side by side
ResDiary
Established, operations-led and group-friendly, built around table management, yield rules and floor flow. Genuinely commission-free on bookings, but the price is quote-only, payments carry a surcharge, and several capabilities other systems bundle (SMS, pre-orders, events, vouchers) are paid add-ons.
SevenRooms
Closer to a guest CRM than a booking widget: automated tagging, rich guest profiles, targeted marketing, loyalty and feedback loops. No marketplace and no per-cover fee, but it is enterprise-priced, quote-only and on an annual contract, and it is aimed at upscale groups and multi-site operators rather than a single independent site.
Sugarvine
A UK flat-fee system that bundles a listing on the Sugarvine consumer dining guide. Commission-free on a 12-month contract; it notes a 1.5% handling fee on Stripe deposits.
resOS
Transparent and self-serve, with a real free tier and every feature included on each paid tier except SMS. Priced in euros and dollars, so the pound figure moves with exchange rates.
So which should you pick?
OpenTable is the obvious like-for-like if you want to keep a large marketplace, and has the stronger UK presence. If you are ready to give up the network, the commission-free options remove the per-cover fee entirely — and of those, only Sugarvine, resOS and NomNom will tell you the price without a sales call.
Try NomNom free for 14 days
No card, no setup fee and no sales call — and your existing bookings and guest history can be imported so you are not starting from an empty diary. See how it works.
Common questions
What is the best alternative to TheFork?
OpenTable if you want to keep a large diner marketplace — it has the stronger UK presence, on a similar subscription-plus-per-cover model. If you are giving up the marketplace, ResDiary, SevenRooms, Sugarvine, resOS and NomNom are all commission-free on bookings.
Does TheFork charge commission on my own website bookings?
No. The commission applies to covers booked through TheFork's own marketplace. Bookings taken through your own website or its widget are commission-free — which is worth checking against your own numbers before you decide the marketplace is what you are paying for.
How much does TheFork cost?
TheFork shows "Ask for pricing" on both of its plans, so there is no published figure. On top of the subscription, marketplace covers carry a commission the vendor describes as a percentage of your average bill per guest; third parties estimate roughly €2–€5 per cover.
Keep reading
- All booking system comparisons
- Restaurant booking system pricing compared (seven systems)
- Switching booking system without the stress
Prices and features were accurate to the best of our knowledge on 11 August 2026, summarised from each vendor's own published information and from third-party trackers. Where a vendor does not publish pricing we say so rather than quoting an estimate as though it were a list price. Booking system pricing changes often — always confirm the current figure with the vendor before you sign anything.