ResDiary vs TheFork: which suits your restaurant?
These two get shortlisted together by restaurants that want more than a diary, and they are close to opposites underneath. TheFork sells reach: one of the largest diner marketplaces in Europe, paid for with a commission on every cover it sends you. ResDiary sells operations: no commission on bookings at all, a deep table-management and yield toolset, and smaller discovery channels in Dish Cult and DesignMyNight. ResDiary publishes its UK prices; TheFork asks you to enquire.
Side by side
| ResDiary | TheFork | |
| Headline price | £109–£295 + VAT a month by booking volume, plus a £99 set-up fee | Quote only |
| Per-cover commission | No on bookings — but 1.2% on deposits and payments, and 3% on gift vouchers | Yes — on marketplace covers only |
| Contract | Set in your order; the standard terms default to 36 months, with 90 days' notice | Not stated |
| Free trial | Not stated | Not stated |
| SMS reminders | Paid add-on (£10 a month, plus SMS fees) | Performance plan |
| Gift vouchers | Paid add-on (£35 a month) | Not a standard feature |
| Diner marketplace | Yes — Dish Cult, plus DesignMyNight | Yes — one of the largest in Europe |
ResDiary
Established, operations-led and group-friendly, built around table management, yield rules and floor flow. Genuinely commission-free on bookings and it publishes its UK prices, but they step up with booking volume (a venue over its limit is moved up a plan automatically), payments carry a surcharge, and several capabilities other systems bundle (SMS, pre-orders, events, vouchers) are paid add-ons.
TheFork
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.
So which should you choose?
Ask how many covers you actually need finding for you. If mid-week is thin and you have no mailing list, TheFork's network is real demand you are not otherwise reaching, and the commission is what it costs — note it applies only to marketplace covers, not to bookings through your own site. If your covers already come from regulars and your own website, you would be paying a marketplace for demand you had anyway, and ResDiary's commission-free model usually works out cheaper — provided you price the add-ons honestly, because SMS, events, pre-orders and vouchers are each billed separately and payments carry a 1.2% surcharge. ResDiary's plans run £109–£295 + VAT a month by booking volume plus a £99 set-up fee, where TheFork needs a sales call before you see a number. Check the contract term on both: ResDiary's standard terms default to 36 months with 90 days' notice unless your order says otherwise.
Full disclosure: we make a third option
This comparison is published by NomNom, a UK restaurant booking system, so you should know we have a horse in this race. We have kept our own product out of the grid above because the question you asked was about ResDiary and TheFork. For completeness: NomNom is £29.99 + VAT a month per venue, with no per-cover fee, no contract and a 14-day free trial. We do not run a diner marketplace.
See what NomNom does, or read the full seven-way pricing comparison.
Common questions
Does TheFork charge commission on every booking?
No — only on covers booked through its marketplace. Bookings taken through your own website or booking widget are commission-free. The subscription itself is quote-only, so the total depends on how much of your volume arrives through the network.
Is ResDiary cheaper than TheFork?
TheFork does not publish a price, so an honest answer is that it depends on your mix. ResDiary publishes £109–£295 + VAT a month by booking volume, plus a £99 set-up fee, and takes no per-cover commission on bookings, but adds 1.2% on deposits and payments and 3% on gift vouchers, and bills SMS, events, pre-orders and vouchers as separate add-ons. TheFork's bill moves with how many covers its marketplace sends you.
What are the alternatives to ResDiary and TheFork?
OpenTable is the other large marketplace and also charges per network cover. SevenRooms is the enterprise guest-CRM option, quote-only and on an annual contract. Of the systems that publish a price, Sugarvine is £75 + VAT a month with a UK dining guide attached, resOS has a free tier, and NomNom is £29.99 + VAT a month per venue.
Keep reading
- All booking system comparisons
- Restaurant booking system pricing compared (seven systems)
- Commission-free restaurant booking systems in the UK
- Switching booking system without the stress
Prices and features were accurate to the best of our knowledge on 25 September 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.