Every "best reservation system" list puts one at the top. That is convenient for the list and useless to you, because the best system for a bistro doing thirty covers is demonstrably not the best for a group with two venues and a waitlist.
So no number one. Instead, five kinds of business and an answer for each with the reason attached. We make one of these ourselves: it sits in the row like the others, and where it does not fit, that is written down too.
Prices were read in September 2026 on the providers' own pages, except where it says they publish nothing.
First: what you are actually choosing on
Three questions decide the answer, and none of them is "which has the most features".
Where do your reservations come from? From people who already know your name, or from people who opened an app looking for somewhere to eat? That is the difference between buying software and buying reach, and they are two different bills.
Who answers the phone during service? In an average restaurant five to fifteen calls an evening are lost, mostly in the hour before service and the middle of the peak. Those callers do not leave voicemail.
Does a call always end in a table? Or do people also ring to order a takeaway or buy a voucher? If it is the latter, half the market drops away, because a reservation system has nowhere to put that.
For the business that just wants a tidy diary: Guestplan
Dutch, Dutch support, the price is on the page, and it works.
Prices: €49.99 for Pro, €109.99 for Business, €229.99 for Ultimate. No setup fee, no commission per guest, 30 days to try. Watch the per-deposit fee: €2.99 on Pro, €0.99 on Business, free on Ultimate.
Why it wins: it does exactly what you expect without making you think about it. Widget in your own house style, floor plan, waitlist, gift cards, Reserve with Google, apps for your team.
What it is not for: the telephone, and anything that is not a reservation. Their prices came down in September 2026. If you find €59.99 somewhere, you are reading an old list. The full comparison.
For the business that has just opened and nobody knows: TheFork or OpenTable
Here you are not buying software but guests, and in the first months that is often the right spend.
TheFork publishes no price. The commission, per their own page, is a percentage of the average spend per guest, not a fixed amount, which means a dearer restaurant pays more per guest. Reservations through your own site, Instagram and Facebook are included.
OpenTable publishes everything: $149 / $299 / $499 a month, plus $1.50 per network guest on Basic and $1.00 on Core and Pro. On Basic you also pay $0.25 for a guest through your own website, or $49 a month to buy that off.
Why it wins: a network sends you people who did not know your address. For a new place on a quiet street that is the difference between an empty room and a half-full one.
Where it goes wrong: when you no longer need it and it keeps running. Put an hour in the diary every six months, count the network covers and ask how many of them you would have had anyway. TheFork commission worked through · Bubo vs. OpenTable
For the business that wants everything from one system: Zenchef
The largest in Europe, and since absorbing Formitable and Resengo the best known in the Netherlands too.
Prices: not published. The plans are Reserve, Manage and Grow. Third parties quote around €49 a month per location. What they do publish are the processing fees: 2–6% on cards, 3.5–6% on Amex, €0.29–3.29 on iDEAL, €0.05–0.12 per SMS.
Why it wins: breadth. They answer the phone with AI Call, have Reserve with Google and Instagram Reserve, do review management and guest marketing, and charge €0 commission. On those points they do more than we do.
Where it stops: the call ends in a table. And the price has to come out of a quote. Zenchef pricing looked into · Bubo vs. Zenchef
For the business where the phone is the problem: Bubo
This is ours, so read it knowing that. It is also why we built it.
Prices: the booking dashboard with online booking is €49 a month, first six months free, no commission on any channel. The phone assistant starts at €29 a month for 60 minutes and runs through €59, €149 and €289 to 800 minutes. €149 once to set up, waived if you stay a year. All on the pricing page.
Why it wins: the call and the diary are one system. Bubo answers in 70+ languages, looks at the same availability as your website widget, verifies the number by text before a table is held, and the call may also end in a takeaway order, a deposit or a gift card.
What it is not for: you get no guest network. We do not send you new people, we answer what comes in. No review management, no guest marketing, no Instagram Reserve and Google Reserve not yet.
For the business that mostly wants people to turn up
This is not a system but a feature, and all of them have some version of it.
No-shows in the Netherlands are up by around 20% on pre-pandemic levels. At the same time, nearly eight in ten hospitality operators would rather not ask for a deposit. Too much hassle, and it puts ordinary guests off.
If you are in that 78%, look at what a system does without a deposit: a confirmation that actually gets read, a reminder at the right moment, and whether the phone number is even real. We verify numbers by text before a table is held and send confirmations over WhatsApp rather than email, precisely because a WhatsApp message gets read where a mail can sit in a promotions tab.
If you do want deposits: all four systems have them, but look at what each one costs. €2.99 on Guestplan's entry plan. 2% on prepaid experiences with OpenTable. The card or iDEAL rate with Zenchef.
Side by side
| Per month | Per guest | Phone | Price published | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guestplan | €49.99–229.99 | €0 | No | Yes |
| Zenchef | Not published | €0 | Yes: tables, questions | No |
| TheFork | Not published | % of the bill | No | No |
| OpenTable | $149–499 | $1.00–1.50 | No | Yes |
| Bubo | €49, 6 months free | €0 | Yes, orders and vouchers too | Yes |
The full comparison with every feature is in comparing reservation systems.
How to decide it in one evening
Not by reading another list.
- Count last month's reservations, and how many came through a network.
- Run both models with your own average party size and spend.
- Ring your own place on a Friday at six and see how long it takes for somebody to answer. That number is on no pricing page and it is usually the dearest.
- Get two quotes from the providers who publish nothing, and ask for one total figure for an average month, not the subscription rate.
Want to hear step 3 rather than calculate it: book a demo and let Bubo ring you with your own menu loaded.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best reservation system for a restaurant?
It depends where your reservations come from. Want a tidy diary: Guestplan. Need reach: TheFork or OpenTable. Want breadth from one system: Zenchef. Is the phone your problem: Bubo.
Which reservation system is cheapest?
On the monthly figure, the commission models are lowest, sometimes €0, but they climb with your covers. Above about six reservations a month a flat subscription is almost always cheaper. What "free" costs you a year works it out.
Can a reservation system answer the phone too?
Most cannot. Of the four major systems, only Zenchef, with AI Call, and Bubo. With Zenchef the call ends in a table or an answer; with us it can also become an order, a deposit or a gift card.
Do I need a reservation system if I have few reservations?
Below a handful a month you can manage on a commission model or on nothing. But add the calls you miss during service: that is usually the bigger number. The cost of a missed call.
How do I prevent no-shows without asking for a deposit?
Make sure the confirmation gets read and the number is real. A WhatsApp message gets read where a mail sits in a promotions tab, and a number verified by text before the table was held is a guest who exists.