Comparison

Bubo vs. The Fork

One of them sells you diners at a price you have to ask for. The other answers the phone the diners are already ringing.

Booking marketplace

The Fork

Subscription not published · roughly €2–4 per diner from their network, by plan and market

  • A marketplace where diners browse restaurants and book
  • Booking widget, diary and table management for your own site
  • Reach across Europe — a large audience that was not looking for you

It brings you diners you would not have had. What each one costs is negotiated rather than published, and it is charged again next month.

Your own bookings, kept yours — first 6 months free

Bubo

€49 / month

  • Booking widget on your website, plus your own booking page and QR code
  • Answers your phone 24/7 in 70+ languages — tables, orders and questions
  • WhatsApp confirmations, verified numbers, deposits and gift cards

A price you can read on a page instead of asking for, and nothing charged per head at the door.

€2–4 Per diner from their network, as independent write-ups report it
Not published What The Fork’s subscription costs. Rates are negotiated per restaurant.
€0 What Bubo charges per cover, on any plan, from any channel
A table that was booked, and a cut taken for it.
A table that was booked, and a cut taken for it.

Side by side

What it does
Bubo
The Fork
Why it matters on a Friday night

What a booking costs

Per diner from their network
Nothing
About €2–4, by plan and market (third-party figure)
Fifty network covers on a Saturday is somewhere between a hundred and two hundred euros off that night, before the subscription.
What the subscription costs
€49 a month, on our pricing page
Not published — quoted per restaurant
A price you have to ask for is a price that depends on how well you negotiate.
Bookings you would have had anyway
Yours, at no extra cost
A network cover is a network cover
The regular who always books you, booking through the app this time, becomes a cover you pay for.

Whose guest is it

Who holds the relationship
You — the number is in your own book
The marketplace, which can market to them again
A guest you can reach again is worth many times a guest you paid for once.
Who else the guest sees
Nobody — your site, your page, your phone
Your listing sits beside other restaurants
A marketplace is a street of open doors. Yours is one of them.
What it does bring you
Nothing you did not already have — it answers what comes in
A large European audience that had never heard of you
This is the honest reason to pay a marketplace, and a new restaurant in a quiet street may well be right to.

The phone, and what else comes in on it

Answers the phone
Yes — on the first ring, day and night
No
A phone that rings out during service is the booking you never knew you lost. Nobody leaves a voicemail for a restaurant; they call the next one.
Takes an order, not just a booking
Yes — takeaway and delivery, priced from your real menu, paid on WhatsApp
No
If part of your evening is people phoning to order, that is revenue a booking platform has nowhere to put.
Sells gift cards
Yes — your own page, the phone, or the counter
—
Money in today for a visit months from now.
Languages
70+, spoken on the phone and written in every message after it
A multilingual marketplace, in writing
A guest who phones in Turkish or Polish needs somebody to speak it, and a tourist who cannot finish the call does not book.

The Fork does not publish its subscription prices — independent comparisons in 2026 put the tiers at roughly €30–75 a month and the commission at about €2–4 per diner, varying by market and negotiation. Those are third-party figures, not read on The Fork’s own pages, and this page will not pretend otherwise. Ask for yours in writing.

Everything else, at a glance

Bubo
The Fork
Answers the phone, 24/7
✓ Yes
– No
Commission per diner from their network
– No
€2–4
Subscription price published
✓ Yes
– No
Brings diners who were not looking for you
– No
✓ Yes
Your listing shown beside other restaurants
– No
✓ Yes
Booking widget on your own website
✓ Yes
✓ Yes
Your own booking page and QR code
✓ Yes
—
Takeaway and delivery orders
✓ Yes
– No
Gift cards
✓ Yes
—
Spoken languages
70+
—
WhatsApp confirmations and reminders
✓ Yes
—
Number verified before a table is held
✓ Yes
—
Table and floor management
✓ Yes
✓ Yes
Guest history and notes
✓ Yes
✓ Yes
Every call recorded and summarised
✓ Yes
– No
Industries served
Six
Hospitality

The Fork’s column is from independent 2026 write-ups rather than from its own pages, because its own pages do not publish it. A dash means we could not confirm it either way.

The same table, poured two very different ways.
The same table, poured two very different ways.

What each one costs

One of these two numbers is on a web page. The other one arrives in an email after a phone call.

Bubo
The Fork
Monthly subscription
€49 / monthFirst 6 months free
Not publishedRoughly €30–75 / month by tier (third-party figure)
Per diner from their network
Nothing
About €2–4 (third-party figure)Varies by plan, market and negotiation
AI receptionist on the phone
From €59 / month150 minutes — roughly 75 to 100 calls
Not available
Setup, one time
€149Bubo trained on your menu, hours and rules
Not published

Bubo’s figures are on our own pricing page. The Fork’s are not on theirs — the ranges here come from independent 2026 pricing comparisons and are labelled as such everywhere they appear. Get your own quote in writing before you compare.

Hear it before you believe it

Let Bubo call you.

Give us your number and the phone rings in seconds — the same call your guests would get. Or book fifteen minutes and we will set it up around your own menu and hours.

Book a demo

Your mobile number with the country code — spaces are fine. We call it once. Privacy.

Bubo will call you in a moment.