Restaurant booking system: free and paid options for UK restaurants and pubs

A restaurant booking system lets guests reserve a table online, day or night, and shows you who is coming. You can start for free: resOS (25 bookings a month) and Tableo (100 covers a month) both have free tiers. Venues that need a table plan or deposits pay more: ResDiary costs from £109 a month plus VAT. Menuthere adds table booking and food pre-orders to your ordering menu from US$17 a month on Lite, with a 7-day free trial (you add a card, and nothing is charged until it ends). This guide compares the options in pounds.

(nothing charged until it ends) and switch on "Book a table"

Start your 7-day free trialSee how table booking worksBook a demo (opens in a new tab)

What a restaurant booking system does

A restaurant booking system (or table booking system) lets guests reserve online, day or night. You stop losing bookings to a phone that rings out at 3pm. Most systems offer:

• A booking widget for your website, Google and social media.
• Time slots and capacity, so you don't overbook.
• A table plan to seat parties.
• Confirmations and reminders by email, SMS or WhatsApp.
• Deposits or card details to cut no-shows.
• A guest list for marketing, with consent.
• A waitlist for walk-ins.

You don't need all of that on day one. A small café or local pub may only need slots and a reminder.

Free restaurant booking systems compared

Checked on each provider's public pricing page on 11 October 2026.

GloriaFood also offers free table reservations, but the whole GloriaFood service reaches end of life on 30 April 2027, so we've left it out.

What "free" usually leaves out

• Volume. 25 bookings a month is less than one busy weekend.
• SMS reminders, which often cost per message.
• Deposits and card holds, often a paid add-on.
• Reserve with Google, often a paid add-on.
• Your brand. Some free widgets show the provider's name.

Paid booking systems: what they cost

Watch the per-cover fees. A marketplace that charges £1.50 a cover on 600 covers a month adds £900 [illustrative]. Bookings from your own website are often cheaper or free.

Table booking systems for pubs

Pubs book differently from restaurants:

• Sunday lunch sells out. The rest of the week is mostly walk-ins.
• Areas, not tables. "Garden", "snug", "dining room".
• Big groups for birthdays and wakes, often with a set menu.
• Christmas parties booked months ahead, with pre-orders and deposits.

For a pub, look for area-based booking, group pre-orders and deposits. Make sure walk-ins can still get a table. Running the bar too? See our pub EPOS guide.

Deposits and no-shows: what's fair in the UK

No-shows hurt small venues most. You can take a deposit or a no-show fee if you make the terms clear before the guest books. The CMA's unfair terms guidance says a genuine deposit can be kept if you explain it at the earliest opportunity and the cases where you keep it are clear and narrow. It should normally be a small share of the price. A cancellation charge should cover your real, unavoidable loss. Many venues ask for a deposit only for groups of six or more, or for set dates like Christmas Day.

Cheaper fixes come first (more in our guide to restaurant no-shows):

1. Send a reminder the day before.
2. Make cancelling easy, so guests free the table.
3. Overbook a little on known no-show nights, if you can cope with walk-ins.

Menuthere: table booking and pre-orders on your ordering menu

Menuthere is not a full reservation system. It is an ordering platform with table booking built into your menu, on Lite and above (US$17 a month). It suits cafés, pubs and restaurants that want bookings, food pre-orders and online orders in one place.

What it does today:

• A "Book a table" option appears on your menu, next to Delivery and Takeaway.
• You set the days, time slots (such as lunch and dinner), earliest booking time and how far ahead guests can book.
• You can ask for the number of people.
• You choose which dishes can be pre-ordered with a booking. That's handy for Sunday roasts, set menus and celebration cakes.
• Booking can be optional, so guests can still order without a slot.
• You get a push alert one hour before each booked slot, and again when it starts.
• It sits next to QR table ordering, online ordering and WhatsApp ordering (Pro), all from one menu with 0% commission.

The honest bit:

• Booking is on Lite. Table booking and food pre-orders with a booking start on Lite, at US$17 a month (billed in US dollars; your bank converts it). There's a 7-day free trial: a card is needed to start, and nothing is charged until the trial ends. Lite also adds unlimited orders and card payments through your own Stripe account.
• No deposits or part-payments. For a big group or Christmas party, send the guest a payment link instead.
• Not included: a table plan, a waitlist, capacity limits per slot and Reserve with Google. Guests see their booking on their order page, and you get push alerts before each slot.
• If you need a table plan, deposits and SMS reminders today, a dedicated booking system may suit you better. You can still use Menuthere for ordering.

nothing is charged until it ends. Add "Book a table" and Sunday roast pre-orders to your menu.

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How to choose a booking system: 8 questions

1. How many bookings a month do you take now, and at peak?
2. Do you need a table plan, or are slots enough?
3. Will you take deposits? What does each deposit cost you in fees?
4. Do you pay per cover on any channel?
5. Can guests book from Google, your website and Instagram?
6. Are reminders by email, SMS or WhatsApp, and what do they cost?
7. Does it link to your EPOS?
8. Who owns the guest data, and can you export it?