OpenTable is a marketplace — it charges a fee for the covers it refers and owns the diner relationship. TableTango runs the bookings you already attract for one flat £49 a month — no commission, and your guest data stays yours.
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Hi, I'm Graham — I built TableTango. Here's the honest split. OpenTable is a marketplace: it runs a big consumer app, sends diners your way, and charges a fee for the covers it refers — typically per seated diner, on top of a monthly subscription. That network is genuinely valuable when you need brand-new discovery.
But most of your bookings already come from people who know you — your website, your Instagram bio, a Google search for your name, your regulars. TableTango is the other model: a flat monthly fee, no commission on a single cover, and a guest list that stays 100% yours — never sold, shared, or used to market other restaurants to your diners.
We've led with the pricing model rather than exact competitor figures, because OpenTable's tiers and per-cover rates vary by market and contract and change over time. The shape of it is what matters.
| TableTango | OpenTable | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly model | One flat fee — £49 | Tiered subscription + a per-cover fee on network bookings |
| Per-cover / commission fees | None, ever | Per-cover fee on network (marketplace) bookings |
| Who owns the diner relationship | You — 100%, never sold or shared | The marketplace owns discovery & the diner relationship |
| Confirmation & reminder texts + emails | Included (fair-use) | Depends on plan |
| 24/7 AI chat booking | Included | Not a core feature |
| Waitlist & auto cancellation-fill | Included | Depends on plan |
| Setup | Self-serve, ~5 minutes | Typically sales-led onboarding |
| Contract | None — cancel anytime, one email | Subscription commitment |
OpenTable details reflect its publicly reported pricing model as of mid-2026; exact figures vary by tier, market and contract — always check opentable.co.uk for current pricing.
That's the bit that stings on a busy month. A per-cover model means the better you do, the more you pay — and on a marketplace that fee falls on the covers it books, including repeat guests it sends back to you, not just brand-new diners. With TableTango the bill is the same in a packed December as a quiet February: £49. Confirmation texts, day-before reminders, waitlist offers and post-visit review invites are all included under a fair-use guide (no per-text charge), and email confirmations go to guests who book without a mobile too.
It's not only cheaper plumbing — it's a better book. You get 24/7 AI chat booking in plain English plus a fast stepped form, smart table assignment that makes double-bookings physically impossible, no-show risk scoring with one-tap reminder texts, a waitlist that auto-texts the next matching guests a tap-to-claim link when someone cancels, and a guest book that remembers usual tables, allergies and VIPs. Worried about no-shows specifically? See our guide to reducing restaurant no-shows.
If most of your covers come from a marketplace's own app, that discovery is doing real work and you should keep it. TableTango is for running the bookings you already attract, commission-free. Plenty of owners run both: OpenTable purely for net-new discovery, TableTango for everything direct.
Looking at the wider market? Resy is a marketplace too (owned by American Express and, in the UK, concentrated in London), and SevenRooms is a flat-fee, data-you-own system aimed more at larger groups and hotels. If you're weighing the free route instead, our free booking tools comparison lays out where Google links, Square and forms fall short.
Genuinely commission-free. There is no per-cover fee and no commission on any booking — direct, repeat or otherwise. You pay one flat £49 a month per restaurant, and that's it. Confirmation texts, day-before reminders, waitlist offers and review invites to your own guests are all included under a fair-use guide, with no per-text charge. Prices exclude VAT — none is added while we're not VAT-registered, and most restaurants reclaim it if it ever applies.
Whatever suits your covers. OpenTable's diner network has real discovery value, so if it's bringing you brand-new guests, keep it for that. Many owners run both: OpenTable purely for net-new discovery, and TableTango — commission-free — for everything direct, like their website, Instagram link and regulars. The honest line is: stop paying a finder's fee on guests who already know you.
Setup is self-serve and takes about five minutes — no sales call and no waiting on us. You sign up with an email and password, verify your UK mobile with a 6-digit text code, name your venue, then a guided checklist (with an AI helper) walks you through your tables, hours and details. Nothing goes live until you tap 'Go live', so you can set it up calmly alongside whatever you use now and switch when you're ready.
Completely. Names, numbers and visit history belong to your restaurant — never sold, shared, or used to market other restaurants to your diners. TableTango is UK-made, UK-hosted and GDPR-friendly, with one-tap guest export and erasure for subject requests. Your guest list stays a list you own, not a marketplace's audience.
There isn't one — no contract, no card up front, and a 30-day free trial; cancel anytime with one email. £49 a month per restaurant covers everything: AI chat booking, smart table assignment, no-show risk scoring and reminders, the auto-filling waitlist, review invites and the guest book. The fair-use guide on texts is comfortably more than most restaurants ever send, and we'd never cut your guests' texts off mid-service — if you became consistently much busier we'd simply talk to you about a busy-venue plan first.
30 days free, no card, no contract — set it up yourself in minutes and take commission-free bookings tonight.
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