OpenTable Fees in 2026: Up to $1.50 a Cover, Explained Published March 1, 2026 · Updated July 2, 2026
OpenTable runs three plans for restaurants: Basic at $149 a month, Core at $299, and Pro at $499. Then come the per-cover fees -- up to $1.50 for every diner who books through the OpenTable network -- and, since early 2026, a 2% service fee on deposits, no-show penalties, and prepaid bookings. The subscription is the smallest number on your bill. This page breaks down every fee OpenTable publishes, runs the math for a real 100-cover restaurant, and tells you where the bill turns. Full disclosure up front: we make TableLink, a competing flat-fee platform -- which is why every figure below is sourced and dated, so you can check our work. All figures verified against OpenTable's published pricing on July 2, 2026.
How much does OpenTable cost restaurants in 2026? Between $149 and $499 a month for the subscription, plus per-cover fees that scale with your volume. A restaurant on Core seating 2,600 covers a month, half of them from the OpenTable network, pays about $1,599 a month -- roughly $19,200 a year. The full plan grid:
OpenTable plans as published July 2, 2026. Phone and walk-in reservations carry no fee on any plan. Plan Monthly price Network covers Covers from your own website Basic $149 $1.50 per cover (free your first 30 days) $0.25 per cover, or $49/mo flat Core $299 $1.00 per cover Free Pro $499 $1.00 per cover Free
OpenTable Basic: $149 a month Basic is the entry plan, and OpenTable only offers it in the US. You get reservations, a floor plan, and guest profiles. The catch is that Basic charges for nearly everything: network covers run $1.50 each once the introductory 30 free days end, and even reservations from your own website cost $0.25 per cover -- or $49 a month flat if you would rather have a fixed number. On the higher plans, own-site bookings are free. If most of your guests book through your own channels, Basic quietly charges you for traffic you generated yourself.
OpenTable Core: $299 a month Core is where most full-service independents land. Network covers drop to $1.00, reservations from your own website and phone are free, and you unlock email marketing, richer guest profiles, and better reporting. The math on Core turns on a single ratio: how many of your covers come through OpenTable's marketplace versus your own front door. That ratio, not the subscription, decides your bill.
OpenTable Pro: $499 a month Pro keeps Core's cover rates and adds premium placement in search results, advanced analytics, and dedicated account support. You are paying an extra $200 a month mostly for visibility. In a crowded urban market where placement wins bookings, that can pencil out. In a town where diners already know exactly where you are, it rarely does.
Per-cover fees: network vs. direct covers OpenTable prices by the seated diner, and the rate depends on where the booking came from. Network covers -- diners who found you through the OpenTable app, site, or partners -- cost $1.50 on Basic and $1.00 on Core and Pro. Covers from your own website are $0.25 each on Basic (or the $49 flat option) and free on Core and Pro. Phone and walk-in reservations logged in the system carry no fee. OpenTable says the fee applies only to seated diners, so a canceled reservation or a no-show does not trigger a cover charge. The network-versus-direct split is the most important number on your bill: a restaurant where 80% of bookings come from the marketplace pays roughly twice what a 50/50 restaurant pays on the same plan. Whether the per-cover model fits your restaurant at all comes down to how much of your volume the network actually creates -- and whether you want a bill that climbs every time you have a good month.
The 2% OpenTable service fee, explained In late 2025 and early 2026, OpenTable rolled out a 2% service fee on transactions processed through its platform: deposits, no-show penalties, and prepaid experiences. The Philadelphia Inquirer covered the rollout on January 14, 2026, and the fee now appears on OpenTable's own pricing grid. Run a $150-a-head New Year's Eve prix fixe for 80 guests and the 2% costs you $240 in one night. Charge a guest a $50 no-show penalty and OpenTable takes $1 of it. You can absorb the fee or pass it to guests. Either way, prepaid revenue now carries a platform tax it did not carry two years ago. For who pays it, the pass-on toggle, and the Google-bookings exception, see the full service-fee breakdown.
What a 100-cover restaurant actually pays Take a restaurant seating 100 covers a night, six nights a week -- about 2,600 covers a month. Put it on Core and assume half of those covers book through the OpenTable network:
Core plan, 2,600 covers a month, 50/50 network-to-direct split. Deposits and prepaid events add 2% on top. Line item Monthly cost Core subscription $299 1,300 network covers at $1.00 $1,300 1,300 covers from your own site and phone $0 Monthly total $1,599 Annual total about $19,200
Shift the mix and the bill moves fast. At 80% network, the same restaurant pays $2,379 a month -- over $28,500 a year. On Basic, the same 80/20 mix costs more still, because the network rate is 50% higher and your own-site covers get billed too. Double the volume and the bill roughly doubles with it; the subscription never protects you from a good month. Punch your own covers and mix into the OpenTable cost calculator and see your real number in about 30 seconds.
Does OpenTable charge for reservations from your own website? On Core and Pro, no -- covers from your own website, your Google profile, and your phone are free. On Basic, yes: $0.25 per cover, or a $49 monthly flat fee. That single line item is the strongest argument for stepping up from Basic once your direct volume grows, and it is the fee operators most often miss when they model the entry plan.
How much does OpenTable charge per reservation? OpenTable does not price per reservation -- it prices per cover, meaning per seated diner. A party of four booked through the network is four covers: $6 on Basic, $4 on Core or Pro. Your average party size multiplies every network booking, which is why two restaurants with identical reservation counts can see very different bills.
Is OpenTable free for restaurants? No. There is no free tier for restaurants -- the cheapest way in is Basic at $149 a month plus per-cover fees. The app is free for diners, and that is the point: the marketplace exists because restaurants fund it. If a guest ever asks why you take reservations somewhere else, that is the honest answer.
What does the OpenTable CRM cost? Guest data and marketing tools are tiered. Basic gives you profiles; email campaigns and the deeper CRM live on Core and Pro, so the practical price of OpenTable's marketing stack is $299 a month and up, before covers. There is a second cost worth understanding before you sign: whose guest these diners are. What you get versus what you pay in OpenTable's CRM covers it in detail.
Contracts: one year, auto-renew Per OpenTable's published plan terms as of July 2026, the standard agreement runs one year and renews automatically, with 30 days' notice required to cancel the renewal. Put the renewal date in your calendar the day you sign. Miss the window and you own another year.
Is OpenTable worth it for small restaurants? Sometimes, genuinely, yes. If you are in a competitive urban market where diners browse the app to decide where to eat, the network delivers guests who would not have found you -- and $1.00 to $1.50 per acquired diner is cheap next to most advertising. The equation flips when most guests already know you. A destination-town restaurant with guaranteed flow, a neighborhood spot running on regulars -- those restaurants pay network prices for guests who were coming anyway. The question is not whether OpenTable is good. It is what percentage of your covers OpenTable actually creates. If the honest answer is under a quarter, you are paying marketplace rates for a reservation book.
What flat-fee alternatives cost Flat-fee platforms charge one monthly price no matter how many covers you seat. TableLink starts at $10 a month billed annually, or $13 month-to-month, with no per-cover fees -- reservations, waitlist, floor plan, and guest profiles included. The restaurant paying OpenTable $19,200 a year for what is mostly reservation management, not discovery, can run the same book for a few hundred. See the side-by-side comparison with OpenTable, or if you are weighing several platforms, start with the best OpenTable alternatives for 2026 -- every price sourced and dated. For the Resy side of the ledger, what Resy costs restaurants in 2026 runs the same math.
Quick answers Does OpenTable charge the restaurant for no-shows? No cover fee -- OpenTable says only seated diners are charged. But if you bill the guest a no-show penalty through the platform, the 2% service fee applies to that charge. Does OpenTable publish a setup fee? No -- onboarding terms are part of the sales conversation, so ask before you sign. Is Basic available outside the US? No, OpenTable lists Basic as US-only; international restaurants start at Core.