Alternative to resOS: an honest comparison for UK restaurants in 2026

Looking for an alternative to resOS for your restaurant, café or pub? Here is the short version. resOS is a Danish booking system that has earned a following among UK independents for a simple reason: it is genuinely cheap to start, charges no commission and no cover fees, and its free plan lets you test everything without a sales call. But that free plan caps out at 25 bookings a month, the paid plans are priced by booking volume (so your bill rises as your restaurant fills up), and several everyday features, including Reserve with Google and the tools that take deposits or charge no-show fees, are paid add-ons billed each month on top. If the cap or the stacking is what brought you here, a free restaurant booking system that never caps your bookings like ViteUneTable, or one of the other options below, may fit better. Every competitor fact in this article comes from resOS's own pages, with the retrieval date and method stated.

A note on sourcing before we start: resos.com currently sits behind bot protection, which blocks automated retrieval of its live pricing page. The figures below were therefore verified against resOS's own pricing data (the same data its pricing page loads) as archived by the Internet Archive on 14 June 2026, plus earlier archived copies of the pricing page itself. Prices change; before you decide anything, check the live numbers at resos.com/pricing.

What resOS does well

Let's be honest: resOS deserves its reputation among small venues, and any fair comparison starts there.

• A real free plan, no card required. You can sign up and run a small operation at £0, with no trial clock ticking. resOS itself says it brought the free plan back so restaurants could "test out a system without the need for a sales call, contract, or any commitment" (archived pricing page, 11 October 2025).
• No commission, no cover fees. resOS's own pricing FAQ states plainly: "we do not charge any kind of commission or cover fees. We only charge a fixed fee for your subscription plan and any paid add-ons" (archived pricing page, 11 October 2025). In a market where marketplaces bill per seated guest, that model is the right one, and it matches our own.
• Solid table management. The visual table planner, waitlist, guest flagging and auto or manual booking acceptance are all part of the core product, alongside iOS and Android apps.
• Free setup and support. resOS advertises free onboarding help and support on every plan, which is not a given at this price point.
• Fair philosophy on plan limits. Asked why plans are capped by booking count, resOS answers that it charges "based on the total number of bookings" to "keep prices fair for both small and large restaurants". That is a coherent, honest model. Whether it is the right model for a growing restaurant is the real question of this article.

What resOS actually costs in 2026

Here is the full picture, in pounds, as verified on 14 June 2026 from resOS's own pricing data via the Internet Archive (monthly billing; annual billing is about 20% cheaper, and resOS periodically runs an introductory 50% discount for the first six months).

In euros, the same plans list at €0, €45, €85 and €125 a month. Two things stand out.

The free plan stops at 25 bookings a month

Twenty-five bookings is not twenty-five covers, it is twenty-five reservations, so it goes further than it sounds. But for a restaurant open five evenings a week, it is roughly one booking a day. A single busy Saturday can eat a week's allowance. resOS's own FAQ has long been explicit about what happens next: as you grow past the free plan's booking count in a month, you are asked to upgrade, and further upgrades happen automatically based on the previous month's volume (archived pricing FAQ, September 2023, when the free tier already ended at 25 bookings). In other words, the free plan is a genuinely useful trial and a workable tool for a very quiet venue, but it is not designed to stay your plan once online booking starts working. Which is precisely when you need it most.

The add-ons stack on top

Beyond the plan price, resOS prices a list of features as individual add-ons, each billed per month (same source, retrieved 14 June 2026):

• £3.49 a month each: Google Analytics integration, Facebook Pixel integration.
• £6.99 a month each: Reserve with Google, custom design, online waitlist upgrades, custom booking form fields.
• £9.99 a month each: online payments (required for deposits, prepayment and automated no-show fees, via Stripe), multiple locations, full API access.
• SMS notifications are charged per message on top of any plan.

None of these is expensive on its own, and that is rather the point of the model. But a Basic-plan restaurant that wants Reserve with Google, custom booking questions and deposit-backed bookings is at £39 + £6.99 + £6.99 + £9.99, about £63 a month before SMS credits and Stripe's processing fees, and the bill steps up again at 350 bookings a month. The entry price and the real running cost are two different numbers.

Where the volume-based model pinches

To be fair to resOS, volume pricing is defensible: a restaurant taking 700 bookings a month gets more value from the software than one taking 40. The friction is psychological and practical.

First, the model taxes your success. Every marketing effort that works, a good review, a busy December, pushes you toward the next tier. You will not pay commission per cover, but the effect on a growing venue's budget rhymes with it: more bookings, bigger bill. For UK context on how competitors structure this differently (flat fees, per-cover fees, quotes), see our guide to the best restaurant booking systems for UK venues.

Second, the cap arrives exactly when you are busiest. Christmas party season is the classic case: a UK restaurant that lives happily under 25 bookings a month from January to October can blow through the free plan in the first week of December, then face an upgrade decision in the middle of its most stressful trading period.

Third, the no-show toolkit is behind two doors. Deposits, prepayment and automated no-show fees require both a paid context and the £9.99 online payments add-on, plus Stripe. The tools themselves are good; you simply need to price the full path before comparing.

ViteUneTable: the free plan with no booking cap

Full disclosure, obviously: ViteUneTable is our product. Here is how it compares, stated the same way we checked resOS, and you can verify every claim on our site.

• The free plan has no booking cap and no time limit. Take 10 bookings a month or 1,000: the free plan stays free. We earn on optional packs, never on your volume, so a full December costs you exactly what a quiet February does.
• 0% commission, permanently, and no per-cover fees. Same promise as resOS on this point, and we are happy to say they share it.
• No commitment. No contract lock-in; leave whenever you like.
• What free includes: your own online booking link and a widget for your website, an online reservation book, and automatic booking confirmation emails to every guest.
• Pack Standard, €29 excl. VAT a month: branded automatic emails and reminders before service, Reserve with Google (included, not an add-on), your menu on the booking page, calendar sync and custom booking questions.
• Standard + Anti No-Show, €49 excl. VAT a month: adds credit card holds (a bank imprint at booking time) so no-shows have a cost. If you are weighing that approach, our guide to credit card holds for restaurant reservations walks through how holds work and what to tell guests.

And the honest concessions, because they matter: resOS's £39 Basic plan is cheaper than nothing only if you stay under 25 bookings, but its add-on-by-add-on pricing genuinely suits a venue that wants exactly one extra and nothing else. resOS also offers SMS notifications (charged per message) and published API access, which ViteUneTable does not match today. If those are your priorities, resOS is a reasonable place to be.

resOS vs ViteUneTable at a glance

resOS figures verified on 14 June 2026 from resOS's own pricing data via the Internet Archive; the live page at resos.com/pricing may have changed since.

How to switch from resOS without losing bookings

1. Check your billing cycle and add-ons. List which add-ons you actually pay for; that is your real monthly cost to compare. If you are on annual billing, note the renewal date.
2. Export your guest data. resOS states you can export your data at any time. Contact details, visit history and notes are your asset; take them with you.
3. Repoint your booking channels. Website widget, Instagram bio link and, above all, your Google Business Profile booking button. Most local guests find you on Google, so make sure that button lands on your new system on day one.
4. Run both in parallel for a few weeks. A free plan with no cap costs nothing to trial alongside resOS during a normal month, so you can compare real behaviour, not brochure promises, before cancelling anything.

Frequently asked questions

Is resOS really free?

resOS has a genuine free plan with no credit card required, limited to 25 bookings per month (per resOS's own pricing data, verified 14 June 2026 via the Internet Archive). Past that volume, you are moved to a paid plan priced by monthly booking count.

Does resOS charge commission on bookings?

No. resOS's pricing FAQ states it charges no commission or cover fees of any kind, only a fixed subscription plus any paid add-ons you choose. On this point resOS and ViteUneTable make the same promise.

How much does resOS cost in the UK?

Per the pricing data behind resos.com/pricing as archived on 14 June 2026: Free (25 bookings/month) at £0, Basic (350 bookings) at £39/month, Plus (750 bookings) at £79/month and Unlimited at £119/month, with roughly 20% off on annual billing. Add-ons such as Reserve with Google (£6.99/month) and online payments (£9.99/month) are extra, and SMS messages are billed per message. Check the live page for current figures.

What happens when I go over 25 bookings a month on resOS?

resOS asks you to upgrade to a paid plan, and its FAQ has stated that subsequent upgrades happen automatically at the next payment based on the previous month's booking count. Plan your December carefully: seasonal peaks count toward the limit like any other booking.

Is there a free alternative to resOS with no booking limit?

Yes. ViteUneTable's free plan has no booking cap and no time limit, with 0% commission and automatic confirmation emails included. Paid packs (€29 and €49 excl. VAT a month) add reminders, Reserve with Google and credit card holds, and the price never changes with your booking volume.