Restaurant booking systems in NZ: the honest 2026 comparison

New Zealand's booking market looks nothing like Australia's, let alone Britain's or America's. The dominant player is a local one most overseas guides have never heard of, the biggest global marketplace barely operates here, and the one international platform that did, Quandoo, stops taking bookings after 30 September 2026 and goes fully offline on 31 December 2026. If your venue relied on it, you are shopping for a new system right now.

This guide compares the booking systems that actually matter for a New Zealand restaurant, with prices in New Zealand dollars wherever a vendor publishes them (spoiler: almost none do). ViteUneTable is our own commission-free system, so we include it with its real strengths and its real limits, and we are just as upfront about everyone else's.

What to check before choosing a booking system in New Zealand

Five questions separate a good deal from an expensive surprise:

1. Is the price public, and what currency is it in? In New Zealand you will meet quotes with no figure at all, Australian dollar price lists and third-party estimates. Get the number, the currency and the GST treatment in writing before the demo ends.
2. Are there per-cover or per-booking fees? Marketplace platforms charge for every diner their network sends you, on top of any subscription. On a full Saturday of big tables, those fees can outgrow the software bill itself.
3. Can you export your guest data at any time? Quandoo's closure is the cautionary tale: venues that built their guest database inside a marketplace now have to pull it out before the lights go off. Whatever you choose, confirm export rights before you sign.
4. What are the no-show tools? Reminders, card holds and a clear cancellation policy matter more than any fee you charge after the fact. Our guide to no-show fees in New Zealand covers what is enforceable here and what diners will accept.
5. Does it connect to Google? A large share of diners book straight from Search and Maps. Reserve with Google works in New Zealand only through integrated providers, so check your shortlist supports it and whether it costs extra.

Eveve and Restaurant Hub: the local giant

Any honest guide to bookings in Aotearoa starts with Eveve, not with the global names. Eveve has been running booking systems here for over a decade and claims more than 1,000 restaurants live in New Zealand, with 40,000 bookings captured in a recent month. Those are the vendor's own figures, but the footprint is visible on the ground: a large share of the country's bookable full-service restaurants run an Eveve widget.

The other half of its power is Restaurant Hub, the consumer booking portal whose search form appears on the NZ Herald, Viva, Cuisine, Metro and other high-traffic local sites. All of Restaurant Hub's live availability comes from the Eveve system, so joining one means joining the other, and its Hot Deals programme fills quiet hours with discounts of 30 to 50 per cent.

Now the fine print. Eveve publishes no pricing at all: everything is sold by quote, so you cannot compare before a sales conversation, and the figure you pay depends partly on how well you negotiate. And bundling your diary with the country's biggest consumer portal is convenient right up until you want to leave: the more of your bookings that flow through someone else's network, the harder the exit. Ask in writing what happens to your guest data and your Hot Deals commitments if you switch systems.

ResDiary: the visible number two

ResDiary, owned by The Access Group, runs a dedicated Australia and New Zealand operation and is the system you will most often meet as the alternative to Eveve. It is commission-free with no per-cover fees, includes Reserve with Google, and is genuinely deep on table management.

The catch, and it is an odd one: ResDiary publishes a public Australian price list (Connect at A$115, Express at A$170 and Pro at A$220 a month plus GST, verified September 2026) but no New Zealand dollar equivalent. Kiwi venues get a quote. The Australian list at least tells you the ballpark and proves the model is a flat subscription with booking-volume tiers, so use it as your negotiating anchor and get the NZD figure, GST treatment included, in writing. Our ResDiary alternatives guide covers the trade-offs in detail.

Now Book It: the trans-Tasman challenger

Now Book It is Australian-built and active on both sides of the Tasman, claiming more than 13,900 customers (a vendor figure from nowbookit.com, which does not separate New Zealand from Australia). Its pitch is exactly what most operators want to hear: a flat monthly subscription and, in its own words, "never pay per booking fees, ever". It covers functions, gift cards and table management, and integrates with the POS systems common in local venues.

The transparency caveat applies here too: no published prices, in any currency. That is not a red flag by itself, plenty of good software sells by quote, but it makes comparison shopping harder, and it is worth asking whether your quote is in NZD or AUD before you sign.

OpenTable: the giant that never showed up

Here is where New Zealand really differs from every other English-speaking market. OpenTable, the world's biggest booking marketplace, has almost no presence here: there is no opentable.co.nz, and its own regional pages listed only a handful of New Zealand venues in September 2026, fewer than twenty across the whole country. The brand recognition that makes OpenTable a default choice in Sydney or London simply does not translate into a diner network in Auckland or Christchurch.

Its pricing is another reason to hesitate: OpenTable sells in US dollars, and according to Eat App's 2026 breakdown, plans run from US$149 a month plus US$1.50 for every cover booked through the network. Those are third-party figures, so confirm them with OpenTable directly, but paying US dollars plus per-cover fees for a network that barely exists locally is a hard case to make. If a supplier or franchise group is pushing you towards it anyway, read our OpenTable alternatives guide first.

TheFork never built a New Zealand operation at all: its closest presence was the Australian arm, which closed in March 2024. The global marketplaces, in short, have mostly skipped this country, which is exactly why a local pair like Eveve and Restaurant Hub could grow so dominant.

Quandoo: closing everywhere, New Zealand included

Quandoo was the one international marketplace that did operate here, with venues in Auckland and beyond. Its parent decided to wind the platform down in every market at once: no new bookings after 30 September 2026, static pages from 1 October, and a complete shutdown by 31 December 2026.

If you are one of the affected venues, move before the deadline, starting with your guest data: Quandoo will pass on the details of existing reservations, but your future bookings need a new home now. Our guide to Quandoo alternatives walks through the migration step by step. The bigger lesson is the same one the OpenTable pricing teaches: a marketplace can shut down, change owners or change terms, and its diner network leaves with it. Bookings that come from your own website and your Google Business Profile are not exposed to that risk.

First Table: a demand tool, not a diary

First Table is the local story everyone knows: born in Queenstown, it sells the first (and now last) table of service at 50 per cent off the food bill, with the diner paying a small booking fee and drinks staying at full price. For restaurants it costs nothing: First Table keeps the booking fee, and the venue trades a discount for covers in hours that would otherwise sit empty.

The key point for this comparison: First Table is not a booking system. It fills specific off-peak slots and plugs into the diaries above rather than replacing them, so the real question is whether the economics of half-price food work for your margins. We crunch those numbers in our dedicated guide to First Table for restaurants.

SevenRooms and TableCheck: the enterprise end

Two more names appear on New Zealand shortlists, usually at the top end. SevenRooms, now a DoorDash company, is the guest-data and CRM heavyweight that large groups and hotels run; it publishes no prices and sells by demo and annual contract, which tells you the budget bracket. TableCheck, the Japanese platform strong in hotel dining rooms across Asia, plays a similar game. Both are genuinely capable, and both are usually more platform than an independent venue needs. If you are evaluating SevenRooms, our SevenRooms alternatives guide lays out the options.

ViteUneTable: the only unlimited free version

ViteUneTable is our own system, so here is the pitch and the fine print in the same breath.

The pitch: the free version is genuinely unlimited. Unlimited bookings, unlimited covers, your own booking page, table management, 0 per cent commission forever, no per-booking fee, no lock-in, and your guest data stays yours, exportable at any time. Nobody else on the New Zealand market offers a free plan at all: every local option starts at a paid subscription, usually one you cannot even see without a demo. Paid features come as flat packs: the Standard pack at 29 € a month excluding VAT adds email reminders and Reserve with Google, and the Standard + Anti No-Show pack at 49 € adds credit card holds for the bookings where a no-show really hurts, which is most of the battle in cutting no-shows.

The fine print, honestly: we are a European company, newer to New Zealand than Eveve or ResDiary, our billing is in euros rather than New Zealand dollars, and we do not bring a local diner network the way Restaurant Hub does. If NZ Herald visibility is the one thing you need, we are the wrong pick. If you want to take bookings from your own website and Google without a meter running on every cover, the free version costs exactly nothing to try, and manaakitanga, the welcome your guests actually remember, was never something software could sell you anyway.

The comparison at a glance

Prices move; every figure above is either from the vendor's own site or attributed to the named third party, as of September 2026. Check before signing.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most used restaurant booking system in New Zealand?

Eveve is the clear local leader, claiming more than 1,000 live restaurants in New Zealand and powering Restaurant Hub, the consumer booking portal embedded on the NZ Herald and other major local sites. ResDiary and Now Book It are the most common alternatives; OpenTable has only a marginal New Zealand presence.

Is there a free restaurant booking system in NZ?

None of the established local players offers a free plan: Eveve, ResDiary, Now Book It, SevenRooms and TableCheck all sell paid subscriptions, mostly by quote. ViteUneTable's free version is the exception: unlimited bookings and covers, 0 per cent commission and no per-booking fee, with paid packs only for optional extras like reminders and card holds.

What happens to Quandoo restaurants in New Zealand?

Quandoo takes its last bookings on 30 September 2026, switches to static pages from 1 October and shuts down completely by 31 December 2026, New Zealand included. Affected venues should export their guest data and move their booking widget to a new system before the deadline rather than after it.

Why is OpenTable so small in New Zealand?

OpenTable never invested in a local network: there is no opentable.co.nz, and its regional pages listed fewer than twenty New Zealand venues as of September 2026. With pricing in US dollars plus per-cover fees, most Kiwi operators get better value from a local system or a flat-fee alternative.

Do New Zealand booking systems charge commission per diner?

The mainstream local systems (Eveve, ResDiary, Now Book It) sell flat subscriptions rather than per-cover commissions, though Restaurant Hub's Hot Deals bookings carry a booking charge passed to diners. OpenTable charges per network cover. ViteUneTable charges no commission and no per-booking fee on any plan, including the free version.

Does Reserve with Google work in New Zealand?

Yes. Diners can book directly from a restaurant's Google Business Profile in Search and Maps, but only through an integrated booking provider. Eveve and ResDiary support it locally, and ViteUneTable includes it in the Standard pack. If your current system does not support it, you are invisible at the exact moment a diner is readiest to book.