Tock vs Resy in 2026: comparing two platforms with the same owner

If you are googling "Tock vs Resy" expecting a classic two-rival showdown, here is the plot twist upfront: there is no rivalry anymore. American Express owns both platforms, and since the 2024 acquisition of Tock they are sold side by side on a single pricing page, at identical price points. Choosing between Tock and Resy in 2026 is less like choosing between Coke and Pepsi and more like choosing between two trims of the same car.

That does not make the question pointless. The two product lines still do genuinely different jobs: one is built around prepaid, ticketed experiences, the other around classic reservations with a strong consumer brand. Picking the wrong one means paying $289 to $459 a month for machinery you will never switch on. And for plenty of independent restaurants, the honest answer to "Tock or Resy?" is "neither": a commission-free reservation system with a free plan covers the reservation book, the booking widget and the no-show protection at a fraction of the cost, without the marketplace. Full disclosure: this blog is published by ViteUneTable, that commission-free option, and it appears below with its real limits. Every price in this article was retrieved from official pages on August 14, 2026.

One owner, one pricing page: how Tock and Resy merged commercially

A quick history, because it explains the current lineup:

• 2019: American Express acquires Resy, the New York reservation platform with the cult consumer app, announcing the deal on Resy's own newsroom.
• 2021: Squarespace buys Tock, the Chicago platform born from the prepaid-ticketing experiments at Alinea.
• June 2024: American Express agrees to acquire Tock from Squarespace, in a deal reported by CNBC at $400 million in cash.
• October 15, 2024: the acquisition completes, and Tock, which then served roughly 7,000 restaurants, wineries and venues, joins Resy under the Amex roof.

Since then, the commercial consolidation has been fast. Tock's plans are no longer pitched against Resy's: they appear as the "powered by Tock" tiers of Resy's own plans and pricing page. Same owner, same sales funnel, same price ladder.

For restaurateurs, the practical consequence is worth saying plainly: you can no longer play Tock and Resy against each other at renewal time. Two of the three big premium reservation brands in the US now answer to the same company, and the negotiation leverage that competition used to give you is gone.

Tock vs Resy pricing in 2026

Here is the full lineup as shown on Resy's plans and pricing page, retrieved on August 14, 2026:

Three things to read out of that table:

1. The price points are identical on purpose. At each tier, you are choosing a feature set, not a budget. $289 buys either Resy's Platform or Tock's Essential; $459 buys either Platform 360 or Premium.
2. Only the Tock side charges a percentage. Resy's page states there are no per-cover fees on any plan, and the Resy-line plans carry no prepayment fee either, because they do not do prepayments. The Tock-powered tiers take 2% to 3% of every prepaid dollar, on top of standard card processing.
3. The annual floor is $3,468. Before processing fees, before any prepayment percentage, the cheapest way into either product line costs $3,468 a year, rising to $5,508 on the upper tiers.

One more transparency note in Tock's favor: tock.com itself does not present a simple public price list to every visitor, so the Resy pricing page is effectively the public source of truth for both products.

What Tock still does that Resy does not

The consolidation has not (yet) blended the products into one. The Tock-powered tiers remain built around a distinct idea: sell a meal the way a theater sells a seat.

• Prepaid ticketed reservations. The guest pays for the experience, in full or as a deposit, at the moment of booking. No-shows on prepaid bookings essentially disappear, because the transaction already happened.
• Deposits and credit card holds. Softer protection levels for restaurants that do not want full prepayment on every table.
• Experiences and events. Wine pairings, chef's counters, holiday dinners and winery tastings sold as products with their own price, capacity and time slots.
• Demand-based pricing. A Saturday 8 pm seating can be priced above a Tuesday 5:30 pm one, airline-style.

This is the machinery that made Tock famous in tasting-menu dining, and it remains the reference for that model. If your restaurant sells a $195 menu, buys expensive ingredients days ahead and cannot absorb an empty two-top, prepaid ticketing is the single most effective no-show weapon there is. We go deeper on that use case, and on what it costs, in our guide to alternatives to Tock.

What Resy still does that Tock does not

The Resy-line plans (Platform and Platform 360) are classic reservation software with one enormous intangible on top: the brand.

• A consumer app diners actually browse. In New York, Los Angeles, Miami and most large US food cities, "we're on Resy" is a signal in itself. Food-forward diners use the app to decide where to eat, and notify features on hard-to-get tables create real demand.
• The Amex cardmember audience. Exclusive access and cardmember benefits funnel a wealthy, dining-obsessed clientele toward Resy restaurants. This is the strategic reason American Express bought the platform.
• Flat, predictable software billing. No per-cover fees and no prepayment percentage: the subscription is the whole software bill, which is genuinely more predictable than marketplace models that charge for every seated diner.
• Operations tooling. Table management, waitlist, POS integrations, and on Platform 360, deeper analytics and automated guest insights.

What the Resy line does not have is Tock's prepayment engine. If you want deposits, card holds or ticketed events inside the Amex family, you are steered to the "powered by Tock" tiers, with their 2% to 3% skim on prepaid volume.

So which one should you choose?

Since the budget is the same either way, the decision reduces to one question: is your revenue model tickets or tables?

One arithmetic point worth making: on the Tock side, the $170 monthly difference between Essential and Premium pays for itself once you process about $17,000 of prepayments a month, because the fee drops from 3% to 2%. Below that volume, Essential is cheaper; above it, Premium is.

The third option: neither Tock nor Resy

Here is the case the "Tock vs Resy" framing hides. Both product lines are premium tools priced for restaurants that extract real value from a marketplace or a ticketing engine. A large share of US independents use neither: their guests come from Google, Instagram, regulars and walk-bys, and what they actually need is a dependable reservation book, a booking link, confirmations, reminders and a way to stop no-shows.

For that job, ViteUneTable takes the opposite stance to the Amex platforms: reservations should not generate fees, ever.

• Free plan with no time limit: your own online booking link and website widget, reservation management and automatic confirmation emails, with 0% commission and no per-cover fees, permanently.
• Standard pack at €29 excl. VAT per month: adds automatic email reminders, Reserve with Google (guests book straight from your Google listing), your menu, a calendar view and custom booking questions. No commitment.
• Standard + Anti No-Show at €49 excl. VAT per month: adds credit card holds at booking. The guest guarantees the table with a card, nothing is charged upfront, and you can charge a penalty only if they never show. Crucially, there is no percentage fee on the amounts you protect, unlike the 2% to 3% on Tock-powered prepayments.

Let's be honest about the trade-off, because it is real: ViteUneTable has no prepaid ticketing, no demand-based seat pricing, and no consumer app sending you Amex cardholders. Nobody discovers your restaurant by browsing ViteUneTable. It is built in France, prices are in euros, and it is designed for restaurants whose demand is their own and who want to keep 100% of it. Against a $3,468-to-$5,508 annual subscription, starting free and paying only when a feature earns its keep is a very different financial proposition.

If no-shows are the reason you were looking at Tock's prepayment model in the first place, note that a card hold captures most of the protection with far less friction: diners who would balk at prepaying $300 for a Tuesday dinner will happily leave a card number. Our guide to credit card holds for restaurant reservations covers how to announce the policy and set fair penalty amounts.

Frequently asked questions

Are Tock and Resy the same company?

They have the same owner. American Express acquired Resy in 2019 and completed its acquisition of Tock from Squarespace on October 15, 2024. The two remain distinct product lines, but they are sold together on Resy's pricing page, with Tock's technology powering the Essential and Premium tiers.

Which is more expensive, Tock or Resy?

Neither: the price points are identical. As retrieved on August 14, 2026 from Resy's plans page, both product lines start at $289 per month ($459 for the upper tiers). The difference is that Tock-powered plans add a 2% to 3% fee on prepayments, while Resy-line plans charge no per-cover or prepayment fees.

What is the real difference between Tock and Resy?

The revenue model they serve. Tock is built for prepaid, ticketed experiences: tasting menus, winery tastings and events sold like theater seats, with deposits and demand-based pricing. Resy is classic reservation software with a strong consumer app and the Amex cardmember audience. Tickets, choose Tock; tables plus discovery, choose Resy.

Do Tock or Resy charge per-cover fees?

No. Resy's pricing page states there are no per-reservation fees on any plan. The costs are the monthly subscription ($289 to $459) and, on the Tock-powered tiers only, a 2% to 3% fee on prepaid amounts, plus standard card processing.

Is there a cheaper alternative to both Tock and Resy?

Yes, if you need reservations rather than ticketing or a marketplace. ViteUneTable offers a free plan with no time limit (booking link, widget, confirmations, 0% commission) and an optional Anti No-Show pack at €49 excl. VAT per month with credit card holds and no percentage fees. What it does not offer is prepaid ticketing or a diner discovery app.