Compare
Grace vs OpenTable.
OpenTable is a reservation network with a CRM bolted on. Grace is a hospitality operating platform with reservations as one module. Different shapes; different economics.
OpenTable's pitch is the network — the millions of diners on their app and website who might find your restaurant. That's a real product, and for venues that rely on discovery from the network, it earns its keep. The cost is the cover fee: every diner who books through OpenTable's network costs you between £1 and £2 per cover on top of the monthly subscription, plus a 2% service fee on any prepaid transaction since January 2026. For an independent venue with a strong returning-guest base, that arithmetic changes the answer.
How they compare
Side by side.
Pricing model1
Grace
£99 / £179 / £299 / Enterprise. Per venue, per month. Flat fee. No per-cover charges. Ever.
OpenTable
$149 / $299 / $499 monthly subscription, plus per-cover fees on network bookings ($1.50 on Basic, $1.00 on Core and Pro). UK rates commonly reported as £1–£2 per network cover.
Subscription prices are listed in USD on OpenTable's primary marketing pages; UK billing is in GBP at conversion. The per-cover fee compounds with volume — a venue doing 1,500 network covers/month adds £1,500–£3,000 in cover fees above subscription.
Hidden / new fees2
Grace
Pricing structure unchanged from launch. No commission on bookings. No service fee on prepaid transactions.
OpenTable
As of January 2026, OpenTable added a 2% service fee on prepaid transactions, deposits, and no-show penalties. Stacked on top of subscription + per-cover fees.
Reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer, January 2026. OpenTable framed the fee as part of no-show reduction.
Product scope
Grace
Reservations + Guest CRM + Loyalty + Marketing + WiFi + EPOS + Analytics + AI — one platform, one record per guest.
OpenTable
Reservations + a guest database. No EPOS. No native marketing journeys. No loyalty programme. No WiFi integration.
Reservations — core booking
Grace
Booking widget on your own domain, OTP-verified guest identity, service-aware availability, walk-ins and waitlists, host screen.
OpenTable
Booking widget, reservation confirmations, waitlist option, table management (Core+ tiers only). The flagship product; mature.
Network discovery
Grace
None — Grace doesn't operate a diner-discovery network. Bookings come from your own marketing, your widget, and your guests.
OpenTable
OpenTable.com and OpenTable app surface your venue to their network of diners. Real for venues in tourist or transient locations; less relevant for venues with a strong returning-guest base.
Guest CRM
Grace
One record per guest across every channel. Visit history, preferences, allergies, marketing consent, behavioural tiers. Walk-ins identified via WiFi captive portal.
OpenTable
Reservation-history-based guest database with tags and notes. Pro tier includes additional guest insights and relationship management features.
Loyalty
Grace
Universal tiers (every guest classified behaviourally), points on bookings + spend, EPOS redemption, service-recovery overrides.
OpenTable
No native loyalty programme. Requires a separate vendor.
Email & SMS marketing
Grace
Always-on journeys, UK SMS from a venue-specific number, Meta Pixel + Conversions API integrated, revenue attribution as the headline metric.
OpenTable
Basic email campaigns to your guest database. No journey builder, no SMS, no attribution beyond opens/clicks.
EPOS
Grace
Native iPad EPOS with hash-chained audit trail, accrual accounting, native KDS.
OpenTable
No EPOS. POS integration to your existing till (limited set of supported partners).
Branded booking experience
Grace
Booking widget runs on your domain, branded to your venue. OpenTable branding never shown.
OpenTable
Bookings can run on your own widget, but the network value is driven by guests booking via opentable.com / app — where OpenTable's branding leads.
Independent vs network economics
Grace
Better for venues with a strong returning-guest base — you pay a flat fee, every regular costs you the same.
OpenTable
Better for venues that depend on the network for discovery — you pay per cover that the network brings, and the volume can be material.
Target venue type
Grace
UK independent venues focused on building a returning-guest base — restaurants, bars, cocktail bars, pubs, small groups.
OpenTable
Venues of any size who value being on the OpenTable network. Particularly strong in tourist locations, US-style chains, and venues where discovery (not retention) is the primary marketing problem.
- 1.Subscription prices are listed in USD on OpenTable's primary marketing pages; UK billing is in GBP at conversion. The per-cover fee compounds with volume — a venue doing 1,500 network covers/month adds £1,500–£3,000 in cover fees above subscription.
- 2.Reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer, January 2026. OpenTable framed the fee as part of no-show reduction.
What Grace does
Specific to Grace, missing in OpenTable.
No per-cover fees. Ever.
A flat monthly fee per venue. The 100th cover this month costs the same as the 1st.
- No cover fees on network or direct bookings
- No 2% service fee on prepaid transactions
- Predictable monthly cost regardless of volume
- Annual discount published, not buried
A real guest CRM, not a reservation log.
One record per guest across reservations, walk-ins, marketing, loyalty and EPOS.
- Walk-ins identified via WiFi captive portal
- Behavioural tiers assigned automatically
- Dietary, allergy, preference notes shared across team
- Marketing consent tracked per channel
Marketing that actually drives bookings.
Always-on journeys with revenue attribution — not just an email blast tool.
- Welcome, win-back, birthday journeys ship by default
- UK SMS from a venue-specific number
- Attribution back to bookings, covers, revenue
- Meta Pixel + Conversions API integrated
Native EPOS in the same platform.
One system from the booking to the till to the guest record.
- Hash-chained audit trail on every transaction
- Accrual accounting, Xero-ready exports
- Native KDS — no printer needed
- Offline mode that survives WiFi blips
Where OpenTable leads
What they do that Grace doesn't (yet).
Honest reverse. If these matter to your venue, OpenTable is worth looking at.
The diner network
OpenTable's network of diners on opentable.com and their app is real — millions of users searching for restaurants. For venues that depend on discovery (tourist locations, new openings, venues without a strong local audience), the network drives meaningful covers. Grace doesn't operate a discovery network and never will; if network-driven covers are what you need, OpenTable leads.
Brand recognition with diners
Guests know what OpenTable is. The booking flow is familiar; the email confirmations are trusted. For a brand-new venue with no established audience, that familiarity matters.
Mature product
OpenTable has been refining the same reservation product since 1998. The core booking, table management and waitlist features are deeply polished. Grace's reservations are strong and improving; OpenTable's are mature.
Customer fit
Two different venues.
Grace is built for…
Independent UK venues with a returning-guest base — where the economics of paying per cover work against you, and where you want guest CRM, marketing, loyalty and EPOS in the same platform as reservations.
OpenTable is built for…
Venues whose primary marketing problem is discovery rather than retention — tourist locations, brand-new openings, restaurants where most bookings come from people who haven't been before. The OpenTable network earns its cover fee in those contexts.
Common questions
Things operators ask before switching.
Claims verified as of June 2026. Competitor pricing and features change — we update this page as we notice changes worth noting. If you spot something stale, tell us.
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