ResDiary Pricing: What UK Restaurants Pay Before a Quote

Key takeaways

• ResDiary does not publish a price list; fees are quoted based on covers per month, venues, and selected modules, typically on a 12-month contract.
• Deposits, SMS reminders, card pre-authorisation, setup and hardware charges usually sit outside the base subscription and can materially raise your annual cost.
• A single venue doing 500 covers a month can estimate first-year cost by multiplying the quoted base fee by 12, adding realistic SMS volume and setup fees.
• Sully Booking offers a published flat rate of £29/month with unlimited bookings, deposits, SMS reminders and a booking widget included, with no contract.
• ResDiary suits multi-venue groups needing shared table management, while flat-rate systems fit single-venue independents who want transparent, cancel-anytime pricing.

ResDiary pricing is quote-based: there is no public price list, and the fee you're offered depends on your covers per month, venues, and modules like deposits and SMS reminders, typically tied to a 12-month contract. This guide walks through how the quote is built, what sits outside the base fee, and how to estimate your real annual cost before you speak to sales.

resdiary pricing

ResDiary does not publish a price list. You request a quote and their sales team prices a plan based on your venue's covers and requirements, so the headline answer is: expect a subscription quote, not a number on a website (ResDiary). For a single-venue independent doing 500 covers a month, that means budgeting blind until you've had the sales call, and asking specifically about contract length, SMS charges and deposit tooling on top of the base fee.

If a flat rate suits you better, Sully Booking is £29/month with unlimited bookings, no per-cover fees and no contract, and we've put the maths side by side in our ResDiary alternative.

How does ResDiary pricing actually work and why isn't there a public price list?

ResDiary prices by quote, not by published tariff. Your fee depends on covers per month, modules you switch on, and contract length, so two similar gastropubs can be quoted different amounts. There is no price list to check before a sales call, which makes budgeting harder for a single-venue operator used to a flat rate.

The quote process step by step

You start by submitting an enquiry on ResDiary's site or booking a call. A sales rep asks about covers a week, current system, and the features you want, such as deposits, SMS reminders, or a booking widget. You then receive a written quote, usually tied to a 12-month minimum term. Expect the call before you see any number.

What ResDiary's own pages do and don't publish

ResDiary's site confirms the quote-based model and feature set, but not a starting price or per-cover figure. That gap is deliberate: it keeps negotiation room and hides the range until you're committed to a conversation.

By contrast, Sully Booking publishes its pricing openly: £29/month flat, unlimited bookings, no per-cover fees, cancel anytime — see https://sullybooking.com/pricing. If you'd rather know the number before the call, that difference matters.

What factors change the quote ResDiary gives your restaurant?

Covers per month and venue count

ResDiary prices by covers, so your monthly booking volume is the first number the sales team asks for. A 60-cover gastropub doing two Sunday lunch sittings quotes lower than a 120-cover restaurant running seven services a week. Multi-venue operators get per-diary pricing rather than a simple multiplier, so a 2-5 site group should expect a different rate per venue than a single-site independent. Volume tiers mean the same product can carry very different monthly fees between two restaurants in the same town.

Add-on modules and integrations

The base diary is rarely the whole quote. Deposits and card pre-authorisation, SMS reminders, waitlist management, and connections to your EPOS each get priced as extras, and the sales call is where those line items appear. Check which modules are bundled and which bill separately before you compare the headline figure against a flat-rate system, and read the billing and cancellation terms in ResDiary's contract documentation so you know what you are committing to. Our own pricing works the same honest way: Sully Booking is a flat £29/month with unlimited bookings, deposits, SMS reminders and a booking widget for your existing WordPress, Squarespace or Wix site included, with no contracts and cancel anytime (see our privacy terms for how booking data is handled).

What costs sit outside ResDiary's base subscription fee?

The quote you get on the phone is a starting point, not a total. Budget separately for deposits, SMS messaging, card processing, and any setup or hardware charges, because these are the line items that quietly double your effective monthly cost.

Deposits and card pre-authorisation costs

If you want deposits for Saturday covers or pre-authorisation to deter no-shows, expect to pay for the privilege. Most systems route deposits through a payment processor, and that processor charges its own transaction fees on every booking. Those fees come out of each deposit, not out of your subscription, so a busy 80-cover Saturday service costs more than a quiet Tuesday. Ask exactly what percentage and fixed fee applies per transaction, and whether pre-authorisation (holding a card without charging it) carries a separate charge. For a gastropub running deposits on Sunday lunch sittings, the annual sum across hundreds of transactions can rival a month or two of subscription.

SMS reminders and guest messaging

Automated text reminders are usually billed per message or in bundles, and they are the single most effective no-show reducer you can buy. Confirm the per-message rate and whether reminders to UK and Irish mobiles are priced the same.

Setup, training and hardware

Ask whether onboarding, floor plan configuration, or staff training carry one-off fees, and whether the system needs specific tablets or terminals. If you want a booking widget embedded in your existing WordPress, Squarespace or Wix site, confirm that is included rather than a paid add-on. Sully Booking includes the widget, deposits and unlimited bookings in its flat £29/month (https://sullybooking.com/all-in-one-booking-system), which is why the add-on question matters: a cheap headline fee with paid extras rarely stays cheap.

How does ResDiary's contract length and billing structure compare to flat-rate booking systems?

ResDiary typically quotes an annual subscription with a contracted term, so your covers per month don't change the fee, but leaving early or renegotiating means going back through sales. Flat-rate systems invert that: Sully Booking charges £29/month, no contracts, cancel anytime, with unlimited bookings and no per-cover fees.

	ResDiary (quote-based)	Sully Booking (flat rate)
Pricing	Custom quote, annual term	£29/month, published
Contract	Contracted subscription	Cancel anytime
Covers	Unlimited bookings	Unlimited bookings
Deposits & SMS	Available; some features sit in add-on modules per ResDiary's help centre	Included at the flat rate

The honest trade-off: ResDiary's add-on structure means you can buy only what a busy gastropub with Sunday lunch sittings actually uses, and its table management depth suits operators running complex floor plans. A flat-rate system bundles deposits, card pre-authorisation and a booking widget for your WordPress or Squarespace site at Sully Booking, but if you need advanced multi-sitting floor-plan controls, ask ResDiary exactly which modules your quote includes before comparing totals.

How can you estimate your real annual cost with ResDiary before requesting a quote?

Worked example: 500 covers a month, single venue

Because ResDiary does not publish a price list, your estimate has to be built from the quote factors: base subscription, optional add-ons like SMS reminders and deposits, setup fees, and contract length. Take a single-venue independent doing 500 covers a month. If the quoted base fee lands at, say, £100/month and you add SMS reminders at a per-message rate plus a one-off setup charge, a plausible first-year total sits around £1,500–£2,000. That is illustrative maths, not a ResDiary quote — the point is the structure, not the numbers.

Run the same exercise against your own volume. Multiply whatever base fee you are quoted by 12, add your realistic SMS volume (500 covers a month means roughly 500 reminder texts), and add setup. Then compare against a flat-rate alternative: Sully Booking charges £29/month flat with unlimited bookings, no per-cover fees and no contract, which is £348/year before SMS costs — so the gap you are negotiating over is concrete.

Turning the estimate into a negotiation position

Walk into the sales call with two numbers: your estimated ResDiary annual total and your flat-rate alternative. Ask ResDiary to beat it on total cost of ownership, not headline fee, and to put SMS rates and setup charges in writing. If they will not itemise, that is your answer.

What should you ask ResDiary's sales team before signing?

Quote-based pricing hides costs unless you make the sales call surface them. Ask these, and ask for each answer in writing:

• What is the total monthly fee for my covers per month, including any setup or onboarding charge?
• What is the contract length, and what notice do I need to give to cancel?
• Are SMS reminders included, or billed per message?
• What does deposit-taking or card pre-authorisation cost per booking?
• Is the booking widget for my WordPress or Squarespace site included in the base fee?
• Are there charges for floor plan changes, extra users, or support?

Compare the written total against a flat-rate alternative before you commit. Sully Booking charges a flat £29/month with unlimited bookings and no contracts, so you can cancel anytime (Sully Booking pricing). If the ResDiary quote lands meaningfully above that for a single venue, ask why.

When does ResDiary's pricing model make sense — and when does it not?

ResDiary fits best if you run a multi-venue group and need shared table management, reporting, and floor plans across sites. In that case, a quote-based contract is worth the sales call, because per-venue pricing at scale can work out cheaper than per-cover models like OpenTable (https://www.opentable.com). It also suits venues with steady, predictable covers where a fixed subscription replaces per-cover fees entirely. It makes less sense for a single-venue independent or gastropub taking 500 covers a month. A quote you can only get by phone, plus a contract term, is friction you don't need when you mostly want deposits, SMS reminders, and a booking widget on your existing site. If you'd rather pay a flat rate month to month and cancel anytime, Sully Booking does that at £29/month with unlimited bookings — and we'll say plainly that we lack ResDiary's multi-venue depth.

FAQ

How much does ResDiary cost per month for a small restaurant?

There is no published price, so a small restaurant cannot find a monthly figure without a sales call. The quote depends on your covers per month, the modules you switch on, and a typically 12-month term. For a single venue doing 500 covers a month, budget blind until the quote arrives, then check what sits outside the base fee.

Does ResDiary charge per cover or a flat fee?

Neither, exactly. ResDiary prices a custom subscription based on your covers per month, so busier venues pay more, but the fee itself is a fixed subscription rather than a charge per booking. Multi-venue groups get per-diary pricing instead of a simple multiplier, so two similar gastropubs in the same town can be quoted different monthly amounts.

Is there a ResDiary setup fee or cancellation charge?

ResDiary does not publish either figure, so both must come from the sales call. Ask specifically whether onboarding, floor plan configuration, staff training, or required hardware carry one-off charges, and what notice is needed to cancel. Get each answer in writing, because these line items are where a headline quote quietly grows into a much larger annual total.

Can I get out of a ResDiary contract early?

ResDiary typically quotes a subscription tied to a 12-month minimum term, and its published terms are the place to check the cancellation mechanics before signing. Leaving early or renegotiating means going back through sales rather than simply cancelling. Ask the sales team for the exact notice period and any early-exit charge in writing before you commit.