"Tell me the restaurant and I'll tell you the app," a concierge said when I asked which platform to install. "The room picks the platform, not the other way round."

That is the most useful thing anyone has told me about restaurant booking. There is no single best app. OpenTable, Resy and Tock each own a different slice of the market, and a fourth name, SevenRooms, runs quietly underneath the ones diners never choose to install. Pick the platform by the table you want, not by which icon is already on your phone. Here is what each one is actually good at.

The one-line answer

OpenTable is the widest net and the easiest to use, but it skews to mid-tier and big-volume rooms. Resy owns United States prime-time, especially in New York, and runs the timed drops and notify lists that decide the buzzy tables. Tock was built for prepaid tasting menus and is where many of the hardest rooms in the world actually live. SevenRooms is the one you book on the restaurant's own website without realising it is a platform at all. Match the app to the room and you stop fighting the wrong system.

OpenTable: breadth and points

OpenTable has the largest network and the simplest flow: search, tap, confirm, earn Dining Rewards points you can redeem later. For booking widely across a city, or finding a good table tonight, nothing beats it. What it is not is the home of the hardest tasting counters. The truly scarce rooms either moved to ticketing or book direct, because OpenTable's open-table model does not solve no-shows the way prepayment does. Use OpenTable for range and for points, not for the table everyone is chasing.

Resy: US prime-time and the drop

Resy, owned by American Express, is strongest in the United States and especially New York, and it is where prime-time tables are won. Two features matter. The notify waitlist, which alerts you when a table opens, and the timed drop, where a venue releases its calendar at a set hour on a set day. Carbone, the Major Food Group room in Greenwich Village, and 4 Charles Prime Rib, the unmarked steakhouse nearby, are the classic Resy-drop tables: you set an alarm for the release and book in the first minute. If you dine mostly in US cities, Resy is the app to master.

Tock: prepaid tasting menus and the hardest rooms

Tock was built around prepaid ticketing, and that design is why so many of the world's hardest tables run on it. You buy a ticket or pay a deposit at the time of booking, which kills the no-show problem and lets a small kitchen plan its night to the cover. Alinea, Grant Achatz's three-Michelin-star room in Chicago, has long sold its seats this way, and Saison in San Francisco sits in the same prepaid world. If the restaurant is a serious tasting menu, check Tock before anything else, and remember the deposit is usually non-refundable.

SevenRooms: the platform you don't choose

SevenRooms is the one diners never set out to use. Restaurants run it behind their own websites for booking and guest management, so when a two-star room says "reserve on our site," you are very often using SevenRooms without seeing the name. The lesson is practical: for the hardest rooms, the restaurant's own booking page is a real channel, not a dead end, and it sometimes shows tables the big apps do not.

Which app books the best rooms?

The honest hierarchy: the scarcest tasting counters are on Tock or book direct; US prime-time and the buzziest tables are on Resy; breadth, convenience and points are OpenTable. If you only learn one platform, learn the one that matches where and how you eat. A New York prime-time diner lives on Resy; a tasting-menu pilgrim lives on Tock; a frequent traveller who wants a good table in any city keeps OpenTable.

The workaround for each

Every platform has one lever worth knowing. On OpenTable, set availability alerts and aim off-peak, since its breadth means cancellations surface constantly. On Resy, combine a Notify alert with the exact drop time and book in the first sixty seconds. On Tock, watch the release calendar and pounce on returned prepaid seats, which are gold because a refunded ticket means a real opening. For direct and SevenRooms bookings, email the GM with a specific, dated request; a human holds inventory the public calendar does not.

Not for

Do not rely on OpenTable for the hardest tasting menus; the rooms you are chasing left it for Tock or their own site years ago. And do not expect a Tock deposit to behave like an OpenTable booking; ticketed seats are frequently non-refundable, so only buy when you are certain of the date. Using the wrong platform for the table is the most common reason people conclude a room is impossible when it is merely on a different app.

Booking outside the United States

The three apps do not divide the world evenly. OpenTable and Resy are strongest across the United States and the United Kingdom, while Tock travels well wherever serious tasting menus do, because prepaid ticketing solves the same no-show problem in any currency. The trap is assuming those three cover everywhere. Across much of Asia and continental Europe the hardest rooms book on their own websites or on regional platforms, and many of those sites run on SevenRooms underneath. In Hong Kong, Bo Innovation takes its bookings by direct email rather than any consumer app. In Singapore, Cloudstreet books through its own site and a concierge line. Regional systems such as TableCheck in Japan, Chope and Oddle across Southeast Asia, and Quandoo and TheFork in parts of Europe carry rooms the big three never list. The practical rule when you travel: search the restaurant's own website first, because that is where the real calendar lives, and treat OpenTable, Resy and Tock as the fallback rather than the assumption. Booking the wrong platform for the city is the most common reason a perfectly available table looks impossible from abroad.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between OpenTable, Resy and Tock?

OpenTable is the largest, easiest network and rewards points, best for breadth and convenience. Resy, owned by American Express, owns United States prime-time and runs the timed drops and notify lists for buzzy tables. Tock is built for prepaid tasting menus and hosts many of the world's hardest rooms. Each suits a different kind of table, so match the app to the room.

Which booking app has the best restaurants?

It depends on the room. The scarcest tasting counters, such as Alinea in Chicago, are on Tock or book direct. United States prime-time and the buzziest tables, such as Carbone in New York, are on Resy. OpenTable has the broadest selection of strong everyday and mid-tier rooms. There is no single best app; the best one is whichever matches where you actually dine.

Is Resy or OpenTable better for hard reservations?

Resy is better for hard United States tables, especially in New York, because it runs the timed drops and notify waitlists that decide prime-time seats. OpenTable is better for breadth and for finding a good table at short notice, but the very hardest tasting rooms have largely left it. For a buzzy drop table, learn Resy; for range, keep OpenTable.

Why do restaurants use Tock instead of OpenTable?

Tock was built around prepaid ticketing, so guests buy a ticket or leave a deposit when they book. That design eliminates no-shows and lets a small tasting kitchen plan its night to the exact cover, which is why rooms like Alinea and Saison use it. The trade-off for diners is that ticketed seats are often non-refundable, so only book when your date is firm.

What is SevenRooms?

SevenRooms is a reservation and guest-management platform that restaurants run behind their own websites, so diners use it without choosing it by name. When a high-end room asks you to reserve on its own site, you are frequently using SevenRooms. The practical takeaway is that a restaurant's own booking page is a genuine channel and sometimes shows tables the big apps do not.

Do you need to pay upfront on Tock?

Often, yes. Tock is built around prepaid ticketing, so many tasting-menu restaurants charge the full menu price or a deposit at the time of booking. This is how they prevent no-shows. The deposit or ticket is frequently non-refundable, though some venues allow you to resell or transfer your seat, so check each restaurant's specific cancellation policy before you pay.

Which restaurant booking app should I install?

Install the one that matches how you eat. A New York or United States prime-time diner should master Resy for its drops and notify lists. A tasting-menu traveller should use Tock, where the hardest rooms live. A frequent traveller who wants a reliable good table in any city should keep OpenTable for its breadth and points. Many serious diners keep all three.

Restaurants for Kings may earn a commission on bookings made through partner reservation links. Our rankings, scores and verdicts are editorial and never paid for.