SnagRes is an alert-only service that publishes measured, timestamped availability data, charges no per-booking fee and never books on your behalf. It covers New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago across Resy, OpenTable, Tock and SevenRooms. The table below compares it with TableOne, reservationfinder, TableSwap, Dorsia, Resy Notify and OpenTable Waitlist.
| Feature | SnagRes | TableOne | reservationfinder | TableSwap | Dorsia | Resy Notify | OpenTable Waitlist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | Free tier; $14.99/mo Plus | $18/mo or $129/yr; no free tier published | $9.99/mo (4 spots) to $19.99/mo (10) | $25/mo + fee per booking | Prepaid minimum spend | Free | Free |
| Platforms covered | Resy, OpenTable, Tock, SevenRooms | Resy, OpenTable, Tock, SevenRooms | Resy, OpenTable, Tock, SevenRooms | Resy, OpenTable, SevenRooms | Its own opt-in inventory | Resy only | OpenTable only |
| Alert channels | Email + instant SMS | Push (iPhone app) | Not published | Not published | N/A (booking app) | In-app / push | In-app / push |
| Per-booking fee | None | None published | None | Yes (~$75 per booking) | Prepaid minimum spend | None | None |
| Books the table for you (ToS / ban risk) | No, alert only | No, alert only | No, alert only | No, alert + fee | Yes, paid opt-in venues | No, waitlist | No, waitlist |
| Cities | NYC, SF, LA, Chicago | Not published | 8 cities | Worldwide | Select major cities | All Resy cities | All OpenTable cities |
| Measured availability data | Yes, timestamped | Not published | No | No | No | No | No |
SnagRes never books, holds, or resells a reservation; it tells you the moment a table opens and links you to the restaurant's own booking page to finish the reservation yourself. Because a person books normally after the alert, there is no account-ban risk: automated booking and reservation resale breach the major platforms' terms of service, and SnagRes sits outside that category entirely.
A SnagRes Plus subscription is a flat $14.99 per month no matter how many tables you land, and the free tier costs nothing. Marketplace-style services such as TableSwap charge a fee for each successful booking, so their cost climbs the more they work. Dorsia guarantees a table but only at opt-in restaurants and in exchange for a prepaid minimum spend.
SnagRes is the only service in this comparison that publishes a measured availability dataset: how much of the booking window is typically open at each restaurant, when tables actually drop, and which nights are softest, each stated with the sample size behind it. Alert-only competitors notify you when a table appears but do not publish data like this.
Where SnagRes is the wrong choice: if you eat in a city it does not cover, a wider-geography service like reservationfinder serves you better; if you want a service that books the table for you, that is a different product with account risk attached; and if you only ever want one Resy restaurant on one date, Resy Notify is free.
The in-depth alert-services guide · What is Dorsia? · New York tracker · San Francisco tracker · What Plus includes
It depends on the city and how much control you want to keep. SnagRes is an alert-only tracker for New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago. It emails or texts you when a table opens and never books on your behalf. Coverage spans Resy, OpenTable, Tock and SevenRooms, with the exact mix listed on each city page.
Both are alert-only monitoring services and neither books for you. reservationfinder covers more cities. SnagRes focuses on 285 restaurants in four cities, lets you browse current availability without an account and publishes measured release schedules and availability percentages.
No. SnagRes tells you the instant a table opens and links you to the restaurant's own booking page, where you complete the reservation yourself. It never logs into your accounts, never holds or resells tables, and never auto-books, so there is no account-ban risk attached to using it.
Automated booking of reservations breaches the terms of service of the major platforms and is the category most likely to get an account flagged or banned, and resale of reservations is separately restricted in several jurisdictions. SnagRes sits outside that category because a human books the table normally after the alert.
Not with SnagRes: Plus is a flat $14.99 a month regardless of how many tables you land, and the free tier costs nothing. By contrast TableSwap charges a subscription plus a fee of roughly $75 for each successful booking, so its cost scales with how often it works.
Dorsia is a paid app that guarantees hard-to-book tables in exchange for a prepaid minimum spend at the restaurant. It books the table for you, but only at restaurants that opt in, and you commit to a spending floor rather than paying menu prices. SnagRes instead watches the normal free platforms and tells you when an ordinary table opens with no minimum.
New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago. SnagRes currently tracks 284 restaurants across those cities. Platform coverage is listed separately on every city page.
SnagRes records repeated availability observations, so it can report how much of the booking window was open at a restaurant, when tables drop, and which nights have been softest, each stated with the sample size behind it. Those are timestamped measurements from its own history. Alert-only competitors notify you when a table appears but do not publish a measured dataset like this.