Last updated . Source: SnagRes availability record, 61,530,416 checks across 284 restaurants through 19 October 2026. How we measure. Open dataset.
It depends on what you will trade for the table. Free: Resy Notify, OpenTable Notify me or Tock Notify for one date on one platform. Across all four platforms: an alert service such as ReservationFinder (eight cities), TableOne or SnagRes (284 measured rooms in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago). A guaranteed slot: Dorsia or AppointmentTrader, for a fee.
OpenTable and Tock each run their own free waitlist. SnagRes watches all four platforms and a free account watches two restaurants by email.
Spot and the top DinnerElite tier try to complete the booking, and Dorsia takes requests in its own app. SnagRes, ReservationFinder, TableOne and the platform waitlists only alert you, so you book in your own name.
AppointmentTrader is a resale marketplace: another diner books the table and transfers it to you for a reward you set. SnagRes never sells or transfers reservations.
For the alert services alone, in more depth, read reservation alert services compared or the head-to-head pages for SnagRes vs ReservationFinder, SnagRes vs Table Alert, SnagRes vs TableOne, SnagRes vs TablePass, NYC RSVPs vs SnagRes and SnagRes vs TableSwap. If Resy is your platform, see the Resy Notify alternative. Before paying for a table, read what Dorsia actually sells, the case against paying resale and whether booking bots are legal. To see when each room opens its calendar, use restaurant release times.
There is no single best app, because the options trade different things for a table: your time, a credit card you may already hold, a membership fee, or cash for one booking. Start free and move down the table only if the free tools fail you.
For one date at one restaurant, use the platform's own waitlist: Resy Notify, OpenTable Notify me or Tock Notify. To watch many dates across all four booking platforms, use an alert service: ReservationFinder if you need breadth across its eight cities, SnagRes if the room you want is one of the 284 it measures. For a guaranteed prime slot on a specific night, Dorsia and AppointmentTrader can do it, at a price.
A platform waitlist only sees its own platform, and hard rooms are split across four. Of the 60 San Francisco rooms SnagRes watches, only 10 take bookings on Resy; the other 50 are on OpenTable, Tock or SevenRooms, where Resy Notify cannot see them. In New York, 28 of 84 tracked rooms are off Resy.
Across all four cities, 169 of the rooms we track book on Resy, 59 on OpenTable, 28 on Tock and 28 on SevenRooms. If your list mixes platforms, you either run four waitlists or use one service that watches all four.
SnagRes watches 284 hard-to-book rooms: 84 in New York, 60 in San Francisco, 72 in Los Angeles and 68 in Chicago. As of 19 October 2026 it had logged 61,530,416 checks of their live booking calendars, and 39 of those rooms showed no open table for two on any date at the last check.
It publishes a release rule for 88 rooms on the release times page, taken from each restaurant's own booking page. A free account watches one restaurant and emails you when it opens; rooms measured at no open tables at all need Plus. Plus is $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year, watches up to 30 and sends a text the moment a table appears. SnagRes tells you a table exists; you book it yourself, in your own name.
Every product in the table is one of four things, and the difference matters more than any feature list.
Alerts (platform waitlists, SnagRes, ReservationFinder, TableOne, TableWatch, Ez Rez): you are told a table opened and you book it yourself. Nothing acts as you, so your booking account is never at risk.
Auto-booking (Spot, DinnerElite on its top tier): the service tries to complete the booking for you. Faster in principle; automated booking breaks the major platforms' terms.
Memberships and card perks (Dorsia, Amex, Chase, Blackbird): you pay, or already pay, for access to tables other diners cannot see.
Resale (AppointmentTrader): you buy a reservation someone else made. It is the only way to name a slot and get it, and the most expensive.
We make one of the products on this page, so here is where the others win.
You want a table in a city other than New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles or Chicago: ReservationFinder lists eight cities, including Miami, Austin and Las Vegas.
You want push alerts from an app you can install today: TableOne and ReservationFinder have released iPhone apps, and ours is not out yet.
You want one date at one Resy restaurant and nothing else: Resy Notify costs nothing.
You want the booking done for you: we never book, by design. Dorsia or a booking service is the honest answer.
You need a specific prime-time slot tonight and money is no object: AppointmentTrader or Dorsia.
You already carry an Amex Platinum or Chase Sapphire Reserve: use the held tables first.
Every fact about another product comes from that product's own page, or from the named source in its row where it publishes nothing, checked on 30 September 2026; the ReservationFinder, TableOne, TableWatch and Ez Rez rows were read on 19 October 2026. Where a product does not publish something, the table says so rather than guessing. SnagRes figures come from our own measurement record and move as the data does.
We make this one. The smallest coverage in this table, because it only watches rooms it measures. What it adds is a published open rate and release rule for each of those rooms. It never books, holds or resells a table.
The first thing to try, and built into the booking flow. You pick a restaurant and date, and the alert is first come, first served, so it is not a guarantee. Source: blog.resy.com/2021/09/notify, checked 30 Sep 2026.
The same idea on OpenTable, and you still earn OpenTable points on the booking. Anyone on the list can take the table first. Source: chowhound.com, OpenTable Notify me explainer, checked 30 Sep 2026.
Better than a blast in one way: the restaurant can offer an opening first to guests it has tagged, such as regulars. Source: exploretock.com, Notify waitlist tool page, checked 30 Sep 2026.
The closest match to SnagRes, and wider: eight cities, plus City Alerts across a whole city on Pro. Paid after a 7-day trial that needs a card; annual price not published. Source: reservationfinder.io and apps.apple.com/us/app/id6767201437, as of 19 October 2026.
Free (1 watch per 30 days); credits from $2.99; unlimited $24.99/mo or $89.99/yr
An iPhone app (Android "not yet") from tablewatch.io. You tap the time and finish on Resy or OpenTable. A separate web service, Table Watch at table-watch.onrender.com, texts New York alerts from $149.99 a year. Source: tablewatch.io, apps.apple.com/us/app/id6761446213 and table-watch.onrender.com, as of 19 October 2026.
Alarms you before a scheduled release rather than watching for cancellations: 10 minutes, 2 minutes and live, with priority alarms through Focus. Tracks 70+ New York restaurants; iPhone only (iOS 26 or later). Source: apps.apple.com/us/app/id6762331450, as of 19 October 2026.
Held prime-time tables and early access that other diners cannot see. Only worth it if you already carry an eligible card. Sources: insidehook.com and joinpearl.co, checked 30 Sep 2026.
Reserved tables at restaurants picked with The Infatuation, plus a dining credit. Only worth it if you already carry the card. Source: chase.com Sapphire Reserve page, checked 30 Sep 2026.
Can seat you on a night that shows nothing on Resy, if you prepay a demand-priced minimum spend that counts toward the bill. Source: dorsia.com/faq, checked 30 Sep 2026.
A cheap New York alert option with a human booking service on its top tier. Source: peerpush.com/p/dinnerelite, checked 30 Sep 2026.
Watches the same four platforms we do, with a released iPhone and iPad app. Says it "does not reserve a table on your behalf", and its Fulfillment Policy says fees are non-refundable once charged. Source: tableone.app/pricing, tableone.app/how-it-works and tableone.app/fulfillment, as of 19 October 2026.
Not an alert tool. Regulars who climb its tiers get priority reservation requests at 100+ member restaurants. Source: thepointsguy.com, 10 Sep 2026.
Keep reading: Alert services in depth · When every room releases · What Plus includes
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SnagRes checks 284 hard-to-book restaurants across four cities and alerts you when one opens. Watching one is free and no card is needed: watch a table free in New York City, or last-minute tables in NYC tonight, or see the hardest tables right now.