Last updated . Source: SnagRes availability record, 61,530,416 checks across 284 restaurants through 19 October 2026. How we measure. Open dataset.
It is more. Whether it is better depends on whether the room you want is in our 284, and whether you want a measured record of it. Coverage and measurement are a trade; nobody offers both yet.
It does not publish that. SnagRes does not book, ever, which is why we can publish our record and why New York's reservation-resale law does not apply to us.
Table Alert says every few seconds; SnagRes rechecks continuously with the busiest rooms every 10 to 30 seconds. Either is faster than a table lasts.
Table Alert: Advertises 62,198 restaurants. Platforms: Resy, OpenTable, Tock, SevenRooms, TableCheck and more. Price: Not published. Books on your behalf: Not published. Trial: Not published.
SnagRes: 284 restaurants in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago. Platforms: Resy, OpenTable, Tock, SevenRooms. Price: free for one restaurant, Plus $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year. Books on your behalf: never. Measured record: 61,530,416 availability checks, with a published open rate, release hour and slot pattern for every room.
Table Alert's bet is coverage: watch everything, so whatever room you name is already on the list. By its own published number that is 62,198 restaurants, roughly 430 times our list. If breadth is what you need, that is the case for it, and we will not argue with the arithmetic.
Our bet is measurement: watch fewer rooms for long enough to say what each one does. 61,530,416 logged availability checks across 284 restaurants, and for every one a published open rate for two and four, the release hour, the earliest and latest time that ever appears, and how much of what opens is prime time. A service watching 62,198 restaurants cannot publish that about any of them, because the record does not exist yet.
With Table Alert you set the alert and wait. With SnagRes you set the alert knowing whether waiting is realistic: 4 Charles Prime Rib opened for two on 0% of dates we checked, so the alert is the only route in; Via Carota opens on 0% of dates but never at prime time, so the table you will be offered is a 3pm. Knowing that before you wait is the product.
The other difference is the time. Table Alert says it rechecks every few seconds. We recheck continuously and the busiest rooms every 10 to 30 seconds. On a table that lasts under a minute, both get you the text; neither gets you the table if you do not tap it.
Table Alert does not publish a price, a trial, or whether it books on your behalf. We have listed those as not published rather than guess. SnagRes is free for one restaurant, Plus at $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year, and has never booked a table for anyone.
Any restaurant outside New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Chicago, and inside them, any room that is not one of our 284. That covers most of the world, and we would rather you know it.
One of the 284 hardest rooms in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles or Chicago, and a wish to know the odds before you wait on them.
Is 62,198 restaurants better than 284? It is more. Whether it is better depends on whether the room you want is in our 284, and whether you want a measured record of it. Coverage and measurement are a trade; nobody offers both yet.
Does Table Alert book for me? It does not publish that. SnagRes does not book, ever, which is why we can publish our record and why New York's reservation-resale law does not apply to us.
Which is faster? Table Alert says every few seconds; SnagRes rechecks continuously with the busiest rooms every 10 to 30 seconds. Either is faster than a table lasts.
One restaurant free, no card. SnagRes alerts you and never books.
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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.