Alternative To ResDiary

BookingNinja is a modern cost effective alternative to ResDiary - created by vetrans of the Hospitality industry

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BookingNinja

Why BookingNinja is Better

BookingNinja's Trustpilot 5★:
96%
ResDiary:
57%
Cost (750 bookings): £49.00
ResDiary: £372.00 Based on 750 bookings with £20 per booking
BookingNinja Commission Fee: None
ResDiary: 1%

Ready to Switch from ResDiary?

Join thousands of venues who've made the switch to BookingNinja for better features and lower costs!

No credit card required 15-minute setup

Highlighted Features

Booking Notifications

Get alerted to changes in your bookings by email, SMS or webhooks, so you don't have to stay glued to a screen all day.

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Configure Your Experienece

Disable and enable features from your main booking views and internal booking process and pick only what you want you and your team to see.

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Manage Customers With Our CRM

Gather helpful information on your customers that extends beyond a single booking, take internal notes and see helpful stats and information on a single, searchable database.

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Sell Gift Cards Commission Free

With over 25% of Gift Cards never redeemed, unlock a new profitable revenue stream by selling gift cards direct.

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Allow Customers to Pick Their Booking Duration, and Charge Per Time Interval

Let customers define how long their booking will last for, ensuring your at your maximal capacity and they get the session they need.

Learn more

We started BookingNinja because we founded our own cafe here in England, and were disappointed with the reliability, quality and high pricing of the big name booking platforms.

But why else should you consider us over ResDiary?

#1 - BookingNinja is Cheaper and Clearer About Pricing

Like many online booking platforms, ResDiary has a really long, detailed pricing page that tells you everything... except the actual price of the service. But we can save you the effort - we've had plenty of customers moving over from ResDiary and it's unlikely even the smallest venue would be paying less than £100 a month. 

Our pricing for our starter plan is £49.95, or half of that, and we both offer commission free, unlimited bookings for that price. But that's just on the basic monthly cost, which with ResDiary, is only the start of your charges...

#2 - BookingNinja's Cheapest Plan Offers Way More Features - At No Extra Cost 

At ResDiary, everything costs extra. Basic booking features, like taking a deposit? Extra cost. Group reservations? Extra cost. Gift cards? You guessed it -- time to get out the wallet. Those aren't "add-ons" at BookingNinja, they're basic features that help you manage and grow your business via your booking form, so we include them even in our cheapest package, with no added extra charge. 

So in addition to charging double our rates for the basic service, you'll also be paying an additional £150 in "add-ons" just to get back to the same level of features we offer on even our cheapest service.

#3 - BookingNinja Doesn't Lock You Into Contracts 

Neither did ResDiary... until recently, when they started locking people who wanted to leave into restrictive notice periods. At BookingNinja, we don't and never will lock you into a contract with us. 

We find it easier and more profitable to make a high quality booking platform that our venues don't ever considering leaving, rather than spending time making sure they can't.

#4 - BookingNinja Maintains a Much Higher Customer Rating

Our Trustpilot score is, at the time of writing, 4.5 out of 5 with zero one star reviews. Meanwhile, 46% of ResDiary's reviews are one star, that's nearly half of everyone reviewing thier service giving them the lowest possible rating.

We'd summarise the reviews for you, but it'll be much easier for you to check them out yourself.

Perhaps ResDiary would benefit from our customer feedback features for our venues. which let you direct lower score reviews onto our platform while sending customers rating you higher directly to public review sites.

#5 - You Can Sign Up to BookingNinja, For Free, Right Now 

Ultimately, everyone wants you to use their service, right?But unlike ResDiary, you actually can use BookingNinja! Register a free account without any card details, and you'll be able to access all of our features and having a booking form live in less than five minutes, so you can see for yourself if we live up to our words. Or you could try out ResDiary.All you'll need to do is send them your details, wait several days for a sales person to arrange a meeting, sit on a sales call without any hands on with the software, and then enter into a contract up front... easy...


Plans & Pricing

We're comparing plans that allow for 750 bookings per a month. Additional plans may be available.
ResDiary Pro

Plan Details Comparison

RECOMMENDED

BookingNinja BookingNinja

Monthly Cost
£49.00
Included Bookings
Unlimited
Commission Fee
None
Per Booking Fee
None
Setup Cost
Free
ResDiary Pro

ResDiary

Monthly Cost
£222.00
Included Bookings
1,000
Commission Fee
1%
Per Booking Fee
None
Setup Cost
£99.00

Cost Comparison Example

Let's compare the cost of processing 500 bookings at £20 each (£10,000 total revenue):

BookingNinja
  • Monthly plan: £49.00
  • Per booking fee: £0.00
  • Commission: £0.00
  • Total Cost: £49.00
ResDiary
  • Monthly plan: £222.00
  • Per booking fee: £0.00
  • Commission (1%): £100.00
  • Total Cost: £322.00

Unlock a wealth of powerful features, designed and built based on real feedback from venue owners worldwide.

BookingNinja's transparent pricing means you pay one flat fee with no per-booking fees or commissions.

Important: Sometimes providers make it incredibly hard to find their pricing. Our estimates above are based on publically available data

Feature Comparison

Feature ResDiary BookingNinja
Allow Customers to Pick Their Booking Duration, and Charge Per Time Interval

Let customers define how long their booking will last for, ensuring your at your maximal capacity and they get the session they need.

Included
Communal Dining & Same Table Seating

Communal dining experiences are growing ever popular, and with BookingNinja your venue or events can support same table seating!

Included
Create Seperate Floors & Areas

Take bookings for separate areas, for example indoor and outdoor seating - and put your guests in control of their experience.

Included
Included
Custom Terms & Conditions

Ask customers to agree to your booking terms before they can complete their booking

Included
Group Together Guests with Group Codes

Got limited tables and often find groups are booking independently from each other using those tables up? Group codes allows people to join their friends booking.

Included
Have Bookings Ready to Jump In to Cancellations with Wait Lists.

Turn "fully booked" into future revenue. Smart Waitlist automatically captures customers for specific time slots and notifies them instantly when tables open up. Recover lost restaurant bookings effortlessly.

Included
Included
Industry leading Customer Service

Customer service that protects your business, and emergency support offered as standard and team members who can help achieve your (booking related) dreams.

Included
Require Email Confirmation To Accept Bookings

Stop mass fake bookings by requiring and confirming contact details during booking.

Included
Send Marketing Emails Directly

Use already collected customer email and phone numbers to send customised marketing messages to encourage visits.

Included
Set Customistable Guest & Ticket Types

Specify different types of guests, like adults and children, create unique tickets for events, and set custom rules based on every ticket to run a dynamic event business.

Included
Take Payments During Booking

Using Stripe and thier powerful and secure checkout, we can take payments and deposits online using Google Pay, Apple Pay, and more.

Included
Included

Additional Cost Features

Feature ResDiary BookingNinja
Sell Gift Cards Commission Free
Extra Cost
£35.00 (Fixed)
Included
SMS Confirmations & Reminders
Extra Cost
£10.00 (Fixed)
Included
Take Pre-Orders Online
Extra Cost
£45.00 (Fixed)
Included

A Booking Platform for 2025, not 1995

Escape the clutches of antiquated booking platforms with their locked-in contracts and high fees. Go independent with BookingNinja and experience true power and flexibility.

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