What a fee per head actually costs you.

Per-cover pricing looks small on a quiet Tuesday and enormous in December. Put your own numbers in — the method is shown below, nothing is hidden, and nothing leaves your browser.

No sign-up Nothing sent anywhere No cookies Method shown in full

Covers a week 400

1001,500

Booked through the platform 60%

10%100%

Fee per cover £1.50

£0.50£2.50

Their monthly subscription £249

£0£500

Cover fees12,480 covers a year carrying a fee£18,720

Subscription12 months£2,988

Cost per booked coverall in, before anybody has cooked£1.74

A year on the platform

£21,708

At 400 covers a week. A flat fee doesn't move when you have a good month — this does.

Have a 10% better year and this becomes £23,580. The busier you get, the more you pay for getting busier.

The whole method

annual covers = covers per week × 52 × platform share
cover fees = annual covers × fee per cover
total = cover fees + (monthly subscription × 12)

Four numbers, two multiplications, no adjustment factor and no assumption you cannot see. It runs in your browser and there is nothing else to it — which is the point, because most vendor calculators exist to produce a number rather than to be checked.

Before you trust the answer

Four things worth checking on your own statement.

The calculator is only as good as what you put in, and the input people guess at hardest is the second one.

What share genuinely comes through the platform

Not what share is booked on it — what share is people who found you on it. Most platforms report these separately, usually under a heading about network or discovery covers. Many independents find the majority of their platform bookings are their own regulars going through a link on their own website, and carrying a fee for the privilege.

Whether there is a second fee

Some platforms charge a higher rate for covers sourced from their network and a lower one for covers from your own site. Some have added percentage fees on transactions. Take a real month's invoice rather than the rate card.

What the subscription actually is

Base tier plus modules, plus anything charged per terminal or per user. The line labelled "subscription" on your statement is often not the whole of it.

What December looks like, not the average

Per-cover pricing is at its most expensive exactly when you are busiest. Run the calculator once at your average week and once at your best, and the second number is the one that tells you what the model costs you.

Worth knowing

Two things that happened while restaurants were working.

Neither is speculation. Both change what a per-cover contract is actually worth.

A fee was added to fees

OpenTable introduced a 2% service fee on transactions in early 2026 — applied to things including deposits and no-show charges that the restaurant set up, not the platform. It arrived mid-contract, and a number of operators first heard about it from their own guests rather than from their provider.

A platform closed

Quandoo is closing to UK restaurants at the end of 2026. Everyone on it is migrating this year whether or not this was the year they had planned to change systems, and whatever their contract said.

Neither of those is captured by any calculator, including this one. They are the argument for caring who owns your provider as much as what they charge.

About this tool

Fair questions.

How is the figure calculated?

Covers per week multiplied by 52, multiplied by the share booked through the platform, gives annual covers carrying a fee. That is multiplied by the fee per cover and added to twelve months of subscription. No assumptions are hidden and no adjustment is applied — it is four numbers and two multiplications, done in your browser.

Is anything sent anywhere?

No. The calculation runs entirely in your browser. There is no form, no sign-up, no cookie and no submission. Close the tab and nothing about your visit exists anywhere.

What share of covers actually comes through the platform?

It varies enormously and it is the number most worth checking rather than guessing. Many independents assume a platform brings most of their covers and find, on inspection, that the majority came from their own website, their own regulars and word of mouth — and carried a fee anyway. Your platform's own reporting will tell you, usually under a heading about network or discovery covers.

Doesn't the fee buy me diners I wouldn't otherwise have?

Sometimes, genuinely. A diner network has real value if a meaningful share of your covers are people who found you on the platform rather than people who already knew you. The point of the share slider is to separate those two groups. If most of your platform covers are guests who would have booked with you anyway, you are paying a fee on demand you created yourself.