Favouritetable

Favouritetable is a restaurant-management system for cafés, bars, pubs, restaurants and hotels that want bookings connected to service and guest-marketing tools. Its strongest case is for venues that can use more than a reservations diary; the free tier’s 30-booking limit and exclusivity condition make it a constrained starting point.

Overview

Bookings can come through a venue’s website, Google listing or social profiles, then enter a live diary that updates availability in real time. Subscription plans have unlimited bookings without commission, a clear advantage for busy venues that prefer a set monthly software cost to a charge on each reservation.

The scope extends to table operations, payments, ordering and marketing. That breadth may reduce the need to piece together separate tools, but the plan ladder matters: FT LITE is a one-user reservations entry point, while table management and the visual floor plan start at FT Pro.

Key features

Reservations and service

The booking diary sits alongside guest management, reporting, capacity optimization and a waiting list. Deposits or prepayment and automated reminders are supported. These functions suit operators balancing covers and changes to bookings; venues that need table planning should look beyond FT LITE to FT Pro or a higher tier.

Ordering and marketing

Favouritetable supports menu pre-orders, takeaway, collection, delivery and contactless order-and-pay at the table. FT Online Ordering bundles pre-ordering and collection and delivery management with capacity management, customer communications and promotions, inventory, payments and reports. It is a more focused choice than FT Pro for a venue prioritizing orders over table-management features.

At the upper end, CRM, customer segmentation, email and SMS campaigns, re-targeting and review management broaden the system into guest marketing. FT Ultimo includes email, SMS and WhatsApp marketing, CRM and EPOS integrations, as well as a waiting list and pre-ordering. Its larger toolkit will be excessive for a venue that only needs a basic diary.

Integrations and support

Integrations include TISSL, Lightspeed, Stripe, Mailchimp, SquareMeal, Facebook, Reserve with Google, Deliverect, Stuart and First Table. Software partners can connect through Favouritetable’s API or their own. Customers own their guest data and can export it; the pricing page also includes a GDPR-compliance opt-in.

Support is UK-based, with phone, email, chat, documentation and training, plus a 24/7 free support line. The system works on web-enabled devices, including phones, tablets, laptops and desktops.

Pricing

Favouritetable is freemium, with paid plans priced per month and prices excluding VAT. The free option and pay-as-you-go tier avoid a monthly subscription, but carry distinct conditions.

• FT Free: £ Free for life*. It allows up to 30 online bookings per month, with a web-based reservations diary and onboarding included; it is contract-free. Favouritetable must be the sole and exclusive booking provider and integrated with the website, and other terms apply. The booking cap and exclusivity make this best for a low-volume venue willing to route all bookings through one provider.
• FT LITE: £69 per month, excluding VAT. One user gets unlimited commission-free bookings. It is aimed at smaller cafés, coffee shops, bars and small restaurants, but the single-user limit and narrower feature scope are drawbacks for teams needing shared access or table-management tools.
• FT Online Ordering: £99 per month, excluding VAT. It adds menu pre-ordering, collection and delivery management, capacity management, customer communications and promotions, inventory, payments and reports. It fits venues whose priority is managing orders as well as bookings.
• FT Pro: £129 per month, excluding VAT. It provides unlimited users, multi-site support, table management, a visual floor plan and capacity optimization. Medium-size single-site independent pubs or restaurants are its stated audience; operators needing these service tools avoid the one-user ceiling of FT LITE.
• FT Ultimo: £199 per month, excluding VAT. Unlimited users, a waiting list, pre-ordering, email, SMS and WhatsApp marketing, CRM and EPOS integrations target large single-site restaurants and small groups. The higher price is most defensible when those operational and marketing features will be used.
• FT Flex: custom pricing on a pay-as-you-go basis, with no monthly fee and unlimited bookings from just £2 per cover. It includes a web-based reservations diary and onboarding, is contract-free, and terms apply. The per-cover charge may suit venues avoiding a subscription, but differs from the commission-free subscription plans.

Platforms

Favouritetable supports Android, iOS and web. Its device support spans smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops with web access.

Who it's for

The product is designed for cafés, coffee shops, bars, pubs, restaurants, groups and hotels. It is a good fit for operators wanting reservations tied to ordering or service management, especially where unlimited subscription bookings and commission-free reservations matter. A small venue needing only a few monthly bookings could begin with FT Free if it accepts the exclusive-provider condition; teams requiring multiple users or multi-site support should consider FT Pro or FT Ultimo. Venues seeking only a basic booking diary without that commitment may prefer to compare alternatives.

Pros and cons

• Pro: Subscription plans offer unlimited bookings without commission, which makes costs independent of reservation volume.
• Pro: Booking channels, table operations, ordering, payments and marketing can sit within one system, with integrations and API access for partner software.
• Pro: Data ownership and export, alongside a range of support channels and a 24/7 free support line, give operators practical control and help options.
• Con: FT Free caps online bookings at 30 a month and requires Favouritetable to be the exclusive booking provider with website integration.
• Con: FT LITE permits only one user and does not include the table-management and visual-floor-plan features shown for FT Pro.
• Con: Paid-plan prices exclude VAT, and FT Flex charges from £2 per cover rather than offering the subscription plans’ no-commission booking model.

Alternatives

For a broader comparison, browse Restaurant Reservation Software.

• Anolla is worth considering for a free basic online reservation system, with paid features activated as needed; it also offers a free trial.
• Resos offers a free plan and a Basic tier with 350 bookings per month and paid add-ons after 30 days, which may suit a venue that prefers a stated monthly booking allowance over Favouritetable’s unlimited subscription bookings.
• simpleERB may suit a venue seeking a free trial with 250 covers, no credit card and no commitment.
• MyResApp has a permanently free offer for the first 5,000 qualifying restaurants, making it an option for eligible venues comparing no-cost software.
• TabTake Reservations has a free Direct plan for one location and up to 150 orders per month, but reservations are excluded from that plan; consider it when ordering rather than bookings is the immediate need.
• Tableo offers a free trial and an Organise plan with unlimited bookings, three user accounts and website, Google, Facebook and Instagram channels; it may suit venues prioritizing those channels and a defined user allowance.
• CentralPlanner is another freemium option for web, iOS and Android.
• Eat App is another freemium option for web, iOS and Android.

Verdict

Favouritetable is best for hospitality operators who want commission-free subscription bookings connected to broader ordering, table operations or guest marketing. The decisive reason to choose it is that operational breadth; the strongest reasons to look elsewhere are FT Free’s tight cap and exclusivity, the one-user FT LITE plan, or a preference for a simpler reservations-only option.