Resy vs SevenRooms vs OpenTable: When Reservations Open on Each

“When do reservations open?” has three different answers depending on which system the restaurant runs. Resy, SevenRooms, and OpenTable structure their books in genuinely different ways — reservations open on different schedules, in different places you even look — and knowing which game a restaurant is playing is half of getting the table. Here’s how each one works, as of July 2026.

Resy — the synchronized opening

Resy is the home of the classic synchronized opening: each restaurant opens dates a fixed number of days ahead at a fixed time of day — 10am ET being the NYC default, with windows commonly between two weeks and a month (always stated on the venue’s Resy page). For hard rooms this creates the sharpest competition in the industry: everyone who wants the date arrives at the same second and races. Full anatomy in when Resy reservations open — and its alert product, Notify, has a structural problem we covered in its own guide. Resy is where most of NYC’s lottery-grade rooms live: Carbone, 4 Charles, Tatiana, Torrisi, Semma.

OpenTable — the rolling window

OpenTable venues more often run a rolling window: the restaurant decides how far out it accepts bookings — commonly somewhere from a few weeks to a few months — and each new day becomes bookable as the calendar advances, rather than in one synchronized morning event. The consequence: less of a stampede, more of a steady drip. Winning on OpenTable is less about a 10:00:00 reflex and more about checking early in the window and watching for the cancellation churn, which flows all day. (Venues vary — some do open dates all at once at a set time — so check the specific restaurant’s booking page.)

SevenRooms — the venue-run book

SevenRooms is the quiet one: rather than a central marketplace app, it powers the restaurant’s own booking page — the “Reserve” button on the venue’s website. When tables open is whatever the restaurant configures, and there’s no single feed to monitor. This has two practical effects. First, some very hard rooms (COTE, for instance) feel invisible because people only look in the Resy app. Second, demand is spread out: fewer people camp a venue’s own site, so persistence pays better here than anywhere. Know which of your targets are SevenRooms rooms — it’s free edge.

The cross-platform truths

• Cancellations behave the same everywhere: unpredictable hours, tiny audiences, first-seen-first-served. The quiet path in on all three.
• The platform tells you where to look, not how hard it is. A 40-seat room is brutal on any system; the platform just decides whether you lose in a synchronized race (Resy), a rolling drip (OpenTable), or a page nobody knew to check (SevenRooms).
• 2-tops, weeknights, and the bar out-perform on every platform, for the same supply reasons — the full stack is in the NYC guide.

Watching all three at once

The practical problem is that your shortlist spans systems: your Carbone is on Resy, your COTE is on SevenRooms, your neighborhood anniversary spot is on OpenTable. SeatSwiper watches all three — it monitors the exact table you want on whichever platform the restaurant uses and books the instant one appears, on your own account, in your name. First booking free, then a flat $5 only when it wins you the seat.