ResDiary was built in Edinburgh by people who clearly understand what a Saturday night feels like from behind the pass. Its pacing and availability tools are the reason venues stay with it: you can shape when covers land, protect the kitchen from four twelve tops at the same minute, and squeeze another sitting out of a room without the service falling apart. It takes no commission on your bookings and it publishes its Australian prices on its own site, which is more than most of this category manages. This is the same POS system comparison we run for every vendor, applied to a diary.
Pacing is a craft and they are better at it than we are
We are not going to pretend otherwise. Yield, access rules and pacing are ResDiary's whole trade and they have been refining them for years. Allvio runs sessions, trading hours and availability that respect staff leave, holds a waitlist, and takes a deposit at the time of booking. What Allvio does not have is a drag and drop floor plan designer, and it does not yet charge a no show or a late cancellation fee automatically. If your Saturday depends on either of those, that is a real reason to stay where you are, and you should weigh it before you read another word.
Saturday: the kitchen swaps the second course on a prepaid menu
The fish did not arrive, so the second course becomes something else. Fourteen guests have already paid for the old version. Watch how far that one decision travels. The set menu on the booking side changes first, and on ResDiary's own published plans set menu and ticketed style bookings are the sort of thing that sits in a paid add on rather than the base subscription, so the tool for the job may cost you before you touch it. Then the till, because the bill and the pass have to agree with each other. Then your ordering page, if takeaway shares that dish. Then the printed menu, and the board.
Then the guests. Fourteen people have to be told, and ResDiary does not run automated messages such as a birthday or a win back note, so nothing is going to write to them on its own. You either ring fourteen numbers between two and five, or you export the list into a mailing tool and pay a third subscription to send one email. In Allvio the menu behind the till and the menu on the booking and commission free online ordering pages is the same menu, changed once, and the email or SMS goes out from the same guest record that holds those fourteen bookings.
A good year moves you up a tier
ResDiary's pricing deserves credit for being public and in Australian dollars, and there is no commission on covers. The shape of it is worth understanding, though. Their tiers are drawn by how many bookings you take, plus a one off charge to get started, so the reward for a busy season is a bigger subscription. Allvio Complete, the all in one business software plan, is $399 per month ex GST for one location with every app switched on, plus $299 per month for each extra location, with no per user charge, no per app charge and no booking limit that moves you up a rung for having a good winter. If you want a couple of apps only, Build your own starts at $20 per month per app. Hardware is bought outright at $1,499 ex GST for the single station, $1,869 for the retail station and $2,499 for the restaurant station, and the trial runs 30 days without a card.
Perfect pacing, and a register that knows nothing about it
The other thing to sit with is how much of your week ResDiary is not in. It sells no till, no ordering page, no roster and no timesheets, so those are separate purchases with separate signups, separate settings and separate training nights, where a restaurant POS system that already holds the diary has one. When the diary paces a service beautifully and the register has never heard of the booking, the deposit taken three weeks ago comes off the bill by hand and somebody explains it again at cash up. When a regular corrects her mobile number at the counter, she is now right in one product and wrong in the other. Nobody sells you the work of keeping four products agreeing. You do it after close, unpaid, forever.
ResDiary | Allvio | |
|---|---|---|
What you are actually buying | A mature reservations diary with strong yield and pacing tools, no commission, published Australian prices | One subscription covering the diary, the till, the ordering page, the guest record, campaigns and the roster |
Changing a price or a menu item | Set menus sit in a paid add on. The till, the ordering page and the website each need the same change entered again | One menu behind the till, the ordering page and the diary, changed once |
Telling guests something changed | Confirmations and reminders yes. Automated birthday or win back messages are not in the product, and SMS campaigns are charged on top | Email and SMS campaigns and multi step automations included, tied back to spend |
Changing your trading hours | Sessions changed in the diary, then again in the till and the ordering page | Set once, everywhere it is used |
Keeping a customer's details right | A good guest record on the booking side. Your till holds a separate version of the same person | One contact record shared by the diary, the till and the ordering page |
What a busy season costs | Tiers are drawn by booking volume, so growth moves you to a higher subscription | One flat monthly price with no booking limits and no per cover fee |
What you pay before your first sale | Subscription and a starting charge, plus a till, hardware and an ordering page bought separately | Hardware bought outright, one setup, one bill |
When it breaks mid service | ResDiary for the diary, another company for the till, another again for ordering | One number for all of it |
Best fit | A restaurant whose service lives or dies on pacing, with a till and back office already settled | An owner who wants a good diary and does not want to buy and run the other three products |
Invoicing, payroll and the books are also in the Allvio subscription. That is one sentence and not the reason to move.
Eight o'clock at table twelve
The pacing worked. The table sat on time, the kitchen was not buried, and the swapped course went out looking like it was always the plan. Then the bill arrives at full price because the register never saw the prepayment, and the guest who has eaten here nine times this year has to correct your business in front of her friends. The service was excellent right up until the part where nothing knew anything about her.
ResDiary suits the room that lives on pacing
A restaurant doing three sittings on a Saturday, with a chef who wants covers arriving on a curve and a manager who will actually tune the access rules, should look hard at ResDiary. That is its strength, we do not match it there, and its prices are in the open so you can plan.
The rest of the week is the argument. One swapped course, one price rise, one new phone number, and whether each of them costs you five minutes or twenty five.
Frequently asked questions
How is ResDiary priced in Australia?
Its plans are published in Australian dollars and drawn by how many bookings you take each month, with the same core features across tiers and a one off set up charge. There is no commission on covers, though surcharges apply to deposits, payments and vouchers processed through the system. A busy season moves you up a tier rather than costing you per cover.
Does ResDiary include a POS?
No. It sells no till, no ordering page, no roster and no timesheets, so each of those is a separate product with its own signup, settings and training. That is normal for a diary. The cost shows up in the work of keeping four products agreeing about your menu, your hours and your guests.
Are set menus and ticketed events included in ResDiary?
On its published plans, set menu and ticketed style bookings sit in a paid add on rather than the base subscription, alongside other add ons such as SMS and pre orders. If you run set menus or events regularly, price those add ons into the comparison rather than assuming the base tier covers them.
What is the best ResDiary alternative for a venue that also needs a till?
If you want the diary, the till, ordering, the guest record, campaigns and the books in one subscription, Allvio covers them together at $399 per month ex GST for one location, with no booking limits or per cover fees. ResDiary is stronger on pacing and yield, and Allvio has no drag and drop floor plan designer or automatic no show fee yet.
This comparison reflects each product's general positioning as published by each vendor in August 2026. Features and pricing change: always check directly with each vendor before deciding.