Coperti vs TheFork
Your management tool vs the marketplace that charges per cover
TheFork is Italy's largest marketplace. But every reservation has a price. Coperti gives you the same tools without commissions.
TL;DR
TheFork brings guests through its marketplace, but charges ~€2.60 per person — even for regulars. Coperti is a pure management tool at a flat €69/month: your guests stay yours, no middlemen.
Quick comparison
| Coperti | TheFork | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ✓ €69/month, all-inclusive | Custom subscription + commissions |
| Commissions | ✓ Zero, always | ~€2.60 per person |
| Cost for 100 covers/month | ✓ €69 (fixed) | €260+ in commissions alone |
| Guest data ownership | ✓ 100% the restaurant's | TheFork is data controller |
| Floor plan | Interactive, drag & drop | Digital with auto-assignment |
| Guest CRM | ✓ Integrated, full history | Available, but data on TheFork's platform |
| Mobile experience | Mobile-first PWA, all devices | Native iOS/Android apps |
| AI table suggestion | ✓ Included | Not available |
| Discount pressure | ✓ Never — your prices stay yours | Pushed to offer 30-50% discounts |
| Contract | ✓ No lock-in, cancel anytime | Custom, hard to cancel |
Commissions: the hidden cost that grows with you
TheFork charges about €2.60 for every person who books through the marketplace. A table of 4? That's €10.40. If your restaurant gets 200 covers per month from TheFork, you pay over €500 in commissions alone — not counting the subscription. And the cost rises every time you grow. In 2023, TheFork raised commissions by 12.6%, prompting a formal protest from FIPE (Italian Restaurant Federation). With Coperti you pay €69/month, always. Whether you have 50 or 500 covers, the price stays the same.
Your guests or TheFork's guests?
When a guest books on TheFork, their data is controlled by the platform — not by the restaurant. TheFork is the 'data controller', you are the 'data processor'. Loyalty points (Yums) bind the customer to TheFork, not to you. If you ever leave TheFork, you lose visibility to those customers. With Coperti, every piece of data is 100% yours. You build your own CRM, your own direct relationships, without middlemen.
Marketplace vs tool: different incentives
TheFork is a marketplace: its goal is to drive more reservations through its own platform to maximise commissions. They push you to offer 30-50% discounts to attract users and ask you to accept last-minute reservations. Coperti is your tool: it has no marketplace, earns nothing from your reservations, and never asks you to discount your menu. Its only goal is to help you manage your dining room better.
When TheFork makes sense
TheFork is a valid choice if you need visibility to new customers. With 23 million users in Italy, the marketplace can bring reservations from people who don't know your restaurant yet. But many restaurateurs use TheFork as an acquisition channel and a separate management tool for daily operations. Coperti and TheFork are not mutually exclusive: you can use Coperti to manage your dining room and TheFork as an additional channel.
Choose TheFork if...
- ● You need to acquire new customers through a marketplace with millions of users
- ● Your restaurant is new and you want to build visibility quickly
- ● You're in a tourist area and want to reach international visitors
- ● Commissions are an acceptable acquisition cost for you
Choose Coperti if...
- ✓ You want a management tool with no commissions and a fixed, predictable cost
- ✓ You already have customers and want to manage them better, not pay per reservation
- ✓ You want to own 100% of your guest data
- ✓ You're looking for a mobile-first experience designed for in-service use
- ✓ You don't want to be pushed to discount your menu
Tired of paying commissions on your own customers?
Try Coperti free for 30 days. €69/month, zero commissions, cancel anytime.