Carbonara App vs Shokken

Carbonara App provides waitlist and reservation software for restaurants and other hospitality businesses. Staff can add customers to a digital queue, send customizable confirmation and ready-by-text messages, and plan seating for waiting or reserved guests. Reservations can be accepted by phone, email, web form, or online booking form, including through Reserve with Google on Maps and Search. Online reservations have no additional per-booking fee. Customers can join a waitlist by QR code at no charge. Messaging includes two-way SMS and WhatsApp, phone-call notifications, and email. A drink-ordering flow sends a menu link by text so guests can order and pay, with orders delivered to the app. It runs on Android, iOS, and the web. The Free plan includes 50 bookings/month; Starter is $9.99/mo, and a 14-day trial is listed. SMS and WhatsApp are billed by usage. An optional AI chatbot is provided through Botpress; Carbonara says conversations are not used to train AI models.

Shokken is a restaurant waitlist service that lets staff manage parties while guests follow their place in line. Guests can join from a browser using a QR code, without installing an app or creating an account, then share a live tracker with the rest of their party. Staff can manage multiple waitlists, run a tablet in kiosk mode, let guests leave the list, and clear finished parties overnight. Restaurants can publish a public menu at an assigned Shokken URL and make printable QR cards and signs. Guest pages support English, Spanish, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Tagalog; the host app is in English. The free plan includes manual entry, QR self-join, browser tracking, core waitlist tools, and public menus. Founding Pro is $19.99 for the first month, then $99.99/month while continuously active; its regular rate is $200/month. The service is available to U.S. restaurants and needs internet access to sync lists and send texts.