At a glance
Ovation is a guest experience platform for restaurants. Its core is two-question text surveys after each order, guest recovery offers, text marketing and integrations with till, ordering and loyalty systems (source).
Akili is a customer intelligence platform for multi-location consumer brands, including restaurant and café groups. It analyses every review, delivery-app rating, social comment and survey answer, scores each site and turns what guests say into ranked, owned and measured actions.
Feature comparison
| Akili | Ovation | |
|---|---|---|
| Collecting feedback | ||
| Surveys | Website, email and in-store QR | Two-question text surveys after each order |
| Public review sites | Google, Trustpilot, Tripadvisor, Yelp, Facebook, Instagram, the App Store and more; other sources on request | Google review prompts; other sites not listed by name |
| Delivery apps | Uber Eats and Deliveroo reviews | Not listed |
| Social media | Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Bluesky comments, plus Reddit and X | Not listed |
| Your own data | CRM and helpdesk tickets, CSV upload and API | 50+ till, ordering and loyalty integrations |
| Replying and recovering | ||
| AI replies to reviews | Drafted for every review; a person approves each one | AI replies |
| Guest recovery offers | Not offered | Yes |
| Understanding | ||
| Location scores | Every restaurant scored on trust, quality, service, value and digital experience, rolled up by region and brand | AI categories for restaurant feedback, benchmarking |
| What to fix first | Issues ranked by likely revenue and churn impact | AI goals |
| Competitors | Benchmarked at each location | Not listed |
| AI search visibility | Professional plan and above | Not listed |
| Acting and proving it | ||
| Action plans | Owners and due dates for every restaurant | Not listed |
| Measuring fixes | Before-and-after scores with estimated revenue impact; tracking on every action from Professional | Not listed |
| Audits and training | Akili Operations add-on | Not listed |
| Commercials | ||
| Pricing | Published on our website | Not published |
| Users | Unlimited | Not listed |
| Contract | Monthly with no minimum term, or annual | Not published |
Five differences that matter for restaurant groups
- Hear from every guest, not only survey responders. Many guests never answer a survey but do leave a Google or Tripadvisor review, rate a Deliveroo order or comment on Instagram. Akili analyses all of these alongside your surveys.
- Delivery is part of the experience. Akili includes Uber Eats and Deliveroo reviews, so you can see whether a site's problems are in the dining room or in the bag.
- Benchmarks against nearby restaurants. Akili compares each site with its nearest competitors on the same five measures, so you know where rivals are winning on value, quality or service.
- Priorities for the whole estate. Instead of handling complaints one by one, Akili ranks the issues at each site by their likely effect on revenue and turns them into actions with owners and due dates.
- See how AI assistants describe you. Diners increasingly ask ChatGPT for recommendations. Akili shows how AI assistants describe your brand and each location.
What you get for the money
Akili publishes its prices, and every plan includes all review sites, delivery apps, social comments, surveys, AI replies, location scores, competitor benchmarks and insight reports, with unlimited users:
- Starter: £1,000 a month for up to 10 restaurants (£833 billed annually).
- Professional: £2,900 a month for up to 50 restaurants, adding AI search visibility, impact tracking on every action and weekly reports.
- No setup fee and no minimum term on monthly plans.
Ovation prices on request, so ask for a quote covering the same number of sites and features to compare like for like.
An example: a 15-site pizza group
Illustrative example. Survey scores look healthy, but Akili shows Tripadvisor ratings dropping at three city-centre sites, with "long wait for a table" and "rushed service" rising, and a nearby competitor gaining on service. Akili ranks wait times first at those sites. The ops director adds a host role on Friday and Saturday evenings and tracks the service score recovering over the next six weeks.
Which is right for you?
Ovation is a good fit if you want a text survey after every order, linked to your till or ordering system, with recovery offers and text marketing, particularly in the US.
Akili is the better fit if you want surveys analysed with every public review, delivery app and social comment, benchmarks against nearby competitors, and clear priorities for each restaurant.
Frequently asked questions
Is Akili an Ovation alternative?
Yes, for restaurant groups that want the complete picture of guest feedback across every source, with priorities and competitor benchmarks for each site.
Does Akili include Tripadvisor and delivery app reviews?
Yes. Akili covers Tripadvisor, Uber Eats and Deliveroo alongside Google, Yelp, Trustpilot and social media.
Can Akili run guest surveys?
Yes. You can run surveys on your website, by email or in the restaurant with a QR code.
Does Akili compare us with nearby restaurants?
Yes. Akili benchmarks each site against its nearest competitors: three on Starter, ten on Professional and unlimited on Enterprise.
Can we use Akili with our existing survey tool?
Yes. You can bring survey results into Akili by CSV or API and analyse them alongside reviews.
More comparisons
Alternatives guides
Trade marks belong to their owners and are used only to identify the products compared. If anything here is out of date, email hello@yourakili.com and we'll correct it.