Commission-free online ordering for restaurants: what it really costs

Commission-free online ordering means diners order from your own website, Google listing or QR code, and no platform takes a percentage of each order. It is not the same as free: most services still charge a monthly fee, card processing on every online payment, or a fee added to the diner's bill. The cheapest setup for a pickup restaurant is one where diners pay at the counter, so there is no online payment to take a cut of at all.

Below: what "commission-free" covers and what it doesn't, the fees that remain, eight real options with their published prices, a worked month of orders, and how to move your regulars off the delivery apps without losing them.

1. What does commission-free online ordering mean?

There are three ways a restaurant pays for online orders:

"Commission-free" is a promise about one fee only. Read the whole price page: the monthly fee, the setup fee, card processing, any fee shown to diners, and the delivery fee if you deliver.

2. What you still pay with commission-free ordering

• Card processing. When diners pay online, someone processes the card. Stripe's list rate is 2.9% + 30¢ per successful card charge in the US [4], and most ordering services charge about that or pass it through. On a $25 order that's about $1.03.
• A subscription. From $0 on free plans to $249–$499 a month on restaurant platforms [3] [5].
• Setup or onboarding. ChowNow lists $119 to $499 [5]; many cheaper tools charge none.
• Fees charged to diners. Some services add a fee to the diner's bill. Owner.com charges guests 5% on each order [3]; Popmenu charges diners $1 per online order [6]. It isn't on your bill, but your customers pay it on top of your prices.
• Delivery. If you deliver, someone pays the driver: your own staff, or a delivery service's per-delivery fee. Pickup has no delivery cost.
• Order caps on free plans. Some free plans stop at a monthly number of orders (Menuthere's free plan at 50 a month [7]).

When diners pay at pickup, there's no online card charge. You pay your usual counter card rate, the same as for a walk-in.

3. Commission-free online ordering systems, with prices

US list prices from each company's own page or a named source, read on the dates in the sources. Prices change often: check before you buy.

If you're on GloriaFood now, what to do before GloriaFood shuts down covers what to save and how to switch without a gap, and our GloriaFood alternative imports your menu from its link.

Already on Square at the counter? Square online ordering for restaurants works out when its Plus plan pays for itself and what delivery costs per trip.

On Toast? Toast online ordering takes no commission either; that guide puts its card rate, monthly add-on and delivery fees on a real month.

Only want plans that cost $0 a month? Our list of free online ordering systems for restaurants sets out the limit on each free plan. Still deciding whether to take orders online at all? Read the benefits of online ordering for restaurants, and the catch in each.

4. A worked month: what each choice costs

An example, not your numbers: a takeout place with 300 online orders a month at $25 each, $7,500 a month. Card processing is figured at each service's own listed rate; the rest from the sources above.

What each DoorDash plan takes per order, and how many extra orders a higher plan needs to pay for itself, is in DoorDash commission fees for restaurants.

Two things stand out. The fee per order matters more than the monthly price once you pass a few hundred orders: 3% of $7,500 is $225 every month. And any service where diners pay online carries card processing of roughly 4% of a $25 order, before anything else. Pay at pickup removes that line, though you still pay your counter card rate when they pay by card in person.

The fuller comparison, including site builders and designers, is in what a restaurant website costs.

5. Pay online or pay at pickup?

Both work. Which fits depends on your place:

• Pay at pickup suits counter-service places where most orders come from regulars: no online card fees, no online refunds, no chargebacks from a stranger's stolen card. The risk is a no-show; a phone number on every order and a call-back for big orders keeps that small.
• Pay online suits catering, large orders and places with no counter staff to take payment. You pay card processing, and you handle refunds online.

Many places do both: pickup orders pay at the counter, and catering or orders over a set amount pay a deposit online.

6. What about delivery?

Commission-free ordering is simplest for pickup. For delivery you have three choices:

1. Your own drivers. You set the delivery fee and keep it; you also carry the wages, mileage and insurance.
2. A delivery service per order. Some ordering systems send a courier from a delivery network for a per-delivery fee, often charged to the diner. Ask what the fee is for your area before you turn it on.
3. Keep the apps for delivery only. Use the marketplace for delivery and for new customers who find you there, and send everyone else, especially regulars, to your own pickup ordering.

Option 3 is where many independents land: the apps aren't switched off, they just stop carrying orders that would have come to you anyway.

7. How to move regulars from the delivery apps to your own ordering

Your regulars already know you. Many use an app out of habit, not because they prefer it. Give them a reason and an easy path:

1. Put your own Order button on Google. Google Business Profile lets you add food ordering links [11]. Diners who search your name see it next to the apps.
2. A card in every bag and box. "Order direct next time: same menu, pickup, no app fees", with a QR code. A delivery app bag is the one place you know you're reaching a repeat customer.
3. A sign at the counter and a QR on the table. Pointing at the same ordering page.
4. Same or lower prices than the app. Many restaurants price higher on the apps to cover the commission. If your direct price is lower, say so plainly.
5. Your phone greeting. "You can also order online at [your site]." Fewer calls during the rush.
6. Your website's first screen. One button: Order for pickup. Not a menu PDF, not a link out to an app.
7. Count it. Each month, write down direct orders and app orders. If direct orders aren't rising after two months, look at which of the steps above you skipped.

8. How to set up commission-free online ordering

The short version is below; the long one, with kitchen settings, five test orders and a launch plan, is our guide on how to set up online ordering for your restaurant.

1. Get your menu in as text: every item, size, choice and price. Importing from a photo or your old site saves retyping.
2. Set pickup times and prep time, and when ordering opens and closes each day.
3. Decide how diners pay: at pickup, online, or both.
4. Make sure orders reach you loudly. A ringing phone or a printer in the kitchen, not an email.
5. Place a test order from your own phone and time how long it takes to reach you.
6. Put the link everywhere: your site, Google, Instagram and Facebook bios, your QR codes, bag cards.
7. Watch the first week for missed or late orders, and fix the cause the same day.

You can build a free menu site with pickup ordering from a photo of your menu and try the whole thing, a test order included, before you tell a single customer.

9. Is commission-free ordering always cheaper?

Not on day one. A $249 or $499 monthly plan with only 20 orders costs more per order than a 6% pickup commission would. Compare on your own numbers: last month's online orders and their average size, times each option's fees. A free or low-cost plan with no commission is cheapest at low volume; a flat fee wins at high volume; a percentage only wins when you barely get any online orders. And a marketplace still brings customers who've never heard of you, which your own site won't do by itself.

Common mistakes

• Comparing monthly prices only and missing the per-order card fee or the guest fee.
• Signing a yearly contract before a test month. Check how to cancel first.
• Two menus that drift apart, with different prices on the app, your site and Google. Keep one menu and link to it everywhere.
• Hiding your own Order button below photos and an About section.
• Orders arriving by email during service, when nobody reads email.

Questions

Is there a free commission-free online ordering system?

Yes, with limits. Full Room, Menuthere, Menubly and Square Online have free plans; check each one's order cap, badge and per-order card fee. GloriaFood's free plan closes on April 30, 2027 [10].

Does DoorDash have commission-free ordering?

Yes, for orders on your own site and channels: DoorDash's online ordering lists no monthly or commission fee and 2.9% + 30¢ card processing per order [2]. Orders in the DoorDash app itself still pay the Marketplace commission [1].

Do customers order direct if they can use an app?

Regulars often will, once they see your own Order button where they look (Google, your site, a card in the bag) and the price is the same or lower. New customers still find you mostly through search and the apps.

Can I keep DoorDash and add my own ordering?

Yes. Most restaurants keep the apps for delivery and discovery, and send regulars and pickup orders to their own ordering page.

What's the difference between commission-free and no fees?

Commission-free means no percentage to the platform. Card processing, monthly fees and fees charged to diners can still apply. Only pay at pickup on a free plan has no online fees at all.

To see how it looks with your own dishes, build your menu site free from a photo of your menu; diners order for pickup and pay you at the counter. More answers for restaurant owners are in all our guides.

Sources

1. DoorDash commission rates and pricing, DoorDash, read Oct 23, 2026 (from DoorDash's page as listed in search; the page blocks direct reading).
2. Grow sales on your own channels with Online Ordering, DoorDash, read Nov 1, 2026 (as listed in search).
3. Owner.com pricing, Owner, read Oct 23, 2026.
4. Stripe pricing, Stripe, read Oct 22, 2026.
5. ChowNow pricing, ChowNow, read Oct 22, 2026.
6. Popmenu pricing guide, Restolabs, updated Aug 21, 2026, read Oct 23, 2026 (reported, not Popmenu's own list).
7. Menuthere pricing, Menuthere, read Oct 23, 2026.
8. Menubly pricing, Menubly, read Oct 23, 2026.
9. Square Online plans, Square, read Oct 22, 2026.
10. GloriaFood pricing and service notice, GloriaFood (Oracle), read Oct 23, 2026.
11. Food ordering links on your Business Profile, Google Business Profile Help, read Oct 22, 2026.