Free online ordering systems for restaurants: what's really free

A handful of online ordering systems cost a restaurant $0 a month and take no commission: Full Room, Menuthere, Menubly, Square Online's Free plan, the WordPress plugin Orderable, and the direct-ordering pages DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub give to restaurants already on their apps. Each free plan has a limit: a cap on orders, a badge, no card payments, a fee per card order, or a condition that you stay on a delivery app.

The cheapest of them for a takeout place is the one where diners pay at the counter, because then nothing is taken from each order at all. Below: what "free" means on each, what you still pay, a month worked out, and how to pick and set one up in an afternoon.

Free plan or free trial?

Most lists of "free" ordering systems mix two different things.

• A free plan stays free for as long as you use it, inside its limits. You can run a real restaurant on it.
• A free trial lasts 14 or 30 days, then becomes a paid plan. It's a way to test, not a way to pay nothing.

Before you type in a menu of 60 items, look for the word "forever" or a $0 row on the pricing page. If the page says "start free" and the plans start at $49, it's a trial. Restolabs, for example, describes its own offer as a 30-day trial that is "not perpetually free" [1].

Free online ordering systems, with their limits

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

GloriaFood still tops many "free ordering system" lists because it was free for years. It isn't an option for a new restaurant now. If you run on it today, our guide to GloriaFood closing covers what to save and how to switch without missing an order.

What "free" still costs you

A $0 plan can still cost money every month. These are the lines to look for:

• Card processing. If diners pay online, someone charges about 2.9% to 3.3% plus 30¢ per order. On a $25 order that's $1.03 to $1.13. Stripe's standard rate is 2.9% + 30¢ [8]. This is the cost on almost every "free" system, and it grows with every order.
• Hosting and plugins. A WordPress plugin is free; the WordPress site under it isn't. You pay for hosting, a domain and usually a theme, and you or someone you pay keeps it updated.
• A tablet or printer. Most systems send orders to an app on a tablet. If you don't have a spare one, that's a one-time cost. Systems that send orders by text or phone call skip it.
• Your own domain. Free plans usually live at an address on the company's site. A .com of your own is often the first thing behind the paid plan.
• Delivery. No free plan includes free drivers. Either you deliver with your own staff, or a courier (DoorDash Drive, Uber Direct) charges per trip, or diners pick up.
• The badge. Some free plans show the company's name on your ordering page. It's free advertising for them, paid by your page.

A month worked out: 150 orders at $25

An example, not your numbers: a small takeout place with 150 online orders a month, $25 each, $3,750 in orders. Fees from the table above; card processing at each system's listed rate.

Two things show up. First, card processing is the real price of most "free" systems: about 4% of a $25 order, every order. Second, the free plans with a cap of 50 orders are truly free only for places that take fewer than about two online orders a day. Above that you pay a small monthly fee, which is still far below a commission.

When diners pay at the counter, you still pay your usual card rate if they tap a card there. The difference is that it's the rate you already pay on dine-in, and cash or your existing terminal costs nothing extra online.

Which free system fits which kind of place

• Takeout and pickup places with no website yet. Start with a system that builds the menu page for you and takes pickup orders: Full Room, Menuthere or Menubly. You'll be live the same day. Full Room builds the site from a photo of your menu, and orders ring your phone.
• Places already on Square at the counter. Square Online's Free plan uses the same menu and the same payouts. Read Square online ordering for restaurants for when Plus at $49 pays for itself.
• Places already on Clover. Clover's own ordering adds no monthly fee or commission on a restaurant plan, only the online card rate. Read Clover online ordering for restaurants for the fees, delivery and setup.
• Places that need delivery on direct orders. If you're on DoorDash already, its Storefront gives you Dashers on your own page at no commission, with diners paying the delivery fee. See DoorDash Storefront fees.
• Places with a WordPress site they like. A free plugin like Orderable adds ordering to the site you have. Only worth it if someone already looks after that site.
• Dine-in places that want table ordering. "Free table ordering systems" mostly turn out to be paid add-ons: QR ordering at the table is on Square's Plus and Orderable's Pro [4] [5]. A free QR code that opens your menu is easy; one that sends orders to the kitchen usually isn't free. Our free QR code menu covers the menu part.

What a free system must do, at the least

Before you pick, check these six things on the free plan itself, not on the plan above it:

1. Your full menu, with sizes, add-ons and notes ("no onions"). A system that can't do a large pizza with two toppings will cost you phone calls.
2. Opening hours and a pause button, so orders stop when you close or the kitchen is slammed.
3. An alert you can't miss: a sound, a text or a call. An order nobody sees for 20 minutes is worse than no order.
4. A ready time the diner sees, so they don't arrive early and wait at the counter.
5. Works on a phone. Almost every diner orders from one. Open your page on your own phone and place an order.
6. A link you can put on Google. The Order button on your Google listing can point to your own ordering page [9]. This is where many orders start.

How to start free this afternoon

1. Pick pickup only to start. Delivery adds drivers, zones and fees. Pickup works on day one.
2. Choose pay at pickup or pay online. Pay at pickup costs nothing per order; pay online cuts no-shows on big orders. Many places start with pickup payment and add cards later.
3. Get your menu in. Type it, import it, or use a system that reads a photo of your menu.
4. Set hours, prep time and a daily limit if your kitchen has one.
5. Place five test orders from your phone: one plain, one with changes, one at closing time, one large, one cancelled. Our guide to setting up online ordering lists what each test checks.
6. Put the link everywhere: your Google Business Profile's Order button, Instagram bio, Facebook page, a sign at the counter, and a card in every bag.

When free stops being the cheapest

A free plan isn't always the best deal. Pay for a plan when:

• You pass the order cap most months. The paid step is usually $10 to $40 a month, less than one day of app commission at 150 orders.
• You need delivery with drivers on your own page and you aren't on a delivery app.
• You need table ordering that goes to the kitchen, or a loyalty program built in.
• Your card fees on online payments are higher than the flat price of a plan with pay at pickup.

For what the full paid systems cost (ChowNow, Owner.com, Toast and others), see commission-free online ordering and the 11 builders compared in restaurant website builders with online ordering.

Common mistakes

• Starting on a trial and finding the bill after you've printed the QR codes.
• Linking Google to the delivery app instead of your own page, so your regulars order through a 15% to 30% commission.
• Picking a free plan with a badge and no domain for a place that's proud of its name. You'll move later and lose the link you printed.
• Never testing on a phone. Most free menus look fine on a laptop and break on a small screen.
• Choosing a system that only sends orders to a tablet when nobody stands next to the tablet.

Questions

Is there a completely free online ordering system for restaurants?

Yes, within limits. Full Room and Menuthere are free up to 50 orders a month with pay at pickup; Menubly has a free plan; Orderable's plugin is free on a WordPress site [2] [3] [5]. Nothing is taken per order when diners pay at the counter.

What's the best free online ordering system for a small restaurant?

For pickup with no website yet, one that builds the menu page for you and lets diners pay at the counter. If you already use Square, its Free plan. If you're on DoorDash and need delivery, its Storefront.

Is GloriaFood still free?

GloriaFood is closing on April 30, 2027 and takes no new sign-ups [7]. Restaurants on it should plan a move.

Does Square charge for online ordering?

The Free plan has no monthly fee but charges 3.3% + 30¢ per online card order; Plus is $49 a month with a lower rate [4].

Can I take online orders without paying card fees?

Yes: let diners pay when they pick up. You only pay your normal counter rate if they tap a card in person.

Do free ordering systems include delivery?

Some let you offer delivery with your own drivers. Drivers from DoorDash or Uber cost per trip, usually paid by the diner on Storefront or Webshop orders.

Want to try the free route on your own menu? Build your menu site free from a photo of your menu, with pickup orders that ring your phone and no fee per order. More answers are in all our guides, including the benefits of online ordering for a small place.

Sources

1. 5 best free online food ordering systems for restaurants, Restolabs, read Nov 3, 2026.
2. Menuthere pricing, Menuthere, read Oct 23, 2026.
3. Menubly pricing, Menubly, read Oct 23, 2026.
4. Square Online plans, Square, read Oct 22 and Nov 3, 2026.
5. Orderable pricing, Orderable, read Nov 3, 2026.
6. Give your restaurant its own ordering page, powered by DoorDash, DoorDash, read Nov 3, 2026.
7. GloriaFood pricing and service notice, GloriaFood (Oracle), read Oct 23, 2026.
8. Stripe pricing, Stripe, read Oct 22, 2026.
9. Manage online ordering options, Google Business Profile Help, read Nov 1, 2026.