Commission-free online ordering: the fees that remain

Commission-free online ordering means the ordering company takes no percentage of each order for itself. You still pay card processing on every order. Most vendors also charge one or more of these: a monthly subscription, a fee added to the guest's bill, or a courier fee on delivery. Add them all up before you compare vendors.

The label matters because each vendor puts its cost on a different line. Menufy charges a flat monthly fee. Owner's Flexible plan takes a fee on each order and adds another to the guest's total. DoorDash's online ordering charges card processing only, and the guest pays for delivery. Price a month of your own orders line by line before you compare; the worked example below shows how.

Which fees can a commission-free system still charge?

Fee	Who pays	Examples printed on vendors' own pages
Subscription	Restaurant	Menufy: $149/month on a 12-month agreement or $179/month month-to-month. Square Free: $0/mo. per location.
Per-order restaurant fee	Restaurant	Owner.com Flexible: $249/month plus a 5% restaurant fee per order.
Card processing	Restaurant	Square online orders: 3.3% + 30¢ on Free, 2.9% + 30¢ on Plus and Premium. ChowNow: 2.95% + $0.29 per transaction.
Guest fee	Guest	Owner.com: guests pay a 5% order support fee on both plans.
Courier fee	Restaurant, guest or split	Square with a DoorDash courier: $6.99 per delivery up to 5 miles outside California and New York City. ChowNow Flex Delivery: $7.98 per order.
One-time costs	Restaurant	ChowNow: $119 to $499 setup fee and $250 to $420 for a printer.

What do the main options charge?

Every figure below comes from the vendor's own pricing or product page. Where a vendor prints no number, the cell says so.

Option	Monthly fee	Per-order costs	Delivery	Start here if
Square online ordering profile	Square Free $0/mo., Square Plus $49/mo., Square Premium $149/mo., per location	Online card fee: 3.3% + 30¢ on Free; 2.9% + 30¢ on Plus and Premium	On-demand couriers; you or the guest pays the courier fee	You already run Square POS
Toast Online Ordering	Sold in Toast's Digital Storefront packages; no price printed	Toast says no commissions and no hidden fees; card rates not printed on the page	Toast Delivery Services charges a flat fee per order; the amount is not printed	You already run Toast POS
DoorDash Online Ordering	No monthly fee	0% commission; standard payment processing applies, rate not printed on the page	Dashers deliver; the guest pays the delivery fee	You already sell on DoorDash Marketplace
ChowNow	Launch from $229 on the annual toggle, $249 on the monthly toggle	2.95% + $0.29 per transaction; setup fee $119 to $499	Flex Delivery at $7.98/order, split with the guest as you choose	You want a website, app and diner marketplace from one vendor
Menufy	$149/month (12-month agreement) or $179/month (month-to-month)	No per-order commissions; card processing not listed on the pricing page	DoorDash Drive and Uber Direct drivers; fees not listed	You want one flat fee with marketing included
Owner.com	Flexible $249/month; Flat Rate $499/month	Flexible adds a 5% restaurant fee per order; guests pay a 5% order support fee on both plans	Not priced on the pricing page	You want a done-for-you website, app and marketing
GloriaFood	Free ordering widget; online payments cost $29 per month	No commission; card payments go through your own payment gateway	You draw your own delivery zones; courier costs not listed	You want to start for almost nothing and can run it yourself

For more detail on the done-for-you vendors, see our Owner.com review and alternatives. For every Square fee, including in-person and typed-in card rates, see Square POS pricing.

What does a month cost? A worked example

These inputs are made up for illustration. A pizza shop takes 400 online orders a month at an average of $30 before tax and tip, so $12,000 in online sales. 100 orders are delivered within 5 miles, outside California and New York City. Guests pay the full courier fee. We apply card fees to the $30 subtotal only; tax and tip on the same card would add a little.

Option	Restaurant pays each month	Guests pay each month	Left out
Square Free	3.3% of $12,000 ($396) + 30¢ × 400 ($120) = $516	DoorDash courier: $6.99 × 100 = $699	Taxes and tips
Square Plus	$49 + 2.9% of $12,000 ($348) + 30¢ × 400 ($120) = $517	Same courier fees: $699	Taxes and tips
ChowNow Launch, monthly toggle	$249 + 2.95% of $12,000 ($354) + $0.29 × 400 ($116) = $719	Flex Delivery: $7.98 × 100 = $798	Setup fee of $119 to $499, printer
Owner.com Flexible	$249 + 5% of $12,000 ($600) = $849	Order support fee: 5% of $12,000 = $600	Card processing and delivery, which Owner's pricing page does not list
Menufy month-to-month	Subscription only: $179	Not listed on the pricing page	Card processing and courier fees

Square Free and Square Plus cost almost the same here. Plus's online rate is 0.4 percentage points lower, and that saving covers its $49 fee at $12,250 a month in online card sales. ChowNow and Square charge nearly the same card rate, so the gap between them is mostly the subscription. And Owner's guest fee adds $600 to what your guests pay, which is worth checking against your in-store prices.

For scale, DoorDash's Marketplace pricing on its Plus plan is 25% on delivery orders and 6% on pickup. The same 400 orders at those rates would carry $1,290 in commission: $750 on 100 deliveries and $540 on 300 pickups.

Who pays for delivery?

Commission-free ordering still needs a driver. Square's on-demand delivery pricing lists the courier's fee by partner. Uber charges $4.20 + $.75 per kilometer outside California. DoorDash charges $6.99 per delivery up to 5 miles outside California and New York City, plus $1 for each extra mile up to 10. Square adds its normal processing fee on top.

Square's delivery setup guide lets you pass the full fee to the guest or pay it yourself, and add a service fee you keep. ChowNow's Flex Delivery suggests splitting its flat fee, $3.99 for you and $3.99 for the diner. DoorDash says guests pay delivery on its online ordering. Pick the split before launch, since it sets the price a guest sees at checkout.

What should you watch on the guest's side?

Some vendors cover part of their cost with a fee on the guest's bill. Owner prints its 5% order support fee on its pricing page. Menufy's help center describes an "Online fee" that either the restaurant or its customers cover. ChowNow's Profit Protector can raise menu prices on orders from its Order Better Network to offset that network's fees. Order from your own site as a guest and read the receipt before you publish the link.

What should you ask before you sign?

1. What is the monthly fee on each billing term, and what does the contract say about cancelling?
2. Is there any per-order fee charged to the restaurant?
3. Who processes the card, at what rate, and does the rate apply to tax, tips and guest fees too?
4. Does any fee appear on the guest's bill? What is it called on the receipt?
5. What does each delivery cost by distance and state, and who pays it?
6. What are the one-time costs: setup, tablet, printer?
7. Do orders go straight into your POS and kitchen printer or screen?
8. Price last month's real online orders through the fees you are quoted, line by line.

Where do phone orders fit?

Online ordering covers the website and app. Guests who call still need someone to answer. Maple sells AI phone answering, and its Pro plan ($350/month, or $220/month billed yearly) takes phone orders into supported POS systems on its integrations list, such as Toast, Square and Clover.

Published by Maple, which sells AI phone answering and ordering. This AI-assisted guide combines each vendor's own pricing, product and help pages with an original worked example built on stated assumptions. It does not report a test of any platform, a vendor quote, or any restaurant's results.