The 7 best online ordering systems for restaurants (2026)

Short answer: if you want to take online orders and actually keep the money, you need your own ordering system, not just a listing on DoorDash or Uber Eats. The marketplaces charge roughly 15–30% per order; a direct system charges a flat monthly fee (or nothing) and hands you the customer data. Below are the seven we’d genuinely recommend in 2026, who each is best for, and what they really cost.

Why this is one of the most expensive decisions you’ll make

On a $40 order, a 30% marketplace commission is $12, often more than the dish made you. Do 25 of those a week and you’re handing a delivery app $15,000+ a year, plus you never learn who the customer was, so you can’t bring them back. Your own ordering channel flips that: you keep the margin and the relationship.

This is also a moat. The restaurants that win the next few years are the ones that own their customer list and their ordering, instead of renting both from a marketplace.

How we picked

• Real cost, commission vs. flat fee, and what you keep per order.
• You own the customer, do you get their email/phone, or does the platform?
• Speed to live, can a busy owner set it up without a developer?
• Fits the whole operation, does ordering connect to your POS, kitchen and menu, or is it another island?
• Works on a phone, most food orders are placed on mobile.

The 7 best online ordering systems for restaurants in 2026

1Plattr, best all-in-one for independent food businesses

Plattr is the operating system for a food business: a branded, your own ordering storefront, plus POS, kitchen tickets, CRM, loyalty and marketing, on one login and one bill. Orders from your storefront, a table QR or a receipt QR all land in the same place as your in-store sales, against the same customer record. You keep far more of every direct order, and setup is same-day because your menu and branding generate the store for you. Best for independents and small groups who want everything to feel like one product instead of six. (Intro pricing is NZ$1/month for the first 3 months.)

2Square Online, best free way to start

If you’re already on Square, its online ordering is the easiest free on-ramp: a basic ordering site with pickup and delivery, paid through Square. You’ll pay card processing per order rather than a marketplace commission. Great to start; you may outgrow it as you add locations, loyalty and marketing.

3Toast Online Ordering, best for full-service restaurants already on Toast

Toast is a strong full-service POS, and its online ordering plugs straight into the kitchen. It’s a bigger commitment (hardware and contracts) and is US-centric, so it suits established sit-down restaurants more than a cafe or food truck.

4Shopify (with a food ordering app), best if you also sell packaged goods

If you ship sauces, beans or merch alongside meals, Shopify’s commerce engine plus a food-ordering app can do both. It’s flexible but not food-native, you’re assembling pickup times, prep and kitchen flow from apps rather than getting them out of the box.

5Owner.com and similar, best for a done-for-you marketing site

A managed, marketing-led ordering website with automations built in. Convenient if you want it handled for you; the trade-off is higher monthly cost and less control than running your own stack.

6GloriaFood, best truly-free standalone widget

A free ordering widget you embed on an existing website, with paid add-ons for card payments and promotions. Hard to beat on price for a single location that just needs an order button, lighter on the operational side (POS, CRM, reporting).

7The delivery apps (DoorDash, Uber Eats), best for discovery only

Be honest about what they’re for: reach. New customers really do find you there. Just don’t let them be your only channel, the 15–30% commission and the fact that they own the customer make them a costly place to serve your regulars. Use them to get discovered, then convert people to direct ordering.

At a glance

So which should you choose?

• Independent cafe, truck, bakery or small group: an all-in-one like Plattr, your own ordering plus POS, kitchen, CRM and marketing in one place beats stitching five tools together.
• Just testing the water, already on Square: switch on Square Online, then revisit once volume grows.
• Established full-service restaurant on Toast (US): use Toast’s native ordering.
• Selling shippable products too: Shopify with a food app.

Whatever you pick, the principle is the same: own your ordering, own your customers. Next, read how to take online orders without paying 30% to delivery apps for the step-by-step.

Frequently asked questions

What is the cheapest way to take online orders?
A free or low-cost direct ordering page (Square Online, GloriaFood, or your own Plattr storefront) is the cheapest way to take online orders, because you keep far more of each order instead of paying a 15–30% marketplace commission. A flat monthly fee almost always beats per-order commission once you’re doing more than a handful of orders a week.

How do I avoid DoorDash and Uber Eats commission?
Set up your own online ordering link, put QR codes on tables and receipts, and gently move your regulars to order direct. You can stay listed on the delivery apps for discovery, but every order that comes through your own link saves you the 15–30% commission and gives you the customer’s contact details.

Do I still need to be on the delivery apps?
For discovery, yes, new customers do find restaurants on DoorDash and Uber Eats. The mistake is using them as your only channel. Treat the marketplaces as paid acquisition, then convert those customers to your own ordering for every repeat order.

How long does it take to set up online ordering?
With a modern all-in-one like Plattr you can be taking orders the same day, your menu, branding and a payable storefront are generated from what you already have. Stand-alone widgets take a little longer to design and embed on a website.