Free, paid for by commission
The marketplaces. Nothing up front and 15–30% of every order, forever. At any real volume this is the most expensive option on the page by a wide margin — it just never arrives as a bill.
Free ordering systems
Free online ordering, and what free actually costs
We run a free plan, so read this knowing that. It is still the most useful thing we can write on the subject, because “free” in restaurant ordering means three completely different things and only one of them is free in the way you probably mean.
The taxonomy
Three kinds of free
A real free tier, with a trade
A permanent $0 plan that gives something up. Square’s free plan charges 3.3% + 30¢ per online transaction against 2.9% + 30¢ on its paid tiers. Ours puts a small mark on your pages. Neither takes commission.
Free for fourteen days
Not free, just deferred. Worth knowing which one you are signing up for before you spend an afternoon typing in a menu.
Competitor figures from each vendor’s own pricing page, checked August 2026. The workings are on the platform comparisons.
Why now
The best-known free one is going away
If you are searching for this in 2026, there is a good chance you already had a free ordering system. GloriaFood is discontinued and no longer accepting new signups — that much is on its own homepage — and the retirement notice inside its admin panel puts the end of service at 30 April 2027.
That date is not published on gloriafood.com, so if you have a login, check your own admin panel rather than taking our word for it. Tens of thousands of restaurants were running on it and paying nothing, which is most of why this search exists.
What is confirmed about the shutdown → · where its restaurants are going
Ours, plainly
What the $0 plan is, and what it costs you
What you get
Ordering on your own site, the menu builder with modifiers, delivery and pickup, the order-taking app, customer accounts and cash on delivery. No time limit, no card to start.
What it costs
A small “powered by Ontabee” mark on your pages. That is the whole trade, and it is the only one. No commission, no per-order fee, nothing added to your customer’s bill.
What removes it
$49 a month for one location, $99 flat for 2–9. That buys your brand on everything and priority support. Nothing else changes.
When free is the wrong answer
Two cases where we would tell you not to
If nobody knows your name yet. A free ordering page on your own site reaches people who already look for you. The marketplaces reach people who do not, and that discovery is worth the commission while you are building an audience. No ordering platform replaces it, ours included.
If the brand is the point. A vendor mark on your checkout is a small thing until it is not. If you are putting real money into how your restaurant looks, do not let a free plan undo it for the sake of $49 — which is roughly what two marketplace orders cost you in commission.
Questions
Commonly asked
Is there a genuinely free online ordering system for restaurants?
Yes, but read what pays for it. Marketplaces are free to join and take 15–30% of every order forever. A few platforms run a real free tier that trades something smaller — Square’s free plan charges a higher card rate than its paid ones, and Ontabee’s $0 plan puts a small "powered by Ontabee" mark on your pages. Both are free in the sense that matters: no monthly fee, no time limit, no commission.
What does Ontabee’s free plan actually include?
Online ordering on your own site, the menu builder with modifiers, delivery and pickup, the order-taking app, customer accounts and cash on delivery. No time limit and no card to start. The one thing it costs you is a small "powered by Ontabee" mark, which the $49 plan removes.
Why are so many restaurants looking for a free ordering system right now?
Because the best-known free one is going away. GloriaFood is discontinued and closed to new signups, and the retirement notice inside its admin panel gives 30 April 2027 as the end of service. Every restaurant running on it needs somewhere to go, and most of them were paying nothing.
Is free ordering software worth it, or should I just pay?
Pay when the thing free costs you starts to matter. If a vendor mark on your checkout is fine, free is genuinely fine. If you are building a brand and want the page to be entirely yours, that is what the paid tier buys — and at $49 a month it is roughly two marketplace orders.
Do free plans charge commission on orders?
Marketplaces do, and it is the whole business model — 15% to 30% depending on the tier. A subscription platform’s free tier generally does not; the cost sits in card processing, a feature limit, or branding. Always check the transaction rate separately from the monthly price, because that is usually the larger number.
Still choosing? How ordering platforms are priced · every platform compared.
Start on the free plan.
No card, no time limit, no commission. Move up only when the mark starts to bother you.
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