Free online ordering system for restaurants - updated 2026-06-11
When restaurant owners search for a free online ordering system, most of them do not mean charity. They mean zero per-order commission, no marketplace markup, and no surprise monthly fee. This guide separates the kinds of 'free,' shows what each one actually costs, explains what to do now that GloriaFood is shutting down, and shows where a flat commission-free plan beats free.
Why this matters
For a typical independent restaurant, online ordering is not a side feature — it is where a growing share of revenue now comes from. That is exactly why the word "free" is risky here. A percentage-based fee scales with every order, so the difference between "free" and a flat plan can flip as your volume grows. The numbers below are the real costs hiding behind "free."
The average independent restaurant runs on a 3-5% net profit margin. Giving 25-30% of online order revenue to a third-party app erases the margin entirely on those orders.
Source: National Restaurant Association Operations Report · 2024DoorDash's marketplace delivery commission ranges from 15% on Basic to 30% on Premier; pickup is listed separately at 6%.
Source: DoorDash Merchant Pricing (public site) · 2026Uber Eats charges restaurants 15-30% commission per delivery order depending on plan tier (Basic, Plus, Premium).
Source: Uber Eats Merchant Pricing · 2026Grubhub marketing commissions run from 5% to 20% by plan; using Grubhub Delivery adds a delivery fee starting at 10%.
Source: Grubhub Pricing and Fees · 2026Stripe's standard online card processing fee is 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction — the platform-agnostic baseline cost of accepting card payments online.
Source: Stripe Pricing · 202660% of consumers say they order delivery or takeout at least once a week, and digital channels now account for the majority of off-premise restaurant transactions.
Source: National Restaurant Association State of the Restaurant Industry Report · 2025Four meanings of free
A free online ordering system for restaurants is not one product. The same word covers DIY software you run yourself, a POS add-on that still earns on card processing, a marketplace that takes a commission, and a free trial of a paid tool. Each is "free" in a different place and expensive somewhere else.
Genuinely free as software with no per-order commission. The cost moves to setup and upkeep: you host it, connect a payment processor, install updates, and handle security and bugs yourself. Best for technically confident owners at low volume who want maximum control.
Convenient if you already run that POS. 'Free' usually means the ordering feature has no separate monthly fee, while the POS still earns on card processing for every order. Read the per-transaction rate, not just the headline.
Free to join, expensive to use. The marketplace takes a percentage of every order it touches and usually keeps the customer relationship. Useful for discovery, costly as your main ordering channel.
A way to test before you commit, not a permanent free system. Useful to confirm fit, but plan for the real cost when the trial ends.
Side-by-side
Do not compare on the headline price alone. Compare on all three costs — software fee, per-order commission, and card processing — plus the effort to run it and whether you keep your brand and customer data. This is the honest version of the comparison most "free" pages skip.
| Feature | Orderitto (commission-free) | Truly-free DIY (open-source / plugin) | Free POS add-on | Marketplace 'free to list' |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Software / monthly fee Software fee is only one of three costs — check commission and card processing too | $149-$249/mo flat | $0 software | $0 add-on, POS account required | $0 to list |
Per-order commission | None on direct orders | None | Often none on direct orders | 15-30% per delivery order |
Card processing | Your own Stripe account (2.9% + 30¢ typical) | You connect your own processor | POS provider's card rate | Bundled into commission |
Setup effort | Done-for-you onboarding | High — self-host, configure, maintain | Low if already on that POS | Low listing setup |
Ongoing maintenance | Included in plan | You own hosting, updates, security | Handled by POS provider | Handled by marketplace |
Branded ordering page | Yes, if you build it | Partial | ||
Restaurant owns customer data | varies | |||
Native iOS / Android app | On Pro plan | Partial | Partial | |
Best fit | Owners who want branded, commission-free ordering done for them | Technical owners, low volume, full control | Restaurants already committed to that POS | New-customer discovery only |
What free really costs
No online ordering system is free of every cost at once. When the software fee is zero, the cost has simply moved. Here is where it goes so you can price it honestly before you commit.
Open-source and self-hosted systems are free software, but someone has to install them, host them, connect a payment processor, apply updates, and fix breakages. If that someone is you at midnight, the tool is not really free — it is paid for in labor and risk.
A tool that is free on its monthly plan can still take a percentage of every order, or push delivery through a marketplace that charges 15-30%. On a 3-5% net margin, a 15-30% cut can erase the profit on those orders entirely.
Every online order paid by card carries a processing fee — commonly around 2.9% plus a fixed amount per transaction. This is normal and unavoidable on any platform, free or paid, but a 'free' tool that bundles a higher processing rate is quietly charging you on every order.
The most expensive 'free' is the one that keeps your customers. If a marketplace owns the relationship, you pay again every time that same guest reorders. Owning your branded ordering page and your customer list is what makes repeat orders cheap.
GloriaFood shutdown
For years, GloriaFood was the answer when an owner searched for a free online ordering system. That era is ending, and Google's own AI summaries now warn searchers about it. If you rely on GloriaFood, this is the part that matters most.
Industry sources report that GloriaFood is being discontinued: new signups have already closed and the platform is scheduled to shut down fully on April 30, 2027. Treat that date as a hard deadline, and confirm the current details directly with GloriaFood or its parent, Oracle, before you plan around it.
When a platform shuts down, your ordering page, menu, and customer data can go with it. The restaurants that get hurt are the ones that wait until orders stop. The ones that are fine export early and migrate on their own schedule.
Before anything else, pull your menu, your order history, and especially your customer list out of GloriaFood while you still can. That data is the asset — it is what makes any replacement worth switching to.
Decide whether your next system should be another free DIY tool, a POS add-on, or a commission-free platform with done-for-you setup. Then migrate well before April 2027 so the switch happens calmly instead of in an emergency.
When free is the right call
Free is not always the wrong answer. For some restaurants at some stages, a $0 tool is exactly right. Be honest about whether you fit these cases.
If you do not yet know whether your guests will order online at all, a free DIY tool or a free trial is a low-risk way to find out before you spend.
At a handful of online orders a week, the commission or flat fee you would pay is small either way. Free can be the cheapest place to start.
If you or someone on your team can comfortably host software, connect a processor, and maintain updates, an open-source system like TastyIgniter gives you control with no software fee.
If your goal is to be found by brand-new customers and you accept the commission as a marketing cost, a 'free to list' marketplace can play that one role — just not as your main ordering channel.
When to pay for commission-free
As online ordering becomes real revenue, the math shifts. A percentage fee grows with every order while a flat fee does not. Here is when paying a known monthly cost is the cheaper, calmer choice.
Past a certain number of orders, the commission you would have paid on a 'free' tool exceeds a flat monthly plan. From there, every additional order is cheaper on the flat plan. That crossover is the whole argument for paying.
If hosting, updates, security, and payment setup are not work you want to own, a commission-free platform with done-for-you onboarding removes the hidden labor cost of 'free' DIY tools.
A flat plan turns ordering cost into a single line you can budget. There is no per-order surprise at month-end, which makes pricing your menu and margins far simpler.
A branded ordering page plus your own customer list means repeat guests cost you nothing extra to serve. That is the opposite of a marketplace, where you pay again on every reorder.
Orderitto fit
Orderitto is not a $0 tool, and we will not pretend it is. It is the commission-free, flat-priced option for owners who searched 'free' but actually meant 'no per-order markup, no marketplace cut, and no surprise fees.'
Orderitto does not take a per-order commission on your direct orders. You keep your order revenue minus standard card processing — not a marketplace's 15-30%.
Plans are public and flat: Starter is $799 setup plus $149/month, Pro is $1,299 setup plus $249/month, and a one-time Founders plan locks pricing in. No per-order math, no hidden tiers.
Payments run through your own Stripe account at standard rates (typically 2.9% plus 30¢), so you keep your revenue and your customer data. There is no per-order platform cut layered on top.
Instead of self-hosting open-source software, you get a branded ordering page, menu management, and payments set up for you — the outcome people want from 'free' without the hidden labor of running it.
Side-by-side pricing for free and paid systems, including GloriaFood, Square, and commission-free platforms.
The full buying guide to choosing a direct, commission-free ordering platform.
How the main platforms compare on commission, branding, and customer data.
Why 'free to list' marketplaces can be the most expensive ordering channel of all.
A step-by-step migration plan — useful if you are moving off GloriaFood or a DIY tool.
A migration-first guide to replacing GloriaFood before the April 2027 shutdown, with a GloriaFood vs Orderitto comparison.
See the flat, commission-free plans and what each one includes.
Yes, but with tradeoffs. Open-source, self-hosted systems like TastyIgniter and free WooCommerce plugins like Orderable have no setup or monthly software fee. The cost moves to your own time and technical skill: you host the software, install updates, manage security, connect a payment processor, and fix problems yourself. They are genuinely free as software, but not free to run. There is no system that is free in software, free in labor, and free of payment-processing fees all at once.
Often, yes. Many 'free to start' ordering systems are free on the monthly plan but still take a per-order cut, charge for the online-payment add-on, or route delivery through a marketplace that charges 15-30%. A free POS add-on can carry its own card-processing rate on every order. Always separate three costs: the software fee, the per-order commission, and the card-processing fee. A system can be free on one and expensive on the others.
GloriaFood, the long-time default for free restaurant ordering, is being discontinued. Multiple industry sources report that new signups are already closed and the platform is scheduled to fully shut down on April 30, 2027. If you rely on it, the safe move is to export your menu and customer data now, choose a replacement, and migrate well before the deadline rather than waiting until ordering stops. Confirm the current shutdown details directly with GloriaFood or Oracle before you plan your timeline.
The real cost shows up in four places: your setup and maintenance time, per-order commission if the 'free' tool still takes one, online card-processing fees (commonly around 2.9% plus a fixed amount per transaction), and lost control of customer data and branding. A free tool that quietly takes 15-30% of each order can cost far more than a flat monthly plan once order volume grows.
It depends on order volume. At very low volume, a free or near-free tool can be the cheapest way to start. As online orders grow, a flat monthly plan with zero per-order commission usually wins, because a percentage-based fee scales with every order while a flat fee does not. The break-even point is roughly where the commission you would have paid exceeds the flat monthly cost.
Orderitto is not a $0 tool. It is a commission-free platform with transparent flat pricing: plans start at $799 setup plus $149/month, with no per-order commission on direct orders. It fits owners who searched 'free' but really meant 'no surprise per-order markup and no marketplace cut' — and who want a branded ordering page, menu management, and payments without self-hosting open-source software or losing customer data to a marketplace.
Orderitto gives restaurants a branded, commission-free ordering page with menu management and payments — flat pricing, no per-order cut, and a clean path off GloriaFood or a DIY tool. Book a free demo to see it on your own menu.