Commission-Free Online Ordering for Restaurants, Explained

What "commission-free" means

On a delivery app, the platform takes a share of every ticket. DoorDash charges 15% to 30% on delivery orders depending on the plan, and Uber Eats charges 20% to 30%. Our breakdown of what DoorDash and Uber Eats charge has the details. That share grows with the order, so a $90 order pays twice what a $45 order pays.

A commission-free system is paid another way: a monthly plan, a fee on each transaction, or a mix of the two. Read exactly how the transaction fee is worked out, because that number decides what you really pay per order. A transaction fee can be a flat amount or a percentage, so ask for it in dollars on a real order.

What you still pay

• Card processing. Taking a card payment costs money, so expect it on the bill, as its own line or inside another fee. DoorDash's own direct ordering product, which DoorDash describes as commission-free, lists 2.9% + $0.30 per order on its Boost and Pro packages and 3.3% + $0.30 on Starter. Those are DoorDash's rates for its own product, not an industry standard, but they show that processing is a normal line on the bill.
• Delivery. Someone pays the driver: your own staff, or a courier network that charges per trip. Our guide to delivery from your own website covers what a trip costs.
• The software. The monthly plan, the transaction fee, or both.
• Upkeep. Menu changes, photos, hours and the website around the ordering page. Ask who does that work, and whether it costs extra.

Why guests are happy to order direct

In a November 2024 survey of US consumers by NCR Voyix, 58% said they prefer to order delivery through a restaurant's own app or website: 29% picked the app and 29% the website. The survey's margin of error was plus or minus 4 points.

Asked why, 65% named convenience, 50% ease of customization and 36% earning loyalty points. So guests don't need convincing that ordering direct is worth it. They need it to be as easy as the app, which is what the questions below test.

Seven questions to ask any ordering system

Who owns the customer's name and contact details?

If the guest's email and number stay with the provider, you can't bring that guest back on your own. Ask whether you can export your customer list at any time.

Is it on my own domain?

An ordering page at yourrestaurant.com keeps guests, links and search traffic on your site. A page on the provider's domain builds up theirs instead.

Does it send orders into my POS?

Retyping tickets costs time and causes mistakes at the busiest hour. Ask for your POS by name, and ask to see an order arrive.

Can I pause ordering when the kitchen is slammed?

Look for a way to stop orders or push out ready times in a couple of taps, from the line, without waiting on support.

Who dispatches the courier, and what does a trip cost?

Find out whether delivery is a flat fee per trip or a percentage, who books the driver, and what the guest sees at checkout.

Who changes the menu, and how fast?

A sold-out special or a new price should be live the same day. Ask whether you edit it yourself or they do it for you, and whether it costs extra.

What are the contract and cancellation terms?

Month to month, or a year? And if you leave, what happens to your domain, your site and your customer list?

A made-up example: Bruno's Pizza

Bruno's Pizza is a fictional restaurant we use in demos. A delivery order of two Margheritas at $18 and a side of garlic knots at $9 comes to $45 of food. On a marketplace at 30%, the commission on that order is $13.50. At 15%, it is $6.75.

On a commission-free system there is no commission on the food. You pay the plan and a transaction fee on the order instead, plus card processing and the courier if it's delivered. The useful test is to ask each provider to price this exact order, with delivery, and compare the totals side by side.

How to compare two quotes

A single order is a start, but a month tells you more. Take last month's numbers from your apps: how many orders, the average ticket, and how many were pickup and how many delivery. Give the same numbers to every provider you're considering, and ask each for the full monthly bill: the plan, the transaction fees, card processing and delivery.

Then put each total next to what the apps charged you on those same orders last month. Ask what setup costs, if any, come before the first order, and how long it takes to go live. A quote you can't reproduce from your own numbers is a quote to question.

How Webbit prices it

Webbit has three plans. Every one carries a transaction fee on the orders your site takes, and there is no commission on the food.

• Ordering, $0 a month plus a transaction fee. An ordering page with your full menu, card payments, pickup and delivery, and orders that land with you, not a marketplace.
• Site + ordering, $99 a month plus a transaction fee. Everything in Ordering, plus a landing page designed on your brand, with your photos, menu, story and hours.
• Growth, $199 a month plus a transaction fee. Everything in Site + ordering, plus SEO and local search built in, and marketing SMS and email campaigns.

On every plan, orders come to you, and the customer and their contact details stay yours. Webbit integrates with the POS you already use, including Toast, Square, Clover and Lightspeed. See the plans side by side.