Every restaurant owner comparing online ordering platforms eventually ends up with eight browser tabs open, trying to hold eight different pricing pages in their head at once. This page does that work in one place. Every number below comes directly from each platform's own published pricing, sitemap, or help documentation, not a third-party estimate. Where a platform does not publish a number at all, that gap is called out directly rather than guessed at.
How to Read This Table
Two numbers matter more than any other on this page, in this order:
- The cheapest published monthly cost to start.
- The commission or marketplace fee charged per order.
A platform that looks cheap on one number can look expensive on the other, which is exactly why both are shown side by side rather than picking one favorite metric.
The Master Comparison Table
AUANI is the only platform on this list with both a genuinely permanent free tier and a self-serve application process with no demo call required.
| Platform | Cheapest Plan | Commission / Fee | Signup | Free Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUANI | $0/mo | 10% (Free), 5% (Monthly), 3% at 2+ locations | Self-serve application | Yes, permanent |
| Owner.com | Flex or Flat, both add a guest-paid or restaurant-paid fee | 5% restaurant fee (Flex) or 5% guest-paid order support fee (both plans) | Demo call | No |
| ChowNow | Starter tier, published rate not itemized publicly in full | Flat monthly plus setup fee model, not per-order commission | Demo call | No |
| Sauce | No published pricing | Custom quote only | Demo call | No |
| Menufy | $149/mo (annual) or $179/mo (month-to-month) | None, flat fee only | Demo call | No |
| UpMenu | $49/mo per location | None on core plan, add-ons priced separately | 7-day free trial, self-serve | No, trial only |
| DoorDash | No monthly fee, commission only | 15% to 30% by tier, reported effective rate often 33% to 38% | Self-serve | No |
| Uber Eats | No monthly fee, commission only | 20% to 30% by tier (as of March 2026), up to 30% for Uber One orders | Self-serve | No |
| Grubhub | No monthly fee, commission only | 15% to 30%, plus a separate 15% to 25% on phone orders | Self-serve | No |
| ezCater | Free to list | 15% marketplace commission + 2.99% processing | Self-serve | Listing only, commission still applies |
| Clover | $14.95 to $354/mo software | None on online orders, add-ons priced separately | Sales call | No |
| Lightspeed Restaurant | $69/mo | None built in, standard processing applies | Self-serve | No |
| SpotOn | $99 to $135/mo, plus $3/employee/mo, $75/mo minimum | None on online orders | Sales call | No |
| GoTab | $15 to $229/mo | None on online orders, add-ons priced separately | Sales call | No |
Grouping These by Business Model
Managed Direct-Ordering Platforms: Owner.com, ChowNow, Sauce, Menufy
These four platforms share a common structure: a managed website and ordering system sold through a demo call, with no self-serve free tier. Owner.com and Menufy publish their pricing outright. ChowNow publishes a partial structure. Sauce publishes none of it, requiring a custom quote for every prospective restaurant.
Self-Serve Signup, With a Managed Option: UpMenu, AUANI
UpMenu and AUANI both let a restaurant sign up without a call. UpMenu's self-serve path ends after a 7-day trial, after which the cheapest plan is $49 a month per location. AUANI's Free tier has no trial expiration and no per-location multiplier for a single-location restaurant, and unlike UpMenu, a restaurant can also have AUANI's team build and configure the account instead of doing it themselves, the same hands-off setup the managed platforms above sell.
Commission-Only Marketplaces: DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub
These three charge no monthly fee at all, only a per-order commission that ranges from 15 to 30% depending on tier, plus, in Grubhub's case, a separate phone-order rate. AUANI's marketplace fee undercuts all three published ranges at every tier, while also offering a direct-ordering path these three do not, since each is a marketplace-only product by design.
Where AUANI Lands on Each Axis
- Cheapest to start: tied for lowest, alongside UpMenu's trial, but AUANI's Free tier does not expire.
- Lowest marketplace fee: lower ceiling (10%) than DoorDash, Uber Eats, or Grubhub's published ranges.
- Signup friction: lowest, alongside UpMenu, since both allow self-serve signup with no demo call.
- Path to 0% commission: unique among the marketplace-model platforms, via the Monthly tier's direct widget.
When a Competitor Is Genuinely the Better Fit
None of this is an argument that AUANI is the right fit for every restaurant. A restaurant that wants a single dedicated success manager staying on the account long-term may prefer Menufy's or Owner's model of assigning one person to every call. A restaurant that needs the existing scale of an established delivery audience for pure discovery may reasonably keep DoorDash or Uber Eats in the mix even while building a direct channel elsewhere. Each individual comparison in this series lays out that trade-off in full.
Best For
This table is built for an owner who wants every platform's real, published numbers in one place before making a decision, rather than piecing together eight separate pricing pages by hand.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which platform has the lowest published commission?
AUANI's marketplace fee tops out at 10% on the Free tier, lower than the published commission ranges for DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub, all of which run from roughly 15 to 30%.
Which platforms require a demo call to sign up?
Owner.com, ChowNow, Sauce, and Menufy all require booking a call before an account is created. UpMenu and AUANI both allow self-serve signup.
Does any platform here have a permanent free tier?
AUANI is the only platform in this comparison with a permanent, ongoing free tier. UpMenu offers a 7-day free trial, after which its cheapest plan is $49 a month per location.
Why doesn't Sauce have published pricing in this table?
Sauce's own pricing page does not list plan costs publicly, directing every prospective customer to a custom quote instead.
Is a lower commission always the better deal?
Not necessarily. A restaurant that wants one dedicated success manager staying on its account for every call, the way Menufy assigns, may value that continuity over a lower fee alone. Site-building, migration, and setup support are not unique to the higher-fee platforms though, since AUANI offers the same hands-off setup on request.
Can a restaurant use more than one of these platforms at once?
Yes. Many restaurants keep a marketplace like DoorDash or Uber Eats for new-customer discovery while building a direct ordering channel through a platform like AUANI at the same time.