Popmenu markets itself primarily as a restaurant website and marketing platform, an interactive menu, AI-driven marketing, reservations, and reputation management. Online ordering is a genuinely separate add-on, not part of the base plan, and it carries its own guest-paid per-order fee on top of the software cost.
What Popmenu Actually Offers
Popmenu's core product is a restaurant website with an interactive, searchable menu, AI-generated marketing campaigns across email, SMS, and social, an AI phone host, and reservation and reputation management, all bundled into its base software plans.
- Starter: $179/mo, Essentials: $299/mo, Premier: $499/mo (roughly 10% off if paid annually)
- Interactive website with an SEO-indexable menu
- AI-generated email, SMS, and social media marketing
- 24/7 AI phone answering and reservation management
What Popmenu's Online Ordering Add-On Actually Costs
Online ordering itself is not included in any base plan. It's a separate add-on running roughly $50 a month, plus a $1 per-order fee charged to the guest at checkout. Catering orders carry an additional 3% fee on top of that. Each additional location adds roughly $300 a month to the base software cost.
| Cost Line | Rate or Price |
|---|---|
| Base software plan | $179 to $499/mo |
| Online ordering add-on | ~$50/mo |
| Guest-paid per-order fee | $1 per order |
| Catering fee | 3% |
| Additional location | ~$300/mo |
What AUANI Offers Instead
AUANI's Free tier costs $0 a month with no setup fee and a 10% marketplace fee, with online ordering included by default, not as a separate add-on, alongside pickup, dine-in, real courier delivery, loyalty, and POS sync.
The Monthly plan is $300 a month, drops the marketplace fee to 5%, and adds a fully hosted website, a 0% direct ordering widget with no guest-paid per-order fee, the full Google visibility suite, and menu analytics.
Side by Side
| Feature | Popmenu | AUANI |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest monthly price | $179/mo (Starter, ordering not included) | $0/mo (Free, ordering included) |
| Online ordering included in base plan | No, ~$50/mo add-on | Yes, on every tier |
| Guest-paid per-order fee | $1 per order | None |
| Free permanent tier | No | Yes |
| Additional location cost | ~$300/mo | $100/mo |
A Worked Example
A restaurant on Popmenu's Essentials plan at $299 a month adds online ordering for another $50 a month, bringing the software cost to $349 a month before a single order comes through. At 600 online orders a month, the guest-paid $1 per-order fee adds $600 that guests pay on top of their food total, money that never touches the restaurant's books but does sit on every receipt and can quietly depress average order value as guests notice the added line item at checkout.
The same restaurant on AUANI's Free tier pays $0 a month in software costs and a 10% marketplace fee on orders placed through the AUANI marketplace, with no separate per-order charge added to the guest's total. Moving to the Monthly tier at $300 a month drops the marketplace fee to 5% and adds the 0% direct ordering widget, meaning orders placed through the restaurant's own hosted website carry no fee to either the restaurant or the guest at all, a structure Popmenu's ordering add-on does not offer at any tier.
An Honest Case for Choosing Popmenu Anyway
A restaurant whose biggest need is an AI-driven marketing engine, automated email and social campaigns, an AI phone host, and reputation management, has a real reason to consider Popmenu, since that's genuinely its core strength rather than an afterthought.
A restaurant that already has a satisfactory online ordering setup elsewhere, and simply wants a better website with built-in marketing automation and reservations layered on top, can treat Popmenu as a website-and-marketing purchase rather than an ordering purchase, in which case the $1 per-order fee never becomes relevant since ordering stays with whatever system is already in place.
Best For
Popmenu suits a restaurant that wants an all-in-one AI marketing and website platform and is comfortable paying separately for online ordering as an add-on. AUANI suits a restaurant that wants online ordering included from the start, a free permanent tier, and no guest-facing per-order fee.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Popmenu include online ordering in its base plans?
No, online ordering is a separate add-on costing roughly $50 a month, on top of the base software plan.
Does Popmenu charge guests directly for online orders?
Yes, a $1 per-order fee is charged to the guest at checkout on Popmenu's online ordering add-on.
Is AUANI's online ordering an add-on too?
No, online ordering is included by default on every AUANI tier, not sold separately.
Does AUANI charge guests a per-order fee?
No, AUANI does not add any guest-paid fee at checkout, on the marketplace or through its direct ordering widget.
What is the cheapest way to start on AUANI?
The Free tier, at $0 a month with a 10% marketplace fee, no setup fee, and online ordering included.
Does the Popmenu per-order fee show up on the guest's receipt?
Yes, it is added as a separate line item at checkout, similar to a service fee, which some guests notice and factor into whether they order again online.
For the full picture against every platform in this series, see the master fee comparison table. For more on hosted websites and direct ordering, see the Restaurant websites & direct ordering guide.