Pricing math
What online ordering actually costs in 2026
Every online ordering option charges you one of three ways: a percentage of each order, a flat monthly subscription, or some mix. This page works the real numbers for all three, with the assumptions stated, so you can put your own volume in and check our math. We sell one of these options, and we show where the other two beat it.
The three models
Delivery marketplaces (the DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub model) charge a commission per order. DoorDash's published partnership plans charge 15%, 25%, or 30% on delivery orders and 6% on pickup. Uber Eats' US marketplace tiers are 20%, 25%, and 30% for delivery after raising the entry tier from 15% in March 2026, with lower rates for self-delivery (15%) and pickup. Grubhub's published plans charge a 5%, 15%, or 20% marketing commission, with Grubhub delivery as a separate add-on starting at 10%, and payment processing (about 3.05% + $0.30) always billed on top. The honest other half: marketplaces bring you demand. Those commissions buy placement in an app where new customers already are. The expensive mistake is not being on a marketplace; it is letting your repeat customers keep ordering through one.
Flat-subscription platforms charge $99 to $499 per month whether you sell or not, plus card processing, and sometimes per-order or setup fees on top. Published and reported examples: UpMenu $49 to $169/month; ChowNow $229 to $449/month plus a $119 to $499 setup fee; Owner.com $249/month plus a 5% restaurant fee per order, or $499/month flat; Popmenu $179 to $499/month with online ordering as a $50/month add-on plus a $1 per-order fee paid by the guest; BentoBox from $119/month with takeout/delivery as a $49/month add-on plus a reported $0.99 per order.
Delitero charges a percentage, smaller, with no fixed part: 5% per order, only when you sell. No subscription, no setup fee, no contract. Nothing else. The 5% is a commission. We do not pretend otherwise; we price it against the 15 to 30% above and the fixed monthly fees below.
On every model, card processing exists. On Delitero it is Stripe's standard rate (2.9% + $0.30, varies by card), paid to Stripe, not us, into your own Stripe account. Subscription platforms charge similar processing (ChowNow 2.95% + $0.29; Square Online 2.9% to 3.3% + $0.30). DoorDash and Uber Eats bundle card processing into their marketplace commissions; Grubhub does not, charging about 3.05% + $0.30 per order on top of its fees.
One $40 order, three ways
Assumption: a $40 order, the average we use everywhere.
| Marketplace at 30% | Marketplace at 15% | Subscription platform | Delitero | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commission | −$12.00 | −$6.00 | $0 | −$2.00 |
| Card processing | bundled | bundled | −$1.46 typical | −$1.46 to Stripe |
| Share of monthly fee | $0 | $0 | −$1.00 at $249/mo · 250 orders | $0 |
| You keep | $28.00 | $34.00 | about $37.54 | $36.54 |
The subscription column assumes $249/month spread over 250 orders ($10,000/month in sales) and 2.9% + $0.30 processing. At that volume the subscription is the cheapest per order. That is the honest headline of this table: subscriptions win at high steady volume. The catch is the other months: at 50 orders/month the same $249 is $4.98 per order, and in a month with zero online orders it is still $249.
What you keep at three volumes
Assuming a $40 average order.
| Monthly online sales | Orders | Delitero, 5% | Stripe, about | You keep |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000 | 25 | −$50.00 | −$36.50 | $913.50 |
| $5,000 | 125 | −$250.00 | −$182.50 | $4,567.50 |
| $20,000 | 500 | −$1,000.00 | −$730.00 | $18,270.00 |
Card processing is Stripe's standard rate (2.9% + $0.30, varies by card), paid to Stripe, not us. Stripe figures above are approximate and depend on your card mix.
What 30% commissions cost a $500,000-a-year restaurant
Assumptions, stated up front: a restaurant grossing $500,000 a year, with $100,000 of that (20%) ordered online through a marketplace on a 30% tier, $40 average order. Change the slice to match your own mix; the arithmetic is linear.
- Through the marketplace: 30% of $100,000 is $30,000 a year in commission. On a 15% entry tier it is still $15,000.
- The same $100,000 direct on your own site with Delitero: 5% is $5,000, and Stripe on 2,500 orders is about $3,650. Total about $8,650. You keep about $91,350.
- The difference: roughly $21,350 a year at the 30% tier, for the same food going out the same door.
The realistic play is not quitting marketplaces; it is migration. Keep the marketplace listing for discovery, and move your regulars to your own site, where the same order costs you 5% plus Stripe instead of 30%. Every repeat customer you move is worth roughly $10 per $40 order at the 30% tier.
When each model wins
We would rather you do this math than take our word:
- A flat subscription beats 5% at high steady volume. 5% of monthly online sales crosses $169 (UpMenu Premium) at about $3,400/month and crosses $499 (Owner.com flat) at about $10,000/month. If you reliably clear those numbers every month, including January, a subscription can cost less, and you should check.
- 5% beats a subscription at low or seasonal volume. At $1,000/month, Delitero costs $50 while subscriptions run $99 to $499 plus setup. A slow month on Delitero costs $0.
- Marketplaces earn their commission on customers you could not reach otherwise. They lose the comparison only on the orders that would have come to you anyway.
Delitero's full price, one more time, verbatim, because pricing pages that hide the number are the reason this page exists: 5% per order, only when you sell. No subscription, no setup fee, no contract. Nothing else.
Delitero is not affiliated with any company named above. Competitor prices verified on 2026-07-11 against each vendor's published pricing; re-verified quarterly.