Third-party delivery apps (DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub) charge restaurants a percentage of every order, from 15% to 30% depending on the plan and whether the app’s drivers deliver. Direct online ordering runs on your own website and app, usually for a flat monthly fee plus card processing, and the customer’s data stays with you. Most restaurants end up running both. The question is not which one to pick; it is which one your regulars should be using.

This guide lays out the real cost of each, what you give up and get with each, and a practical way to run them together.

What third-party delivery costs a restaurant

The three major marketplaces publish their plans. As of September 2026:

Platform Plans and commission on delivery orders Pickup orders Commission-free option
ChowNow Basic 15%, Plus 25%, Premier 30% 6% on all plans Online Ordering by DoorDash: 0% commission, payment processing fee applies
Toast Online Ordering Lite 20%, Plus 25%, Premium 30%; Self-delivery 15% 7% on all plans Webshop: 2.5% + 29¢ per order
BentoBox Basic 5%, Plus 15%, All-Access 20% marketing commission; Grubhub delivery fees start at 10% on top See plan terms Grubhub Direct: 0% marketing commission, per-order processing fees, for Marketplace partners

Sources: DoorDash pricing, Uber Eats pricing, and Grubhub pricing pages. Rates can differ by market.

The math on a $40 order at 30%: the marketplace keeps $12 before you have paid for the food, the packaging or the labor. At $5,000 a month in marketplace sales on a 25% plan, that is $1,250 a month, or $15,000 a year, in commission.

What you get for it is real: the app’s diners, its drivers, and its marketing. Higher plans buy more visibility inside the app and lower delivery fees for the customer. The apps are a customer acquisition channel priced per order.

What you give up

  • A customer list of your own. Marketplace orders happen inside the app’s account system. If you want to run your own email, SMS and rewards, you need a channel where each order adds a contact you own.
  • The margin on regulars. Paying a percentage to reach a new diner can be worth it. The same percentage on every repeat order from a regular is the cost most restaurants want to reduce.
  • Menu and pricing. Marketplace menus and promotions follow each app’s terms.
  • Counter space. Each app is typically another tablet and another menu to keep updated.

What direct online ordering costs a restaurant

Direct ordering means orders placed on your own website or branded app. It is typically priced as a flat monthly fee plus card processing.

Using ChowNow as an example, because it publishes its pricing: plans start at $229 per month on an annual term ($249 monthly), processing is 2.95% + 29¢ per transaction, and every plan includes the website, branded app, email and SMS marketing, rewards and fraud coverage (ChowNow pricing). Delivery on direct orders can run through a flat-rate courier network like Flex Delivery at $7.98 per order, split with the diner however you choose.

Run the same $5,000 a month through direct instead: the platform fee is fixed, and processing is roughly $148 plus 29¢ an order. Even at the top plan tier, the total is a fraction of a 25% commission.

What you give up

  • Built-in demand. Your website does not come with millions of app users scrolling it. You have to send people there.
  • Drivers. Unless you use your own staff or a courier integration, you need a delivery solution.
  • A monthly bill regardless of volume. A flat fee is cheaper at volume and more expensive at zero. A brand-new restaurant doing $800 a month online may not be there yet.

What you get

  • Ownership of every customer. Each order adds a contact you can email, text and reward.
  • A predictable cost. Order 500 times or 5,000 times, the platform fee is the same.
  • Your brand, your prices, your menu. No marketplace markup, no tablet.
  • Discovery, if the platform includes it. ChowNow’s Discovery Network puts your ordering link on Google, Yelp and Apple Maps, and its Marketplace lists you for local diners, commission-free with Profit Protector enabled, which closes some of the demand gap.

Side by side

Third-party delivery apps Direct online ordering
Cost per order Independents that want commission-free ordering plus diner reach 0%, flat monthly fee
Customer data Restaurants moving fully onto Toast Flat fee, tied to Toast POS
New-customer reach Design-forward websites with ordering attached Varies by plan
Delivery Interactive menus and review-driven marketing Varies by plan
Menu and pricing control Per each app’s terms Full
Marketing tools In-app promotions, paid Email, SMS and rewards, often included
Best used for Acquiring first-time diners Serving regulars and repeat orders

How ChowNow addresses each gap

Each model has real weaknesses. Here is how ChowNow’s platform handles the ones listed above, so you can judge whether direct ordering closes enough of them for your restaurant.

Weakness How ChowNow handles it
Third-party: the customer list stays in the app Every direct, Marketplace, and Discovery Network order adds a contact to a list you own, and email and SMS and rewards are included to use it
Third-party: a percentage on every repeat order from a regular Flat monthly fee plus card processing (2.95% + 29¢). The platform cost does not rise with order volume (pricing)
Third-party: menu and pricing follow the app’s terms Your website and branded app run your menu, your prices and your promotions, and one dashboard pushes menu updates to your direct channels and to DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub
Third-party: one tablet per app Order Aggregation brings DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub orders onto the same device as direct orders, auto-accepts them and sends everything to your POS and printers
Direct: no built-in demand The Discovery Network puts your ordering link on Google, Yelp, Apple Maps, and other listing sites, and the ChowNow Marketplace lists you for local diners, commission-free with Profit Protector enabled
Direct: no drivers Flex Delivery dispatches direct orders through Uber Direct and DoorDash Drive at a flat $7.98 per order, which you can split with the diner
Direct: a monthly bill at low volume Not something any flat-fee platform removes. The pricing page lists plan costs so you can check them against your current online volume before you commit; the guidance below covers when that math works

How to run both without paying commission on your regulars

The restaurants that do this well treat the apps as advertising and direct as the business: the apps on their lowest plan for discovery, direct everywhere a regular would look to reorder, and Order Aggregation so both run from one device and one POS feed.

The step-by-step playbook for moving app first-timers to direct is in how ChowNow turns third-party delivery customers into direct regulars.

Sicilian Pizza & Pasta is a good example of the end state: keeping the volume and the margin in house.

Which one is right for your restaurant?

  • Brand-new restaurant, low online volume, no list yet: start on the apps’ lowest plans for discovery, and add direct as soon as online sales cover a flat fee, so your customer list starts building early.
  • Established restaurant with regulars ordering on the apps: add direct now. Every repeat order from a regular is one you can serve on a flat fee instead of a percentage.
  • High-delivery concept in a dense market: keep the apps for reach, use a flat-rate courier network for direct delivery, and price the delivery fee split so direct is the better deal for the diner.
  • Multi-location: aggregate everything onto one system so each location runs the same way, and use the customer list across locations.

If you want to see what your current app volume would cost on a flat fee, book a demo and bring last month’s marketplace statement.

FAQ

How much commission do third-party delivery apps charge restaurants?

DoorDash charges 15% (Basic), 25% (Plus) or 30% (Premier) on delivery orders and 6% on pickup. Uber Eats charges 20% (Lite), 25% (Plus) or 30% (Premium), 15% for self-delivery, and 7% on pickup. Grubhub charges a 5%, 15% or 20% marketing commission with delivery fees starting at 10% on top. All figures are from each company’s pricing page as of September 2026 and can vary by market.

Is direct online ordering cheaper than DoorDash?

At any meaningful volume, yes. Direct ordering is typically a flat monthly fee plus card processing of around 3%, compared with 15% to 30% per order on a marketplace. At very low volume, a marketplace’s no-monthly-fee structure can cost less in absolute dollars.

Do restaurants own customer data from DoorDash, Uber Eats or Grubhub?

It depends on the product. Marketplace orders run through each app’s account system, and the apps’ separate commission-free products for your own site (Online Ordering by DoorDash on the DoorDash Commerce Platform, Uber Eats Webshop, Grubhub Direct) each have their own data terms; Grubhub, for example, says Direct gives restaurants access to customer data profiles. On a direct platform like ChowNow, every order adds a contact to a list you own.

Should a restaurant use both third-party delivery and direct ordering?

Usually. The apps are good at reaching first-time diners; direct is where regulars should reorder. Aggregating app orders onto the same device as direct orders keeps the counter simple while you shift volume.

How do restaurants handle delivery on direct orders?

Three options: your own drivers, a courier integration that dispatches through networks like Uber Direct and DoorDash Drive at a flat per-order rate (ChowNow’s Flex Delivery is $7.98 per order, which you can split with the diner), or pickup only.