Top 15 Online Ordering Systems for Restaurants in 2024

The online ordering systems people use worldwide have become some of the biggest, most important forces that drive the restaurant industry today. And the reason for that is fairly simple: they offer convenience on a platter.

Who would want to go out through the rain, mud, heat, or snow to eat at a restaurant, when you can just order in, while you’re lying in bed, straight from your own phone?

In fact, before the pandemic, online ordering proved extremely appealing to over 80% of Americans. And more than 60% ordered delivery or takeout, at least once a week.

Read more online food ordering statistics in our handy infographic. Download it here.

Now, the rules of the game have changed. By forcing everyone to stay in & order food online for delivery or takeaway, the pandemic has changed consumer behavior. That is why being digitally accessible is the only way to grow your business.

So, if you don’t already have an online ordering system, then you should definitely consider using one. Especially since, doing so has a two-fold benefit you can spot, at a glance:

1. It helps you attract more customers
2. It can increase your profits by up to 30%

You can learn more about the benefits of online ordering here.

So, if you’re not getting enough customers to fill in your restaurant seats, why not use an in-house online ordering and delivery system? It’s the easiest way to create your own profitable stream of online sales? Let’s see what the best online ordering system for restaurants is.

What is an online ordering system?

An online ordering system is a type of software that enables restaurants to accept and manage online food orders. The way this typically works is by adding an order button to your restaurant website. An online ordering system contains an admin dashboard where you manage and customize your account, as well as an order taking app for accepting orders.

Online ordering systems you should consider:

GloriaFood

GloriaFood is the first free online ordering system for restaurants designed to fulfill the needs of small and medium restaurant businesses. Their system enables you to take free, unlimited online orders and confirm them all from your own smartphone or tablet. Above all, it helps you better manage day-to-day operations, by centralizing all pick-up and delivery orders, as well as table reservations.

Most importantly, there are no…

• setup fees
• free trials needed
• contract
• hidden fees

Price: Free

What’s included in the free plan:

• intuitive and simple to use both customer & admin interface
• free unlimited locations and no fees/location
• quick menu setup; so, you can get up and running in less than an hour
• round-the-clock, 24/7 multilingual customer support
• online ordering system for takeaway, delivery, order ahead & table reservations in one solution
• free online ordering widget for your website and Facebook page
• responsive online ordering system that looks great on any smartphone
• free restaurant order-taking app that enables you to receive and confirm orders & reservations from your own smartphone or tablet
• pre-ordering options
• visible menu promotions that catch your clients’ eyes
• detailed, real time analytics reports & recommendations that can help you grow your business fast
• heatmaps that show you where your most loyal customers are – alongside recommendations of how you can increase cart value and get more orders
• unlimited access to customer order history data

There are also some paid optional features, like website or branded mobile app, among others. You can find more about them here.

Square Point of Sale

From full service to counter service, Square can be used by restaurants of all sizes. Similar to the Cake Point of Sale, it offers a two-in-one ordering solution, enabling both in-person and restaurant orders to be placed. This will enable you to efficiently handle both pickup and dine-in business.

Price: free plan, but you pay the following: 1.9% per UK and EEA cards, 2.9% per non UK/non EEA cards.

OrderEm

In terms of what they can do for you, OrderEm can help you get online takeout and delivery orders via their custom website, custom mobile app or your Facebook page. They cater to a large group of businesses within the hospitality industry, like: restaurants, pizzerias, bars, food trucks, coffee shops, cloud kitchens, dining halls and bakeries.

Price: starting from $25/mo + optional setup fee of $249

Cloud Waitress

Cloud Waitress is an online ordering and reservation system that also enables you to create a website if you don’t have one already. All websites built on Cloud Waitress are hosted on the Google Cloud Platform. In addition, customers can easily reach out and send you an email via the built-in contact form on the website. The system also enables you to create a highly customizable menu.

Price: the starter version limits the number of orders and reservations to 100/month, so you would need to upgrade to the standard version, worth $39 per store/month.

iMenu360

iMenu360 offers you the chance to create a customized and interactive menu to add on your website. But it also comes with a vast array of superb features, like: personalized design, bulk order features, loyalty programs and first-buy discounts, among others. It was also designed to integrate well with plenty of POS systems out there.

Price: $39.99 per month + $299 setup fee + credit card processing rates at 2.99% + $.25 per transaction

Upserve

The most important aspect about Upserve is that it is a full service restaurant management system that can be used by different types of businesses: bars, wineries, coffee shops, bakeries and much more. Their online ordering system is easy to implement and it can be integrated with their POS system, payments service and mobile app.

The most affordable is the Core Plan, which costs $59/month. While it does comes with many benefits, like 24/7 US-Based Support, Upserve Workforce, Upserve Inventory, etc., it doesn’t benefit from Menu Optimization, which enables you to remove low performing items, and Server Performance, which can make or break your customer’s online ordering experience, if it’s not performing at its peak.

To benefit from these two features, you would need to upgrade and pay $199/month.

Price: starting from $59 + $60 / POS terminal (required)

Restolabs

Restolabs is an online ordering system that caters to the needs of small and medium restaurant establishments. The system features a fairly-basic, yet friendly user interface, Facebook ordering, real time analytics and POS integration.

Price: $69 per month per store (following a short 14-day free trial)

CAKE Point of Sale

CAKE is a cloud-based, full-service POS and management system with integrated online ordering.

Unlike most online ordering systems on the market, this platform enables you to manage and accept both offline (in-person) and online orders. However, there is a fee per each transaction, which means that as your business grows, the fees will also increase.

Price: $69/month (a free trial is also available) + fee/transaction

RestroApp

As the name suggests, RestroApp enables you to create your own mobile food ordering app. Certainly, it’s a great option for online ordering, with features like menu management, discount coupons, order management, or sales analytics summary. However, taking orders for dine-in and table reservations doesn’t come cheap, since you’d have to upgrade to the Platinum version, worth $179/month.

Price: the Silver plan costs $79/month + $499 one time implementation

MenuDrive

MenuDrive allows you to turn your restaurant menu into an actual interactive website, where food clients can easily customize their favorite items. Plus, you can also personalize the look and feel of it, so it can reflect your brand.

Focusing on customer engagement features like customized rewards and coupons, this restaurant promises to help you get more orders.

Price: starting from $149 per month + $149 one time implementation(plus 3% + 20¢ flat-rate transaction fee; other third party delivery fees: 30-40%)

ChowNow

ChowNow’s promise is that it is a commission-free online ordering system for business growth that helps restaurant owners reach new customers.

All whilst providing them with an easier online ordering experience via the restaurant’s website, social media page, or branded mobile app.

Price: starting from $149/mo (plus credit card processing fees) + $399 setup fee per location

Toast POS

Toast’s ecosystem offers restaurants online ordering alongside their POS, but the first option is better suited to owners already using Toast’s point of sale system. And the reason why is that their ecosystem was designed to help restaurant owners deal more efficiently with all daily operations.

Price: starting from $165 per month and it includes online ordering, their takeout app, contactless delivery and delivery services.

If you want to be able to use their email marketing campaigns, then you will need to take out from your pocket an additional $100.

If you want to use their all-in-one point of sale, then prices start at $999 + $75 /month, for restaurants with 1 location and up to 2 terminals.

9Fold

Driving direct online ordering revenue and providing customers with an easy to use ordering experience — that’s how 9Fold promotes their system to its customers.

From social media integration, responsive menus, promotions, to their dedicated dashboard management, 9Fold provides a multitude of useful features. For instance, you can also take advantage of their branded email marketing & 24/7 customer support if you need it.

Price: $179 per month, per location + $100 setup fee

Ordering.co

The system provided by ordering.co is great for small restaurant businesses, as they offer the same features as most of the other companies on this list. Among their strongest attributes are their payment integrations, intuitive interface and great customer service. Plus, their system enables you to customize your website or mobile app the way you see fit, from a business perspective.

Price: $499/Mo

NetWaiter

NetWaiter is a restaurant marketing platform with embedded online ordering. You can use it to get an ordering widget for your website or create your own native and customized web app, which allows you to send push notifications to your customers, whenever you want.

Price: they haven’t disclosed their pricing