Best online ordering systems for UK restaurants (2026): an honest comparison

Search for an online ordering system for your UK restaurant and you are quickly buried in options. Delivery apps promise instant customers. POS companies promise an all-in-one system. Web builders promise a commission-free site. They cannot all be right, and the wrong choice quietly costs you thousands of pounds a year.

This is an honest comparison of the main online ordering platforms a UK restaurant can use in 2026, with real pricing where it is published, and a clear note where it is not. We build one of these platforms, so read the last entry with that in mind. The other nine are described as fairly as we can manage, because you deserve the full picture before you sign anything.

The quick, honest answer

There is no single best platform for every restaurant. There is a best platform for your situation, and it comes down to three questions.

• Do you need demand, or do you already have it? Marketplaces such as Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats bring you hungry strangers. You pay for that reach with commission of roughly a quarter to a third of every order.
• Do you want to own your customers? Direct ordering platforms let you keep the customer list, the data and the repeat business. You trade a per-order cut for a flat monthly fee, but you have to drive some of your own demand.
• How much of your operation do you want in one place? A pure ordering page is one thing. A system that also runs your tills, your kitchen screen and your reporting is another.

Most UK independents end up using a marketplace for discovery and a direct platform to convert those customers into commission-free regulars. The trick is to shift as much volume as possible off the expensive channel over time. Our commission calculator shows what that shift is worth in real money.

The options at a glance

Platform	Model	Typical UK cost	Who owns the customer
Deliveroo	Marketplace commission	~25 to 35% + VAT per order (self-delivery ~12 to 14%)	Deliveroo
Just Eat	Marketplace commission	14% + VAT self-delivery, ~30% + VAT with their couriers	Just Eat
Uber Eats	Marketplace commission	30% delivery, 13% self-delivery, 13% collection, all + VAT, plus £650 activation	Uber Eats
Flipdish	Direct ordering SaaS	From £119/month per site plus card processing	You
Slerp	Direct ordering SaaS	Quote only, no per-order commission	You
StoreKit	Freemium, no commission	Free tier, then £99 to £199/month	You
Toast	POS-led SaaS plus hardware	From ~£0 to £80+/month software, plus ~£799+ hardware and card fees	You
OrderYOYO	Branded app, tiered commission	6 to 9% of revenue plus a ~£0.75 customer service fee	You
GloriaFood	Free core plus add-ons	Free, add-ons from roughly $9 to $59/month	You
Tayim	White-label, zero commission	Free, then €39 or €119/month flat (about £33 or £102)	You

Commission figures are quoted excluding VAT, the way the marketplaces quote them. Once you add VAT on the commission, card processing and tablet rental, the true deduction on a full-service delivery order usually lands between 32 and 36% of the order value. That is the number to keep in mind as you read on.

1. Deliveroo

Best for: premium-leaning restaurants that want reach in cities and are willing to pay the most for it.

• Pros: large, higher-spending customer base, strong brand, genuine discovery for a new venue.
• Cons: the highest effective cost of the big three, and you are a listing rather than a business with its own customers. Deliveroo does not publish a rate card, so terms are negotiated.
• Cost: widely reported at roughly 25 to 35% + VAT when Deliveroo delivers, with a lower self-delivery tier around 12 to 14%. Add card processing and tablet rental on top.

2. Just Eat

Best for: takeaway-led restaurants that run their own drivers and want the lowest marketplace commission.

• Pros: the cheapest of the big three if you self-deliver, and a household takeaway brand in the UK.
• Cons: the moment you use their courier network the rate jumps to around 30% + VAT, and you still do not own the diner.
• Cost: 14% + VAT for self-delivery, roughly 30% + VAT when Just Eat delivers, plus small per-order fees.

3. Uber Eats

Best for: restaurants that want fast onboarding and clearly published rates.

• Pros: Uber Eats is the one big marketplace that publishes its UK rates openly, and setup is quick.
• Cons: 30% for full-service delivery is steep, and there is a one-off activation fee.
• Cost: official UK rates are 30% delivery, 13% self-delivery and 13% collection, all excluding VAT, with a £650 + VAT activation covering tablet, printer, menu build and photography.

4. Flipdish

Best for: multi-site operators who want a full branded web and app stack and will pay for it.

• Pros: proper own-branded website, app, kiosk and POS, and you keep the customer.
• Cons: higher entry price than leaner rivals, and the exact commission and setup fees are only revealed on a sales call.
• Cost: from £119/month per site billed annually, plus card processing and quote-based setup.

5. Slerp

Best for: higher-end London and multi-site restaurants that want a premium branded experience with loyalty and CRM built in.

• Pros: restaurant-grade branded ordering, loyalty and CRM, with a single monthly fee and no per-order commission.
• Cons: pricing is not published and the product is aimed at bigger budgets.
• Cost: quote only.

6. StoreKit

Best for: restaurants that want a genuinely free entry point and QR order-and-pay at the table.

• Pros: a real free tier, no order commission, and built-in QR ordering. StoreKit is its own payment processor, so the software can be free and you pay card fees only.
• Cons: the advanced features sit behind the paid tiers, and you should confirm the card processing rate.
• Cost: free plan, then storekit+ at £99 to £149/month and storekit++ at £199 to £399/month.

7. Toast

Best for: restaurants that want an all-in-one POS ecosystem and are ready to invest in hardware.

• Pros: deep POS, online ordering and payments in one hardware-led system, and you own the customer.
• Cons: total cost climbs fast once hardware, add-ons and card processing stack up.
• Cost: from around £0 to £80+/month software, plus roughly £799+ per terminal and per-transaction card fees.

8. OrderYOYO and GloriaFood

Best for: smaller independents who want a branded app or a free starting point.

• OrderYOYO: a branded website and app with tiered commission of 6 to 9% of revenue depending on volume, plus a roughly £0.75 service fee your customer pays. Far cheaper than a marketplace, but still a per-order cut rather than a flat fee.
• GloriaFood: a genuinely free ordering widget with no commission, then paid add-ons from around $9 to $59/month per location. Great for a first step, though it is DIY, priced in dollars, and you assemble the modules yourself.

9. Tayim

Best for: independent restaurants that want one system for everything, their own brand, and zero commission on every order.

Here is our bias, stated plainly. Tayim is an all-in-one platform for independent restaurants: POS, kitchen display, online ordering, delivery management and analytics, under your own brand rather than ours. We do not compete with Deliveroo for discovery. We compete with the fragmented, expensive stack most restaurants cobble together, and with the commission model itself.

• White-label: your customers order on your brand, and the customer list and data are yours to keep and market to. This is the opposite of renting your customers from a marketplace. We wrote about why that matters in white-label restaurant ordering.
• Zero commission: a flat monthly fee, never a cut of the order. Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats take 25 to 35% + VAT when they deliver. Tayim takes 0%. The maths behind that gap is in flat-fee versus commission-based software.
• All-in-one: tills, kitchen screen, online ordering, delivery dispatch and reporting are one connected system, not five tools that do not talk to each other.
• Built to travel: Tayim can run in any country and any language, with custom features built for how your restaurant actually works.

Cost: a free tier to start, then €39/month for a single venue or €119/month for multiple locations, billed in euros, which is roughly £33 and £102. Flat. No per-order commission. At even modest volume, that fixed fee undercuts a 30% marketplace cut within a handful of orders, and every order after that is margin you keep.

The honest caveat: like every direct platform on this list, Tayim does not hand you a crowd of new customers on day one. Marketplaces do that, at a price. What Tayim does is turn the customers you already have, and the ones the marketplace brings you once, into commission-free regulars who order on your own brand. That is where the profit is. Our guide on converting delivery customers to your own channel shows the play.

How to choose

• New venue with no audience: start on a marketplace for discovery, but set up a direct channel from day one so you are not renting your customers forever.
• Established venue paying too much commission: move your regulars onto a direct, commission-free platform and use the marketplace only for new-customer discovery.
• You want one system, not five: choose an all-in-one platform so your tills, kitchen and online orders share the same data.
• You are watching every pound: compare a flat monthly fee against your real commission bill. Run the numbers in our commission calculator before you decide.

FAQ

What is the real cost of using delivery apps in the UK?

Headline commission is 25 to 35% + VAT when the marketplace delivers. Add VAT on that commission, card processing and tablet rental and the true deduction on a full-service delivery order usually lands between 32 and 36% of the order value.

Is a flat monthly fee really cheaper than commission?

It depends on volume. Above a fairly low number of orders a month, a flat fee such as Tayim's beats a 30% cut comfortably. The break-even is often just a handful of orders. Check it against your own numbers rather than taking anyone's word for it.

Do I have to leave the marketplaces entirely?

No, and most restaurants should not, at least not at first. Use them for discovery, then move repeat customers to your own commission-free channel. The goal is to shift volume off the expensive channel over time, not to switch overnight.

Can I keep my customer data with Tayim?

Yes. Because Tayim is white-label and direct, the customer list and ordering data are yours. That is the point. On a marketplace, the customer belongs to the app, not to you.

See what commission-free looks like for your restaurant

If you are tired of handing a third of every order to an app, this is worth ten minutes. See how Tayim brings your tills, kitchen, online ordering and delivery into one commission-free system, check the numbers on our pricing page, and book a discovery call when you are ready. You keep your brand, your customers and your margin.