The honest list of DoorDash alternatives.
The main DoorDash alternatives for restaurants in 2026 are direct-ordering platforms: Zayos ($499 to $699 per month flat, no setup fee, diner pays a flat $0.99 pickup or $2.99 delivery fee), Owner.com ($249 to $499 per month, guests pay 5% at checkout), ChowNow ($249/month, no percentage of food revenue), Toast (POS-first, $0 or $69/month), and Square ($0 free plan). There is one honest non-option too: switching to Uber Eats or Grubhub, which carry the same 25-35% blended real cost. Most operators do not leave DoorDash; they run a hybrid and move repeat orders direct. Every figure on this page is sourced and dated.
Looking for the line-by-line rate card instead? That lives on how much does DoorDash charge restaurants. This page is the field of alternatives.
What sends restaurants shopping for an alternative.
DoorDash is genuinely good at what it sells: first-time-diner discovery at national scale. Operators who go looking for alternatives are not usually leaving the reach, they are leaving the economics. The four structural reasons, each verified against the published merchant rate card.
Per DoorDash's published merchant rate card, delivery commission is roughly 15% on Basic, 25% on Plus, and 30% on Premier. On a $30 Plus-plan order, $7.50 leaves the restaurant on a single order, and the lower tiers buy less reach, so the cheap plan is also the quiet one. Published on merchants.doordash.com (accessed July 2026).
All three partnership plans carry a flat pickup commission of about 6% per the published rate card. The customer drives to the restaurant and collects the bag; DoorDash provides no courier; the commission applies anyway. For operators with heavy pickup volume, this is the line item that makes the whole rate card feel misnamed.
The headline commission is the floor. Sponsored Listings (billed on attributed sales or cost-per-click) and funded promotions like "$0 delivery fee" are optional in theory but close to mandatory in practice, because a restaurant that stops paying for visibility falls down the default sort. Add processing economics and the blended real cost of running volume through DoorDash commonly lands between 25% and 35% of gross order value.
On a marketplace order, the diner's name, email, phone, and order history stay inside DoorDash. The restaurant cannot remarket to its own regulars, so every repeat order from the same customer incurs the commission again. This is the structural reason marketplace economics never improve with loyalty, and the single strongest argument for building a channel you own.
Six real alternatives, one honest verdict each.
Three categories: direct-ordering platforms you own, the other marketplaces (with an honest verdict on whether switching helps), and the hybrid strategy that combines them. Every price is taken from the vendor's published pricing or explicitly attributed, accessed July 2026. Zayos is entry six. It is our platform, and the entry says so.
ChowNow is the original direct-ordering escape hatch from marketplace commission, and the core claim is genuine: it never takes a percentage of your food revenue. The trade is what sits around the subscription, per its published pricing page (accessed July 2026), a $119 to $499 setup fee, 2.95% + $0.29 payment processing per transaction, a $99/year Apple developer fee on the branded app, and $7.98/order Flex Delivery. It is also direct-only: no marketplace ingestion, so if you keep DoorDash for discovery, that tablet stays on the counter and those tickets stay separate. Best for operators who want a proven, focused direct-ordering vendor and are fine running the marketplace side themselves.
Zayos vs ChowNow →Owner.com is the strongest all-in-one growth suite in the direct-ordering category: AI website, ordering, branded app, loyalty, and marketing automation in one bundle, genuinely built to pull repeat volume off the marketplaces. The honest trades, all from owner.com/pricing (accessed July 2026): guests pay a 5% order support fee at checkout on every direct order, which grows with the ticket; the $249 Flexible plan also charges the restaurant 5% per order; and setup and card-processing rates are not published, so the full cost cannot be modeled before a sales call. Sauce separately reports delivery at roughly $7 per order, passed through via third-party driver networks. Best for operators who want a full direct-channel growth engine and accept percentage economics on the guest side.
Zayos vs Owner.com →Toast is the POS-first route off DoorDash: if the real frustration is running point-of-sale, ordering, and delivery as separate vendors, Toast consolidates them under one roof with restaurant-grade hardware, and direct orders flow into the operation you already run. The honest trade-offs, as reported by NerdWallet (accessed July 2026): online ordering is an add-on Toast does not publish a price for, processing runs 2.49% + $0.15 (card-present, hardware paid upfront), 3.09% to 3.69% + $0.15 pay-as-you-go, and 3.50% + $0.15 card-not-present, and the standard agreement is a two-year contract with early-termination fees. Best for operators who want the whole operation on one vendor and can commit to the contract.
Zayos vs Toast →Square is the lowest-risk first step away from marketplace dependence: the Free plan has no monthly fee and no contract, and the online store is genuinely serviceable for taking a direct order today. The cost hides in the rate. Since January 13, 2026, online payments on the Free plan run 3.3% + $0.30 per transaction (2.9% + $0.30 on Plus and Premium), per Square's published pricing (accessed July 2026). On $8,000/month of online orders, the percentage alone is $264/month before the $0.30 per transaction, and it buys a generic e-commerce stack: no restaurant CRM depth, no marketplace ingestion, no menu-first design. Best for very small or early operators proving out direct demand before committing to a platform.
Zayos vs Square →The honest entry: switching marketplaces rarely fixes the economics. Uber Eats charges roughly 20% on Lite (raised from 15% in March 2026), 25% on Plus, and 30% on Premium, plus a ~7% pickup commission, per its published merchant rate card (accessed July 2026). Grubhub stacks a 15-25% marketing commission, a ~10% delivery commission on Grubhub-delivered orders, and 3.05% + $0.30 order processing on every order, per its published rate structure. The commission model is the marketplace business model, not a DoorDash quirk, and on the other side of the switch you still do not own the customer. What the other marketplaces are genuinely good for is incremental reach: a second discovery channel can add real order volume. As an exit from commission, the move fails; as an addition to a hybrid strategy, it can earn its keep.
What Uber Eats charges, line by line →Zayos is our platform, so judge this entry accordingly, but it is built for exactly this page's problem: reducing DoorDash dependence without quitting DoorDash. The fee schedule is flat and published: $499/month per location (Operator), $599 with Otter marketplace ingestion so DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub orders land on the same kitchen tablet as direct orders, $699 Concierge with up to 5 virtual brands per kitchen. No setup fee, month-to-month, and the restaurant keeps 100% of food revenue and tips: the diner pays a flat service fee ($0.99 pickup, $2.99 delivery, $0 dine-in, 10% on catering) instead of a percentage of the ticket. That structure is the hybrid strategy as a product: keep DoorDash for first-time-diner discovery, steer regulars to the direct channel, run both in one flow. Full disclosure on scale, because you should weigh it: Naya Grill (Pompano Beach and West Palm Beach, FL) is the restaurant live and taking direct orders on Zayos today, and it keeps $48k+ a year that used to go to commissions. Several more storefronts are built and open ordering at their own launch. New restaurants are live in under 2 weeks and usually take their first direct order within a week of signing up.
Zayos vs DoorDash →DoorDash and its alternatives, one table.
Verified pricing and per-order economics as of July 2026. "Who owns the customer" is the column that decides whether repeat orders get cheaper over time or pay the commission forever.
| Platform | Verified pricing | Per-order economics | Who owns the customer | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DoorDash | ~15% Basic / ~25% Plus / ~30% Premier delivery + ~6% pickup | Blended real cost 25-35% after ads, promotions, and processing | DoorDash | First-time-diner discovery |
| Uber Eats / Grubhub | UE ~20-30% delivery + ~7% pickup; GH ~15-25% marketing + ~10% delivery + 3.05% + $0.30 | Same commission structure. Switching rarely changes the math | The marketplace | A second discovery channel, not an exit |
| Owner.com | $249/mo + 5% per order, or $499/mo flat | Guest pays 5% order support fee; processing unpublished | The restaurant | All-in-one direct-channel growth suite |
| ChowNow | $249/mo ($229 annual) + $119 to $499 setup | 2.95% + $0.29 processing; $7.98/order Flex Delivery | The restaurant | Focused direct ordering, no percentage take |
| Toast | $0 or $69/mo + quoted add-ons | 2.49% to 3.69% + $0.15 by plan; 3.50% + $0.15 card-not-present | The restaurant | POS + ordering on one vendor |
| Square | $0 / $49 / $149 per month | 3.3% + $0.30 online on Free (2.9% + $0.30 paid plans) | The restaurant | Smallest operators, lowest-risk start |
| Zayos | $499 / $599 / $699 per month flat, no setup fee | Diner pays flat $0.99 pickup / $2.99 delivery; $0 dine-in | The restaurant | Hybrid: flat-fee direct + DoorDash ingestion in one flow |
Vendors adjust pricing over time; the figures above reflect published pricing pages and attributed reporting as accessed in July 2026. Where a vendor does not publish a number, the table says "reported" or "unpublished" rather than guessing. Confirm current terms directly before signing.
Match the alternative to the reason you're leaving.
The mistake operators make with alternative lists is shopping the products instead of the reason. If what pushed you off DoorDash is the commission math, the shortlist is the flat-fee direct platforms. Zayos charges the restaurant a flat monthly fee and the diner a flat $0.99 pickup / $2.99 delivery fee that does not grow with the ticket, and ChowNow takes no percentage of food revenue at all. If you want a full direct-channel growth engine and accept a percentage on the guest side, Owner.com is the strongest bundle. If the real problem is operational sprawl, Toast folds ordering into the POS. If you just need to prove direct demand exists, Square's free plan does it for $0/month. And if the temptation is simply switching to Uber Eats or Grubhub, the table above is the answer: same model, same 25-35% blended cost, same customer you never own.
For most operators the right answer is not an either/or. It is the hybrid strategy. Keep DoorDash for what it is genuinely good at (first-time-diner discovery), add a commission-free direct channel for repeat customers, and steer regulars over with box inserts, signage, and better direct pricing. The stakes are worth the effort: on a modeled 650 marketplace orders a month at a ~$25 average ticket, a 25% blended take works out to $48,000+ a year. That pool, not any vendor's feature list, is what this whole category competes for. The step-by-step version lives in the 4-step playbook to stop paying DoorDash commission, and the wider buyer's context in the commission-free ordering guide.
- DoorDash merchant pricing: delivery commission ~15% Basic / ~25% Plus / ~30% Premier, ~6% pickup commission across all plans (accessed July 2026).
- Uber Eats merchant pricing: delivery commission ~20% Lite (raised from 15% in March 2026) / ~25% Plus / ~30% Premium, ~7% pickup commission (accessed July 2026).
- Grubhub pricing and fees and Understanding Grubhub fees: ~15% / ~20% / ~25% marketing commission by tier, ~10% delivery commission on Grubhub-delivered orders, 3.05% + $0.30 order processing (accessed July 2026).
- Owner.com official pricing page: $249 Flexible + 5% restaurant fee per order, $499 Flat Rate, 5% guest order support fee; setup fee and processing rates not published (accessed July 2026). Delivery pass-through of roughly $7/order reported by Sauce, Owner.com Pricing and Fees.
- ChowNow official pricing page: Launch $249/mo ($229 billed annually), Grow $349, Elevate $449; $119 to $499 setup fee; 2.95% + $0.29 per transaction; $99/yr Apple developer fee; $7.98/order Flex Delivery (accessed July 2026).
- NerdWallet, Toast POS review: $0 Starter Kit, $69/mo Point of Sale, processing 2.49% + $0.15 card-present with upfront hardware, 3.09% to 3.69% + $0.15 pay-as-you-go, 3.50% + $0.15 card-not-present, two-year contract with early-termination fees, online ordering priced as an unpublished add-on (accessed July 2026).
- Square official pricing page and NerdWallet, Square fees: Free / Plus $49 / Premium $149 per month; online processing 3.3% + $0.30 on Free (raised January 13, 2026) and 2.9% + $0.30 on paid plans (accessed July 2026).
- Zayos pricing: the $499/$599/$699 tiers, no setup fee, and the flat diner-paid service fee referenced above.
Where a vendor does not publish a figure, this page marks it "reported" with attribution or "not published". It does not estimate.
DoorDash alternatives, answered.
What is the best alternative to DoorDash for restaurants?
Can a restaurant leave DoorDash completely?
Is Uber Eats cheaper than DoorDash for restaurants?
How much do restaurants save by moving orders off DoorDash?
How does Zayos compare to DoorDash?
Shortlist on your numbers, not ours.
Run the free grader on your real order volume and average ticket. It shows what DoorDash's commission cost you last month, and what a flat-fee direct channel keeps, in about 60 seconds.