Restaurant Website vs Zomato and Swiggy: Is It Worth It?

Many restaurants in India get their first online orders through Zomato or Swiggy, and for good reason: the apps bring hungry people, riders and a payment system on day one. The trouble starts later. The same customer who loved your biryani keeps ordering it through the app, and every one of those orders pays the platform again. This guide explains what that costs, what a website of your own costs, and how to run both without fighting either.

Our own prices below are published in US dollars. Every figure about Zomato, Swiggy, GrabFood or foodpanda comes from a public source, linked at the end of the post, and we say plainly when a figure is an allegation rather than a finding.

What does a restaurant website with online ordering cost?

At Digiocular a restaurant or café website starts at $599 (USD, one-time) and covers your menu, photos, location and opening hours, with reservations over WhatsApp. It typically takes 5–7 days. The online ordering and takeaway flow, where customers build a cart and send you the order, is $399. If you want customers to pay online instead of on pickup or delivery, a Razorpay or Stripe payment gateway is $249.

• Table reservations with a deposit: $399.
• Loyalty points, coupons or a referral program: $349.
• Maintenance after launch (security, monitoring and small content updates such as a menu change): $49/mo.

All prices are published in US dollars; local currency is available on request for India. Your domain, hosting and any applicable taxes are separate and itemised in your quote.

How much commission do Zomato and Swiggy charge restaurants?

Commission is set in each restaurant's own agreement, so there is no single public rate. The most detailed public record is the complaint the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) filed with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) in 2021. As recorded in the CCI's order of 4 April 2022, NRAI alleged that aggregator commissions were "to the tune of 20% to 30%", that Zomato charged approximately 27.8% of order value, and that Swiggy's commission went as high as 24%. NRAI also alleged a payment gateway fee of 1.84% plus GST on Zomato orders.

Two cautions. First, these are the association's allegations, not the regulator's findings; on commission levels in particular, the CCI said they did not prima facie seem to affect competition. Second, they date from 2021. Your own number is on your monthly payout statement, and it is the only figure that matters for your sums.

Who owns the customer when an order comes through the app?

In practice, the platform does. NRAI's complaint alleged that restaurants receive a temporary number instead of the customer's phone number, so they are not told to whom the food is going or where. Whatever the rules say on paper, the relationship lives inside the app: the customer's history, their saved address and the next discount they are shown.

On your own website the order comes to you with the customer's name, number and address, collected at checkout. That lets you confirm the order on WhatsApp, remember what they like and, once they agree to hear from you, tell them about a festival menu without paying for an ad.

Zomato and Swiggy or your own website: what changes?

Should a restaurant leave Zomato and Swiggy?

No. The apps are one of the strongest discovery channels a restaurant has: a new customer who has never walked past your door can find you, order and get the food delivered. Leaving them usually means losing those first orders. They also bring delivery riders, which a small kitchen may not be able to replace.

The better split is simple. Let the apps introduce new customers. Make your own website the easy, obvious place for people who already know you to order again. A customer's first order can come through the app; their tenth should not have to.

One legal point to check first. In its April 2022 order, the CCI said the price-parity clauses in both platforms' agreements "appear to indicate wide restrictions where the RPs are not allowed to maintain lower prices or higher discounts on any of their own supply channel or on any other aggregator." (RPs are restaurant partners.) In November 2024, PTI reported, citing sources, that the investigation which followed had found both platforms engaged in anti-competitive practices, and that the CCI would pass a final order only after hearing the parties. Before you price your website lower than the app, read the parity terms in your own agreement.

How do you get repeat customers to order from your website?

1. Put the website address and a QR code where your own customers already are: the table, the counter, the menu card and the takeaway bag you hand over in person.
2. Link the ordering page from your Instagram bio and your WhatsApp Business profile.
3. Confirm every website order on WhatsApp. It reassures the customer and gives you a thread for their next order.
4. Reward the second direct order with something the app cannot give: a loyalty stamp, a dish on the house or first access to a festival menu.
5. Keep the website menu current. An out-of-date price or a dish you no longer make sends people straight back to the app.

If you would rather not run this yourself, our Premium restaurant retainer at $499/mo includes Zomato and Swiggy listing management alongside paid ads, so your app listings and your own channel are handled together.

What about restaurants in the Philippines using GrabFood and foodpanda?

The same logic applies. Klikit's 2026 guide to delivery fees in the Philippines puts GrabFood's standard commission at 22–25% (26–33% on its priority and express tiers) and foodpanda's basic tier at 20–23% (25–32% on higher tiers). On a website of your own, a PayMongo gateway (the same $249 add-on) takes online payment instead.

We built the website for Merry Plates, a Filipino and international restaurant inside Highlights Taal Lakeview Resort in Batangas: menu, gallery, catering enquiries and reservations over WhatsApp. It shows the smallest useful version of the idea, a direct line between the customer and the restaurant with no platform in the middle.

How long does it take, and what do I pay upfront?

A restaurant website takes 5–7 days once your menu, photos and prices are ready. We start with a free call and a free homepage sample in 24–48 hrs, so you see the design before you pay anything. If you like it, a 25% deposit starts the build, then 75% on delivery, once the site is live and signed off. You get the full code in your name.