Zomato and Swiggy send you customers you would never have reached. They also take a cut of every order. Both things are true, and the useful question is not "which is better" but "which orders should go where".
This guide shows the commission figures that have been reported, what else eats into an aggregator order, and a simple worksheet to test whether your own restaurant ordering system would pay for itself. Use your own numbers. Ours are only an illustration.
What do Zomato and Swiggy charge?
Rates are not public and they vary by restaurant, city, plan and contract. Here is what has been reported:
- 25-35% per order. Inc42 wrote in August 2025 that Zomato and Swiggy take a 25-35% commission per order from restaurants, and that they also charge platform fees (Inc42, 16 Aug 2025).
- About 30% in 2019. An older Inc42 report said restaurants were paying "nearly 30% more or less off the order value", while a Swiggy spokesperson said "Commissions are a range, depending on various factors" (Inc42, 2 Sep 2019). That article is seven years old, so we use it only to show the figure has been discussed for a long time.
Neither number is your number. Your settlement statement shows the real deduction per order. Check it before you do any maths.
Why the headline rate understates the cost. Commission is only part of it. Add GST on fees where it applies, platform fees, promotions you fund, and packaging. Whatever you pay, work from what actually reaches your bank account.
What aggregators are genuinely good at
Be fair to them. Aggregators give you:
- Discovery. People who have never heard of you find you while searching for biryani at 9 pm.
- Traffic and trust. A big app brings footfall to the listing, and customers are used to paying inside it.
- Riders (on some plans). If you do not run your own delivery, that is a real service.
- A fast start. You can be live in days.
For a new restaurant, they are often the right first channel. Nothing in this guide says to leave them.
What your own ordering page is good at
An own ordering page does a different job. It is for people who already know you:
- Regulars who order every week.
- Customers who found you through Instagram, Google, a flyer or a packaging QR code.
- Walk-ins who would rather order from the table or reorder from home.
On your own page you keep the customer details and order history, you set the menu and offers, and you pay no per-order commission to the software builder. You still pay the payment gateway's fee, your own delivery costs and any hosting and maintenance. The honest model is: aggregator for new customers, own page for repeat customers.
The break-even worksheet
Fill this in with your own figures. The right-hand column is an illustration, use your own numbers, not a forecast and not a promise.
| Step | What to enter | Illustration (use your own numbers) |
|---|---|---|
| A | Orders per month you could move to your own page (repeat customers only) | 100 orders |
| B | Average order value | ₹400 |
| C | Order value moved = A x B | ₹40,000 |
| D | Your aggregator deduction rate (from your statement) | 30% |
| E | What you pay on those orders today = C x D | ₹12,000 |
| F | Payment gateway fee on the own page (check your provider's rate card) | 2% (assumed) |
| G | Own-page payment cost = C x F | ₹800 |
| H | Monthly saving = E minus G | ₹11,200 |
| I | One-off build cost (from a written quote) | your quote |
| J | Months to break even = I / H | I / ₹11,200 |
In this illustration, every ₹10,000 of build cost is recovered in under a month of savings. That only holds if those 100 orders really move from the aggregator to your own page, and that is the hard part (see below).
Things the worksheet leaves out, so add them yourself:
- Hosting, domain and maintenance (yearly costs; see what a restaurant website costs in India).
- Delivery cost. If you deliver your own orders, you pay for it. On an aggregator the rider cost may be built into the fees, depending on your plan.
- Marketing to send customers to the page.
- Orders that would have happened anyway on the aggregator. If a customer would not have found you any other way, moving them is not a saving, it is a lost order.
The real work: getting customers to order direct
A new ordering page does not fill itself. These are the usual ways restaurants move regulars over, and none of them break any platform terms:
- Put a QR code on packaging and bills that opens your ordering page.
- Link it from your Instagram bio and Google Business listing. (Check each platform's rules for ordering links.)
- Tell regulars. A WhatsApp message to people who already order from you is fair game.
- Give a reason. A free add-on or a loyalty perk for ordering direct, funded from the commission you are saving.
If you cannot picture how 100 orders a month will get to your page, start smaller and test.
When it does not make sense
- You are new and have no regulars yet. Build your following first.
- Your orders are mostly one-time and discovery-driven.
- You have no way to deliver and rely on aggregator riders.
In those cases, stay on the aggregator and revisit in a few months.
See what an ordering page looks like
Ember & Plate is an ordering site we built as a demo. It is not a client's restaurant. It shows a live menu with sizes and extras and order tracking from kitchen to doorstep. Try it on your phone the way your customers would.
Want your own numbers?
We do not publish fixed prices. Tell us about your menu, how many orders you take and how you deliver. We will talk it through, then send a written quote with scope, cost and timeline, so you can plug a real figure into row I above. We reply within 24 hours.
Chat on WhatsApp or discuss your idea on the contact page.
FAQ
How much commission do Zomato and Swiggy charge restaurants?
Rates vary by restaurant, city and plan. Inc42 reported in August 2025 that Zomato and Swiggy take a 25-35% commission per order, plus platform fees. Your settlement statement shows your actual rate.
Is it worth building my own ordering system if I am on Zomato or Swiggy?
It can be, if you have regulars you can move to direct orders. It usually works alongside aggregators, not instead of them. Use the worksheet above with your own numbers.
Do I still pay anything on orders from my own page?
Yes. Online payments go through a payment gateway that charges its own fee. You also cover your own delivery, hosting and maintenance. What you avoid is a per-order commission to an aggregator.
Should I leave Zomato and Swiggy?
Not necessarily. They are strong for discovery. Many restaurants keep them to reach new customers and use their own page for repeat orders.
How long does it take to break even?
It depends on your build cost, how many orders move to the page and the aggregator rate you pay today. The worksheet gives the formula: build cost divided by monthly savings.