The best free QR code menus for UK restaurants in 2026

The best free QR code menu for most UK restaurants, cafés and pubs is one that lets you edit prices live, works on any phone without an app, and can take orders when you're ready, without charging commission. On that test, Menuthere, MENU TIGER and Square are the strongest free options for UK venues. Each has a catch on its free plan. A free QR generator linked to a PDF menu is the cheapest route, but it can't take orders and it reads badly on a phone.

Menuthere publishes this list and includes itself. Every figure below comes from each company's own pages, read on the date shown. Nobody paid to be listed.

Updated: 11 October 2026.

At a glance

1. Menuthere

Best for: independent UK restaurants, cafés, pubs and takeaways that want a QR menu now and commission-free ordering later.

• Free plan: QR codes, unlimited menu items, an ordering website, 50 orders a month (then the menu stays online, view-only, until the 1st), 0% commission. Shows an "Ordering by Menuthere" badge (removed on Lite and above). Tag the 14 UK allergens, calories and a halal mark on each dish on every plan, Free included.
• Paid: Lite at US$17 a month (unlimited orders, own domain, all themes, multi-language menu, Stripe card payments, scheduled orders and pre-orders, table booking, coupons, no badge). Pro at US$39 a month (WhatsApp ordering on your own number, loyalty, your own riders with live tracking). 7-day free trial on Lite and Pro (a card is needed to start it, but nothing is charged until it ends).
• Good: AI imports your menu from a photo or PDF. Guests see each dish's allergens and calories when they open it, in every menu layout. Table QR ordering and bill joining. Partner app rings until each order is accepted. Same menu for dine-in, collection and delivery.
• Catches: card payments need Lite or above (Free takes cash or pay at the counter). No UK EPOS integrations. No Deliveroo or Uber Eats integration. No kitchen display screen (orders go to the app, phone or kitchen printer). Plans are billed in US dollars; your bank converts it.

Create your free QR code menu · See the UK QR menu page

2. MENU TIGER

Best for: small cafés and restaurants that want QR table ordering paid through their own Stripe account.

• Free plan (Freemium): 1 store, 10 table QR codes, 1 admin, up to 7 categories with 7 items each, 200 QR orders and 250 online orders a month. Cash and Stripe only.
• Paid: Regular US$17/month (15 tables, unlimited items and orders, PayPal, Stripe and Adyen). Advanced US$46/month adds a kitchen display. Premium US$119/month adds your own domain. Yearly billing saves 15%. 14-day trial on paid plans.
• Good: no commission, no setup fee, no contract. Menu translation. AI menu builder.
• Catches: the 49-item cap rules out most pub and restaurant menus on Free. Printer integration costs an extra US$20 a month. Prices in US$.

3. Square

Best for: UK venues already on Square's till or card readers.

• Free plan: Square for Restaurants Free is £0 a month plus card fees, and includes online ordering.
• UK card fees: 1.75% in person; 1.4% + 25p online for UK cards (2.5% + 25p for non-UK cards).
• Paid: Plus £69/month per location. Square Kiosk is £35/month per device plus £99 hardware.
• Good: one system for till, card machine, online orders and kiosks.
• Good for QR: Square's UK QR code menu tool is free, and self-serve ordering lets guests order from their table on their own phone. Orders print in the kitchen like any other.
• Catches: you need Square's online ordering page switched on and "self-serve" set up for each item. You're tied to Square's payments.

4. Take App

Best for: takeaways and home food businesses that already take orders on WhatsApp.

• Free plan: Basic saves 50 orders a month to the dashboard; more still reach WhatsApp. Unlimited products, no commission.
• Paid: Business US$50/month with unlimited orders, card payments, custom domain and automated WhatsApp updates.
• Catches: built for WhatsApp ordering rather than table QR menus. Card payments need the paid plan.

5. Odoo

Best for: venues that want EPOS, stock and accounting in one system and have time to set it up.

• Free plan: "One App Free": one app, unlimited users, free forever. Pick Point of Sale and you get a restaurant till. Odoo's restaurant POS also lets guests order and pay from their own phone; check that's included before you plan around it.
• Paid: adding more apps (such as accounting or a website) moves you to the Standard plan, charged per user a month. Odoo shows the price in your local currency.
• Catches: powerful but complex. Setup takes longer than a pure QR menu.

6. A free QR generator + PDF menu

Best for: a view-only menu at zero cost, if you never change prices.

• Cost: free.
• Catches: guests pinch and zoom around an A4 PDF. You can't mark a dish sold out. Some "free" generators make dynamic codes that stop working when a trial ends, so every table card goes dead. No ordering. Read why on our free QR code menu page.

Side by side

How we chose

• Sold to UK venues, with a free plan or free tier you can use for good, not just a trial.
• No commission on orders.
• Works without an app for guests.
• Figures from each company's own pricing page, with the date we read it. Where a company's own page didn't confirm a figure, we left that product off.

Not on this list: systems whose free-plan terms we couldn't confirm on their own site (for example Deonde's Ressto), paid-only UK systems (for example Flipdish, Storekit) and pay-at-table apps such as sunday, which have no free plan for venues. Some pay-at-table apps add a small fee for guests; in 2024 The Caterer reported a £2.99 checkout fee at one London group.

Before you print your QR codes (UK checks)

• Allergens: your QR menu must give allergen information or tell guests how to ask. On Menuthere you tag the 14 UK allergens and calories on each dish, and guests see them when they open it. Keep a printed allergen matrix too (our free allergen chart maker builds one).
• Prices include VAT.
• Keep some paper menus for guests without a phone.
• No card surcharges: banned on consumer cards in the UK since 13 January 2018.
• Print each code at least 3 cm wide. Our free table QR card maker does it for you.

Free plan: QR codes, unlimited items, 50 orders a month, 0% commission.

Create your free QR code menu