WooCommerce and WordPress alternatives · 2026
WooCommerce alternatives for restaurants without plugins to keep updated.
WooCommerce has a $0 platform fee, but a restaurant still pays for hosting (WooCommerce puts it at $25–$350 a month for most stores), a food ordering plugin such as Orderable Pro at $149 a year, card processing, and the time to keep WordPress and every plugin updated. Alternatives that come ready for food orders are Menuthere (free plan, then $17 a month, 0% commission), Square Online, Wix Restaurants and ChowNow.
Keep your WordPress site. Add ordering with nothing to install.
Free plan: 50 orders a month, no card needed. Lite and Pro start with a 7-day free trial (a card is needed; nothing is charged until it ends).
What it takes
A WooCommerce restaurant is a stack you run yourself.
WooCommerce is a free, open-source store plugin for WordPress. For a restaurant, it becomes an ordering system once you add a food ordering plugin, a payment plugin and good hosting. Our guide Can I add online ordering to my WordPress restaurant website? covers the basics.
That freedom has a cost: you, or someone you pay, set it up and keep WordPress, WooCommerce, the theme and every plugin updated and working together. If an update breaks checkout, you sort it out with the plugin's maker, your host or your developer.
- Hosting: WooCommerce says $25–$350 a month for most stores, rising with traffic.
- Extensions: $29–$299 a year each, according to WooCommerce.
- Payments: about 2.50–2.90% + 30¢ per transaction with WooPayments; WooCommerce adds no fee of its own.
- Food ordering: Orderable Free has date slots and basic printing; time slots, add-ons, table QR ordering and order notifications need Orderable Pro.
A typical food plugin
Orderable Free or Pro: what a restaurant gets.
Orderable is a restaurant ordering plugin for WooCommerce, with 5,000+ active installations on WordPress.org. From its own pricing page, read 20 October 2026.
| Feature | Orderable Free ($0) | Orderable Pro ($149 a year, 1 site) |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery and pickup dates | Date slots | Date and time slots |
| Product add-ons (modifiers) | No | Yes |
| Table ordering with QR codes | No | Yes |
| Order notifications (SMS, email, WhatsApp) | No | Yes |
| Tips at checkout | No | Yes |
| Receipt and ticket printing | Basic | Basic, plus a kitchen ticket layout |
Orderable Pro covers one site; multiple locations, each with its own delivery areas, are also a Pro feature. Hosting and payment processing are paid separately.
The alternatives
WooCommerce alternatives for restaurants, side by side.
Menuthere first because it is ours. Every price is from the company's own website, US unless stated.
| Option | Monthly price | Fees on each order | What you maintain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Menuthere | Free (50 orders); Lite $17; Pro $39; Branded App $99 | 0% commission; your own Stripe account's card fee (2.9% + 30¢ in the US) | Nothing to install or update |
| Square Online | Free; Plus $49 per location; Premium $149 | 3.3% + 30¢ per online card on Free, 2.9% + 30¢ on Plus | Nothing to install; best with Square POS |
| Wix Restaurants | App is free; the site needs Core at $29 or more (billed yearly) | Wix Payments 2.9% + 30¢ in the US | Your Wix site |
| ChowNow | From $229 (annual term) or $249 monthly, plus a $119–$499 setup fee | 2.95% + 29¢ per transaction | Nothing; ChowNow sets it up |
| WooCommerce + Orderable Pro | Hosting $25–$350 + $149 a year for Orderable Pro | WooPayments about 2.50–2.90% + 30¢ | WordPress, WooCommerce, your theme and every plugin |
Square Online: Square's US pricing pages, read 19 October 2026. Wix, ChowNow, WooCommerce and Orderable: their own pricing pages, read 20 October 2026.
A worked example
A pizzeria with 600 orders a month: WooCommerce or Menuthere?
600 online orders a month at $22 each ($13,200 in card payments), in the US. Prices read 20 October 2026.
| Cost a month | WooCommerce + Orderable Pro | Menuthere Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | $0 | $17 |
| Hosting | $25 (the low end of WooCommerce's range) | Included |
| Ordering plugin | $12.42 (Orderable Pro, $149 a year) | Included |
| Card fees on 600 orders | $562.80 (WooPayments at 2.9% + 30¢) | $562.80 (your own Stripe, 2.9% + 30¢) |
| Your time on updates and fixes | Yours, or a developer's | None |
| Total a month | $600.22 | $579.80 |
The honest reading: the cash cost is close. WooCommerce can be cheap if you are happy to run it. Busier stores need better hosting, which WooCommerce puts at up to $350 a month, and every extra extension costs $29–$299 a year.
Ready on day one
What comes ready on Menuthere that WooCommerce needs plugins for.
Menu from a photo
Upload a photo or PDF of your menu and Menuthere's AI reads dishes, prices and sizes. No product pages to build. Every plan.
Add-ons and sold-out switches
Priced add-ons on each dish, and one switch to mark a dish, size or category sold out. Every plan.
QR table ordering
A QR code per table, and a second round from the same guest is added to their open order. Every plan, Free included.
An order alert that rings
The partner app for Android and iPhone rings until you accept the order, and kitchen tickets print on a thermal printer. Every plan.
Delivery priced by distance
A fee that grows with distance, a flat fee, or a fee per zone drawn on a map. Your own riders with live tracking on Pro.
Allergens and calories
The 14 common allergens, calories and a halal mark on each dish, shown to customers. Every plan.
Be fair to WooCommerce
When WooCommerce is the better choice.
Choose WooCommerce if you want full control: your own hosting, your own code, any WordPress theme, a big blog and a retail shop alongside your menu. If you or your developer enjoy running WordPress, Orderable Pro or a similar plugin gives you time slots, add-ons, table ordering and even WhatsApp notifications.
If you already have a WordPress site and just want orders to work, keep the site and link it to a Menuthere ordering page with an Order now button. Nothing to install, nothing to update. See WooCommerce for restaurants for both setups.
- WooCommerce wins on control, custom code, themes, blogging and retail.
- Menuthere wins on being ready for food orders with nothing to maintain.
- Menuthere has no kitchen display screen, no delivery-app integration and only a basic POS ($10 a month add-on).
Questions owners ask
Answered, plainly.
Sources (7) · checked 2026-10-20
- WooCommerce pricing · WooCommerce, read 20 October 2026
- Orderable pricing · Orderable, read 20 October 2026
- Orderable – Restaurant & Food Ordering System · WordPress.org, read 20 October 2026
- Square pricing (US) · Square, read 19 October 2026
- Wix plans · Wix.com, read 20 October 2026
- ChowNow pricing · ChowNow, read 20 October 2026
- Stripe pricing (US) · Stripe, read 19 October 2026
Food ordering with nothing to install.
An ordering page, QR menu and table ordering from a photo of your menu, with 0% commission. Free to start, $17 a month for unlimited orders.
