On a typical ₹1,00,000 month of delivery orders, Zomato and Swiggy commission alone can take ₹18,000 to ₹30,000 off the top — before payment gateway fees, ads, or discounting. QR ordering for your own dine-in and takeaway traffic doesn't replace what aggregators bring you (new-customer discovery), but for the orders that are already yours — the guest sitting at your table, the regular who'd happily order directly if it were as easy as scanning a code — it's the difference between keeping the sale and giving a quarter of it away by default.
Here's the actual math, run properly, plus where each channel genuinely earns its place.
What you will get from this guide
- Real commission ranges on Zomato and Swiggy, and what they're actually charged on
- A side-by-side table showing the margin difference at different monthly order volumes
- Where a flat-fee QR ordering subscription breaks even against commission
- A fair read on what aggregators still do better than direct ordering
What Zomato and Swiggy actually charge
Commission structures vary by city, plan tier and how much a restaurant spends on ads or promoted placement, but independent restaurants typically see 18% to 30% commission on the order value, plus payment gateway charges on top. Restaurants running ad campaigns or deep discounts to stay visible in the app often see their effective take-home shrink further, since the commission is calculated before the discount comes out of the restaurant's side.
None of this is a criticism of the platforms — they're charging for real estate in an app millions of people open when they're hungry, and for orders you'd genuinely never have gotten otherwise, that's a fair trade. The problem is treating every order as if it needed that discovery, including the guest already sitting in your dining room.
The math on a sample month
Take a mid-size restaurant doing ₹3,00,000 a month in combined dine-in, takeaway and delivery revenue, with a meaningful share of takeaway and repeat-customer orders that could just as easily be placed directly.
| Through Zomato/Swiggy | Direct via QR ordering | |
|---|---|---|
| Order value | ₹1,00,000 | ₹1,00,000 |
| Commission (avg. ~24%) | −₹24,000 | ₹0 |
| Payment gateway fee (~2%) | −₹2,000 | −₹2,000 |
| QRTable subscription (flat) | — | −₹9,999 + GST (covers all orders, not per-order) |
| What you keep on this ₹1L | ~₹74,000 | ~₹88,000 (before the flat monthly fee is spread across your full order volume) |
The break-even point is straightforward: once your direct/QR order volume clears roughly ₹42,000–₹56,000 a month (depending on your actual commission rate), the flat subscription has already paid for itself against what commission would have cost on the same orders. Everything above that is margin you'd otherwise be splitting with an aggregator, for orders that didn't need aggregator discovery in the first place.
Zero commission, every order, every table
qrtable's QR ordering charges one flat monthly fee, not a percentage of your sales. Guests scan, order and pay from their own phone — you keep what you earn.
₹9,999 + GST a month · No card to start · Live in an afternoon
Where aggregators still earn their commission
Being fair to the other side of this: Zomato and Swiggy are genuinely good at bringing a restaurant its next customer — someone browsing the app who has never heard of you, in a new area, or deciding between five options at 9pm on a Friday. That discovery function is real, and no flat-fee QR system replicates it. Cutting an aggregator out entirely usually means giving up a real acquisition channel, not just a fee.
The smart split most of QRTable's customers land on: keep a presence on Zomato and Swiggy for new-customer discovery and delivery logistics you'd rather not run yourself, and move everything you control — dine-in, takeaway, repeat and loyal customers — onto direct QR ordering where there's no commission at all. You're not choosing one channel, you're routing each type of order to whichever one actually earns its cut on that specific sale.
The part owners underestimate: table turn time
Commission isn't the only number that moves. QR ordering also removes the wait for a server to take the order and the wait to bring the bill at the end — both queue behind whatever else is happening on the floor during a rush. Faster ordering and faster checkout mean more covers through the same tables in the same shift, which shows up as revenue the commission comparison above doesn't even capture. We cover that math specifically on our global blog's table turn time breakdown.
The bottom line
Aggregator commission isn't a scam and it isn't free money you're owed — it's a fair price for genuine customer discovery. The mistake is paying that price on orders that never needed it: the regular, the walk-in, the table that's already sitting in your restaurant. Route those through a flat-fee QR system instead, and the 18–30% you were splitting on every one of those orders stays with you.
Frequently asked questions
How much commission do Zomato and Swiggy actually charge restaurants?
It varies by city, plan and ad spend, but independent restaurants typically see 18% to 30% commission on order value, on top of payment gateway charges. Restaurants running ads or heavy discounts often see their effective take-home shrink further.
Does QR ordering replace Zomato and Swiggy, or work alongside them?
Most restaurants keep aggregators for new-customer discovery and delivery logistics, and move dine-in, takeaway and repeat-customer orders to direct QR ordering, where there's no commission. It's a routing decision, not an either-or.
How many direct orders does it take for a flat-fee QR system to pay for itself?
On a ₹9,999 + GST monthly subscription, once your direct order volume reaches roughly ₹42,000–₹56,000 a month (depending on your actual aggregator commission rate), the subscription has already saved more than commission would have cost on the same orders.
Do guests need to download an app to order by QR code?
No. Guests scan the table's QR code and order from a browser page on their own phone — no app download, no account creation required.
