Overview

Fee Free Ordering is a direct-ordering and restaurant operations platform for independent restaurants. It is best suited to operators who want to offer pickup, delivery, dine-in and catering from a branded page, with the option to add phone ordering and other services as needed. Its free starting tier is useful for a small order volume, but the 100-order monthly ceiling makes the paid unlimited-orders option important as business grows.

Key features

Branded ordering: Restaurants can offer pickup, delivery, dine-in and catering through a branded ordering page. Availability controls help operators manage when online ordering is open. This is a practical foundation for direct orders, though the capabilities and monthly cost depend on which add-ons the restaurant chooses.
Kitchen alerts: The Fee Free Order App turns an iPhone, iPad or Android tablet into an order station and can alert staff about orders they have not accepted. That gives a small team a way to keep incoming orders visible without requiring a dedicated order terminal.
Phone orders with Nabil AI: Nabil takes phone orders through the restaurant's existing checkout and sends them to the kitchen display and ticket printer. It checks orders against the menu, reads back each item and the total, and transfers allergy questions to staff. Those safeguards make it more appropriate for routine ordering than for handling allergy advice. Existing paying Fee Free members can try Nabil free for seven days.
Marketing and customer records: The platform includes reports, a customer list with CSV export and promotions. Kickstarter adds first-order and win-back campaigns; Advanced Promo Marketing offers 13 promo types, five free, with a guided wizard. The latter is the more substantial choice for restaurants seeking a broader promotion toolkit.
Payments and delivery: Online payments can be routed to the restaurant's own Stripe or PayPal account, while Driver Pool connects to the Shipday driver network. These are useful integrations, but each is a separate paid plan rather than an included part of the free core.
Privacy and support: Fee Free says it does not sell data and names Stripe, Resend, PrintNode, ShipDay, Google Maps and Sentry as service providers it may share data with to deliver the service. Users can request a copy of their data or deletion by emailing support. The site describes its support as real human Canadian support and provides a support phone number.

Pricing

The Core ordering platform is free forever, and includes 100 orders per month. That makes it a sensible starting point for a low-volume restaurant, but not a free unlimited service: any paid add-on lifts the cap, and restaurants can instead choose an unlimited-orders plan.

Most capabilities are sold separately, so the right plan depends on the bottleneck. Custom Domain is 9.99 USD per month to use a restaurant's own domain with a hosted Fee Free site; Kickstarter is 9.99 USD per month for first-order and win-back campaigns; Driver Pool is 9.99 USD per month for access to Shipday's driver network. Domain Included costs 14.99 USD per month for domain registration and connection, while Sales Optimized Website is 19.99 USD per month for a hosted SEO-ready marketing and ordering site.

FREE Unlimited Orders and Unlimited Orders are each shown at 14.99 USD per month; the latter specifies unlimited orders with no per-order fees. A restaurant chiefly trying to remove the 100-order ceiling should compare these options carefully. Advanced Promo Marketing costs 19.99 USD per month and is aimed at restaurants that need more promotion types. Multi-Location costs 49.99 USD per month and supports several locations in one account, each with its own menu, orders and payments. Online Payments costs 39.99 USD per month for card payments through the restaurant's own Stripe or PayPal account. The separately priced plans make it possible to add only what is needed, but relying on several of them can raise the total monthly bill substantially.

Platforms

Fee Free Ordering is available on Android, iOS and the web. The kitchen order app runs on iPhone, iPad or Android tablets.

Who it's for

Independent restaurants that want a branded direct-ordering page and can begin within 100 monthly orders are the clearest fit. Operators can add a custom domain, marketing campaigns, delivery-network access, payment processing or multi-location management as their needs grow. Restaurants with higher order volume should budget for unlimited orders, and those seeking online card payments should account for the separate payment plan.

Pros and cons

Pro: A free way to begin taking direct orders. The core plan costs nothing and covers up to 100 orders per month, making a small-volume start possible without a subscription.
Pro: Phone ordering has defined safeguards. Nabil checks menu items and totals, reads orders back and sends allergy questions to staff instead of answering them itself.
Pro: Useful restaurant-specific options. The kitchen app, availability controls, Shipday driver access and location-specific menus address practical ordering and operations needs.
Con: The free plan is capped. A restaurant exceeding 100 monthly orders must add a paid option to lift the cap or move to an unlimited-orders plan.
Con: Key services add separate monthly charges. Online payments, marketing, domain options and driver access each have their own plan, so a restaurant needing several capabilities may face a materially higher bill than the free entry point suggests.
Con: Nabil's free trial is narrowly available. The seven-day trial is for existing paying Fee Free members, not a general trial for every prospective user.

Alternatives

Ordering.Tools is worth considering for a restaurant seeking a freemium, cross-platform option with a free tier of 20 orders per month, no commission, and an AI assistant; its AI questions and voice calls are subject to usage limits. Fee Free allows 100 orders on its free core plan.
Quiteful may suit a restaurant that can work within a free allowance of 20 active items, one menu and one location, particularly if those limits match its catalog and footprint.
GloriaFood is a stronger candidate for a restaurant prioritizing unlimited orders and locations with no commission or monthly fee on its free service plan.
Prestau Menu Author is an alternative to consider for restaurant menu management.
TabTake Reservations offers a free Direct plan for one location and up to 150 orders per month, but reservations are not included at that tier.
Restolabs is a paid alternative with a 30-day trial and a Basic plan described as offering zero-commission unlimited orders.
FineDine is a paid option whose Starter plan is priced annually and includes limits for menu items, dine-in tables, monthly orders and reservations.
RestioX is another option to compare for a free-forever trial package with stated dish, category, order, staff, branch and storage limits.
Restaurant Menu Management Software, Restaurant Website Builders and Food Ordering Software provide broader category comparisons.

Verdict

Fee Free Ordering is a good fit for an independent restaurant that wants direct online ordering, a tablet-based kitchen station and the option to add phone ordering without committing to every capability upfront. Its free core plan makes a low-volume start straightforward, and its restaurant-specific options cover meaningful operational needs. Look elsewhere if you need high order volume at no monthly cost or want payments, marketing and delivery services bundled into one predictable plan; Fee Free's cap and separate add-on pricing can make those needs expensive.

	Fee Free Ordering	FoodChow
Free plan	Yes
Free trial	Yes
Paid from	$9.99/mo
Platforms	Android, iOS, Web	Android, iOS, Web, Windows
Free plan	Yes
Paid from	9.99 /mo
Availability controls	Yes
Online ordering	Yes
Branded storefront		Yes
Pickup ordering		Yes
Delivery ordering		Yes
POS integration		Yes
Branded mobile app		Yes

Fee Free Ordering vs FoodChow

Fee Free Ordering

FoodChow