ChowNow and Owner.com solve the same commission problem as DoorDash and Uber Eats — up to a point. Both still charge a per-order transaction fee on top of a monthly subscription. OrderRail is a flat monthly rate with no percentage taken from any order, ever, and payments settle directly into your own processor account.
| Feature | OrderRail | ChowNow | Owner.com |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly subscription | $179 – $349 | $229+ | Varies by plan |
| Setup fee | $199 – $499 | $119 – $499 | Varies by plan |
| Per-order transaction fee | 0% | 2.95% + $0.29 | Platform-dependent card processing fee applies |
| Where payments settle | Your own Stripe/Square/PayPal/Authorize.net | ChowNow-processed | Platform-processed |
| Contract required | No — month-to-month | Commonly annual | Varies by plan |
| Owns customer data & email list | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Competitor figures reflect publicly stated pricing at time of writing and are provided for comparison only — confirm current rates directly with each provider before deciding.
A flat monthly fee costs the same whether you do 50 orders or 500. A percentage fee grows with every order you process — the more successful the direct-ordering channel gets, the more it costs you to run it.
Your payment processor already charges standard card-processing rates. A platform-level transaction fee stacks on top of that — two fees on every order instead of one.
OrderRail connects to a processor account you already control. Funds never pass through OrderRail on the way to your bank.
ChowNow's setup cost is quoted as a range ($119–$499), which usually means it depends on negotiation. OrderRail's setup fee is fixed per tier and stated upfront.
A restaurant doing $30,000/month in direct-ordering volume pays ChowNow's 2.95% + $0.29 fee on top of its subscription — commonly $850–$900+ a month in transaction fees alone, on top of the $229+ plan cost. OrderRail's highest plan is a flat $349/month, with no transaction fee regardless of volume.
Both offer broader marketing and app-presence features as part of their subscription. If that's a priority, weigh it against the transaction-fee cost at your expected volume — for restaurants focused specifically on capturing repeat and regular orders at full margin, OrderRail's flat-fee model is usually the better fit.
No. OrderRail connects to whichever processor you already use — Stripe, Square, PayPal, or Authorize.net — rather than requiring you to move to a new one.
No long-term contract on either plan. Both include a one-time setup fee but no long-term lock-in beyond your monthly plan.