The best Square Online alternatives for restaurants are Menuline ($29/month), UpMenu ($49 to $169/month), Menufy ($149 to $179/month), ChowNow ($249/month and up) and Owner.com ($249/month + 5% per order, or $499/month). Stay on Square if you run Square POS and mainly need a pickup link: its Free plan is $0/month plus 3.3% + 30¢ per online card payment.
The right answer depends on one question: are you leaving Square's website, or Square entirely? Most restaurants only need to replace the first.
Disclosure: Menuline publishes this article and competes with every platform on this list, Square included. We say where each one beats us. Confirm every price with the vendor before you sign.
Which Square Online alternative fits your restaurant?
| Platform | Monthly price (published, 2026) | Per-order cost to restaurant | Contract | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Square Free | $0 per location | 3.3% + 30¢ online processing | None | Square POS shops testing online orders |
| Square Plus | $49 per location | 2.9% + 30¢ online processing | None | Square shops wanting loyalty and email |
| Menuline | $29 Starter / $99 Growth | 0% commission; processing rate not listed, ask | Month-to-month | A real restaurant website plus pickup ordering |
| UpMenu | $49 (75 orders), $89 (210), $169 (unlimited) | $1.90 per order over your limit | Cancel anytime | Low-volume shops buying modules à la carte |
| Menufy | $149 (12-month) / $179 (month-to-month) | Per-order convenience fee, paid by you or the guest | 12 months or month-to-month | Owners who want text marketing and couriers bundled |
| ChowNow | $249 to $449 | 2.95% + $0.29 per transaction | Auto-renews for your term | Discovery channels, SMS, courier delivery |
| Owner.com | $249 + 5% per order, or $499 flat | 5% (Flexible plan only) | Month-to-month | Owners who want an all-in package with SMS |
Each vendor's figures per its published pricing page as of 2026. Customer-side fees are covered below.
What changed with Square Online in 2026?
Older comparison articles describe Square Online as a separate subscription with its own tiers. That is out of date. Here is what Square's own pages show as of October 2026:
- One plan for the whole business. Square now sells Square Free ($0), Square Plus ($49/month per location) and Square Premium ($149/month per location), and its online store plans page says online store features are "included in any Square plan." Businesses processing over $250,000 a year can ask about custom "Square Pro" pricing.
- "Websites" and "online ordering profiles" are now two products. Square's navigation lists Websites (the site builder, still called "Square Online sites" in the plan table) separately from Online ordering profiles, an app-like ordering page Square says you can launch "with any Square plan" and "no extra effort or monthly fees." Checkout on the profile "is powered by Cash App."
- Delivery runs through couriers. Per Square's online ordering page, profiles can dispatch on-demand couriers. The delivery fee is set by the delivery provider and "may be charged directly to your customer or to you," and Square's online processing fee still applies.
- Loyalty and marketing need a paid plan. Per Square's pricing page, the loyalty program and email and text marketing are in Square Plus and Premium, not Square Free. Plus includes 500 texts a month, then 3¢ each; Premium includes 2,500, then 1.5¢.
- Wix is now an official route. Square's plan table lists a "Sync Wix online store" feature that connects a Wix store to your Square catalog.
- Weebly is being wound down abroad. Square bought Weebly in 2018, and Square Online grew out of it. Per a Network Solutions help article, Weebly is being discontinued in 67 countries: sites were unpublished on September 27, 2026 and logins end December 26, 2026. The United States is not on that list, and US restaurants on Square Online are not affected.
None of that makes Square a bad choice. It does mean "Square Online" now means a free site builder and ordering page bolted onto whichever Square plan you pay for.
What does Square Online really cost a busy restaurant?
"Free" is a processing price. On Square Free, every online card payment costs 3.3% + 30¢. On Plus, it's 2.9% + 30¢, so the 0.4-point gap pays for the $49 subscription once you pass about $12,250 a month in online sales.
Assuming a $30 average ticket:
| Online sales per month | Orders | Square Free (processing only) | Square Plus ($49 + processing) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $5,000 | 167 | $215 | $244 |
| $10,000 | 333 | $430 | $439 |
| $20,000 | 667 | $860 | $829 |
In fairness to Square: card processing is not a Square tax. Every platform that takes cards pays it somewhere, and you'd pay a similar rate on most alternatives. The honest comparison is the subscription plus any per-order platform fee, with processing compared rate to rate. Ask every vendor for its processing rate in writing, us included, because Menuline's and Owner.com's pricing pages don't list one.
Why do restaurants look for Square Online alternatives?
Usually for one of four reasons:
- The website doesn't win Google searches. Square's builder is general ecommerce software with a restaurant mode. It has SEO tools, but it won't build dish pages or local landing pages for you. If "best tacos near me" sends people to DoorDash instead of you, that's the gap.
- Repeat-customer tools cost extra. Loyalty and email marketing need Square Plus, which is $49 a month per location. A three-location shop pays $147 a month before it sends one email.
- Payments are locked to Square. That's fine if you love Square's rates. It's a constraint if you want a different processor.
- No branded app. The ordering profile works "just like a custom app," in Square's words, but it isn't your app in the App Store.
If none of those bother you, you may not need an alternative at all. More on that below.
What are the best Square Online alternatives?
Menuline: a restaurant website with ordering built in
Menuline is $29/month (Starter) or $99/month (Growth), both $1/month for the first 3 months, month-to-month, with 0% commission. Starter includes an SEO-optimized restaurant website, commission-free online ordering, automated SEO pages and loyalty rewards. Growth adds a branded iOS and Android app and AI-powered email marketing. Menu setup is done for you from photos or a DoorDash or Uber Eats link.
For Square shops specifically: Menuline can send its orders into Square POS once you connect your Square account, so the kitchen keeps one system. Menuline collects online payments through Stripe and pays you out, so online orders don't run through Square processing. Menu import from Square isn't available yet.
The honest caveats: diners pay a 5% platform fee at checkout. Square's ordering page doesn't list a diner-side platform fee, so on that line Square wins. Ordering is pickup only today; delivery with Uber drivers is coming soon. Marketing is email only, with no SMS.
UpMenu: pay for the modules you use
Per UpMenu's pricing page, web ordering is $49/month for 75 orders, $89 for 210 and $169 for unlimited, with $1.90 per order past your limit. Loyalty is a $19 add-on, marketing tools $9, a branded app $49, all per location per month. There are no setup fees or commissions, a 7-day free trial, and you can cancel anytime (no refunds). At 333 orders a month, the unlimited plan is cheaper than $89 plus overages.
Menufy: flat price, marketing and couriers included
Per Menufy's pricing page, it's $149/month on a 12-month agreement (with free equipment) or $179/month month-to-month. Both include automated email and text marketing, a loyalty program and coupons, and DoorDash Drive and Uber Direct couriers. Menufy charges a per-order convenience fee that the restaurant or the guest pays; see our Menufy pricing breakdown.
ChowNow: discovery channels and Square integration
ChowNow publishes $249, $349 and $449/month plans (less on annual billing), plus a $119 to $499 setup fee and 2.95% + $0.29 per transaction. ChowNow lists Square among its 20+ POS integrations, adds a consumer marketplace app, and Grow and above include SMS. At $10,000 a month, Launch is about $641 a month all-in. Full math in our ChowNow pricing guide.
Owner.com: the all-in package
Per Owner.com's pricing page, the Flexible plan is $249/month + 5% per order and Flat Rate is $499/month. Both include a website, ordering, a branded app, loyalty, and AI email and SMS marketing, month-to-month. Guests pay a 5% order support fee on both plans, the same as Menuline's 5% diner fee, so that part is a wash. At $10,000 a month online, Flexible comes to $749. See Owner.com alternatives.
Switching POS too?
If you're replacing Square POS entirely, compare POS systems first and treat online ordering as one line of the quote. Toast, for example, sells online ordering as an add-on to its POS; our Toast pricing breakdown lists the line items.
Do these alternatives charge your customers a fee?
Some do, and it belongs in the comparison:
| Platform | Diner-side fee |
|---|---|
| Square ordering profile | None listed by Square; courier fee may be passed to the diner |
| Menuline | 5% platform fee at checkout |
| Owner.com | 5% order support fee |
| Menufy | Convenience fee if you pass it to the guest |
| ChowNow | 7.5% only on its own app and marketplace site, per its support center |
When is Square Online the right choice?
Stay on Square if:
- You run Square POS and online is a small slice. Orders land on the same POS and kitchen printer, with nothing to integrate.
- You only need a pickup link. The ordering profile costs nothing extra and Cash App checkout is fast for the many diners who use it.
- Your volume is under about $12,000 a month online. Square Free is cheaper than Plus below that line, and no alternative here beats $0 in subscription.
- You want in-store and online loyalty in one place. Square Loyalty on Plus covers counter sales too. Online-only platforms, Menuline included, can't reward a walk-in cash sale.
How do you switch without losing customers?
- Export your customer list. In Square Dashboard, go to Customers, then Customer directory, then Import / Export, then Export customers. Only email people who agreed to marketing.
- Keep your domain. Point it at the new site so Google links and printed menus still work.
- Run both for two weeks. Take orders on the new system while the Square link stays live, then switch your Google Business Profile ordering link and social bios. Our guide to adding online ordering to Google shows where that link lives.
- Check your score. The free Menuline AI grader shows how your current site and Google profile rank before and after.
The bottom line
Square Online is now part of Square's one-plan model: $0, $49 or $149 a month per location, with online card payments at 3.3% + 30¢ on Free and 2.9% + 30¢ on paid plans. It stays the right call for Square POS shops that just need a pickup link. If you want a website that wins searches, a branded app, or loyalty without a per-location upgrade, the alternatives run from $29/month (Menuline, diners pay 5%) through $49 to $179 (UpMenu, Menufy) to $249 and up (ChowNow, Owner.com). Compare the subscription, the per-order fees and the diner fees together, then pick the one whose trade-offs you can live with. Our Square Online review covers Square itself in more depth.