Lieferando, Wolt, Uber Eats or your own ordering system? An honest comparison

The short answer

• Marketplaces (Lieferando, Wolt, Uber Eats) are best at bringing new guests and offer couriers and online payment. You pay for it on every order, and the guest stays the platform's customer.
• Your own ordering system is best for regulars. No commission, your prices, your brand, your guest relationship – but nobody finds it unless you send them there.

Most successful independent restaurants use both: the apps as a shop window, their own system for everyone who comes back.

The comparison at a glance

Commission figures are what restaurants commonly report for Lieferando in Germany; platforms don't publish fixed rates and terms differ per contract. Wolt and Uber Eats negotiate individually as well – ask for the rate in writing.

Lieferando

Lieferando (part of Just Eat Takeaway.com) is the largest delivery marketplace in Germany. If people in your area open a delivery app, it is very likely this one.

Strong points: the largest audience, a familiar brand that guests trust, online payment, and the option of courier delivery in many cities.

Weak points for a restaurant: the commission – reported around 13–14 % when you deliver yourself and around 30 % with Lieferando's couriers (trusted.de) – plus possible extra fees. Partner terms aren't published and can differ per restaurant (SumUp). Your listing sits right next to your competitors.

Wolt

Wolt has belonged to DoorDash since 2022 and is the second large marketplace in many German cities. It is known for a polished app and its own courier fleet.

Strong points: a well-designed app with good photos, its own couriers, online payment, a younger urban audience.

Weak points for a restaurant: the same marketplace model – a percentage per order and the guest belongs to the platform. Wolt is mainly present in larger cities; in smaller towns there may be no Wolt at all.

Uber Eats

Uber Eats has been expanding in Germany and is now available in many cities. In newer cities restaurants often deliver themselves at first.

Strong points: a large international brand, the Uber app's existing users, online payment.

Weak points for a restaurant: again commission per order, and in many cities fewer users than the market leader – so the reach you pay for may be smaller.

Your own ordering system

An own ordering system means guests order directly from you: on your own restaurant page, through an order button on your website, by scanning a QR code at the table or through a link in your Google Business Profile.

Strong points: no commission, so you can keep your normal prices. The guest orders from your brand, and you decide on offers, stamp cards and how you talk to your regulars. With a fixed monthly price, your costs don't rise when you get busier.

Weak points: nobody stumbles across it by accident. You have to tell your guests – with flyers in the bag, the QR code on the table, your website and social media. And you need your own drivers, or you offer pickup.

Where Eatzino falls short today

Because this is our blog, here is the part other comparisons leave out:

• Payment is cash only at the moment (on delivery, at pickup, at the counter). Online card payment is in preparation.
• There is no shared courier network. You deliver with your own drivers – who get our free driver app with navigation and hand-over codes – or guests pick up.
• Eatzino is new. Our marketplace is still small; it won't bring you the volume of a big app on day one. That's why we built it as a channel for your regulars, not as a replacement for discovery.

Where Eatzino is better

• 0 % commission on every order, on every channel – online, website, QR table, POS. One fixed monthly price (Start €79, Grow €199, All-in €399, plus VAT).
• Everything in one system. Online ordering, a WordPress plugin and order button for your website, a POS for counter and phone orders, a QR table menu and table reservations – all orders land on one board.
• Your guests stay yours. They order from your page with your photos, without competitors next to you.
• Honest availability. When you pause orders or a dish is sold out, guests see it immediately instead of ordering something you can't make.
• Restaurant time everywhere. Opening hours and time slots always follow your restaurant's local time.
• German and English for guests and for your team.

Which setup fits your restaurant?

You get most orders from the apps and have no drivers: stay on a marketplace with courier delivery for now. Start your own channel for pickup orders – they cost you nothing and need no drivers.

You have your own drivers: this is where an own ordering system pays off fastest. Every order that moves from the app to your own channel saves the full commission.

You run a café or restaurant with many table guests: a QR table menu and table reservations are often worth more than delivery. Guests order at the table, call the waiter and see the bill on their phone.

You already have a website with visitors: add an order button. Those visitors already know you – there is no reason to send them to a marketplace that charges you for them.

Want the numbers behind the commission? Read what delivery apps really cost a restaurant.