A restaurant website in 2026 costs anywhere from about $20 a month on a DIY builder to a few thousand dollars up front for a custom build, plus a monthly running cost. The build is rarely the expensive part. Online ordering, reservations and delivery commissions are where most restaurants spend real money, often more each month than the website itself cost to make.

Below are the real numbers, taken from each vendor's own pricing page as of October 2026, so you can price your options before you talk to anyone.

What does a restaurant website cost at a glance?

There are four ways to get a site. Each has a different split between what you pay once and what you pay every month.

Ordering, reservation and delivery fees sit on top of every row in that table. We cover them further down.

How much do Squarespace and Wix cost for a restaurant?

Squarespace lists four plans as of October 2026: Basic at $19 a month paid annually or $25 paid monthly, Core at $29 or $39, Plus at $49 or $65, and Advanced at $99 or $139. Every plan includes a menu block and an OpenTable block for reservations. The ChowNow integration for online ordering is not on Basic, so a restaurant that wants ordering on the site starts at Core.

Wix shows prices by country and says its displayed prices are for yearly subscriptions paid up front. Style Factory's Wix pricing guide, updated August 2026, lists annual-billing prices of $17 a month for Light, $29 for Core, $39 for Business and $159 for Business Elite. Wix's plans page shows that accepting payments starts at Core, so online orders need Core or higher.

The real cost of a DIY builder is your time. Writing the copy, shooting the food, building the menu and fixing the phone layout usually takes an owner several evenings, and the result tends to look like the template it came from.

What do restaurant website platforms charge?

Restaurant platforms bundle a template site with menus, ordering and marketing tools. The monthly fee is higher than a general builder, but you get restaurant features out of the box.

• Popmenu: Starter $159, Essentials $269, Premier $449 a month prepaid annually ($179, $299 and $499 paid monthly), setup included, and a flat $1.00 per online order that you can absorb or pass to the guest, as of October 2026.
• ChowNow: plans start at $229 to $249 a month depending on billing, with a $119 to $499 setup fee, a processing fee of 2.95% plus $0.29 per transaction, and $7.98 per Flex Delivery order, as of October 2026. ChowNow says direct website orders are commission-free.
• Toast: Toast Websites syncs menus, prices and availability with the Toast POS. Toast does not publish a price for its website or online ordering products; its pricing page offers a starter package from $0 a month and sends everything else to a sales quote.

If you already run Toast, the menu sync alone can be worth it, because a price change on the POS shows up on the site. If you do not, you are buying into a POS to get a website.

What does a freelancer or studio charge?

A freelancer prices by the hour or the project. Upwork lists a range of $15 to $30 an hour for web designers on its platform. Rates outside marketplaces vary widely by city and experience, so ask for a fixed project price in writing and a list of exactly what is included: number of pages, copy, photos, menu setup, ordering and booking connections.

A studio costs more per hour than a single freelancer but covers more of the work in one place: design, writing, photography or film, Google and AI search setup, and ongoing updates. At Project 66 Studio a new website or rebuild starts from $799, and care plans that keep it updated, secure and fast are $79, $179 or $549 a month. We confirm the final price before any work begins. You can see a finished restaurant build in our Atelier Mercer work, which covers the website, films and booking.

What makes a restaurant website cost more?

Five things move the price more than anything else.

1. Online ordering. A link out to an ordering app is cheap. Ordering built into your site, with modifiers, pickup times and delivery zones, adds a platform fee and setup time.
2. Reservations. Embedding a booking widget is quick. The monthly reservation software is the real cost, from $149 a month on OpenTable's Basic plan plus cover fees, or $289 a month on ResyOS Platform, as of October 2026.
3. Menus. A menu as a PDF is cheap to make and bad for guests on phones and for search. A menu built as real text, with prices and dietary notes, takes longer to set up and is easier to keep current. If you change the menu weekly, budget for who will update it.
4. Photos and film. Phone photos cost nothing. A shoot or short films of the room and the food cost more, and they help a guest choose you over the place next door. At our studio, edited film from your own footage starts from $149 a minute, and AI and motion film from $990 a minute.
5. Languages. Every extra language means translated menus, pages and booking messages, and someone to keep them in sync when the menu changes. In a tourist area it pays for itself. Elsewhere it is often a cost you do not need.

What hidden costs should a restaurant budget for?

The website invoice is the number people compare. These are the numbers that surprise them later.

• Delivery app commissions. DoorDash's Marketplace plans charge 15%, 25% or 30% commission on delivery orders and 6% on pickup, as of October 2026. On a $40 delivery order at 25%, that is $10 to DoorDash. DoorDash also says orders through its own Online Ordering product are commission-free but carry a payment processing fee.
• Per-order and processing fees. Even "commission-free" ordering usually carries card processing or a per-order fee, such as Popmenu's $1.00 per online order or ChowNow's 2.95% plus $0.29.
• Reservation cover fees. OpenTable charges $1.50 per network cover on Basic after the first 30 days, and $1 per network cover on Core and Pro, as of October 2026. Its standard contract is one year.
• Domain, email and add-ons. A domain name, a business email account and paid apps or plugins each add a small monthly or yearly charge.
• Your time. Updating hours for holidays, swapping the menu, posting events. If nobody owns this, the site goes stale and Google shows guests the wrong hours.

What does a typical restaurant spend in the first year?

Here is how the same restaurant looks on two routes, using only list prices as of October 2026. These are worked examples, not quotes.

A neighborhood cafe, no reservations, pickup orders. Squarespace Core on annual billing is $29 a month, or $348 a year, plus the ChowNow integration and ChowNow's own fees if you want ordering on the site. Your time is the biggest cost.

A dinner restaurant with bookings. A custom site from $799 once, a care plan from $79 a month, and reservation software. On OpenTable Core at $299 a month, 500 network covers a month adds $500 in cover fees, so about $799 a month for reservations. On ResyOS Platform it is $289 a month with no per-cover fees. Either way, reservations will cost more over a year than the website.

How should a restaurant choose?

1. List what guests need to do on the site. Read the menu, see the room, book, order, buy a gift card, find parking. Only pay for features on that list.
2. Price the monthly tools first. Pick your reservation and ordering systems, because they set your monthly cost and limit which website routes work well.
3. Decide who updates the menu and hours. If it is you, choose a system you will actually open. If it is someone else, pay for that.
4. Check search and AI answers. Guests ask Google and ChatGPT for "a quiet Italian place for a birthday near me." Our guide to getting a restaurant recommended by AI search covers what the site needs for that.
5. Get fixed prices in writing. One-time and monthly, with what is included.

What we can't promise

No website guarantees full tables. Food, service, reviews and location do most of that work. A good site makes it easier to choose you and book you, and it stops you paying a commission on guests who already wanted to come. Vendor prices also change often, so check each vendor's page before you sign.

How can Project 66 Studio help?

We build restaurant websites with real menus, booking and ordering connections, films and Google and AI search setup, starting from $799 for a new website or rebuild. See our hospitality and restaurants work, check the pricing and free AI check, or start a project.

Build your plan Start a project

Questions people ask

How much does a simple restaurant website cost?

A simple restaurant website on a DIY builder costs about $17 to $39 a month on annual billing, as of October 2026, plus your time. Squarespace Core is $29 a month paid annually and Wix Core is about $29 a month on annual billing. A studio-built site at Project 66 Studio starts from $799 once, with care plans from $79 a month.

Is it cheaper to use DoorDash or my own online ordering?

For orders from guests who already know you, your own ordering is usually cheaper. DoorDash Marketplace charges 15% to 30% commission on delivery and 6% on pickup as of October 2026, while direct ordering tools typically charge a monthly fee plus processing or a small per-order fee. Many restaurants use both: the apps to be found, their own site for repeat guests.

Do I need a separate website if I use Toast?

Not necessarily. Toast Websites syncs menus, prices and availability with the Toast POS, which saves updating two places. Toast does not publish the website price, so ask for a quote, and compare its design and search control with a custom site that connects to Toast ordering.

How much does reservation software cost on top of the website?

As of October 2026, OpenTable plans are $149, $299 or $499 a month plus cover fees for diners from its network, and ResyOS plans are $289 or $459 a month with no per-cover fees. For a busy dinner restaurant this often costs more per year than the website itself.

What ongoing costs does a restaurant website have?

Ongoing costs include the builder or hosting fee, a domain, email, ordering and reservation software, card processing, and the time to keep menus and hours current. At Project 66 Studio, care plans that cover updates, security and speed are $79, $179 or $549 a month.

Read next

• How to get your restaurant found in Google and recommended by AI
• Squarespace, Wix, Toast or a custom site for your restaurant?
• OpenTable, Resy or your own booking: what's right for your restaurant

Sources

1. Squarespace pricing, Squarespace (read 26 Oct 2026).
2. Wix plans, Wix (read 26 Oct 2026).
3. Wix pricing: which plan should you pay for, Style Factory (read 26 Oct 2026).
4. Popmenu pricing, Popmenu (read 26 Oct 2026).
5. ChowNow pricing, ChowNow (read 26 Oct 2026).
6. Toast pricing, Toast (read 26 Oct 2026).
7. Toast Websites, Toast (read 26 Oct 2026).
8. DoorDash Merchant pricing, DoorDash (read 26 Oct 2026).
9. How much does it cost to hire a web designer, Upwork (read 26 Oct 2026).
10. OpenTable restaurant plans, OpenTable (read 26 Oct 2026).
11. ResyOS plans and pricing, Resy (read 26 Oct 2026).