How Much Does a Restaurant Website Cost?

If you want to get found on Google and grow your online orders, your restaurant needs a website. Building a simple website for your restaurant can cost anywhere from $0 to $20,000.

That's a big range, which makes choosing the right option a big decision. Do you have time to set up a website yourself? Should you pay a higher price to let an expert take care of it? How do you know what’s actually going to help you grow online? 

You can’t make your decision based on cost alone. You need to look at what your website needs to do and how much time you want to invest in it. Plus, there are extra costs that sometimes take owners by surprise. This can make what looks like the cheapest option cost more in the long run.

We know that building a website can be intimidating, so we’ve done the research for you. Read on to learn four different ways to build your site, what you can expect to pay, and the extra costs that come with each one.

How much does a restaurant website cost to build?

Here’s a quick breakdown of how much it costs to build a restaurant website, and extra costs you can anticipate depending on the path you choose.

Choosing the right way to build your website means looking beyond the price. You also need to look at what you get for your money, what you’ll need to cover, and the extra fees involved. 

Other restaurant website costs to consider

Website costs don’t end once it goes live. Here are some of the extra costs to consider and what you can expect to pay. 

Domain

The average domain costs between $10 and $20 each year.

Not every domain is up for sale, and some cost more than others. You can sometimes add a domain to your hosting or website builder package, too. 

Hosting

For the average website, hosting costs between $2 and $25 a month. It depends on how much storage you need, how many sites you’re hosting, and your platform.

If you use a website builder or restaurant website platform, like Owner.com, Wix, or Squarespace, hosting is included with your subscription. 

SSL

An average SSL certificate costs $60/year. However, hosting platforms include them in your plans. You can also get them for free on sites like Cloudflare or LetsEncrypt. 

Don't assume an SSL certificate is included: confirm this before choosing your host to keep your site secure. 

Food Photography

Food photographers charge between $50–$500 per hour. They’ll likely charge you per session, which could cost from $500–$2,500.

Food photography is key: 84% of U.S. restaurant guests look at food photos before ordering. While you can take photos yourself, investing in professional photography brings in more sales. 

Some platforms have photography features, too. Owner.com has a Photo Upscaler tool that helps your food photos so they look as delicious as they taste.

Menu Design

A menu page design can cost between $300-$1500. (A freelance web designer charges from $30–$150 an hour, and simple pages can take up to 10 hours to build.)

This is something you need to get right: 48% of customers decide whether or not to eat at a restaurant based on the menu selection alone. A restaurant website platform, freelancer, or web design agency will handle this for you. 

Copywriting

Expect to pay a copywriter from $2K to $10K to write your website. Pricing depends on years of experience, your writers’ specializations, and how complex your project is. 

However, some restaurant website platforms can generate sales- and SEO-friendly copy that helps you bring more traffic to your site. An SEO-friendly site makes a big difference. Restaurants that switch to Owner.com, with built-in restaurant SEO, see around 20% more Google traffic in their first 30 days.*

*Results vary. Based on a 28-day change in Google Business Profile website clicks for recently live customers.

Maintenance

Website maintenance costs depend on your time and skills. Extra help can cost between $30–$150 an hour, and can take anywhere from 1 to 10 hours each month.

Content edits and page updates are quick and often DIY-able. Plugins and site speed take longer and need more technical know-how. If you're using a restaurant website platform, maintenance is handled for you. This keeps your site fresh without extra time or energy on your end.

Apps and Plugin Subscriptions

Apps and plugins add up, especially if you’re building a website yourself. Freelancers and web design agencies may use plugins to build your site, too. 

Say you’re building a restaurant website on WordPress.com. As you’re building, you realize you need to pay $49 for a menu plugin and $100 for an SEO tool. That’s $150, and those plugins add up as your site gets more complex.

Online Ordering Systems

Online ordering systems can cost from $0 to $245 per month, depending on the system you choose. Many restaurants get online ordering through their point-of-sale system, since you can bundle it with your POS. 

Some restaurant website platforms have online ordering built in, too. If you use Owner.com, you pay $249-$499 a month and get more than just online ordering: a restaurant website optimized for SEO, loyalty and rewards, and more marketing features are all included in that price. 

Here’s what you might expect to pay for some of the top systems:

A common alternative to online ordering platforms is third-party delivery platforms. However, these platforms charge commissions, which is another cost for you to take into account. 

Platforms with online ordering built into your site, like Owner.com, help you avoid paying for separate subscriptions and commissions. Plus, checkout happens on your website instead of redirecting to another page, which helps boost your Google rankings and online orders. 

Payment Processing

Payment processing fees cost 1.5% to 3.5% per transaction. The exact amount you’ll pay depends on your processor. For example, if you use Toast POS, you’ll pay a custom payment processing fee, while Stripe charges 2.9% + 30¢ on each transaction.

The 4 ways to build a restaurant website (and what each one costs)

Price is an important factor when you’re deciding how to build your restaurant website. Here's what each of the four ways to build a site costs, what's included, and the pros and cons of every option.

1. Use a restaurant website platform

Running a restaurant doesn't leave much time to keep a website up-to-date yourself. Restaurant website platforms are made to solve that problem. One monthly subscription gets you a site with online ordering, an online menu, and SEO built in, staying fresh without extra work on your end.

The trade-off is customization. You get a site that's user-friendly and built to drive orders, but you give up the deep customization other paths offer.

How much do restaurant websites cost?

Here’s what you can expect to pay and what you get for some of the top restaurant website platforms: Owner.com, Popmenu, and SpotHopper.

Pricing is up to date as of September 23, 2026

What you pay for:

What you get depends on the platform that you choose. 

Let’s take a look at Owner.com. Owner.com is a complete online growth system built to help you get found online and increase your sales. You get an optimized website, plus online ordering, loyalty and rewards, and marketing campaigns, just to name a few.

This means you don’t need to pay for an online ordering system, plugins, or extra marketing support. It’s all included. 

What you handle yourself:

You still need to purchase a domain if you use a restaurant website platform.

You will also likely need to handle food photography, but some platforms can help with that. For example, Owner.com has a built-in Photo Upscaler tool that helps to elevate your food photography. 

Pros and cons of using a restaurant website platform:

Here are the pros of using a restaurant website platform:

• On some platforms, like Owner.com, optimizations and updates are handled for you
• Websites are built in accordance with best practices for restaurants
• Marketing and growth features are built-in or available as add-ons

Here are the cons of a restaurant website platform:

• Design flexibility can be limited on platforms like Owner.com as they’re built specifically for conversions
• Higher prices might be limiting for brand new restaurants

Best for: 

Busy restaurant owners who want hands-off web and marketing support that helps their business grow.

2. Do it yourself with a website builder

For some, website builders are the right option. For a low price, you get a website that’s customized as much or as little as you’d like. 

But you might find that DIY-ing your website takes a lot of time, even after you launch. You’re responsible for fixes and updates as they come up. 

How much does a website builder cost and what is included?

There are many website builders to choose from, and they’ll all include hosting and user-friendly web design tools. 

Here’s a quick breakdown of the pricing and what you get for three of the most popular website builders: Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress.com.

Prices current as of September 23, 2026 and based on annual plans.

What you handle yourself:

When you DIY your website, you handle everything yourself. This might mean hiring help for your menu design, photos, and copy before launch, then covering your domain, plugins, ordering system, and fixes yourself once you're live.

This isn’t meant to scare you off building your own website. Just remember: it’s not a one-time job. 

Pros and cons of using a website builder:

The biggest pros for using a website builder are:

• They’re cost-effective
• It’s easier to customize your website without hiring a professional
• They take care of some of the technical work, like hosting

Some of the cons to keep in mind are:

• Setup and maintenance take more time than you’d think
• Costs add up when plugins or additional web support are needed
• If something breaks, you have to be the one to fix it 

Best for: 

Restaurant owners who want total control over their website, or have a marketer responsible for maintaining the website.

3. Hire a freelancer

When you hire a freelancer, you get high-quality work while working directly with the person building your site.

However, one person building your site takes longer than an agency team. Freelancers also vary in experience, so it can take time to find someone with the right experience at the right price. 

How much does hiring a freelancer to build your website cost?

Hiring a freelancer to build your website costs between $1K and $15K.

A freelancer can build a simple, professional restaurant website between 5 and 10 pages for $1K to $5K. For a more complex build, with more pages and deeper customizations, you can expect to pay between $5K and $15K.

What you pay for:

You pay for a well-designed website that works on mobile and desktop devices. Your freelancer should also be able to set up hosting, domains, and plugins for you. 

Although saving money is tempting, be cautious about cutting corners. As one Redditor said, “Any time you go on the lower end (especially under $1k-$2k), you increase the odds of wasting your time or getting a really poor end result.”

What you handle yourself:

You pay for plugins, hosting, and your domain. You’ll also need to handle your online ordering system and hire a copywriter and food photographer to complete your website.

One more thing to factor is maintenance. Menu updates, new pages, and fixes are still on you to catch, even if you hire your freelancer to do the actual work.

Pros and cons of hiring a freelancer:

Here are some of the pros of hiring a freelancer:

• Expert web development and design experience
• Direct communication with the person building your site
• Lower prices than a web development agency

Here are some of the cons to keep in mind:

• Quality of work varies based on your freelancer’s experience levels
• You’re responsible for site maintenance after the website is complete
•  It can take time to find the right freelancer

Best for: 

Restaurant owners who want a professional website without extra overhead or ongoing maintenance

4. Hire a web design agency

Hiring a web design agency is the most expensive path, but for some restaurants, it's the right one. Agency teams have specialists who can handle large-scale projects, making them a solid fit for complex websites with a lot of moving parts. Many also offer ongoing retainers for maintenance, fixes, and SEO after launch.

How much does hiring a web design agency cost?

Hiring a web design agency to build a simple website costs from $8K to $20K. Larger, more complex websites can cost $75K or more.

Like hiring a freelancer, the cost depends on the agency and the project. 

You can also choose to keep your agency on a monthly retainer. Expect to pay between $50 and $200 a month for small fixes, or $500 to $2500 for ongoing optimizations.

What you pay for:

When you hire a web design agency, you're paying for a team to design and develop your site, much like you would with a freelancer. Your website will be fully set up once you get started. 

You're also paying for depth. Instead of one person handling design, development, and SEO, an agency gives you a specialist for each, plus the project management and overhead that comes with it.
‍
If you choose to have an ongoing retainer, you’ll also get fixes, menu and page updates, and sometimes SEO included. If SEO is included, make sure your agency keeps up with best practices. They’re always changing. If your agency isn’t on top of these changes, you risk falling behind.

What you handle yourself:

You still need to pay for your hosting, domain, and plugins. If you’re working on a monthly retainer, your agency might be able to manage these for you. 

You’ll still need to manage your online ordering system, copywriting, and food photography.

Pros and cons of hiring a web design agency:

The pros of hiring a web design agency are:

• Expert knowledge behind every part of your website build
• In-depth support for large, complex websites 
• Deep customizations

The cons of hiring a web design agency are:

• It is the most expensive option, and you need to keep paying to keep your site up-to-date
• You pay for extra business costs, like overhead and higher fees
• Agencies handle multiple clients, so you don’t have a personal relationship with them
• They may fall behind on best practices. 

Best for: 

Restaurant owners building large, complex websites who need ongoing maintenance and extra marketing support

What a restaurant website actually costs per year

Now you have a better idea of what each type of website costs, and the extra costs that might come with each option.

Broken down, here’s what you could expect to pay for each platform we’ve covered.

How much does Owner.com cost?

If you want online growth taken care of for you, Owner.com might be your best bet. The Flexible plan costs $249 a month + 5% per order, and the Flat Rate plan costs $499 a month.

Owner.com creates and updates your SEO-optimized website, online ordering, and rewards program. You give up a little bit of customization for a lot of work off your plate, with no surprise costs. We’ll help you migrate from your existing website, and you’re never locked into a contract. 

It makes an impact, too. Just look at Salud. They had a website that looked great, but it wasn’t driving the sales they wanted. After they switched to Owner.com, they brought in $10K in online sales in 30 days. 50% of those sales were from SEO. That’s a big lift in a short time. 

That’s the difference switching to Owner.com makes. We grow your online sales, so your focus stays on running your restaurant. 

Choose the right method for your restaurant wesbite

How much a restaurant website costs depends on what's right for your restaurant. DIY costs less but takes more of your time. Deep customization means paying more upfront for a freelancer or agency.

Most owners don't have that extra time to spare. Owner.com knows what actually gets restaurants found and gets them more online orders, and we handle it so you can focus on running your restaurant.

If you’d like to see how Owner.com can work for you, check out our pricing or get a free demo to learn more.