You list on Swiggy and Zomato for the orders. Then the monthly settlement lands, you scroll to the net payout, and the number is a fraction of what customers actually paid. Commission, ad spend, delivery fees, discounts you part-funded, GST on top — each line is small, but together they decide whether delivery makes you money or quietly drains it.
This is the breakdown owners ask for and rarely get: what the platforms really take, in rupees, on a normal order — and the levers you can pull to keep more of it.
Key takeaways
- Commission is the big one. Independent restaurants typically report paying 22–30% per order, while large chains are said to pay around 8–9% (NDTV Profit, 2025).
- It is never just commission. Add 18% GST on that commission, delivery fees, restaurant-funded discounts and ad spend, and one Chennai owner's itemised maths shows the restaurant losing "almost 50%" of the order (Times Now, 2026).
- Ads can be charged without your sign-off. Owners have reported deductions from ₹10,000 to over ₹20 lakh for ads they say they never approved (MediaNama, 2026).
- GST 2.0 changed the bill. Restaurant food stays at 5% without input tax credit; the delivery fee now attracts 18% (menumanager.in, 2026).
- You can cut the bill by auditing every settlement, capping ad spend, rationing discounts, pricing the menu for the platform, and moving repeat customers onto your own ordering channel.
What do Swiggy and Zomato actually charge restaurants?
There is no single "Swiggy price" or "Zomato price." Your payout is what is left after a stack of deductions, and the exact figures sit in your partner contract. The line items, though, are the same across most independents:
- Commission — a percentage of the order value, taken on every order. Independents commonly report 22–30%, against roughly 8–9% for big chains (NDTV Profit, 2025).
- GST on the commission — the platform's commission is a service, so 18% GST is charged on it. One owner's public breakdown listed "24% commission + 18% GST on this 24% commission" (Times Now, 2026).
- Delivery / logistics fees — sometimes passed to the customer, sometimes shared. The same owner reported "₹15 delivery fee for orders at 4–6km and ₹35 delivery fee on orders above 6km"; another reported "₹14 per km" (Times Now, 2026; NDTV Profit, 2025).
- Discounts you part-fund — those "60% OFF" banners are often funded by the restaurant, not the platform. In one itemised order set, the owner noted a "₹562" discount on a "₹4,047" total that "100% restaurants bear from their pocket" (Times Now, 2026).
- Advertising — to appear higher in the listings you bid for visibility. Owners describe spending "minimum ₹1,000 per week" just to stay visible (Times Now, 2026).
- Packaging — usually fully on you.
Read your last settlement against this list. If a line surprises you, that is exactly where the money is leaking.
A real example: where the money goes
The clearest illustration came from Revanth Dinesh, who ran the ice-cream store Scoopful in Bengaluru. Reporting his April figures: "Dinesh clocked sales of Rs 17,000, out of this, he paid 30% — around Rs 5,500 — commission, and Rs 10,000 on advertisements, leaving him with Rs 1500" (NDTV Profit, 2025).
That ₹1,500 still has to cover his product cost, rent and salaries — so the month was, in practice, a loss. He has since left the platform.
To see it on a single order, here is an illustrative teardown of a ₹1,000 item total, using the rate ranges owners actually report (your contract decides the exact numbers):
| Line item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Customer item total | ₹1,000 |
| Commission (24%) | −₹240 |
| GST on commission (18%) | −₹43 |
| Restaurant-funded discount (~15%) | −₹150 |
| Packaging | −₹30 |
| Ad spend (apportioned per order) | −₹50 |
| Left for the restaurant | ≈ ₹487 |
That ~₹487 is before a single rupee of food cost, gas, electricity, rent or wages. It lines up with what one owner concluded after listing every charge: "After factoring in all this we lose almost 50%" (Times Now, 2026).
Why is your online price higher than your dine-in price?
Because you cannot absorb that stack and survive, so it gets built into the menu price. That is why a customer sees a gap. One viral comparison put "the actual price of my order is ₹320, but on Zomato it's ₹655" — and even after a discount, "₹550" (Times Now, 2026).
To the diner it looks like price-gouging. To the owner it is the only way to net the same rupees as a counter sale once commission, GST, fees, discounts and ad spend are stripped out. The honest answer to "why isn't it the same price?" is: the online price is carrying the platform's bill.
The hidden cost: ad spend you may not have agreed to
The most damaging charge for some owners is one they say they never approved. MediaNama reviewed multiple complaints in which "Swiggy deducted advertising charges from their payouts without consent, with amounts ranging from Rs 10,000 to over Rs 20 lakhs" (MediaNama, 2026).
The pattern owners describe: ads that "kept reactivating automatically after being switched off," deductions spread in small amounts with "no email, message, or notification," and one chain of six restaurants finding "Rs 16 lakhs deducted across all outlets" before it was noticed (MediaNama, 2026). (These are owner allegations the publication could not independently verify, and the platform's terms say ad and promotion changes should be "mutually discussed and agreed upon … in writing.")
There is a legal angle worth knowing. The Consumer Protection Act 2019 covers traders and service providers, and an unauthorised deduction without consent "could constitute an unfair trade practice under Section 2(47) of the Act"; affected owners "can file complaints through the National Consumer Helpline or approach a consumer commission directly through e-Jagriti" (MediaNama, 2026).
The takeaway is operational, not just legal: check the ad line on every settlement. A charge that auto-restarts is only expensive if no one is watching the statement.
How GST changes the maths
GST does not go into your pocket, but it shapes both the customer's price and what you remit. After the GST 2.0 reform of September 2025, the structure was simplified to two main slabs of 5% and 18% (menumanager.in, 2026). For restaurants:
- Restaurant food is 5% without input tax credit for standalone restaurants, including takeaway. The 18%-with-credit rate only applies to "specified premises" such as restaurants in hotels where the room tariff is ₹7,500 or more (ClearTax, 2025).
- On platform orders, the aggregator collects the 5% GST on the food and remits it, so it raises the customer's price rather than your payout.
- The delivery fee now attracts 18% GST, borne by the customer (menumanager.in, 2026).
- The platform's commission carries 18% GST, which is the line you actually pay.
The catch for most independents: on the 5%-without-credit path you cannot offset the GST you pay on commission, packaging, rent or equipment against output tax. So that 18% on commission is a real, unrecoverable cost — one more reason the effective "take" is higher than the headline commission rate.
So what is your real take-home?
Put the lines together and the headline commission is only the start. A restaurant quoting "30% commission" is, in practice, also funding GST on that commission, delivery economics, part of the discount, packaging and ads to stay visible — which is how owners land at roughly half the order value reaching the kitchen before any cost of running it.
There is a reason owners across X and LinkedIn have started calling aggregator fees "the new rent." And the visibility trap makes it stick: "If I stop spending on ads, the platform doesn't promote my shop and even if someone orders by searching for the restaurant, the platform does not assign delivery partners" (NDTV Profit, 2025). You pay to be seen, then pay again on what the visibility brings.
How to cut what Swiggy and Zomato cost you
You are unlikely to leave the platforms entirely — the reach is real. But you can stop the bill running unwatched.
- Audit every settlement, line by line. Reconcile commission %, GST on it, delivery, discounts, packaging and ads against your contract. Flag anything you did not approve in writing — especially ad charges that restart on their own.
- Cap and control ad spend. Set a hard weekly limit, switch ads off when you are closed, and re-check after any "free" or "zero cost" campaign — owners report these still produced negative balances (MediaNama, 2026).
- Ration discounts. Treat platform-funded promotions as a marketing budget with a ceiling, not an always-on default. Know exactly what share each "X% OFF" costs you.
- Price the menu for the platform. Build the full deduction stack into your online prices deliberately, so high-volume delivery does not become high-volume loss — rather than copying your dine-in card.
- Lean on high-margin, travel-well items. Push the dishes that hold quality over distance and carry the best margin after fees; they are the ones worth advertising.
- Build a channel you own. Move your repeat customers to direct ordering — your own website or WhatsApp ordering page — where there is no per-order commission. You will not replace the platforms' reach, but every direct order keeps the slice that would otherwise go to commission and ads. A simple branded ordering page (tools like DineHere build one from a menu photo) costs less per month than a single week of platform ads, and the customer relationship stays yours.
This is exactly the shift the trade press is now tracking: independents questioning the model and zero-commission platforms emerging. As Ownly co-founder Aravind Sanka put it, "For years, small restaurant owners have had to choose between profitability and visibility. When a significant portion of every order goes toward commissions, it becomes difficult to maintain pricing, quality and sustainable growth" (The Economic Times, 2026).
Frequently asked questions
How much commission do Swiggy and Zomato charge restaurants?
There is no single rate — it is set in your partner contract. Independent owners commonly report 22–30% per order, while large chains are said to pay around 8–9% (NDTV Profit, 2025).
Is GST charged on the commission?
Yes. The commission is a service, so 18% GST applies to it, and that is a cost you pay on top of the commission percentage itself (Times Now, 2026).
Why are my online prices higher than my dine-in prices?
Because the menu price has to absorb commission, GST, fees, discounts and ad spend. One viral example showed a ₹320 in-store order priced at ₹655 on the app (Times Now, 2026).
Who pays for the "60% OFF" discounts?
Often the restaurant, in whole or part. One owner itemised a ₹562 discount on a ₹4,047 order set that they bore "100%" themselves (Times Now, 2026).
Do I have to run ads to get orders?
Practically, visibility drops without them — one owner said that without ad spend "the platform doesn't promote my shop" (NDTV Profit, 2025). The fix is a hard spending cap and weekly review, not zero ads.
What is the GST rate on restaurant food in 2026?
For standalone restaurants and takeaway it is 5% without input tax credit; the 18%-with-credit rate applies only to specified premises like hotel restaurants with room tariff of ₹7,500 or more (ClearTax, 2025).
What changed for restaurants under GST 2.0?
GST was simplified to two main slabs of 5% and 18% from September 2025, and the platform delivery fee now attracts 18% GST (menumanager.in, 2026).
Can Swiggy or Zomato deduct ad charges without my consent?
Owners have reported it happening, with deductions from ₹10,000 to over ₹20 lakh. The platforms' terms say ad changes should be agreed in writing, so any unapproved charge is worth disputing (MediaNama, 2026).
What can I do if I am charged for something I did not approve?
Raise it through the partner app first; if unresolved, an unauthorised deduction "could constitute an unfair trade practice" under the Consumer Protection Act 2019, and you can use the National Consumer Helpline or e-Jagriti (MediaNama, 2026).
How can I reduce my dependence on aggregators?
Move repeat customers to a channel you own — a direct website or WhatsApp ordering page with no per-order commission — while keeping the platforms for new-customer reach. Zero-commission models are emerging precisely because owners want to keep more of each order (The Economic Times, 2026). An owned channel also protects you if the apps pull your listing — they can delist you the moment your licence lapses, so keep it current with this FSSAI licence checklist.