The best website builder for restaurants depends on your budget, your menu complexity, and whether you need online ordering built in. If you just need a clean site with your hours, location, and menu, a template builder like Squarespace or Wix will get the job done for under $30 a month. If you need integrated online ordering, table reservations, or multi-location support, you will want something more specialized or custom-built.
Restaurant websites have a unique problem: most diners visit them for exactly one reason. They want to see your menu, check your hours, or place an order. If your site makes any of those things difficult, visitors leave and order from someone else. That is why choosing the right builder matters more than most restaurant owners realize.
What Should a Restaurant Website Actually Do?
Before comparing builders, you need to know what a restaurant website must get right. Fancy animations and parallax scrolling look nice in a portfolio, but they actively hurt restaurant sites. Here is what actually matters:
- Menu that is easy to read on mobile - Over 75% of restaurant website traffic comes from phones. If your menu is a PDF that requires pinch-and-zoom, you are losing customers.
- Hours and location front and center - Not buried three clicks deep. On the homepage, above the fold.
- Click-to-call phone number - Mobile users should be able to tap your number and call immediately.
- Online ordering integration - If you offer delivery or takeout, this needs to work smoothly. Third-party links to DoorDash or UberEats are fine, but a native ordering system keeps more profit in your pocket.
- Fast load times - A restaurant site that takes 5 seconds to load loses roughly 40% of visitors before they see a single menu item.
- Reservation system - If you take reservations, integrating OpenTable, Resy, or a simple form saves phone calls and staff time.
With those priorities in mind, let us look at the actual options.
Squarespace: Best for Visual-First Restaurants
Squarespace is the go-to recommendation for restaurants that want a polished, professional site without hiring a developer. Their restaurant-specific templates are genuinely good, and the editor is intuitive enough that most owners can manage updates themselves.
Pros:
- Beautiful templates designed for food and hospitality
- Built-in reservation widget (through OpenTable or Tock integration)
- Menu pages are easy to build and update
- SSL included on all plans
- Solid mobile responsiveness out of the box
Cons:
- No native online ordering (you will need a third-party integration like ChowNow or Square Online)
- Limited customization if you want something outside their template structure
- Starts at $16/month, but most restaurants need the $27/month Business plan for integrations
Best for: Fine dining, upscale casual, and any restaurant where photography and ambiance are a core part of the brand. If your food photographs well and you want to lean into that, Squarespace delivers.
Wix: Best for Budget-Conscious Owners Who Want Flexibility
Wix gives you more customization freedom than Squarespace at a slightly lower price point. Their drag-and-drop editor is more flexible, which is both an advantage and a risk. More flexibility means more ways to build something that looks unprofessional if you are not careful.
Pros:
- Wix Restaurants module includes menu management, online ordering, and reservations
- More affordable than Squarespace (plans from $17/month)
- App marketplace with hundreds of restaurant-specific add-ons
- AI site builder can generate a starter site in minutes
Cons:
- Templates are hit-or-miss quality compared to Squarespace
- Drag-and-drop freedom can lead to messy layouts
- Performance can be slower than Squarespace, especially with many apps installed
- Moving away from Wix later is painful since your content is locked into their platform
Best for: Casual restaurants, food trucks, and small cafes that need online ordering without paying for a custom build. If you are price-sensitive and willing to spend time learning the editor, Wix delivers a lot of functionality per dollar.
WordPress: Best for Multi-Location or Content-Heavy Restaurants
WordPress powers around 40% of the web, and plenty of restaurants use it. But WordPress is not a single product. It is a platform, and the experience varies wildly depending on your theme, plugins, and hosting provider.
Pros:
- Total control over design and functionality
- Thousands of restaurant themes and plugins available
- WooCommerce integration for full online ordering with no ongoing commission fees
- Easy to scale from one location to dozens
- Content ownership: you can move your site anywhere
Cons:
- Requires more technical knowledge to set up and maintain
- You are responsible for hosting, security updates, and backups
- Plugin conflicts can break your site
- Ongoing maintenance costs (hosting $10-50/month, plus premium plugins)
Best for: Restaurant groups with multiple locations, restaurants with active blogs or event calendars, and owners who want full ownership of their platform. If you plan to grow or already have 3+ locations, WordPress is worth the extra setup.
Square Online: Best Free Option with Built-In Ordering
If you already use Square for point-of-sale in your restaurant, Square Online is a no-brainer starting point. It syncs directly with your POS, so menu items, pricing, and inventory stay in sync automatically.
Pros:
- Free plan available (with Square branding and transaction fees)
- Seamless POS integration for in-store and online orders
- Built-in delivery management
- Automatic menu sync from your Square POS catalog
Cons:
- Limited design customization compared to Squarespace or Wix
- The free plan looks basic and includes Square branding
- Transaction fees are higher than custom payment processing setups
- Not ideal if online ordering is not your primary goal
Best for: Restaurants already using Square POS that want to add online ordering fast. The free tier makes it a zero-risk starting point.
Custom-Built: Best for Serious Competitive Advantage
A custom-built website gives you exactly what you need and nothing you do not. No template limitations, no platform fees eating into your margins, and full control over the user experience from first click to checkout.
Pros:
- Performance optimized specifically for your needs (faster load times, better SEO)
- Unique design that competitors cannot replicate with a template
- Custom online ordering that keeps 100% of the margin (no platform commission)
- Integration with any third-party service you want
- No monthly platform fees beyond hosting
Cons:
- Higher upfront cost ($3,000-$15,000+ depending on complexity)
- Requires a developer for updates unless a CMS is built in
- Longer timeline to launch (4-12 weeks vs days)
Best for: Established restaurants with strong revenue that want to stop paying third-party commissions on online orders, or any restaurant where the website is a core revenue driver. If you are spending $500+ per month on DoorDash and UberEats commissions, a custom ordering system pays for itself within a year.
If you are exploring this route, run a free site audit to see where your current website stands before investing in a rebuild.
How Do Third-Party Ordering Commissions Compare to a Custom Build?
This is the math that changes most restaurant owners' minds about going custom. Here is a realistic comparison:
- DoorDash commission: 15-30% per order
- UberEats commission: 15-30% per order
- Grubhub commission: 15-25% per order
- Your own ordering system: Payment processing only (2.9% + $0.30 per order)
If your restaurant does $5,000/month in delivery orders through third-party apps at a 25% commission, that is $1,250/month going to the platform. A custom online ordering system costs maybe $5,000-$8,000 to build and $50/month to host. The math works out in 4 to 7 months.
That does not mean you should drop DoorDash entirely. Those platforms drive discovery. But converting repeat customers to order directly from your site is pure margin recovery. Many restaurants use a hybrid approach: stay on delivery apps for new customer acquisition while pushing regulars to order direct.
What About Toast, BentoBox, or Other Restaurant-Specific Platforms?
There are platforms built exclusively for restaurants. The two biggest are Toast (which started as a POS system) and BentoBox (now owned by Fiserv). These deserve a mention because they solve restaurant-specific problems that general website builders ignore.
Toast: If you use Toast POS, their website builder integrates tightly with your existing system. Online ordering, loyalty programs, and gift cards all work natively. Downside: you are locked into Toast's ecosystem, and their pricing is not transparent.
BentoBox: Purpose-built for restaurants. Beautiful designs, built-in ordering, events management, catering forms, and gift cards. Pricing starts around $99/month, which is steep for a small operation but reasonable for established restaurants doing real volume.
Both are solid options if you want an all-in-one restaurant platform. The trade-off is less flexibility and higher ongoing costs compared to general builders or custom builds.
Making the Decision: A Quick Framework
Here is how to think about this based on your situation:
- Just opened, tight budget: Square Online (free) or Wix ($17/month). Get something live fast and upgrade later.
- Established, brand matters: Squarespace ($27/month) or BentoBox ($99/month). Invest in the look and feel.
- Multiple locations or high volume: WordPress or custom build. You need the scalability and cost control.
- Spending $1,000+/month on delivery app commissions: Custom build with native ordering. It pays for itself.
No matter which builder you choose, make sure your site loads fast, your menu is readable on a phone, and your contact info is impossible to miss. Those three things matter more than which platform you pick.
If you are not sure where to start, reach out to our team for a free consultation. We have built restaurant websites across all of these platforms and can help you pick the right approach for your specific situation. You can also check our full list of services to see how we help restaurants and other local businesses get online the right way.