How to Reduce Swiggy and Zomato Commission

Updated 2026-09-08

Aggregator commission is the largest controllable cost in most delivery-heavy Indian restaurants, and the one owners feel most acutely, because it scales with success. Every order you win costs you a percentage. This guide is about what that actually adds up to and which levers genuinely move it.

Start by calculating the real number

Commission is quoted as a percentage, which makes it feel smaller than it is. Converting it to rupees per year — try the calculator — is the step that changes decisions.

A restaurant doing 600 aggregator orders a month at an average order value of ₹400 is putting ₹2,40,000 a month through the platform. At 25% commission that is ₹60,000 a month, or ₹7,20,000 a year, before payment gateway charges and any advertising spend.

That figure is the floor, not the total. Add promoted listings, discount funding you contribute to, and packaging, and the real cost is higher.

Use the calculator →

Separate discovery from repeat business

The single most useful reframing is that aggregators sell you two different things bundled at one price. The first is discovery — reaching a customer who has never heard of you. That is genuinely valuable and hard to replicate.

The second is order plumbing for customers who already know you and would have ordered anyway. You are paying a discovery-rate commission on business that required no discovery. That is the portion worth attacking, and it is usually the larger one.

Build a direct channel you own

A direct ordering channel does not mean building your own branded app or competing with the platforms on convenience. It means having a link and a QR code — Servyn's direct ordering — where a customer who already decided to order from you can do so without a cut being taken.

The practical placements are the ones that reach people who have already eaten your food: a QR on the table and the bill, a code on the delivery packaging, and a link you can send on WhatsApp. None of these compete for discovery. They convert people the platform already delivered to you into people you own the relationship with.

• QR code on tables, receipts and takeaway packaging
• A direct ordering link in your Google Business Profile and Instagram bio
• WhatsApp for repeat customers, which most Indian diners will use readily
• A small, honest incentive for ordering direct — a free beverage converts better than a percentage discount and costs less

Fix your menu pricing across channels

Many restaurants price identically across dine-in and aggregator channels, which means the commission comes out of the same margin the dine-in price was designed to produce. Since the platform is taking 20-30%, that dish is being sold at a materially different profit depending on how it was ordered.

Pricing delivery items to account for commission is standard practice and platforms allow it. The discipline is to do it deliberately, item by item, rather than applying a blanket markup that makes your popular items uncompetitive while leaving low-margin ones underpriced.

Know which items are worth listing at all

Not every dish survives commission. A dish with a 35% food cost sold at 25% commission leaves very little once packaging and labour are counted, and some items are being sold at a loss on delivery without anyone noticing, because the loss is buried in an otherwise healthy monthly total.

Work out contribution per item on delivery specifically. Items that do not clear the bar should either be repriced for delivery or removed from the delivery menu. Keeping them listed because they sell well in-house is how volume grows while profit does not.

Use the calculator →

Negotiate, and know what is negotiable

Commission rates are not uniform. They vary by city, cuisine, order volume and how long you have been on the platform, and account managers do have room to move, particularly at renewal or when you have volume history to point at.

What is more often negotiable than the headline rate is the surrounding cost: participation in platform-funded discounts, promoted listing spend, and which delivery radius you serve. Those are frequently where the money actually leaks.

What a realistic outcome looks like

Nobody moves off aggregators entirely, and attempting it usually costs more in lost volume than it saves in commission. A realistic target is shifting a portion of repeat orders to a direct channel over several months.

Shifting 20% of the ₹7,20,000 example above saves ₹1,44,000 a year. That is a meaningful number for an independent restaurant, and it comes from customers you had already earned rather than from new demand you have to go and create.

Frequently asked questions

How much commission do Swiggy and Zomato charge restaurants?

Rates are negotiated per restaurant and commonly fall between 20% and 30% of order value, before payment gateway charges and advertising spend. Your own contract is the only reliable source for your rate.

Can restaurants charge higher prices on Swiggy and Zomato?

Yes, and most do. Platforms permit channel-specific pricing. The useful approach is pricing item by item based on each dish's contribution after commission, rather than applying one blanket markup across the menu.

Is it worth leaving Swiggy and Zomato entirely?

For most restaurants, no. The platforms provide genuine discovery that is difficult and expensive to replace. The higher-return strategy is staying listed for discovery while moving repeat customers to a direct ordering channel where no commission applies.

How do I get customers to order directly instead?

Reach them at moments when they have already chosen you: a QR code on the table, the bill and the delivery packaging, plus WhatsApp for repeat customers. A small fixed incentive such as a complimentary beverage converts better than a percentage discount and costs less per order.