Takeaway Website: What It Should Cost and What to Put on It (UK, 2026)

Quotes for a takeaway website run from free to several thousand pounds. This guide gives one answer: what a website for a takeaway should cost in the UK in 2026, what it must do before it is worth paying for, and where the extra costs hide. Every builder and provider price was read from the vendor’s own pricing page on 26 October 2026, and we say where a figure is not published. Aexir sells a done-for-you website, so our price sits alongside the rest.

A takeaway website is the page customers land on when they search your name, and in 2026 it has one job: take the order. That means a menu with current prices, a basket, card payment, a choice of delivery or collection, and your hours and address, all working on a phone. A brochure site that sends people to a marketplace app is a signpost to someone else’s till.

What must a takeaway website do?

1. Show the menu, with today’s prices

Sections, sizes, extras and deals, editable by you in minutes. A PDF menu with last year’s prices costs money every time someone rings to check; if updating it means emailing a designer, it will drift out of date.

2. Take the order

A basket, a checkout and an order that reaches a till or printer without anyone retyping it. Email orders get missed on a Friday night, and a missed order is a one-star review.

3. Take payment

Card, Apple Pay and Google Pay at checkout. Prepaid orders cut no-shows and let delivery leave the moment the food is ready. Every provider charges a card fee; the question is whether it is published.

4. Offer delivery or collection

The customer picks delivery or collection at checkout and sees the area, minimum order and any fee before committing. If you do not want to run drivers, look for partner couriers dispatched per order from the till, which is how Aexir handles it.

5. Show contact details and hours

Address, phone, opening hours and whether you are open now, in text Google can read. The site should stop taking orders when you close and let customers order ahead for when you open.

What does a takeaway website cost in the UK?

Three routes: an agency, a builder you run yourself, or a done-for-you restaurant platform. Compare a whole year, not the first invoice, because the cost shape differs.

An agency or freelancer

Agencies quote a one-off design fee with hosting and maintenance billed separately. Prices are rarely published, so we give no figure: ask for a written quote with ordering, payment and menu editing as line items, since the usual catch is agency pages plus a third-party ordering widget with its own fee.

A general website builder

Squarespace publishes UK prices it says include estimated VAT: Basic £19.20 a month, or £14.40 on annual billing, and Core £28.80, or £20.40 annual; Basic adds a 2% transaction fee on online store sales, Core and above do not (Squarespace pricing page, checked 26 October 2026). Shopify Basic is £25 a month, or £19 annual, VAT not stated (Shopify UK pricing page, checked 26 October 2026). Wix shows US dollar prices "for reference only": Core $29.77 and Business $39.77 a month on yearly billing (Wix plans page, checked 26 October 2026).

None of those figures includes ordering built for food: you add an ordering app, often with its own fee, and set up zones and modifiers yourself. Our Wix vs Shopify comparison covers what each leaves out.

A done-for-you restaurant platform

Website, ordering, payments and till come as one service and the provider builds the menu. Flipdish publishes an Essential package from £119 a month per site billed annually, or £139 monthly, ex VAT (Flipdish pricing plans page, checked 26 October 2026). Storekit publishes Starter free, Grow £99 and Pro £199 a month per location ex VAT, each with a flat per-order rate whose amount is not published (Storekit pricing page, checked 26 October 2026). Aexir’s Web plan is £30 a month ex VAT with the ordering website and POS on the Go; see the restaurant website page.

What are the hidden costs of a takeaway website?

Card fees

Every route charges a percentage plus pence per card payment. On a £20 order Squarespace Payments on Basic or Core is 2.0% + 25p, which is 65p, plus 40p on Basic from its 2% store fee; Shopify Basic is 2% + 25p, also 65p; Aexir is 2.5% + 30p, which is 80p (vendor pricing pages, checked 26 October 2026). Across 300 card orders a month Aexir costs about £45 more than Shopify Basic: the trade for ordering, till and menu build being included. The pricing page shows it in full.

Domain name

123 Reg lists a .co.uk at £3.99 ex VAT for the first year and does not display the renewal price on its search page, noting renewals are often dearer (123 Reg domain names page, checked 26 October 2026). On Aexir your site lives at yourname.aexir.com, hosted by Aexir, so a domain is optional.

Hosting and security

Builders and done-for-you platforms include hosting and SSL. A WordPress or agency site needs its own host at a price that varies, so ask what hosting, backups and SSL renewals cost per year and who answers when the site goes down on a Saturday.

Maintenance, add-ons and your own time

A price change across 60 items, a seasonal section, a plugin update. On a builder that is your evening; with an agency it is an invoice; on a done-for-you platform the menu lives in the till and changes go live as you save. If the base price excludes ordering, the add-on is a second subscription, so ask for the all-in monthly figure for a site that takes an order, pays you and prints a ticket.

Takeaway website checklist: what to put on it

• Menu with sections, sizes, extras and deals, editable by you the same day.
• Order button above the fold on a phone, with delivery and collection both offered.
• Card, Apple Pay and Google Pay at checkout, with the fee published.
• Delivery zones, minimum order and delivery fee shown before checkout.
• Opening hours, live open or closed status, order-ahead for closed hours, and address and phone in text rather than an image.
• Allergen information per item; our free allergen matrix builds the sheet.
• The same ordering link on your socials, bags and window; the order direct kit prints the stickers.
• Google Business Profile pointing at the ordering page, and a till or printer that receives the order without retyping.

What does Aexir’s Web plan include for £30 a month?

A branded ordering website at yourname.aexir.com with delivery and collection, card payments through Stripe at 2.5% + 30p, and POS on the Go, the till in any browser. The Aexir team builds the menu from a PDF, a photo or a link to your current listing; after that you change prices, photos and stock from the till. Additional locations are £1 a day each, partner couriers can be dispatched per order from the till, and we are now live in France.

Want an app later? Plus at £40 a month ex VAT adds a branded iOS and Android app, and Pro at £50 adds POS on the Go to both; see the online ordering system page, or the alternatives hub for named comparisons.