Compare Olo vs ChowNow: pricing, features, pros, cons, and which is right for your business.
Olo vs ChowNow
Updated October 2026 · Restaurant Online Ordering Systems software comparison
At a Glance
| Criteria | Olo | ChowNow |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Rating | No data |
★ 4.7
47 reviews |
| Starting Price | Contact vendor | $229.00 /mo |
| Pricing Model | Quote Only | Paid |
| Free Trial | No | No |
| Deployment | cloud, mobile | cloud, mobile |
| Best For | Mid Market, Enterprise | Smb, Mid Market |
Strengths & Weaknesses
Who uses restaurant software — and what each person does with it
Watches sales, food cost, labor and prime cost across shifts and locations on one dashboard — sees which menu items and dayparts actually make money.
Builds the schedule against forecasted sales, approves shift swaps, seats the floor and clears the waitlist, and pulls the daily close from the POS.
Fires orders from the POS or a handheld, splits and adjusts checks, takes payment tableside, and the kitchen sees the ticket instantly on the KDS.
Works tickets on the kitchen display with station routing and timers, marks items 86'd, and depletes inventory automatically as dishes sell.
The flow the software runs end to end: guest orders (dine-in, online or delivery) → ticket fires to the KDS → items depleted from inventory → payment captured at the POS → sales, food and labor cost post to reporting and accounting → schedule and purchasing adjust to the numbers. Each stage hands off to the next without re-keying.
Who Should Choose Which?
- Your team fits the mid market or enterprise profile
- Your preferred deployment is cloud or mobile
- POS-agnostic by design — layers on the POS you already run instead of forcing a rip-and-replace
- Your team fits the smb or mid market profile
- Your preferred deployment is cloud or mobile
- Commission-free: a flat monthly fee instead of 20–30% per-order marketplace commissions
Our Verdict
Olo targets mid_market/enterprise businesses with quote only pricing . Its strongest selling points include pos-agnostic by design — layers on the pos you already run instead of forcing a rip-and-replace and rails consolidates doordash/uber eats/grubhub tickets into one feed (15+ marketplaces, ~99% market coverage).
ChowNow targets smb/mid_market businesses with paid pricing starting at $229.00/mo. Its key advantages include commission-free: a flat monthly fee instead of 20–30% per-order marketplace commissions and branded ordering website and native ios/android app keep guests on channels you own.
Both tools are reviewed independently — see the full reviews below to dig into integrations, implementation timelines, and user sentiment.
Other Popular Comparisons
Book a vendor demo
Vendor-facilitated. We forward your request to their sales team within 24 hours.
- Choose a preferred date + time slot
- 30-minute product walkthrough
- Custom pricing based on your seat count