Zomato charges for restaurants are usually described as one number, the commission rate, and that number is only the start. By the time an order reaches your bank account it has also paid GST on the commission, a payment processing charge, any ad budget you set, the share of discounts you agreed to fund, and occasionally a refund or a penalty. The commission is commonly 18 to 30 percent of order value; the effective cost, once everything is counted, is typically several points higher.
This post walks through each line in the order it hits your payout, then runs a ₹500 order through all of them so you can see the effective rate. Pull up your latest settlement statement while you read, because every number below has a matching line in it.
Commission: the headline number
Commission is a percentage of the order value, agreed per restaurant and set through your account manager. It depends on your city, cuisine category, order volume and how long you have been listed. New restaurants and small ones usually start at the higher end of the band and can negotiate down with volume and a good record.
Check two things in your agreement. First, what the percentage is applied to: food value alone, or food plus packaging charges. Second, whether there are conditions that move the rate, such as joining a programme or accepting a visibility add-on. The detailed breakdown of bands and conditions is in our post on the Zomato commission rate for restaurants.
GST on the commission
Zomato's commission is a service it sells you, and services attract GST. The platform raises an invoice for its commission and charges GST on that invoice, which is deducted from your payout. This is separate from the GST on the food itself. For restaurant services ordered through an e-commerce platform, the platform collects and deposits the GST on the food from the customer under rules introduced in 2022, which changed how restaurants account for app orders.
What this means in practice: on a 25 percent commission, the GST on that commission adds a few more percent of order value to your cost. Whether and how you can claim input credit depends on your own GST registration and scheme, so ask your CA rather than assuming. Our guide to GST on restaurant online orders covers the two rates and who collects what.
Payment processing charges
Most app orders are paid online, and the platform deducts a processing charge on those orders. It is a small percentage, but it applies to the full order value including delivery and packaging in most cases, so it adds up across hundreds of orders. Cash-on-delivery orders may not attract it, which is one reason some restaurants prefer them despite the collection hassle.
Ads: paying for visibility
Organic placement on the app depends on rating, prep time, rejection rate and distance. Beyond that, visibility is sold. You set a budget, your listing appears in promoted slots or higher in search, and you pay per click or per period depending on the product. Ad spend is deducted from your payout or billed separately.
Ads are a real cost only when they bring customers you would not have had. If a promoted slot mostly shows your restaurant to people who were already searching for your name, you are paying for an order you already owned. Track the before-and-after order count for every ad run, and switch it off when the extra orders do not cover the spend plus the commission on them.
Discounts and promotions you fund
Flat-off offers, buy-one-get-one, free delivery promotions and membership benefits such as Zomato Gold all show up as a lower price to the customer. Someone pays for that gap, and often it is the restaurant, in part or in full. The terms vary by offer and by programme, and some promotions are switched on by default when a listing goes live.
The cost of a funded discount sits on top of commission. A ₹400 order with a restaurant-funded ₹60 discount is a ₹340 order to you, and commission is charged on the discounted value or the full value depending on the terms. Either way you have given up ₹60 plus commission on a customer who may have ordered without the discount. Review live offers monthly and keep only the ones that bring new customers.
The smaller lines: packaging, refunds and penalties
- Packaging charges. You set them, the customer pays them, and depending on your agreement they may or may not attract commission. Set them at your real cost; leaving them at zero means absorbing the cost in your margin. See how to set Zomato packaging charges.
- Refunds. When a customer complains about a missing or wrong item, the refund may be charged back to you. Clear packing and a photo at dispatch reduce disputes.
- Cancellations and rejections. Rejecting orders during a rush or marking items out of stock after an order is placed can lead to charges and, more expensively, to lower visibility in the days that follow.
- Charges paid by the customer. Delivery fees and platform fees go to the platform, not to you. They are not a deduction from your payout. They do raise the price the customer sees, which can reduce demand on smaller orders.
A worked example: one ₹500 order
Assume a 25 percent commission, 18 percent GST on that commission, a 2 percent payment processing charge on the full order, and a ₹40 restaurant-funded discount. These are working assumptions for the illustration; replace them with the numbers in your agreement.
| Line | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Order value | Food and packaging as listed | ₹500 |
| Funded discount | Restaurant's share of the offer | ₹40 |
| Commission | 25 percent of ₹500 | ₹125 |
| GST on commission | 18 percent of ₹125 | ₹22.50 |
| Payment processing | 2 percent of ₹500 | ₹10 |
| Payout to restaurant | ₹500 minus the lines above | About ₹302 |
The contract says 25 percent. The order says about 40 percent, once the discount is counted, or about 31 percent without it. Add ad spend and the occasional refund and most restaurants find their effective Zomato cost sits well above the rate they negotiated. That effective rate is the number to use when you decide how much to invest in your own channel, and how to reduce Zomato commission lists the levers on each line.
What the charges buy you, and what they do not
To be fair to the platform, the charges pay for things: a customer base you did not build, a delivery fleet you do not manage, payment collection and a rating system that customers trust. For a new restaurant, that discovery is worth a lot. The problem is that the same charges apply to a regular customer's twentieth order, where the platform is contributing nothing but the rider.
That is why the usual advice is to keep the apps for discovery and move repeat orders to a channel you own. The direct ordering guide explains that channel. One way to run it is a WhatsApp ordering platform such as Tezzu: orders on your own number and a free store page, UPI through Razorpay, a flat ₹10 per order and no commission, with plans from ₹999 a month.
Compare ₹10 per order against your effective rate
Once you know what an app order really costs you, put it next to a flat per-order fee and see what moving your repeat orders would save.
See pricingFrequently asked questions
How much does Zomato charge restaurants per order?
The commission is a negotiated percentage of the order value, commonly reported in the band of 18 to 30 percent depending on city, category, volume and listing history. On top of that, the payout is reduced by GST on the commission, a payment processing charge on online-paid orders, any ad spend, and the restaurant's share of funded discounts. The effective cost per order is therefore usually several points above the contracted rate.
Does Zomato charge GST to restaurants?
Yes, on its commission. The commission is a service, and GST is applied to the commission invoice and deducted from the payout. Separately, for restaurant orders placed through e-commerce platforms, the platform collects and deposits the GST on the food from the customer under rules that came into effect in 2022. How this affects your own filings and input credit depends on your registration and scheme, so confirm the treatment with your CA.
Are there hidden charges on Zomato for restaurants?
Nothing is strictly hidden; everything appears in the settlement statement. The charges that surprise owners are the ones they did not budget for: GST on commission, processing charges on the full order value, promotions that were switched on by default, refunds charged back after complaints, and ad spend that keeps running. Reading one full statement line by line usually reveals an effective rate well above the headline commission.
Who pays the platform fee and delivery fee on Zomato?
The customer pays them at checkout, and they go to the platform. They are not deducted from your payout, so they are not a direct cost to you. They do matter, because they increase the final price the customer sees and can discourage small orders. On your own ordering channel you decide the delivery charge by zone and whether there is any fee at all.