Orderlya vs aggregators

The alternative to delivery aggregators — stop renting your customers, own your margin

Delivery aggregators put your restaurant in front of a big audience — but you rent that audience, and you pay for it on every single order. This page lays out, plainly, how taking orders on your own WhatsApp channel with Orderlya differs from selling through an aggregator: who owns the customer, what each order costs you, and what you actually control.

A restaurant doing about 1,000 orders a month at a 250 EGP average ticket runs roughly 250,000 EGP in delivery — and around 50,000 EGP of it disappears into aggregator commission, every single month. On Orderlya's Run plan that same volume is one flat monthly fee. The more you grow, the more they take — and the more you keep.

Who owns the customer

On an aggregator, the person who ordered your food is the aggregator's customer, not yours. You usually do not get their phone number, you cannot message them again, and their next craving is answered by whichever restaurant the app decides to show them. You are one tile in someone else's marketplace.

With Orderlya, every order arrives in your own WhatsApp. The customer's number, name and order history live in your dashboard — they are your records, on your channel. When a regular wants to reorder, they message you directly, and you can reach them again yourself.

What each order costs you

Aggregators typically take a commission of around 20–30% of every order — a cut that grows exactly as your sales grow, and is largest on the loyal, repeat customers who cost the aggregator nothing to bring back. The busier you get, the more you pay.

Orderlya is a flat monthly subscription with zero per-order commission on your own channel. Whether you take ten orders or ten thousand this month on WhatsApp, Instagram or Messenger, the price is the same. Your margin stays with you. (See the plans on the pricing page.)

The savings, at a glance

Aggregator commission is a percentage, so it scales with your delivery sales; Orderlya's own-channel plan is a flat monthly fee whatever your volume. Use the calculator below to see the shape of it for your own numbers — it uses the middle of a typical 20–30%+ aggregator take.

The bigger your delivery volume, the larger that percentage cut grows every month — while Orderlya stays one flat monthly plan (see the pricing page). Every commission-free order you take on your own channel is margin you keep.

Your storefront, your brand, your language

Inside an aggregator app your restaurant looks like every other listing, sorted by the app's ranking and surrounded by competitors and paid placements. You control very little of the experience.

Orderlya gives you your own web storefront and a WhatsApp ordering flow that carries your name and your menu, in Arabic or English, with cash on delivery as a first-class option. An Arabic-speaking AI answers every message and takes the order for you, day or night, so no order waits for a free pair of hands.

Aggregators are still worth having — for discovery

This is not an argument to switch everything off overnight. Aggregators are good at one thing: putting you in front of people who have never heard of you. That reach has real value for discovery.

The honest play for most restaurants is to keep the aggregators for new-customer discovery, and move your repeat business onto your own channel with Orderlya — where a returning customer costs you no commission. Over time the loyal orders you own outgrow the rented ones, and your blended cost per order falls.

One system, not five tools

Aggregator sales usually land in a separate tablet, disconnected from your POS, your kitchen screen, your delivery, and your books. Orderlya fuses order-taking with the rest of operations: the POS, the kitchen board, delivery dispatch and the numbers all run from one screen, so an order taken on WhatsApp flows straight to the kitchen and into your reporting.

Three ways to pay for taking orders

There are really three cost shapes on the table. Aggregators take a cut of every order — it scales up exactly as your sales grow. POS-SaaS systems like Foodics charge a higher flat fee, then hardware and an ordering module on top. Orderlya is one flat monthly fee that already includes WhatsApp and storefront ordering, POS, the kitchen display, delivery dispatch, CRM, AI and SEO.

Only one of them keeps your customer list yours and never grows its cut as you do. You pay less, in one predictable bill, for more of the stack in one place — and you own the relationship at the end of it.

Put in your numbers

Aggregator commission a month
Orderlya flat plan
1,850
You keep, every month

Aggregator commission scales with every order; your Orderlya plan is one flat monthly fee. The slider spans a typical 20–30%+ aggregator take — see the pricing page for the exact plan price.

This savings estimate is shown in Egyptian Pounds (EGP).

What it looks like at your size

Four restaurants, four sizes, one flat fee — here shown at a typical 150 EGP average ticket (the headline example above uses a larger 250 EGP ticket). Order counts are illustrative; the Orderlya figures are your real plan price, and the commission is what a mid-of-band aggregator take — the middle of a typical 20–30% cut — would cost on the same delivery sales.

RestaurantOrders / monthMonthly salesAggregator commissionOrderlya planYou keep / monthCost per order
Small café Start plan; AI-channel orders sit within the plan allowance 200 30,000 7,500 Start · 850 6,650 4.3
Growing kitchen Run plan; AI-channel orders sit within the plan allowance 750 112,500 28,125 Run · 1,850 26,275 2.5
Busy single branch Run plan; the AI-channel orders above the allowance are covered by a one-time AI Growth Package top-up 1,500 225,000 56,250 Run · 1,850 54,400 1.2
Multi-branch (3) Scale plan + 2 branches; the AI-channel orders sit within the multi-branch allowance 4,500 675,000 168,750 Scale · 5,350 163,400 1.2

Illustrative order volumes at a 150 EGP average ticket. Commission shown at the mid of a typical 20–30% aggregator take on the same sales; Orderlya plan prices are the live catalog prices. Cost per order is the flat Orderlya fee spread across the month's orders.

The delivery aggregators, named

These are the apps an Egyptian operator actually deals with. Each one takes a slice of every order and keeps the customer relationship. Globally the commission band runs higher still — often 25–35%.

AggregatorTypical commissionWho owns the customerNotes
Talabat ~15–25% per orderThe appMarket leader in Egypt; own-fleet delivery costs more.
Elmenus ~20% + ~10% delivery feeThe appCairo-based aggregator, pitched to smaller kitchens.

Commission figures are industry estimates for Egypt (Jan 2026); real rates are negotiated per restaurant by volume and exclusivity. On your own channel, Orderlya charges zero per-order commission.

The flat-SaaS and POS alternatives

The other option is a flat-fee POS or ordering tool. They keep your customer — but you pay more, per tier, for a narrower stack, and the WhatsApp-and-AI ordering is a bolt-on rather than the core.

AlternativePricingPer-order commissionvs Orderlya
Foodics ~EGP 1,506 / 2,582 / 3,442 per month + hardwareFlat SaaSStrong POS — but priced above Orderlya at every tier, and WhatsApp + AI ordering is a bolt-on, not native.
ChatFood From ~EGP 2,000 per monthFlat SaaSWhatsApp / Instagram ordering only — no full POS, kitchen display, dispatch or forecasting.
Ordable Custom monthly SaaSZeroOwn-channel storefront only — no POS, kitchen display, inventory or accounting.

Competitor pricing is drawn from public listings (Jan 2026) and can vary by contract. Orderlya bundles WhatsApp + storefront ordering, POS, kitchen display, dispatch, CRM, AI and SEO in one flat monthly fee — see the pricing page.

Common questions

Does Orderlya charge commission on orders?

No. Orderlya charges a flat monthly subscription and takes zero per-order commission on your own channel (WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, your storefront). Orders you receive on an aggregator are still subject to that aggregator's own fees.

How much will I save?

Aggregators take 20–30% of every order — a cut that grows with your sales. Enter your own monthly delivery volume in the savings calculator on this page to see the estimate. Orderlya's Run plan is a flat monthly subscription with zero commission — see the pricing page for the exact plan price.

Should I stop using delivery aggregators?

Not necessarily. Aggregators are useful for reaching people who have never ordered from you. Many restaurants keep them for discovery and move their repeat customers onto their own WhatsApp channel with Orderlya, where returning orders carry no commission.

Do I keep my customer list with Orderlya?

Yes. Every order comes into your own WhatsApp, and the customer's number, name and order history live in your dashboard. They are your records — you can reach your customers again yourself.

How do I win customers off the aggregator?

Put a QR flyer in every aggregator delivery bag: 'Order direct next time on WhatsApp — same menu, faster, and a loyalty reward.' The second order comes to you commission-free.

Start taking orders — done for you — today

Orderlya — the WhatsApp ordering platform for MENA restaurants.

Unlimited orders · zero commission · 14-day free trial · no card