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The free GloriaFood alternative for WordPress

GloriaFood is a popular free ordering widget — but it lives on Oracle’s servers, not yours, and the real features sit behind a monthly upsell ladder. DineKit is a genuinely free, native WordPress plugin used by restaurants worldwide, where your menu, your ordering, your bookings, your payments and your data all stay on your own site.

Get DineKit — Free

How GloriaFood works & what it costs

Credit where it’s due: GloriaFood (now owned by Oracle) gives you online ordering and reservations that work out of the box, and it’s genuinely free to start taking orders. It’s worth understanding the trade-offs before you commit.

It’s embedded, not native. On WordPress, GloriaFood is added as an iframe or widget. The menu, the orders and the customer details all live on GloriaFood’s servers — your website is just a window pointing at them. If they change terms, raise prices or go down, that’s your ordering system, and you don’t hold the data.

The WordPress side gets little attention. The official WordPress plugin hasn’t had a meaningful update in over a year, and integration with the rest of your site is thin. It’s a hosted product with a WordPress connector bolted on, rather than a WordPress product.

“Free” is the entry point, not the whole bill. The ordering and reservation basics are free, but the things most restaurants actually want sit behind a monthly ladder:

Accept card payments online — roughly $29/month
Promotions and marketing tools — around $19/month
Your own branded ordering app — around $59/month
POS system — around $49/month

Stack a couple of these and a “free” system quietly becomes a serious recurring cost — for a widget you don’t own, on data you can’t take with you.

DineKit vs GloriaFood at a glance

An honest side-by-side. We’ve flagged where GloriaFood is still ahead today, too.

What you need	DineKit	GloriaFood
Runs natively in WordPress	Yes — a real plugin	Embedded iframe / widget
Where your data lives	Your own site — you own it	Oracle / GloriaFood servers
Works worldwide	Yes — any country, menu display localised across ~43 countries	Yes
Menu builder + QR code menus	Free, live today	Included
Region-aware allergens + printable matrix	Free — UK-14 (Natasha’s Law), EU-14 & custom, with sub-sources	Not a focus
Commission-free online ordering	Free, live today — keep 100%	Works today (~$29/mo to take payments)
On-site card payments (your own Stripe)	Free, live today — Apple Pay + Google Pay (GBP capture today)	Paid add-on
Partial refunds + editable service charge	Free, live today	Not on the free tier
Table booking / reservations	Free, live today — floor plan, deposits, waitlist	Works today
Full POS	Free, live today	~$49/mo add-on
Kitchen Display (KDS)	Free, live today — per-round tickets, kitchen TV mode	Not included
Loyalty points	Free, live today	Marketing add-on territory
Installable staff app (PWA) + live multi-tablet sync	Yes — free, install to any phone/tablet, screens stay in sync	No
Built-in support	Yes — in-dashboard support tickets	Help centre
Fully-managed, done-for-you hosting	No — self-hosted on your own site	Yes — GloriaFood runs it for you
Branded native mobile app (in the app stores)	No native app — web app on your own domain	Paid add-on (~$59/mo)
Ongoing development	Actively developed	WP plugin stale 1+ year
Cost to run the basics	Free & open-source	Free to start, upsell ladder after

Why restaurants choose DineKit

The features below are live today — free, on your own WordPress, no WooCommerce required.

🏠

Native, not embedded

DineKit is a proper WordPress plugin. Your menu is part of your site — indexed by Google, styled to match your brand — not trapped inside someone else’s iframe.

🔒

You own your data

Menus, allergens, orders, bookings and payments all sit in your own database. Nothing to be held hostage, nothing to migrate off if a competitor changes pricing.

🌍

Works worldwide

DineKit runs for restaurants in any country, with the public menu display localised across around 43 countries. Ordering, bookings, POS and the kitchen display all work globally — card payments capture in GBP via your own Stripe for now.

💷

Genuinely free

Open-source and self-hosted. The menu builder, QR menus, allergen tools, commission-free ordering, table bookings, the full POS and the Kitchen Display all cost nothing — free in the core, not paid add-ons.

🍳

Kitchen Display included

A New → Preparing → Ready board with per-round coursing tickets, colour-escalating timers and a fullscreen kitchen-TV mode — the kind of thing rivals sell as a paid add-on, free in DineKit.

📲

Installable app, live on every tablet

Install the staff app to any phone or tablet home screen (PWA). Run it on several tablets at once and they stay in sync automatically — a change on one screen shows on the others within seconds.

⚠️

Allergens done properly

Region-aware allergen handling with a printable compliance matrix. Tag dishes against your jurisdiction’s rules — the UK’s 14 statutory allergens (Natasha’s Law) and the EU-14 are both covered, with sub-sources and custom allergens on top.

🚀

Actively developed

DineKit is moving forward, not gathering dust. Live table booking, commission-free ordering, on-site payments, a full POS and a Kitchen Display — with live delivery-driver tracking coming next, see the roadmap.

When GloriaFood might still suit you

We’d rather be straight with you than oversell. GloriaFood is the better pick in a few genuine cases.

You want someone else to run it for you. GloriaFood is a fully-managed, hosted widget — Oracle’s servers do the running, not yours. DineKit is self-hosted: you (or your web person) run it on your own WordPress site. If you want zero server involvement, that’s a real GloriaFood advantage.
You want built-in paid marketing tools. GloriaFood’s promotions and marketing add-on (~$19/mo) is more built-out than anything DineKit offers today.
You want a branded native mobile app in the app stores. GloriaFood sells a branded iOS/Android app as a paid add-on (~$59/mo). DineKit doesn’t ship a native diner app — staff get an installable PWA app, and diners order through a fast web experience on your own domain.
You need card payments in a non-GBP currency right now. DineKit’s menus, ordering and bookings work worldwide, but on-site card capture is GBP-only today. If you must take non-GBP card payments through the widget immediately, that’s a current DineKit limit.

Ordering, bookings, on-site payments, loyalty, the Kitchen Display and the POS are all live and free in DineKit today — get DineKit free and decide for yourself whether self-hosted suits you better than a managed widget.

Common questions

Is DineKit really free, or is there an upsell ladder like GloriaFood?

DineKit is free and open-source. The menu builder, QR menus, allergen tools, opening hours, commission-free online ordering, table bookings, on-site card payments, the full POS (tabs, coursing, split bills, partial refunds, editable service charge), a Kitchen Display and loyalty points are all live today at no cost — free in the core plugin, not paid add-ons.

Can DineKit take online orders and card payments right now?

Yes. Commission-free online ordering (eat-in QR order-at-table, takeaway and delivery) and on-site card payments through your own Stripe account — including Apple Pay and Google Pay — are live today, free, in the core plugin. Table bookings, a Kitchen Display and a full POS are live too. Card capture is GBP today. If you specifically want a fully-managed widget someone else hosts, or a paid branded mobile app, GloriaFood’s paid tiers still cover that.

Does DineKit work outside the UK?

Yes — DineKit is used by restaurants worldwide. Menus, ordering, bookings, the Kitchen Display, POS and reservations all work in any country, and the public menu display is localised across around 43 countries. Allergen handling is region-aware: the UK’s 14 statutory allergens under Natasha’s Law and the EU-14 are both covered, and you can add custom allergens. One honest limit today: on-site card payments capture in GBP through your own Stripe, so payment is best suited to GBP venues for now — everything else is fully global.

Do I need WooCommerce or special hosting to use DineKit?

No. DineKit runs on your existing WordPress site — no WooCommerce required, and no special server. Because it’s self-hosted and native, your menu, orders, bookings and customer data stay on your own server, and your pages are part of your site rather than an embedded widget. You even get in-dashboard support tickets and an installable staff app (PWA) that keeps multiple tablets in sync.