How much does a QR code menu cost?
The advertised number is rarely the number you pay. Digital menu pricing splits into four models, and which one you're on matters more than the headline price — a €0 tool that charges commission on orders can cost more per month than a €20 subscription. Here's how to work out your real figure.
The four pricing models
| Model | Typical price | Who it suits | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free QR generator + PDF | €0 | A menu that never changes | Codes can expire; PDF is unreadable on a phone |
| Free menu tool, ad-supported | €0 | Testing the idea | Vendor branding or ads shown to your guests |
| Flat subscription | €10–€40 per venue/month | Most restaurants | Check whether it's per venue or per user |
| Commission on orders | Often a % per order | Very low volume | Cost rises exactly as your business grows |
IQ Rest sits in the third row: from €9.90 a month per venue, no commission on orders, 14 days free without a card. We charge for the venue, not per waiter, because charging per user penalises exactly the venues with the most staff turnover.
The cost everyone forgets: getting the menu in
Typing 80 items with prices, descriptions and categories takes two to four hours. At a manager's fully loaded hourly cost, that's a real €40–€100 you spend before the menu exists — and you spend it again next season if the tool makes bulk edits painful.
This is why menu import matters more than it sounds. IQ Rest reads a photo of your paper menu and builds the items automatically, which turns that half-day into roughly five minutes. Budget the setup time when you compare tools; it's often larger than the first year of subscription.
Printing and hardware
- Table tents or stickers: €1–€3 per table, one-off. A 20-table room is under €60.
- Reprinting: €0 if the code points at a fixed address you control. This is the whole argument for a hosted menu.
- Guest devices: €0. Guests use their own phones and install nothing.
- Kitchen screen: €0 if you use a tablet you already have. A kitchen display runs in a browser, so a five-year-old tablet is enough.
- Wi-Fi: worth checking. If guests can't get signal at the far tables, the menu doesn't load, and that's a plumbing problem no software fixes.
Worked example: a 20-table bistro
| Item | Year 1 | Year 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription at €9.90/mo | €118.80 | €118.80 |
| Menu setup (scan import) | ~€5 of your time | €0 |
| QR table tents, 20 tables | €40 | €0 |
| Menu updates, 6 per year | €0 | €0 |
| Translations, 4 languages | €0 | €0 |
| Total | ≈€164 | ≈€119 |
For comparison, one print run of laminated paper menus for the same room typically lands between €150 and €400, and most venues do three to six a year. The digital menu is usually cheaper in year one, before you count anything it does that paper can't.
Where costs actually escalate
- Per-location pricing across a group. Five venues at €30 each is €1,800 a year. Ask about multi-venue rates before you sign for one.
- Order commission. A 3% fee on €12,000 of monthly QR orders is €360 a month — thirty times a flat subscription.
- Payment processing. Separate from the menu vendor and unavoidable if you take card payments at the table. Compare it against what your terminal already charges.
- Digital menu boards. The screens behind the counter are a different product entirely — hardware, mounting and signage software push that into the thousands. A QR menu on the guest's own phone avoids all of it.
Is free ever enough?
Sometimes. A seasonal kiosk with eight items and fixed prices genuinely doesn't need a subscription. But read what "free" means in each case — ads shown to your guests, a code that dies when the trial ends, or a menu you can't export are all real costs that simply aren't on the invoice. We went through them one by one in what a free QR menu really costs.
See the whole price before you decide
From €9.90 a month per venue, no commission on orders, 14 days free and no card required.
View pricingFrequently asked questions
How much does a QR code menu cost per month?
Flat-subscription tools generally run €10–€40 per venue per month. IQ Rest starts at €9.90 with no commission on orders.
Is there a free QR code menu?
Yes, several — usually funded by vendor branding shown to guests or by limiting you to a PDF. They work for a small, static menu and become expensive in other ways once you need updates, languages or ordering.
Do I pay per table or per restaurant?
With IQ Rest, per restaurant — tables and QR codes are unlimited. Check this before signing anywhere, because per-table and per-user pricing scales badly.
Is there a setup fee?
No. The menu import is included, and there is nothing to install for you or your guests.
What does a digital menu board cost instead?
That's a different category — screens, mounts and signage software, typically hundreds to thousands per screen plus installation. A QR menu uses the guest's phone and costs nothing in hardware.