Dinesurf vs Chowdeck: Delivery App or Your Own Ordering?
Chowdeck is Nigeria’s best-known food delivery app: founded in 2021, backed by Y Combinator, with more than two million users and over 20,000 riders across Nigeria and Ghana. For a restaurant, it brings hungry customers and gets the food to them. What it does not give you is the customer: you pay a commission on every order, and the guest’s email and phone number stay masked. Dinesurf gives you your own ordering, on your own website, with every customer in your Guestbook. Here is how they compare, and why many restaurants use both.
Quick Comparison:
| Feature | Dinesurf | Chowdeck |
|---|---|---|
| Commission-Free Orders |  |  (commission per order) |
| Customer Emails & Phone Numbers | | (masked) |
| Your Own Website & Domain | | A listing on Chowdeck |
| Newsletters & Automations | | |
| Loyalty Under Your Brand | | |
| Reservations & Deposits | | |
| Riders & Delivery | Your riders or a delivery partner | (22,000+ riders) |
| Customers Who Don’t Know You Yet | From Google & Instagram | (2.1M+ users) |
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
Who Owns the Customer
On Chowdeck, the customer belongs to Chowdeck. Your vendor dashboard lists who ordered, but with their email and phone number masked, so you cannot invite them back, tell them about a new menu or wish them a happy birthday. On Dinesurf, every customer who orders, books or visits lands in your Guestbook with their contact details, orders and spend.
Commission vs One Monthly Fee
Chowdeck charges a commission on every order, tiered by your ChowPass level; on its Chowsmart combo meals it is 35%. The more you sell, the more you pay. Dinesurf takes no commission on orders from your own website: you pay one monthly fee, and no commission comes off a ₦20,000 order.
Delivery and Riders
This is Chowdeck’s strength. It has more than 20,000 riders and an average delivery of about 30 minutes, and through Relay it will deliver orders that did not come from its app. Dinesurf does not run riders: orders from your website go out with your own riders, a logistics partner, or pickup.
Being Found vs Being Chosen
Chowdeck puts you in front of millions of people browsing for food, and sells featured listings and push notifications from ₦75,000 a send to stand out. Dinesurf puts your restaurant on Google, Instagram and your own website, where a guest searching for you finds you rather than the restaurant next to you in a list.
Bringing Customers Back
Chowdeck’s marketing tools for vendors are discount codes and paid ads inside its app, and its Chowpass membership rewards loyalty to Chowdeck. Dinesurf sends newsletters and automations from your own domain, birthday offers, win-backs after 60 days away, and loyalty under your own name.
Pricing Comparison
Standard plan: ₦68,000 a month, with no commission on orders from your own website, plus the Guestbook, newsletters and automations, loyalty, reservations and deposits, your website and a POS. 30-day free trial.
No published sign-up fee. A commission on every order, tiered by ChowPass level, with rates shared on sign-up; 35% on Chowsmart combo meals. Optional ads from ₦60,000 a week. Payouts the next business day. As published on 1 October 2026.
At a 25% commission, ₦68,000 is what you would pay on ₦272,000 of orders. Past that, every direct order you move from the app to your own website keeps the commission in your restaurant.
Which Platform Is Better for Restaurants?
Choose Dinesurf if you want:
- Orders on your own website with no commission
- Every customer’s contact details in your own Guestbook
- Newsletters, birthday offers and loyalty under your own name
- Reservations, deposits and a POS in the same plan
Choose Chowdeck if you want:
- New customers from a large delivery app
- Riders without hiring your own
- Delivery for orders you take elsewhere, through Relay
Get the best of both
Keep Chowdeck. Add Dinesurf.
You don’t have to choose. The restaurants that grow use Chowdeck for what it does best, finding new customers and getting food to them, and Dinesurf for everything after: the second order, the birthday, the table on Saturday. Book a call and we’ll walk you through the playbook we give our restaurants for running both.
Let Chowdeck bring new customers
Stay on the app for its reach and its delivery, in the areas where it brings you orders you would not get otherwise.
Be easy to order from directly
Your own website, found on Google, Instagram and WhatsApp, so a customer who already knows your name orders from you, with no commission.
Give direct customers a reason to return
Every direct order and booking lands in your Guestbook, with newsletters, birthday offers and loyalty to bring them back.
Fill the tables, not just the bags
Reservations, deposits and events for the dine-in nights a delivery app never touches.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much commission does Chowdeck charge restaurants?
Chowdeck does not publish its standard rates; commission is tiered by your ChowPass level and agreed when you sign up. On its Chowsmart combo meals it is 35%. Dinesurf charges no commission on orders from your own website.
Do restaurants get customer details from Chowdeck?
Not usable ones. The vendor dashboard lists customers with their email and phone number masked. On Dinesurf, every customer who orders or books is added to your Guestbook with their contact details.
Can I use Chowdeck and Dinesurf together?
Yes, and many restaurants should. Use Chowdeck to reach new customers, and Dinesurf to give them a reason to order direct next time, through your website, newsletters and loyalty. Book a call and we’ll share the playbook we give our restaurants for running both.
Does Dinesurf deliver orders?
No. Dinesurf takes the order and the payment on your website; you deliver with your own riders or a logistics partner, or offer pickup.
Ready to own your next order?
Dinesurf gives you commission-free ordering on your own website, and turns every customer into a guest you can bring back.