How Much Does a QR Menu Cost in the UAE and Saudi Arabia? An Honest 2026 Price Comparison
11 min read
In the UAE and Saudi Arabia, the published price of a QR menu runs from nothing to $1,200 a year for one venue. What moves the price is whether guests can order and pay through it, how many branches you run, whether someone builds it for you, and whose logo sits at the bottom of the page.
Below are the published prices of seven tools that sell to Gulf restaurants and cafés, taken from each vendor's own page on 30 September 2026, plus the costs no pricing page shows. We make one of them, AlaMenu, so we say plainly where it fits and where it doesn't.
What you're actually paying for
Every tool sells the same core: a mobile web page with your dishes and prices, opened by a QR code on the table. The price climbs with the features below. Most restaurants need one or two of them, not all six.
| Feature | Why it costs more | Need it on day one? |
|---|---|---|
| Ordering from the menu | A cart, an order screen for staff, often a kitchen display and delivery zones | Only if guests order without a waiter: counter, pickup or delivery |
| Online payment | A payment gateway to connect, plus the gateway's fee on each transaction | Rarely for dine-in, where guests pay at the table or counter |
| Extra branches | Each branch has its own menu, QR code and settings | Only if you already run a second branch |
| Done-for-you setup | A person types your menu, sorts categories and designs the page | If nobody on your team has an afternoon to type the menu |
| No vendor branding | Vendors use the footer of free menus as advertising, so removing it is an upgrade | No. Guests care about the food, not the footer |
| Table bookings | A floor plan, table availability and confirmations to the guest | If guests already call or message you to reserve |
QR menu prices in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, side by side
Every figure is copied from the vendor's own site, and each name links to the page we read. We haven't used all of these tools, so this is not a review. Currencies are as published.
| Tool | Free plan | Published price | Built for | Table bookings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Menu Sahl | No | 8 SAR a month or 80 SAR a year | Menu with WhatsApp ordering; states 0% commission | Not listed |
| Menus-SA | Not listed | 349 SAR a year (display only) up to 1,349 SAR a year (with cashier) | Menu; ordering and online payment from the 879 SAR plan | Not listed (a waitlist is) |
| Taaj | No; 7- or 14-day trial | 399 or 750 SAR a year for one branch on menutaj.com; taaj.me lists 411 to 1,375 SAR a year | Menu with WhatsApp ordering and a kitchen screen | Not listed |
| Menubarcode | Yes: 2 restaurants, unlimited items | $9, $19, $29 or $49 a month | Menu and ordering, POS from the $19 plan; states 0% commission | From the $9 plan |
| Menumigo | Yes: 1 restaurant, 2 languages, Menumigo credit on the menu | €19 a month, or €15 a month billed yearly | Display menu; loyalty cards and analytics on Pro | Not listed |
| TableQR | No, and no trial | $480 or $1,200 a year for the first venue, setup included; extra venues half price | Display menu built for you by a person | Not listed |
| AlaMenu | Yes: 1 branch, 10 items per category | $4.99 or $7.99 a month | Display menu plus a table booking system; no ordering | Yes, on every plan including Free |
Three things the table can't show. First, Taaj publishes different prices on menutaj.com and taaj.me, so ask for a written quote before you pay. Second, "free" means very different things: two restaurants with unlimited items on Menubarcode, one restaurant with a credit line on Menumigo, one branch with 10 items per category on AlaMenu. Third, TableQR's pricing page says plainly that it gives no refunds and that a cancelled menu stays live to the end of the paid term plus 15 days.
AlaMenu bills in US dollars. The dirham is fixed at 3.6725 to the dollar and the riyal at 3.75, so Pro works out at about 18.33 AED or 18.71 SAR a month, and Premium at about 29.34 AED or 29.96 SAR.
What "free" should include
A free plan is only worth having if you could run on it for a year without hitting a wall. Six questions to ask first:
- Does it expire? A 7-day or 14-day trial is not a free plan. Ask what happens the day after it ends.
- Does the QR code keep working if you never pay? It should keep opening your menu.
- Is the item limit per menu or per category? Twenty dishes in total won't cover a café. Ten per category might.
- Is Arabic a real second language? You want a separate Arabic name and description for each dish, not a machine translation of the English line.
- Can you change a price yourself, tonight, without messaging support?
- Does it ask for a card to start?
AlaMenu's Free plan, plainly: one branch, up to 10 items in each category, an Arabic and English menu with a one-tap switch, a switch to hide any dish that runs out, and table bookings on a floor plan. No card, and our pricing page lists it as free for good. The limits are real: the menu page shows AlaMenu branding at the bottom, and a category with more than 10 dishes needs Pro or a split into two categories.
If you haven't built your menu yet, our step-by-step guide to a free QR menu covers the whole process.
Costs nobody lists
The software is often the smallest line in the budget. None of these appear on a pricing page:
- Printing. Table tents, stickers or acrylic stands for every table, plus spares. Get a printer's quote before you compare software to the last riyal.
- Dish photos. A phone near a window gets you most of the way; a photographer is a separate budget.
- Setup and data entry. Some vendors charge to type your menu in, others include it. Ask who fixes a typo in six months, and whether that costs extra.
- QR codes that switch off. "Dynamic" codes from QR generators pass through the generator's servers. QR Code Generator's own guide says the links pause when you stop paying, and codes made on a free trial deactivate when the trial ends. If your table codes point to a generator rather than your menu platform, you're paying rent on every sticker.
- Payment gateway fees. A plan with online payment still leaves the gateway's per-transaction fee on top of the subscription.
- Commission. Menu Sahl, Taaj (on taaj.me) and Menubarcode state 0% commission on orders; AlaMenu takes none on bookings. If a vendor doesn't say, ask.
- Switching later. Change tools and you reprint every code, unless the code opens a link you still control.
A PDF behind a QR code is not a menu
The cheapest QR menu is a PDF uploaded to a QR generator. It works on day one. The problems start with the first price change.
- Guests pinch and zoom around a page designed for A4 paper.
- There's no language switch. You print two files, or squeeze Arabic and English onto one page.
- Every price change means editing and re-uploading the file, and if the code pointed at the old file, printing a new code.
- You can't mark a dish sold out for tonight.
- A photo-heavy PDF has to download before the guest sees anything, which is slow on mobile data.
A PDF is fine for a week while you build the real thing. To see the difference on your own phone, open our demo menu, search for a dish and tap the language switch.
Menu with ordering, or menu with bookings
Several of the Saudi tools above are ordering systems with a menu attached: guests fill a cart and send the order to your WhatsApp or a kitchen screen. That suits delivery, pickup and counter service, and it's where most of the price goes.
AlaMenu does something else: a menu plus a table booking system. Guests read the menu and book a table from the same page. The booking lands on your floor plan, the same table can't be booked twice for the same time, and the confirmation reaches the guest on WhatsApp. AlaMenu has no cart, ordering or payments today. See how the booking system works.
| If most guests… | You need |
|---|---|
| Sit down and order from a waiter | A display menu |
| Order at a counter or take away | A menu with ordering |
| Order delivery by messaging you | A menu with WhatsApp ordering |
| Call or message to reserve a table | A table booking system (how that works in the Gulf) |
When paying makes sense
Pay when you hit a real limit, not before. With AlaMenu, the limits are branches, items per category, the sender number on WhatsApp confirmations and the branding on the menu page.
| Plan | Price | Branches | Items | Also includes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0, no card | 1 | 10 per category | Bilingual menu, bookings, floor plan, WhatsApp confirmations |
| Pro | $4.99 a month | 2 | Unlimited | Everything in Free, priority support |
| Premium | $7.99 a month | Unlimited | Unlimited | WhatsApp confirmations from your own number, no AlaMenu branding |
Both paid plans start with a 14-day trial. If you cancel, the account moves back to Free and the menu stays live on the same QR code. No plan takes a commission on bookings.
The same logic works with any vendor: pay for ordering only if guests order without a waiter, for a done-for-you build only if nobody can spend an afternoon typing the menu, and for a yearly plan only after a month on the monthly one.
Two notes for the UAE and Saudi Arabia
UAE: prices guests see include VAT
Under Article 38 of the UAE VAT law and Article 27 of its Executive Regulation, prices advertised to the public must include VAT. The Federal Tax Authority publishes the law and its guides. Your digital menu is a published price, so the number on screen should be the number on the bill. When you compare software, ask the vendor the same thing: is the dirham figure before or after VAT?
Saudi Arabia: 15% VAT and calories on the menu
The standard VAT rate in Saudi Arabia has been 15% since 1 July 2020; ZATCA is the authority. On a 349 or 879 riyal yearly plan, whether VAT is included makes a real difference, so ask.
The SFDA also told food outlets in 2018 to show calories on their menus, and the rules have grown since. What goes where is in our guide to Saudi menu requirements. AlaMenu has no calorie field; you write the calories into each dish's Arabic and English description.
Running a café in Amman instead? Prices and habits differ there; see our guide for Jordan.
Questions
Is there a truly free QR menu in Dubai?
Yes. Menubarcode, Menumigo and AlaMenu publish free plans (checked 30 September 2026). Compare branches, items, languages and branding. A 7- or 14-day trial is not a free plan.
What happens to my QR code if I stop paying?
It depends on where the code points. Dynamic codes from QR generators can stop working when the subscription ends. On AlaMenu, a cancelled paid plan moves to Free and the same code keeps opening your menu. Ask any vendor in writing.
Is a PDF menu with a QR code good enough?
For a week, yes. After that it costs you: no language switch, no way to hide a sold-out dish, pinch-and-zoom on phones, and a new file for every price change.
Do QR menu tools take commission?
Most published plans are a flat subscription. Menu Sahl, Taaj and Menubarcode state 0% commission on orders, and AlaMenu takes no commission on bookings. Payment gateways charge their own fees if you take payment online.
Can one QR menu show Arabic and English?
Yes, on tools built for two languages. On AlaMenu each dish has its own Arabic and English name and description, and guests switch with one tap, on the Free plan too.
How many items does AlaMenu's free plan allow?
Up to 10 items in each category, for one branch, with table bookings and the floor plan included. Pro ($4.99 a month) removes the item limit and adds a second branch.
Does AlaMenu take orders or payments?
No. AlaMenu is a menu and a table booking system. Guests read the menu and book a table; there's no cart, ordering or payment in the product today.
Sources
- Menu Sahl: pricing (8 SAR a month, 80 SAR a year)
- Menus-SA: plans (349 to 1,349 SAR a year)
- Taaj on menutaj.com: plans (399 and 750 SAR a year, 14-day trial)
- Taaj on taaj.me: plans (411 to 1,375 SAR a year, 0% commission)
- Menubarcode: pricing
- Menumigo: pricing
- TableQR: pricing, refund and cancellation terms
- QR Code Generator: Do QR codes expire?
- Central Bank of the UAE: dirham peg
- Saudi Central Bank: exchange rate policy (3.75 riyals to the dollar)
- Habib Al Mulla & Partners: VAT-inclusive displayed prices in the UAE
- UAE Federal Tax Authority: VAT
- ZATCA: Value Added Tax
- ClearTax: Saudi Arabia VAT rates (15% from 1 July 2020)
- Arab News: food facilities in Saudi Arabia required to display calories (2018)
Try it on your own menu
AlaMenu's Free plan includes the bilingual QR menu, table bookings on a floor plan and WhatsApp confirmations. No card required.
Keep reading
How to Create a Free QR Menu for Your Restaurant
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