Swiggy and Zomato have three new rivals. Here is the fight

Picture this. Two items from the same cafe in Koramangala, Bengaluru. On Swiggy, the final bill is ₹628. On Zomato, it is ₹573.48. On a new app called Swish Go, it is just ₹461.

That is what a price test by MediaNama found on October 8, 2026. And on October 11, 2026, Inc42 wrote that Swiggy and Zomato have a new fight on their hands. Three new players want a piece of your dinner order: Rapido's Ownly, Swish Go and Flipkart.

Here is the whole story, in simple words.

First, how do food apps make money?

Think of a samosa stall near your college. The stall makes the samosas. A delivery app brings them to your hostel. For that help, the app takes a small cut of every order from the stall. That cut is called a commission.

Apps also earn from you. Many add a platform fee, which is a small charge on every order just for using the app. In March 2026, Zomato raised its platform fee from ₹12.50 to ₹14.90 before GST, and Swiggy raised its fee from ₹14.99 to ₹17.58 including GST. Small amounts, but they add up. From April to June 2026, Zomato earned ₹154 crore from platform fees and other charges on food orders, the same MediaNama report says.

A ₹100 plate of food. With a commission, the app takes a slice. With zero commission, the restaurant keeps the full plate and the customer pays a delivery fee. — Commission vs zero commission, made simple

Why restaurants care so much

Delivery is now a huge part of how restaurants sell. Sagar Daryani, president of the restaurant group NRAI, told Inc42 that delivery grew from about 10% of a restaurant's business before Covid to around 50% for some restaurants. That is like a cricket team where half the runs now come from one batter. If that batter has a bad day, the whole team feels it.

So when an app takes a bigger cut, restaurants feel the pinch. Inc42 says restaurants are looking for options with lower commissions. That is the gap the new players are trying to fill.

Rival 1: Ownly, from the bike taxi app

You may know Rapido as the app for bike taxi rides. It started a food delivery app called Ownly in Bengaluru in March 2026. Its big idea: restaurants pay zero commission. You pay for the food plus a delivery fee, and that is it.

According to a PTI report, Ownly has over 25,000 restaurant partners in Bengaluru and around 50,000 orders a day there. On September 25, 2026, it opened in Hyderabad, its second city. Rapido co-founder Aravind Sanka said: "Over the coming quarter, we plan to expand Ownly to all metros."

How big is 50,000 orders a day? Storyboard18 estimates that Bengaluru sees 5 to 6 lakh food delivery orders a day, so Ownly has roughly 10% of the city. Inc42 adds that Ownly has signed up 10,000 restaurants in Hyderabad and plans to reach 30,000.

Ownly also uses Rapido's riders, called Captains, for deliveries, as Telangana Today reported. It is like a cab company that already has drivers on every street and now asks them to carry biryani too.

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Rival 2: Swish Go, the fast kitchen app goes bigger

Swish is a Bengaluru startup founded in 2024. Until now, it only sold food from kitchens it ran itself. On October 7, 2026, Inc42 reported that Swish is testing Swish Go, which lets you order from other restaurants and cloud kitchens too. A cloud kitchen is a kitchen that only cooks for delivery, with no tables for guests.

The test runs in select pincodes of Bengaluru, with brands like Nothing Before Coffee, Mealy and Taaka Chinese. Swish says there are no packaging fees and no platform fees. Orders on Swish Go take longer than the 15 minute deliveries on its main app. Swish has raised $78 million from investors so far.

Bar chart of the final bill for the same two cafe items: Swiggy ₹628, Zomato ₹573.48, Swish Go ₹461 — One test order on October 8, 2026. Your bill may differ.

Now, back to that bill. In the MediaNama test, the two items cost ₹439 on Swish Go but ₹672 on both Swiggy and Zomato, before any fees or discounts. MediaNama said it was not clear why the prices were different. After discounts and fees, Swish Go came out ₹112.48 cheaper than Zomato and ₹167 cheaper than Swiggy. One test is not the full picture, though. Fees and discounts can change from one account to another.

Want to know how Swish built its fast kitchens? This video from The Ken explains it.

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Rival 3: Flipkart wants your dinner too

Yes, the same Flipkart where you buy phones and shoes. In September 2026, Flipkart began testing a food delivery service called Eat In with its own staff in Bengaluru. It is being built with ONDC, short for the Open Network for Digital Commerce, and Flipkart has been working on lower commissions for restaurants.

Flipkart already has something the others want: people. Inc42 says it has a user base of 500 million. That is like opening a new chai stall right next to a stadium that is already full.

So, can the new apps win?

The big two are not small. In April to June 2026, Inc42 reports that Zomato's parent Eternal made ₹3,537 crore in adjusted food delivery revenue, up 33% from ₹2,657 crore a year earlier. Revenue is the money a business brings in before paying its costs. Swiggy's food delivery revenue was ₹2,208 crore, up 23% from ₹1,799 crore.

Both also have lakhs of restaurant partners. Zomato had about 3.28 lakh active restaurant partners a month, and Swiggy has over 2.7 lakh across more than 720 cities.

Anshika Jain, an analyst at Counterpoint Research, told Inc42 that the big two have three strong walls around them: people's ordering habits, a huge choice of restaurants, and delivery networks built over many years.

And new ideas do not always last. Swiggy shut its fast food app Snacc in February 2026. Zomato closed Zomato Quick and Zomato Everyday in May 2025. Inc42 also notes that the zero or low commission models of the new players have not been tested at large scale yet.

What to watch next

Will Ownly really reach all metros by December, as Rapido plans?
Will Swish Go grow beyond its Bengaluru test?
When will Flipkart open Eat In to everyone?
And the big one: once these apps grow, will they keep commissions low? Inc42 says one observer expects Ownly and Swish Go could start charging commissions later.

For now, one thing is clear. More apps fighting for your order usually means more choice for you. Just like two chai stalls on the same street, each one has to try a little harder.

Sources

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