DoorDash vs Uber Eats fees on the same ticket

“DoorDash takes 30%, Uber Eats takes 30%” pages treat every delivery app as interchangeable. The commission rates are not identical, and a few points of difference compounds over hundreds of orders a month. Here is one ticket worked through all three apps, with every number visible.

The ticket

A $32 check. Food cost is $9.60. Extra bagging time is eight minutes at $18/hour ($2.40). Delivery packaging is $1.25. Same food, same kitchen, same listed price — only the app changes.

DoorDash

Marketplace commission is usually billed on the order total and often includes payment processing. Using an illustrative 27%:

Illustrative 27% marketplace plan. Replace it with the rate on your payout statement.
You keep	$10.11
Listed price	$32.00
Commission, 27% of $32	−$8.64
Food cost	−$9.60
Packaging	−$1.25
Eight extra minutes at $18/hour	−$2.40

Uber Eats

Commission is typically a percentage of the order too, and some plans add a separate processing fee on top. Using an illustrative 30%, with the same packaging and bagging time DoorDash needed:

Illustrative 30% marketplace plan. Some plans bill payment processing separately — add it in the calculator if yours does.
You keep	$9.15
Listed price	$32.00
Commission, 30% of $32	−$9.60
Food cost	−$9.60
Packaging	−$1.25
Eight extra minutes at $18/hour	−$2.40

Grubhub

Commission varies by plan and market more than the other two — using an illustrative 25%, still with the same packaging and labor:

Illustrative 25% bundled commission. Split out marketing or delivery add-ons if your plan bills them separately.
You keep	$10.75
Listed price	$32.00
Commission, 25% of $32	−$8.00
Food cost	−$9.60
Packaging	−$1.25
Eight extra minutes at $18/hour	−$2.40

The ranking, and what it costs monthly

On this ticket the order is Grubhub ($10.75) > DoorDash ($10.11) > Uber Eats ($9.15) — a $1.60 spread between the best and worst app on one order. At 400 such orders a month, choosing Uber Eats over Grubhub costs $640; choosing it over DoorDash costs $384. None of that is a claim about which app sells more tickets — see below.

Listed price each app needs to keep the same $21.17 as dine-in on this ticket.
DoorDash (27% commission)	$47.15
Uber Eats (30% commission)	$49.17
Grubhub (25% commission)	$45.89

The higher the commission, the higher the delivery menu has to be marked up to match dine-in — not because the app is doing anything different with packaging or labor, but because a bigger percentage cut needs a bigger price to leave the same cash behind it.

Why the ranking isn't fixed

Three things move it that this worked example holds constant:

Commission plans vary by restaurant, market, and tier. A restaurant on a marketing-inclusive plan can pay a materially higher rate than the illustrative ones above; a small independent and a chain can see different numbers from the same app.
Some apps bill payment processing separately. This example assumes all three bundle it into commission, which is common but not universal — split it out in the calculator if your statement shows a separate line.
Order volume is not the same across apps. An app with a higher commission that brings three times the orders can still be worth more in total than a cheaper one with little traffic. The per-ticket gap above is one input, not the whole decision.

Put your own commission rates, packaging cost, and order volume for each app into the calculator before treating any ranking as yours — including this one.

Common questions

Is DoorDash or Uber Eats cheaper for a restaurant?

On the same $32 ticket with illustrative commission of 27% for DoorDash and 30% for Uber Eats, DoorDash keeps $10.11 against Uber Eats' $9.15 — a $0.96 gap per order that comes entirely from the 3-point difference in commission, since packaging and labor are modeled the same on both. At 400 such orders a month that is $384, before either app's actual plan or promotions are counted.

Does Grubhub really charge less than DoorDash and Uber Eats?

In this worked example, yes: an illustrative 25% commission leaves $10.75 on the same $32 ticket, ahead of both DoorDash ($10.11) and Uber Eats ($9.15). But commission plans on all three apps vary by market, restaurant size, and whether marketing or priority placement is bundled in — replace these illustrative rates with the numbers on your own payout statements before trusting the ranking.

A single-app version of this walkthrough, against dine-in, is on doordash-fees-for-restaurants.html.