You have all three apps. You check each one before ordering, comparing fees, looking for promo codes, toggling between DoorDash and Uber Eats to see which has better deals tonight. It feels like smart shopping.
And the differences you find are real — but they’re tiny. A dollar here, maybe two there. The gap between the cheapest and most expensive app on any given order is usually less than the tip.
The Fee Comparison Nobody Wants to Hear
For a typical $18 meal, here’s roughly what each app charges after service fees, delivery fees, and tip:
| DoorDash | Uber Eats | Grubhub | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Service fee | ~$2.75 | ~$2.50 | ~$2.25 |
| Delivery fee | ~$3.50 | ~$4.00 | ~$3.75 |
| Total with tip | ~$27.25 | ~$27.50 | ~$27.00 |
The spread across all three apps is about 50 cents. You could spend ten minutes comparing and save less than the cost of a gum pack.
That’s before the markup most people miss: restaurants often raise their menu prices 10–25% on delivery apps to cover the commission they pay to the platform. So the $18 burger might be $15 in the restaurant. You’re paying the inflated price plus the fees plus the tip.
Where the Real Gap Is
The difference between DoorDash and Grubhub on a given order is around $0.50. The difference between any delivery app and cooking the same meal at home is around $20–25.
That $18-on-the-menu burger costs roughly $4–6 in groceries. The delivery version, after all fees and tip, runs $27–30. You’re paying roughly 3–5x more for the convenience of not cooking — and the app you choose barely moves the needle.
If you’re ordering delivery four times a week across any combination of apps, the monthly total lands somewhere around $560 in delivery spending. Switching from DoorDash to Grubhub might save $8–10 a month. Cooking half those meals instead saves $200–250 a month.
The Subscription Question
All three apps offer a ~$10/month subscription (DashPass, Uber One, Grubhub+). They waive delivery fees on qualifying orders and reduce service fees slightly. If you order frequently, they save real money on fees — maybe $3–5 per order.
But there’s a pattern with delivery subscriptions: people who subscribe tend to order more often. The per-order savings are real, but if the subscription nudges you from three orders a week to five, you end up spending more overall. That’s not a conspiracy — it’s how most subscriptions work. The economics favor increased usage.
What the Comparison Actually Tells You
If you’re comparing apps, you already know delivery is expensive. The comparison is an attempt to make it less expensive. That’s a reasonable impulse — but the math says it barely matters which app you use. They all charge roughly the same fees, roughly the same markups, and roughly the same tips.
The more useful number isn’t which app costs $0.50 less. It’s what all of them cost combined over a month — and what that number means to you.
See what delivery is actually costing you
Deliverless shows you your spending across all your delivery apps — not to judge, but so the full number is finally visible. We’re launching soon.
