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Every operator I know has done the same math at least once. You look at a $28 delivery order, subtract the platform cut, the promotion you were talked into, the payment processing, and the cost of the food itself. What’s left is a rounding error. Sometimes it’s negative. That’s the third-party delivery reality in 2026, and it’s why we treat this decision less as a marketing question and more as a P&L question.
The three platforms we run at our stores (Uber Eats, DoorDash, Grubhub) all have different tier games, and the difference between the “basic” tier and the “premier” tier is not what you think. It’s not that premier gets you more customers. It’s that basic gets you fewer. This is a real distinction, and it changes how you price the menu.
Pricing at a glance (Aug 2026)
| Platform | Delivery commission | Pickup commission | Notable extras |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uber Eats | Lite 20%, Plus 25% (30% for Uber One), Premium 30% | 7% (validated in-store pricing), otherwise 10% | Ads bidding, Uber One discounts you may partially subsidize |
| DoorDash | Basic 15%, Plus 25%, Premier 30% | 6% | DashPass visibility gated to Plus and above, Storefront direct-order tool |
| Grubhub | 5%-20% base, tiered marketing add-ons | Included in commission structure | Grubhub+ member visibility, pay-to-play sponsored placements |
Rates verified against Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub merchant pricing pages, August 2026.
Feature grid
| Feature | Uber Eats | DoorDash | Grubhub |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketplace demand share (US 2026) | ~24% | ~63% | ~7% |
| Direct-order tool | Uber Eats Direct | Storefront | Grubhub Direct |
| Pickup incentive tier | Yes, discounted | Yes, discounted | Yes |
| POS integrations (Toast, Square, Clover) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Aggregator support (Otter, Chowly) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Corporate catering / group orders | Uber Eats for Business | DoorDash for Business, DoubleDash | Grubhub Corporate |
Uber Eats: the tier menu that quietly compresses margin
Uber Eats is where you land when you want the second-largest US demand pool and a decent international footprint. The Lite tier at 20% looks cheap on paper. In practice, most operators we’ve talked to end up on Plus (25%) within a quarter because Lite orders are ranked lower in search and lose reliably to Plus and Premium competitors. The Uber One kicker (that 25% Plus rate becoming 30% when the customer is an Uber One subscriber) is the tax nobody warns you about at signup.
The pickup rate change in 2026 (7% with validated in-store pricing, 10% otherwise) is a real story. If your menu shows the same price in-store and on the app, you get the discount. If you mark up delivery menus (which we do, and you should) you’ll pay the higher rate on pickup unless you carry a separate pickup menu.
Our take: Uber Eats earns its slot if you’re urban, tourist-heavy, or need corporate catering leads. If you’re suburban and off-highway, it will underdeliver relative to DoorDash by a factor of two or three.
DoorDash: still the default, still the most expensive
DoorDash owns roughly 63% of the US third-party delivery market. That share is the reason you can’t skip it. It’s also the reason the Basic 15% tier is a trap. Basic orders sit below Plus and Premier in the ranking, don’t get DashPass eligibility (which drives a real chunk of order frequency), and produce fewer orders per week than most operators expected when they signed up.
The honest number to run is Plus at 25% plus paid ads if you want a sustained volume story. Premier at 30% is a “we’ve decided delivery is the growth channel” call. The Storefront direct-order product is worth turning on the day you sign the DoorDash contract, since it takes payment on your terms while still fulfilling on their driver network. It’s not free (payment processing is roughly 2.9% plus a delivery fee), but it beats 25%.
Our take: if you can only afford one platform, this is the one, but budget for Plus and treat the commission line as a variable acquisition cost, not a fee.
Grubhub: cheaper headline, quieter demand
Grubhub’s base commission looks the friendliest of the three. In reality, the 5% floor requires giving up any marketing help and accepting the demand you get organically, which for most independents is thin. The realistic operating rate is 15-20% once you add sponsored listings, promotions, and the “Grubhub+” member subsidies that improve visibility.
Where Grubhub still wins is the Northeast US, dense college towns, and corporate lunch programs (the smooth legacy). If your city is one of those, add it. If it isn’t, Grubhub’s incremental order volume is often too small to justify the operational overhead of a third tablet in the pass.
Our take: keep it as the third platform, run it lean, and don’t buy the sponsored placements unless you can prove positive contribution margin post-processing.
Who this is for
- Single-unit independents: DoorDash first, add Uber Eats if urban, skip Grubhub outside the Northeast.
- Multi-unit operators (5+ stores): run all three, negotiate corporate rates below the published tiers (yes, this is possible above ~$100K/month in gross platform sales), and route through an aggregator.
- Delivery-first / ghost kitchens: all three plus a Storefront-style direct-order channel, and treat the mix as an ad-buy problem.
- Fine dining / white tablecloth: reconsider whether third-party delivery is worth doing at all. Your product breaks in a bag.
The number to actually watch
Every operator we know tracks “commission percentage” and stops there. That’s incomplete. The number that matters is effective contribution margin per third-party order: (menu price on the app) minus (food cost, packaging, platform commission, subsidized promo, payment processing, and driver-related labor). Run that number weekly. If it goes negative, cut the promo before you cut the platform.
Next step
If you don’t already have a per-channel P&L that separates dine-in, pickup, direct online, and each delivery marketplace, the RBL Toolkit has the channel-margin worksheet we use with our own stores. Pair it with the Prime Cost Calculator to see whether your menu math still works once the delivery commission comes out.
Related comparisons
Signed, The Pragmatic CFO
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