Craig Snyder · March 29, 2020 · 6 min read App-based food delivery services have gained popularity in recent years at the same acceleration of ridesharing apps such as Uber and Lyft. The world today is more instant and mobile than we could have imagined a decade ago.
The rise of the fast food industry brought both convenience and affordability in comparison to traditional restaurants. What was newly a convenience decades ago may be viewed as an inconvenience today, and third-party food delivery apps seek to challenge that.
Uber Eats rose to popularity on the back of its ridesharing service, but there are many similar apps—notably and rising, Grubhub and DoorDash. However, each of these food delivery services are presented by a very different set of features and apps.
In this article, we’re going to compare Grubhub vs. DoorDash so you can decide which of these two popular food delivery services is the easiest for you to use.
Grubhub vs. DoorDash: Availability
If you’re in a major US city, you’ll have no issue accessing dozens of restaurants through both Grubhub and DoorDash. If you’re not, then you may struggle—especially with DoorDash.
Although DoorDash reached availability in all 50 states in January 2019, Grubhub’s service area is much wider-ranging. On its official website, Grubhub boasts over 300,000 restaurants (155,000 partnered) in over 3,200 US cities. Outside of the US, it’s also available in London.
While DoorDash is dwarfed in comparison, it is available in major locations in the US and Canada.
Due to many more years in the industry and a much larger market share, Grubhub is much more accessible across the US.
Grubhub vs. DoorDash: Costs and Fees
Fees are the biggest downside to using a service such as Grubhub or DoorDash. These apps will require you to pay a service fee, delivery fee, and tip. With DoorDash, you’ll more often pay a service fee to both DoorDash and the restaurant you’re ordering from.
Grubhub typically does not include restaurant service fees but more often requires minimum order amounts. Both services allow you to enter a custom tipping amount if the preset ranges aren’t satisfactory.
Grubhub has a higher number of national partners than DoorDash, allowing them to offer more competitive pricing. Grubhub also offers a wider range of special promotions.
On the Perks page of Grubhub’s app, you can find several offers for free delivery and cash off. Switching from the Redeem to Earn tab, you can also earn other rewards by spending a minimum amount at eligible restaurants.
DoorDash also routinely offers special promotions—several of their featured restaurants offer $0 delivery on your first order or on an order over $10—but Grubhub’s comes with more savings in the long run.
If DoorDash is your preference and you’re trying to squeeze out more savings, look into getting a Cash App debit card. Cash App offers a number of Boosts, including one that unlocks 10% off on each DoorDash order. This can really add up.
When it comes to costs and fees, it’s mostly a matter of which restaurants you prefer and how you choose to use each app.
Grubhub vs. DoorDash: Subscription Service
In February of this year, Grubhub finally released a subscription service to directly compete with DoorDash’s. Grubhub+ offers unlimited free delivery and 10% cashback. It comes with a free 14-day trial and then bills at $9.99/month after.
DoorDash’s DashPass has been around for much longer and offers free delivery on orders of $10 or more. Its free trial is twice as long, at 30 days.
Both services provide free delivery only at select restaurants. With Grubhub having a much wider selection of restaurants, you’ll get more mileage out of Grubhub+. Grubhub+’s 10% off is especially good if you aren’t a Cash App debit cardholder and can’t unlock the 10% off DoorDash Boost. Otherwise, both services are nearly the same.
Due to more perks and restaurants eligible for free delivery, Grubhub+ shines over DashPass.
Grubhub vs. DoorDash: Ease of Use
Both Grubhub and DoorDash are available on iOS and Android, so it’s an even playing field in that respect. However, DoorDash UI/UX is much more impressive than Grubhub’s.
DoorDash’s promotions and specials are all neatly organized at the top of the app’s home screen. When you open your DoorDash app, you’ll immediately have access to your favorite restaurants, DoorDash’s national partners, free delivery offers, and more.
Grubhub’s app also shows your favorites, partners, and offers, but they’re a little less accessible upon opening the app—you’ll have to scroll down through the list of restaurants to see them in a more fragmented way.
However, on the My Grubhub screen, you can find a consolidated view of your saved restaurants, deals, and more. The problem is that it’s easy for most users to assume that this page relates to your account information, so it goes often overlooked.
DoorDash also rises above in the features department thanks to group orders. Group ordering allows you to send a link to a friend who also has the app installed, letting them participate in an order with you.
Both you and this friend can add your items to the order separately, and DoorDash even sometimes offers coupons and promotions specifically for group orders. All members of the group order will then be able to see the delivery status and map once the order is placed.
DoorDash’s app feels more polished and intuitive than Grubhub’s. If we had to choose one of these services based on app design alone, DoorDash is the pick.
To quickly summarize, Grubhub is more widely available than DoorDash and Grubhub+ is an overall better deal than DashPass, assuming you don’t have the Cash App debit card. However, when it comes to user-friendliness and features, DoorDash’s app looks and feels much better than Grubhub’s. It’s a very healthy competition between these two services.
We’d love to know whether you prefer Grubhub vs. DoorDash and why. Drop us a comment below and let us know.
