Grubhub's commission structure branches in a way the other major marketplaces don't: the rate depends heavily on whether a restaurant uses Grubhub's own delivery network or its own drivers, and there is a separate, lower rate specifically for phone orders routed through Grubhub's tracking number. This piece untangles those branches before comparing the numbers to AUANI.

What Grubhub Actually Offers

Grubhub offers:

• Marketplace listing and discovery
• An optional delivery network for restaurants without their own drivers
• A phone-ordering feature that routes calls through a Grubhub tracking number

What Grubhub Actually Costs

Grubhub's commission runs 15 to 30%, with the rate depending on whether the restaurant uses Grubhub's own delivery service or handles delivery itself. Phone orders routed through Grubhub's tracking number carry a separate 15 to 25% commission, regardless of the restaurant's marketplace tier.

That phone-order commission is easy to overlook, since it applies to calls, not app orders, and can surprise a restaurant that assumed its own phone line was commission-free simply because the guest never opened the Grubhub app.

What AUANI Offers Instead

AUANI's marketplace fee is a single number per tier, regardless of who fulfills the delivery or how the guest placed the order:

• Free: 10%
• Monthly: 5%
• Monthly at 2+ locations: 3% across the whole account

There is no separate phone-order commission structure to track.

Side by Side

Running a $2,000 Month Through Both

A restaurant doing $2,000 a month split between Grubhub app orders and phone orders routed through Grubhub's tracking number faces two different commission rates on the same total volume.

• Grubhub app orders (25% of $1,500): $375.
• Grubhub phone orders (20% of $500): $100.
• Total Grubhub commission: $475 across $2,000 in combined volume.
• AUANI Free, same $2,000 combined volume: $200 (10% flat).
• AUANI Monthly, same $2,000 combined volume: $100 (5% flat), plus the $300 plan cost.

The blended Grubhub rate in this example works out to roughly 24% once both order types are combined, more than double AUANI's Free tier rate on the same total volume.

The Real Trade-Off

What Grubhub's Commission Buys

Grubhub's commission buys marketplace placement plus a delivery network option for restaurants without their own drivers, and its phone-order tracking feature genuinely helps restaurants that still take a meaningful share of orders by phone measure that channel.

What AUANI's Single Rate Buys Instead

AUANI's single rate buys simplicity, one number applies regardless of how the guest ordered or who delivered it, with no separate phone-order commission to track down.

Who Grubhub's Model Doesn't Fit At All

A restaurant that takes a meaningful share of orders by phone and wants a single, predictable commission rate across every channel will find Grubhub's split phone-order rate an added layer to plan around.

A restaurant staffing its own delivery drivers specifically to avoid marketplace commission fees may be surprised to learn that self-delivered orders through Grubhub still carry a commission, just generally lower within the published range rather than eliminated, since the marketplace listing and discovery itself is what's being charged for, not only the delivery leg.

An Honest Case for Choosing Grubhub Anyway

A restaurant that relies on Grubhub's own delivery drivers because it has no fleet of its own, and values having phone orders tracked and measured the same way app orders are, gets real, practical value out of Grubhub's specific feature set.

Best For

Grubhub suits a restaurant that needs marketplace delivery drivers and wants phone orders tracked through the same system as app orders. AUANI suits a restaurant that wants one flat marketplace rate regardless of channel, with no separate phone-order commission.

For the complete side-by-side across every marketplace and platform in this series, see the master fee comparison table. For the full picture beyond fees, see the Restaurant & Bar online ordering guide.

It is worth being precise about something before comparing numbers: Uber Eats the marketplace and Uber the courier network are two different things, and AUANI itself dispatches deliveries through Uber's courier network today. This comparison is specifically about Uber Eats' marketplace commission, the fee a restaurant pays for being discovered and ordered from inside the Uber Eats app, not a blanket statement about Uber's logistics generally.

What Uber Eats Marketplace Actually Offers

Uber Eats offers:

• Listing and discovery inside one of the largest delivery apps in the country
• A large existing courier network for fulfillment
• A merchant resource hub with onboarding guides, a merchant academy, and co-marketing tools

Restaurants can also connect Uber Direct separately, which lets a restaurant use Uber's courier network for its own website orders without listing on the Uber Eats marketplace itself.

What Uber Eats Marketplace Actually Costs

Uber Eats raised its commission tiers in March 2026. The Lite tier grew from 15 to 20%. The Plus tier held at 25% for standard orders but climbs to 30% specifically for orders placed by Uber One members. The Premium tier stayed at 30%.

That Uber One distinction matters because Uber One membership is actively growing, meaning a rising share of orders on any given restaurant's Plus-tier listing may quietly shift toward the higher 30% rate over time, not the lower 25% headline number.

What AUANI Offers Instead

AUANI's marketplace fee is the same regardless of who is ordering:

• Free: 10%
• Monthly: 5%, or 3% across the account at two or more locations

There is no member-status distinction that quietly raises the rate. AUANI also uses Uber's own courier network for delivery dispatch today, the same underlying logistics layer, without listing the restaurant on the Uber Eats marketplace or its commission structure.

Side by Side

Running a $2,800 Month Through Both

A restaurant on Uber Eats' Plus tier doing $2,800 in monthly sales, with half of that volume coming from Uber One members, pays a blended rate between 25 and 30% rather than a flat 25%.

• Uber Eats Plus, half standard/half Uber One: roughly $770 (a blend of 25% and 30% across $2,800).
• AUANI Free, same volume: $280 (10% of $2,800).
• AUANI Monthly, same volume: $140 (5% of $2,800), plus the $300 plan cost.

The Uber One split is easy to miss when budgeting off the headline 25% Plus rate alone, and it is one more reason a flat, single-number marketplace fee like AUANI's is simpler to plan around.

The Real Trade-Off

What Uber Eats' Commission Buys

Uber Eats' commission buys placement inside an enormous, habitual ordering app, with a courier network that already covers most metro areas reliably. For a restaurant with no existing following, that discovery layer is genuinely hard to replace quickly.

What AUANI's Flat Fee Buys Instead

AUANI's flat fee buys a rate that does not change based on who is ordering, and a real path to 0% for guests who already know the restaurant and can be moved to a direct channel.

Who Uber Eats' Model Doesn't Fit At All

A restaurant with a large, loyal existing following, and little need for new-customer discovery, is paying Uber Eats' commission for a discovery function it may not actually need much of.

An Honest Case for Choosing Uber Eats Anyway

A new restaurant with zero existing following genuinely benefits from Uber Eats' scale, since the commission is effectively paying for a customer base that would otherwise take a long time to build independently. That trade is real, especially in the first year.

Best For

Uber Eats suits a new or growing restaurant that needs new-customer discovery and can absorb a commission near 20 to 30% for it. AUANI suits a restaurant that wants a lower, flatter marketplace fee with no member-status pricing swings, plus a direct channel to grow independently of any marketplace.

Uber Eats sits alongside DoorDash and Grubhub in the master fee comparison table. For the Grubhub-specific breakdown, see AUANI vs. Grubhub. For the full picture beyond fees, see the Restaurant & Bar online ordering guide.

DoorDash is the marketplace most restaurants already know intimately, and its tiered commission structure is designed to reward restaurants that pay more for better in-app placement. This piece lays out DoorDash's real commission tiers, what independent reporting suggests the effective rate often becomes once marketing costs are added, and how that compares to AUANI's own marketplace fee.

What DoorDash Actually Offers

DoorDash offers:

• Access to one of the largest existing delivery audiences in the United States
• In-app discovery placement
• A driver network already covering most metro areas, with no fleet for the restaurant to manage

DoorDash sells three commission tiers, commonly referenced as Basic, Plus, and Premier, each unlocking more marketing visibility and features at a higher commission rate.

What DoorDash Actually Costs

DoorDash's published delivery commission tiers run 15, 25, and 30% depending on the plan, with a separate, lower 6% fee structure for pickup-only orders. Optional paid promotions sit on top of these base rates.

Restaurant operators on DoorDash's own community forums commonly report that once marketing surcharges, promotional co-funding, and phone-order commissions are all counted, the effective rate on a real month of sales often lands closer to 33 to 38%, well above the published tier alone.

What AUANI Offers Instead

AUANI's marketplace fee has no tiers to climb and no separate advertising surcharge:

• Free: a flat 10% marketplace fee
• Monthly: 5%, or 3% across the whole account once a second location is added
• Monthly's direct widget: 0% on anything a guest orders through it

Side by Side

Running a $3,000 Month Through Both

A restaurant doing $3,000 in monthly delivery sales on DoorDash's Plus tier, at the published 25% rate, pays $750 in commission before any marketing surcharge. If the effective rate lands at 35% once those surcharges are counted, the real cost climbs to $1,050.

• DoorDash Plus, published rate: $750 (25% of $3,000).
• DoorDash Plus, reported effective rate: roughly $1,050 (35% of $3,000).
• AUANI Free, same volume through AUANI's marketplace: $300 (10% of $3,000).
• AUANI Monthly, same volume through AUANI's marketplace: $150 (5% of $3,000), plus the $300 plan cost.

The gap widens further for any share of that $3,000 a restaurant can move to AUANI's own 0% direct widget on the Monthly plan, since that portion carries no marketplace fee at all.

The Real Trade-Off

What DoorDash's Commission Buys

DoorDash's commission buys access to an enormous, already-built customer base actively browsing the app for food right now, along with a driver network covering nearly every market. For discovery specifically, that reach is difficult for any smaller platform to match.

What AUANI's Lower, Flatter Fee Buys Instead

AUANI's lower, flatter fee buys a lower cost per order on its own marketplace, plus a genuine path to 0% once a guest orders directly, something no marketplace-only platform like DoorDash offers by design.

Who DoorDash's Model Doesn't Fit At All

A thin-margin restaurant that cannot absorb an effective rate near a third of every delivery sale will find DoorDash's economics genuinely difficult at volume, particularly once optional promotional spend is added on top of the base tier.

An Honest Case for Choosing DoorDash Anyway

For pure discovery, reaching a guest who has never heard of a restaurant and is actively browsing nearby options right now, DoorDash's existing audience size is real and difficult to replace. Many restaurants reasonably keep DoorDash for that discovery role while building a direct channel alongside it rather than instead of it.

Best For

DoorDash suits a restaurant that wants access to its large existing delivery audience and is willing to pay a higher commission for that reach. AUANI suits a restaurant that wants a lower marketplace fee with a genuine 0% path once repeat guests start ordering directly.

DoorDash sits alongside every other platform in the master fee comparison table. For the equivalent breakdown on Uber Eats specifically, see AUANI vs. Uber Eats Marketplace. For the full picture beyond fees, see the Restaurant & Bar online ordering guide.