Food delivery costs more because you pay for it in layers: menu prices that restaurants can set higher in the app, the app's own fees, a tip for the driver, and tax on the bigger subtotal. In a 2025 LendingTree comparison of five chain orders across 10 large metros, delivery cost 79.5% more than picking up the same order, or $9.30 per order on average.
The fees show up at checkout, but a menu markup never appears as a line of its own, so the total is hard to judge at a glance. Here is what each one covers and who sets it.
What are you paying for in a delivery order?
A typical order can carry up to six kinds of charges. Most come from the app; the restaurant sets the menu price, you choose the tip, and tax follows local rules.
| Charge | Who sets it | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Menu price | The restaurant | The food, sometimes priced above the in-store menu |
| Service fee | The app | The app's cost of running the order; varies by distance and order size |
| Delivery fee | The app | A per-order fee that varies by restaurant |
| Situational fees | The app | Small orders, long distances, bad weather or local regulations |
| Tip | You | Extra pay for the driver |
| Tax | Your state and city | Sales tax on the order |
The fee names above are the ones DoorDash lists on its US fee page as of October 2026. Other apps use similar categories under slightly different names.
Why do restaurants charge more on delivery apps?
Restaurants pay the app a commission on every delivery order, and some raise their app prices to cover it. The commission is a share of the order subtotal, and these are the published US rates:
- DoorDash charges restaurants 15%, 25% or 30% of the subtotal on delivery orders, depending on the plan, and 6% on pickup.
- Uber Eats charges 20%, 25% or 30% on delivery, depending on the plan, and 7% on pickup.
- Grubhub lists a marketing commission of 5% to 20%, plus a 10% fee for its delivery service.
The restaurant decides whether to absorb that cost or pass it on. DoorDash said in 2023 that "Restaurants can continue to make their own delivery menu pricing decisions," while recommending they stay close to in-store prices. Its consumer terms say app prices "may differ from the prices offered or published by Merchants."
Here is the arithmetic a restaurant faces, as an example. If it wants to keep $20 from an order and pays a 25% commission, it has to charge about $26.67 in the app, because 25% of $26.67 is $6.67. That is a menu about one-third higher than in-store, before you see a single fee.
Which fees does the app add, and why do they change?
The app's fees change with your location, how far the restaurant is and how much you order. DoorDash's fee page, checked in October 2026, describes them this way:
- Service fee: in most US markets, under a structure DoorDash began rolling out in late July 2026, it varies with distance and order size. In California, Chicago, Colorado, DC, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York City, Puerto Rico and Seattle it is 15% of the subtotal for most orders.
- Delivery fee: a fixed amount per order that varies by restaurant.
- Small order fee: added when the subtotal is below a set amount.
- Long distance, weather and express fees: added for farther restaurants, major weather events or faster delivery.
- Regulatory response fee: a flat fee in places where local rules raise the app's operating costs.
Local rules on driver pay are one example of those costs. New York City, for instance, set the minimum pay for app delivery workers at $22.13 an hour before tips starting April 1, 2026.
Subscriptions such as DashPass cut some of these lines, not all of them. DoorDash says members get $0 delivery fees and a reduced service fee on eligible orders. The menu price, the tip and the tax stay the same.
How much more does delivery cost in total?
The LendingTree study is the clearest recent comparison. It priced the same five chain orders through DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats and against pickup in 10 metros in 2025. Delivery averaged 79.5% more, ranging from 67.0% more in Houston to 92.2% more in Atlanta. The three apps came out within $1 of each other on average, so the gap is about delivery itself, not which app you use.
Regulators have also looked at how these totals are shown. In December 2024 the FTC said Grubhub's final price was "often more than double" what it first advertised, and Grubhub agreed to a $25 million settlement. In April 2026 the FTC asked for public comment on whether to write a rule for delivery fees, including differences between app and in-store prices.
What does one order look like, layer by layer?
All prices below are examples to show how the layers stack, not any restaurant's or app's actual prices. The service fee uses the 15% rate DoorDash lists for some markets, and tax is an example 8% on the food.
| Line | Pickup at the counter | Delivery through an app |
|---|---|---|
| Food | $25.00 | $30.00 (example 20% app markup) |
| Service fee | $0.00 | $4.50 (15% of $30) |
| Delivery fee | $0.00 | $2.99 |
| Tax (example 8%) | $2.00 | $2.40 |
| Tip | $0.00 | $5.00 |
| Total | $27.00 | $44.89 |
In this example the delivered meal costs $17.89 more, about 66% above pickup. The menu markup and the app's fees together add $12.49, more than twice the $5 tip.
How can you see the true cost before you order?
- Go all the way to the checkout screen before you decide. That is where the menu markup, every fee and the tax add up to one number.
- Compare one or two item prices with the restaurant's own menu. If the app prices are higher, you are paying a markup on top of the fees.
- Check whether you are close to a small order fee. Combining two orders into one usually costs less than paying the fee twice.
- Price the same order for pickup. Pickup drops the delivery fee and the driver tip, and restaurants pay a lower commission on it.
- Look for a direct ordering option on the restaurant's own site. It may skip the app's menu markup, though not every restaurant offers one.
- Count the tip as part of the price. It is what you pay to have the meal brought to you, so include it when you compare.
For what delivery adds up to over a year, see how much the average American spends on takeout. For the grocery side, see the real cost of eating well.
How can you see what cooking saves you instead?
MealMaxx shows each meal's estimated cost per serving, and shows what cooking saved you compared with ordering in.
