DoorDash and UberEats are popular food delivery services with very similar models: order food from your favorite local restaurants, punch in your credit card, and wait for a delivery driver to drop off the food at your door. In cities with both options, it can be hard to know which delivery service is worth it.
This post will help you find the right delivery company for your situation, by pointing out some key differences like which service delivers alcohol and which partners with high profile restaurants like the Cheesecake Factory, IHOP, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, and various other fast-food restaurants.
Let’s start out with a quick side-by-side comparison of the two services.
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DoorDash vs UberEats: Head-to-Head
| DoorDash | UberEats | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | 99 cents to $7.99 + a service fee of 7% to 15% on every order. | Usually $2 – $8 (based on your distance from the restaurant) |
| Minimum Order | None | Small Order Fees vary by city. Typically $2 for subtotals less than $10 or $3 for subtotals less than $15. |
| Uses Surge Pricing? | Yes | Yes |
| Delivers Alcohol? | Yes | No |
| Reviews on App Store | Rating: 4.8 – 3,072,054 reviews | 4.8 – 1,520,211 reviews |
| Special Promo Offers | $0 delivery fee on first order | Save $7 on first order of $14 or more with code eats-haleyy303ue |
DoorDash Overview
DoorDash was founded in 2013 by three college students at Stanford University.
It’s one of the first food delivery services to actually perform their own delivery, employing an army of “Dashers” to transport meals from restaurants that usually don’t deliver on their own. Fun Fact: To test out their delivery process, co-founders Andy Fang, Stanley Tang, and Tony Xu delivered the first 200 orders themselves.
Despite being older than UberEats, DoorDash is not as widespread, located only in the U.S. and Canada.
With the goal of catching UberEats and Grubhub (currently the largest food delivery service), DoorDash has considered a merger with Postmates, a fairly similar company, although nothing has materialized yet.
A difference between DoorDash vs UberEats is DoorDash sometimes delivers food from restaurants that haven’t actually asked them to. This approach gives hungry customers more restaurants to choose from, but it has resulted in lawsuits from angry restaurants, including the popular chain In-N-Out Burger.
DoorDash is extremely well funded and plans to use its artificial intelligence platform to start delivering more than just food.
DoorDash Pricing
According to Quartz, Doordash charges between 99 cents to $7.99 per order for delivery — along with a service fee of 7% – 15%.
Unlike UberEats, DoorDash does not enforce a minimum order amount.
Both, however, use surge pricing depending on the time of day, where they charge more during busy hours to incentivize more drivers to come online, speeding up delivery times.
You can dodge surge pricing by scheduling your orders in advance, before the price goes up. DoorDash will then deliver the food at the future time you choose.
(Don’t forget to tip your Doordash driver, especially during the coronavirus pandemic.)
DashPass: A Doordash subscription service
If you’re looking for more ways to save and extra perks, DashPass is $9.99 per month subscription service that “offers unlimited deliveries from thousands of eligible restaurants with $0 delivery fee on orders over $12.”
DoorDash claims that you’ll “save an average of $4-5 per order.”
New DashPass members are eligible for a 30-day free trial and can cancel at any time. Also, here’s the best part of all: DashPass also applies to Caviar (another food delivery app) orders as well which can really rack up the savings.
Does DoorDash Deliver Alcohol?
DoorDash delivers alcohol from many of the restaurants it partners with. This is different from UberEats, who generally does not deliver alcohol.
DoorDash Reviews
DoorDash is one of the best-reviewed food delivery apps, boasting 4.5 stars on the Android Google Play store and 4.4 stars on iOS’s iTunes store.
Key Restaurant Partnerships
DoorDash delivers from tens of thousands of restaurants and even allows you to order pick up too. They have special partnerships with several famous restaurant chains, including:
- Jack in the Box
- Cheesecake Factory
- IHOP
- Taco Bell
DoorDash also has a massive partnership with Wendy’s, which it launched shortly after UberEats teamed up with McDonald’s.
You can now also order non-food items from partners like 7eleven!
Pros of DoorDash
- Partners with Wendy’s, Jack in the Box, Cheesecake Factory, and IHOP
- Does not use minimum order amounts
- Will deliver alcohol
- Has excellent reviews
UberEats Overview
When you look at the success of UberEats, it almost feels too easy. Uber already had a massive network of drivers, along with world-class delivery logistics. In many ways, they just replaced people with hamburgers.
UberEats was late to the food delivery game, arriving in 2014 — 1.5 years after DoorDash and 10 years after Grubhub. Yet Uber’s new CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, predicts UberEats will overtake Grubhub as the biggest food delivery service in the world before the end of 2018.
Unlike DoorDash, UberEats has a truly international presence, operating in 20 different countries, including Mexico and Canada
The service has grown from only 900 restaurants in 2016 to over 46,000 partnerships in 2017.
UberEats Pricing
UberEats doesn’t publicly reveal its pricing model, but in one of our experiments, the booking fee was $4.99.
Geekwire and the New York Post report similar prices from UberEats. So that might be a good benchmark, although it isn’t a flat rate.
Unlike DoorDash, UberEats does enforce a minimum order amount. Their “Small Order Fee” varies by city. Typically $2 for subtotals less than $10 or $3 for subtotals less than $15.
However, like DoorDash, the company does use surge pricing, which can lead to higher rates and faster delivery times.
(Just like I said in the Doordash overview, don’t forget to tip your Uber Eats driver, they appreciate the extra money.)
Eat Pass: An Uber Eats subscription service
Uber Eats offers Eats Pass, a $9.99 per month subscription to receive $0 delivery fees and 5% off orders over $15 and a one-month free trial.
However, Eats Pass members have taken to the internet to express their frustrations with the program.
“The way it is advertised is in no way how it works. The wording sounds like you get free delivery all the time and then 5% off when you spend over $15. When in actuality you have to spend at least $15 for any benefit to kick in AND THEN THE 5% IS ONLY OFF THE SERVICE FEES,” says one Reddit member.
The Uber Eats website is vague on the details as well.
Does UberEats Deliver Alcohol?
Unfortunately, UberEats usually does not deliver alcohol.
UberEats Reviews
Built on the reliable systems of Uber, UberEats has excellent reviews, with 4.2 stars on the Android Google Play store and 4.8 stars on iOS’s iTunes store.
Key Restaurant Partnerships
UberEats most well-known partnership is with McDonald’s, delivering hamburgers from the golden arches in countries around the world.
UberEats Pros:
- Great reviews (built off of Uber)
- Partnership with McDonald’s
- Available in hundreds of cities all over the world
DoorDash vs UberEats: So which food delivery service is right for you?
If you’re outside the U.S. or Canada, you’ll probably be working with UberEats. Inside the U.S., you’ll have choices in many cities.
Both delivery options are great if you’re looking to avoid grocery shopping and order food from your favorite restaurant instead.
UberEats is probably better for large orders since DoorDash has a 7% – 15% service fee.
DoorDash is the way to go for smaller meals since they don’t enforce a minimum order. (And don’t forget, you can get alcohol delivered with your meal too.)
Both services have great reviews.
Special Offer
DoorDash is offering new customers a $0 delivery fee on their first order.
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