DoorDash & Uber Eats Commission in 2026: The Real Cost and How to Reprice Your Menu
Current commission tiers by plan, why your blended cost is higher than the headline percentage, and the exact formula to reprice delivery items without guessing.
A delivery order and a dine-in order of the same dish are not the same sale. The menu price is identical; the cash that reaches your account is not. Between the two sit a platform commission, usually a payment processing charge, and a packaging cost that dine-in never carries.
This guide sets out the published 2026 commission tiers for DoorDash and Uber Eats, explains why the blended cost is higher than the tier label, and gives one formula to reprice a delivery item so it earns the same cash profit as the dine-in version. Every rate below is dated and sourced, and treated as approximate: your own merchant agreement governs.
1. DoorDash & Uber Eats 2026 Commission Tiers by Plan
Both platforms sell tiered plans: a lower commission buys less marketing exposure and fewer delivery features, a higher one buys more. The figures below are US list rates as summarized in a dated 2026 secondary source that cites each platform's merchant pricing page. Treat them as approximate; rates vary by merchant, market, and contract.
| Platform / Plan | Delivery commission | Pickup commission | Payment processing |
|---|---|---|---|
| DoorDash Basic | ~15% | ~6% | Reported as included in commission |
| DoorDash Plus | ~25% | ~6% | Reported as included in commission |
| DoorDash Premier | ~30% | ~6% | Reported as included in commission |
| Uber Eats Lite | ~20% | ~7% (about 10% without validated in-store pricing) | Charged separately |
| Uber Eats Plus | ~25% | ~7% | Charged separately |
| Uber Eats Premium | ~30% | ~7% | Charged separately |
Source: Zay-OS, "Restaurant delivery commission statistics" (published July 2026, updated 4 October 2026), which cites DoorDash for Merchants pricing (merchants.doordash.com/en-us/pricing) and Uber Eats for Merchants pricing (merchants.ubereats.com/us/en/pricing/). DoorDash's Basic/Plus/Premier delivery rates are corroborated by Menuviel's 2026 DoorDash fee guide. The same source notes an additional charge of about 5% on Uber One orders for the Plus plan. Approx.; varies by merchant. Confirm your tier and rate in your merchant dashboard before you reprice.
2. Why Your Blended Real Cost Is 25%–40%, Not the Headline Rate
The tier label covers the base fee. Payment processing (on Uber Eats), marketing you opt into, promotions you co-fund, and refunds or adjustments all reduce the payout further. Published estimates of the blended cost vary by source: Zay-OS puts it at roughly 25%–35%, while other 2026 industry guides report an effective cost as high as 30%–40% once these are added. These are third-party estimates, not platform figures; the correct number for your kitchen is in your own payout statements.
Take one month of payout statements. Divide total deductions (commission, processing, promotions, refunds) by total item sales. That single percentage, not the tier label, is the rate to use in the formula below.
Packaging is the other cost dine-in does not carry. If you have not yet itemised it per order, start with The Food Delivery Packaging Trap, which builds the packaging bill of materials this article uses as an input.
Try the Free Interactive Food Cost Calculator
Put these benchmarks into practice. Test raw ingredient yields, packaging overhead, and target gross margin % in seconds.
3. The Repricing Formula: From Dine-In Price to Delivery Price
The aim is simple: the delivery version of a dish should leave the same cash gross profit as the dine-in version. Cash, because rent and payroll are paid in dollars, not percentages. Solving for that gives:
The numerator is the dine-in price plus the packaging the dish now needs. The denominator is the share of each delivery dollar you keep after the platform's deductions. Use the blended rate from your own statements for the Deduction Rate. If a platform also charges a fixed per-order fee, add it to the numerator.
Why this works: dine-in price = food cost + gross profit. Delivery must cover food cost, packaging, and the same gross profit, but only the kept share (1 − Deduction Rate) of the listed price reaches you. Dividing by that kept share grosses the price up to compensate.
4. Worked Example: Repricing a $14.00 Grain Bowl for Delivery
Illustrative figures, not benchmarks. A grain bowl sells for $14.00 dine-in with a food cost of $4.20 (30%), leaving $9.80 cash gross profit. Delivery packaging is $0.95 per order (the bill of materials from the packaging guide). We assume a 25% deduction rate, equal to a Plus-tier commission with nothing else added; substitute your own measured rate.
| Per order | Dine-in | Delivery, same price | Delivery, flat +12% | Delivery, solved price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Listed price | $14.00 | $14.00 | $15.68 | $19.95 |
| Platform deductions (25%) | $0.00 | − $3.50 | − $3.92 | − $4.99 |
| Food cost | − $4.20 | − $4.20 | − $4.20 | − $4.20 |
| Packaging | $0.00 | − $0.95 | − $0.95 | − $0.95 |
| Cash gross profit | $9.80 | $5.35 | $6.61 | $9.81 |
Selling at the same price keeps $5.35, about 55% of the dine-in profit. A flat 12% markup, inside the 8%–15% range some operators report, keeps $6.61, still about a third short. Restoring the full $9.80 takes a listed price near $19.95, a 43% increase. That gap is why a single markup percentage chosen by feel so often disappoints. Run your own dish through the free Delivery Menu Pricing & Commission Calculator rather than relying on the illustration above.
5. Dual-Pricing vs. Menu-Wide Markup: Which Fits Your Kitchen
A 43% increase on one dish is rarely the answer in practice; guests compare delivery prices against the restaurant next door. The formula tells you the size of the gap. How you close it is a judgement call. DoorDash itself documents managing prices separately across delivery platforms, so channel-specific pricing is a supported practice.
Reprice each item from its own cost. Items with high food cost need the largest uplift, while low-cost items such as drinks and sides absorb the commission more easily and can carry a smaller one. More work than a flat markup, and more accurate.
A single uplift is simple to run and explain. It under-recovers on high-cost items and over-recovers on cheap ones, so pair it with a delivery menu limited to dishes that travel well and clear the formula.
Also consider the channels that carry lower deductions: platform pickup lists at roughly 6%–7% in the table above, and direct ordering carries none of the marketplace commission. Neither replaces delivery, but both change the mix.
6. 5-Step Checklist to Protect Delivery Margin This Month
Total deductions divided by total item sales, from one month of payout statements.
Food cost plus the packaging bill of materials, per item, not a restaurant-wide average.
Use the formula for the target, then choose a listed price, a bundle, or a menu cut, knowing the cost of each choice in cash per order.
Confirm co-funded discounts and paid placements are intended; they sit inside your blended rate.
Platforms revise tiers and fees. Reprice when your rate changes, not once a year.
Repricing three or four dishes by hand is manageable. Repricing a whole menu every time an ingredient or a commission tier changes is where the arithmetic starts to slip. TareKit keeps recipe costs, packaging and channel prices in one place; see plans and pricing to see what fits your kitchen.
Sources
- Zay-OS, Restaurant delivery commission statistics (published July 2026, updated 4 Oct 2026): DoorDash and Uber Eats tier rates, pickup fees, blended-cost estimate. Cites each platform's merchant pricing page.
- Menuviel, DoorDash Fees and Commissions for Restaurants: Detailed 2026 Guide: DoorDash Basic/Plus/Premier rates.
- TheFoodyGram, How To Price Food Menu Items For Profit: the 8%–15% delivery markup range some operators use (a reported practice, not a recommendation).
- DoorDash Merchant Help, Managing your pricing across different delivery platforms: channel-specific pricing.
- Official rate pages to verify against: merchants.doordash.com/en-us/pricing and merchants.ubereats.com/us/en/pricing/. All rates are approximate and vary by merchant, market and contract.
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Frequently Asked Questions
DoorDash charges roughly 15% on its Basic plan, 25% on Plus, and 30% on Premier, plus a flat pickup commission around 6% across plans. Uber Eats charges roughly 20% on Lite, 25% on Plus, and 30% on Premium, plus a pickup fee around 7%. Exact rates vary by market and merchant agreement, so confirm your own tier in your merchant dashboard before repricing.
The published commission tier only covers the base delivery fee. Once payment processing fees, required promotions, and order refunds/adjustments are stacked on top, the blended real cost commonly lands between 25% and 40% of the order total rather than the plan's headline percentage. Reprice using your actual blended cost, not the plan label.
A flat markup usually under-recovers. Solve the price from your actual deduction rate: (dine-in price + packaging) / (1 − deduction rate). Some operators report marking up 8%–15%, but that rarely holds cash gross profit equal to dine-in.