How Much Do Delivery Apps Charge Restaurants? (2026 Fee Breakdown)
A plain-English breakdown of what third-party delivery marketplaces take from every order — and how to work out your true cost per ticket.
How much do delivery apps charge restaurants in 2026?
Third-party delivery apps charge restaurants roughly 15% to 30% commission on every order, plus additional processing and marketing fees. In the United States, DoorDash and Uber Eats publish tiered plans that commonly land at 15%, 25%, and 30% of the order subtotal; Grubhub follows a similar structure. In the United Kingdom, Deliveroo and Just Eat sit in a comparable 14%–30% band depending on the plan.
The headline percentage is rarely the whole cost. On top of commission, restaurants typically absorb a card-processing fee (around 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction), optional 'promoted placement' advertising, and tablet or integration fees. The effective take-rate on a delivery order can therefore exceed the sticker commission once every line is counted.
What does a delivery commission actually pay for?
A delivery commission bundles marketplace demand, courier logistics, and payment processing into one percentage. The highest tiers buy better visibility in the app and courier coverage; the lowest tiers strip out delivery and leave the restaurant to fulfil the order itself. Because the fee is a percentage of the ticket, it scales with your average order value — the more a guest spends, the more the marketplace earns from the same delivery.
- Demand: placement in a marketplace many diners already browse.
- Logistics: courier dispatch, tracking, and support for delivery tiers.
- Payments: card processing folded into or added onto the commission.
- Marketing: optional paid placement that raises the effective rate.
How do I calculate my real cost per order?
To find your true cost per delivery order, multiply the order subtotal by your commission rate, then add card processing and any per-order tablet or service fees. For example, a $40 order at a 30% commission tier costs $12 in commission alone; add roughly $1.46 in card processing and the marketplace has taken about $13.46 before food and labour. Across a week of 100 such orders, that is more than $1,300 leaving the business.
The comparison that matters is commission versus a flat subscription. A direct, commission-free channel replaces the per-order percentage with a fixed monthly fee, so the savings grow with every order you move off the marketplace.
How can restaurants reduce or avoid delivery commissions?
Restaurants reduce delivery commissions by building a direct ordering channel that guests use instead of the marketplace. A QR code menu on every table, a commission-free pickup and dine-in ordering page, and a listing guests can find by name all move volume to a channel the restaurant controls. TablioQR provides exactly this: guests scan, order, and pay directly, the order lands in your Square, Toast, Lightspeed, or Clover POS, and you pay a flat monthly fee with 0% commission on those direct orders.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average delivery app commission for restaurants?
The average third-party delivery commission for restaurants is about 15%–30% of the order subtotal in 2026, with the highest tiers adding paid placement and all tiers layering on card-processing fees.
Is commission-free ordering actually cheaper?
Commission-free ordering is usually cheaper for restaurants with steady direct volume, because a flat monthly subscription (from $29/month with TablioQR) replaces a per-order percentage that grows with every ticket.
Launch a commission-free QR menu in minutes
Upload a photo of your menu and get a mobile ordering page with QR codes — free to start, 0% commission on direct orders.