With the gig economy exploding these days, everyone can get their side hustle on. With nothing more than a car, bike, or scooter, you can join two of the more popular side hustles in the food delivery space, DoorDash and Uber Eats.
When it comes to Uber Eats vs DoorDash, how similar are they? Can you make more on one vs the other? You can find their reviews on how much does DoorDash pay and how much does Uber Eats pay in previous posts.
Below, let’s compare the two to see who wins the Uber Eats vs DoorDash battle.
About Doordash
DoorDash was founded in 2013 and is available at over 300,000 local and chain restaurants across the U.S., Canada, and Australia. As a Dasher, you’ll be able to make your deliveries via car, bike, scooter, or motorcycle.
In addition, Doordash is unique in that it allows Dashers to schedule working hours up to a week in advance while also being able to deliver ad-hoc if you have a few extra hours.
Related: 7 Best Ways To Get Free Food Delivery
About Uber Eats
Uber Eats started making deliveries back in 2014, and it is Uber’s way of being able to order food. The food delivery app has started making deliveries in most cities, beginning in Los Angeles. Its parent app, Uber, allows drivers to operate.
In July of 2020, Uber Eats acquired Postmates, another popular food delivery service.
Uber Eats vs. Doordash: Driver Requirements
The first thing you might want to look at when comparing Uber Eats vs. DoorDash is their driver requirements. Below is a side by side comparison:
| REQUIREMENTS | DOORDASH | UBER EATS |
| Minimum Age – Car Deliveries | 18 | 21 |
| Type of Car | No Restrictions | Must be 20 years old or newer and have two or four doors |
| License | Valid Driver’s License | Valid Driver’s License |
| Driving | Car insurance required Clean driving record One year of driving experience | Car insurance and registration required One year of driving experience (three years if under age 25) |
| Bikes or Scooters? | Bikes, scooters, motorcycles, and walking deliveries allowed in select cities | Bikes and scooters allowed in select cities, 50cc maximum Scooter deliveries allowed for drivers 19 and older |
| Other | Must pass a background check | Must pass a background check |
To drive for DoorDash, you’ll need to meet a few requirements:
- you must be at least 18 years old,
- have a valid driver’s license and auto insurance,
- Access to a smartphone,
- Pass a background check.
Obviously, you’ll also need access to a car, scooter, or bicycle to make your deliveries. DoorDash will also check the previous three years of your driving record. If you’ve had more than three minor moving violations, you might not be eligible to drive for them.
In addition, you’ll also be required to complete a driver orientation for DoorDash. The orientation can be online or in-person. This is more of an “onboarding” or training, as it goes over how to use the DoorDash app to make deliveries and when you’ll fill out a W-9 for tax purposes.
Requirements For Delivering via Car with Uber Eats
- Must be willing to submit your social security number for a background check
- Must be the required age for your specific location (this varies)
- You must have a valid driver’s license(and good driving record)
- Your car must have two or four doors
Requirements For Delivering via Bike with Uber Eats
- Must be willing to submit your social security number for a background check
- Must be at least 18 years old
- Must have a government-issued ID
Requirements for Delivering via Scooter with Uber Eats
- Must be willing to submit your social security number for a background check
- Must be at least 19 years old
- Your scooter size must be 50cc or under
- You must have a valid driver’s license
How to Sign Up as a Doordash Driver
Here’s how to sign up as a DoorDash driver:
- Apply online or through the mobile app.
- Upload a photo of your driver’s license.
- Provide insurance information.
- U.S. Dashers must provide their Social Security number.
- Consent to the background check.
- Wait for the background check to clear.
- Finish setting up your account and adding your delivery type.
How to Sign Up as an Ubereats Driver
Here’s the process for signing up as an Uber Eats driver:
- Apply online or through the mobile app.
- Upload a photo of your driver’s license.
- Provide insurance information.
- Provide your Social Security number.
- Consent to the background check.
- Wait for the background check to clear.
How Much You Can Make on Doordash
It can go without saying that the more deliveries a Dasher makes, the more money they will make on DoorDash. To best answer the question, “How much do DoorDash drivers make” you’ll have to look at the average pay.
Average Doordash Hourly Pay
Overall, most DoorDash delivery drivers report making anywhere from $15-$25 per hour. Let’s make that a nice $20 per hour as some days will be on the higher end and others on the lower end.
Again this can change depending on the times and if a driver meets their goals for the week, but strictly speaking, on base pay, $20 per hour seems about right.
You’ll also need to factor tips in, but these can be unreliable and unpredictable at best. The pay isn’t all profit as there are expenses drivers must pay too, more on them in a bit.
How Much You Can Make on Uber Eats
After factoring in all the payments above and subtracting expenses, like gas, most delivery drivers who deliver with Uber Eats can earn a decent amount. But, of course, earnings can vary depending on your area, as you might see longer trips or have trips that have higher per-minute rates.
Besides gas, don’t forget about other expenses you might not see every day. Additional expenses would be items such as maintenance costs due to more driving and potentially higher insurance for the same reason.
Although you might need to fill up once or twice during your delivery times, don’t forget about other expenses you might not pay each time you go out. For example, you’ll likely incur more maintenance costs and potentially higher insurance premiums due to driving more often.
Use Uber Eats Promotions To Earn More
There are ways to earn more money while completing deliveries with Uber Eats. Below are three such ways you can make bonuses to increase your income.
Boost Promotions
Often, Uber Eats will use boost promotions, which are opportunities to make more money. Boost promotions are guaranteed higher rates at specific locations during certain times. To earn extra cash by taking advantage of the boost promotions to increase your earnings per trip.
Surges
It makes sense that there would be more busy times with food delivery apps than others. Namely, the hours surrounding lunch and dinner times typically.
Therefore, Uber Eats may increase earnings possibilities during Surge times during higher demand times and locations. You can easily find these Surge rates through the app to earn a little extra money.
Uber Eats Quests
Uber Eats may also offer drivers delivery quests to get extra cash. Quests typically revolve around making a certain amount of deliveries in a specific timeframe.
So, for example, it could be making 20 deliveries in a week to get an additional $15 pay. Sometimes the quests are more simplistic and offer extra money for making X amount of delivers.
How Drivers Get Paid With Doordash vs Uber Eats
All delivery drivers who deliver with Uber Eats will get paid every week. Most drivers elect to get paid via direct deposit to their bank accounts. The easy way is to have direct deposit set up through the App by providing your account and routing numbers as you would with any other direct deposit setup.
As with any other direct deposit, the funds will take a few days to clear in your bank account before they are available.
Delivery drivers with Uber Eats can also use “Instant Pay” up to five times a day. Instant pay will allow the funds to be available to you almost immediately in your bank account. Terms apply.
Drivers can also have their cashouts sent to a personal debit card, but using Instant Pay, they will incur a 50-cent charge each time they use the service.
Once you’ve started making some deliveries, it’s time to get paid, DoorDash offers two ways for drivers to get paid.
Direct Deposit
The most common way to get paid is via direct deposit. With this option, DoorDash will pay you directly into your bank account on Wednesdays for the previous week’s deliveries.
Fast Pay
The other option is DoorDash Fast Pay. With Fast Pay, you’ll typically get your money the same day or the next day but will pay a $1.99 fee. Money also won’t be deposited into your bank account. Instead, your pay is put onto a prepaid card called a DasherDirect card. This is a good option if you need some quick cash.
Where You Use Uber Eats vs Doordash
Both Uber Eats and DoorDash are available in major cities and most places in their active countries. Currently, Uber Eats is available in over 6,000 cities in 45 different countries. DoorDash is now active in over 4,000 cities in the United States and areas of Canada and Australia.
Despite being more widely available, Uber Eats only holds a 23% market share of orders, while DoorDash can claim 57%.
Taking Orders for Uber Eats vs Doordash
Both DoorDash and Uber Eats are like most side hustles in that it allows drivers to simply pick up the app and make deliveries during their spare time. You can do as many or as few orders as you like.
DoorDash has the added option to allow drivers to schedule their hours. Scheduling your hours, and sticking to them, can earn preferential driver treatment when choosing which orders to complete.
Cost of Uber Eats vs Doordash
Fees might not necessarily directly impact your bottom line per delivery. Still, they can change how many customers are ordering using Uber Eats vs DoorDash. That, in turn, can make more or fewer orders available to you, depending on which app you are using.
Uber Eats fees:
- Orders may have a service fee that is up to 15% of the order’s subtotal, but if the restaurant uses its drivers to deliver with Uber Eats, this fee is waived
- Smaller orders have a fee of either $2 for subtotals less than $10 or $3 for subtotals less than $15
- Customers can find $0 delivery options at certain restaurants by sharing a delivery driver
DoorDash’s fees:
- Delivery fees generally range from $1.99 to $4.99
- Service fees are typically around 10% of the customer’s subtotal
- There is around a $2 Small Order Fee that applies to orders that are $8-$10 or less
- DashPass costs $9.99/month and offers $0 delivery fees and reduced service fees at participating restaurants
Fees for both apps will vary based on the market and the availability of drivers in the area. When the demand is higher for drivers, costs will rise, making it more difficult for you to earn more money.
Both apps accept debit cards, credit cards, and gift cards. However, Uber Eats gives customers additional ways to pay for their orders, including the popular payment methods of Venmo and PayPal.
How To Make More Than Average for Uber Eats and Doordash
As with most side hustles, you can earn money right away, but as you learn the ins and outs, you’ll pick up on a few tips and strategies to help you earn more money faster. Below are a few tricks to make more using Uber Eats and DoorDash.
- Take advantage of incentives: Both DoorDash and Uber Eats will offer incentives at times so that delivery drivers can increase their earnings.
- Deliver during peak hours: Hours around lunch and dinner time will have the most orders. Think along the same lines for significant sporting events and holidays.
- Accept more than one order at a time: You won’t see this often, but when you see orders batched together in the app, it’s a more efficient use of your time to complete more than one.
- Deliver with more than one app: One of the biggest tips is to use as many apps as possible. There is no rule saying you can only deliver for Uber Eats or DoorDash. Keeping both apps open and choosing the deliveries that will make you the most money, independent of which app it’s from, will increase your hourly earnings.
Related: How Much Does Doordash Pay?
Uber Eats vs Doordash – Final Thoughts
When it comes to making food deliveries, Uber Eats vs DoorDash is the main two to choose from. Both offer drivers the ability to make some extra cash in their spare time. They are very similar, and you could make money by using either one.
However, the real key seems to be not choosing at all. By using both apps, you can ensure you’re seeing all possible deliveries in your area. You can decide to take the ones that will net you the most profit, regardless of which app it’s from.
