Ordering something delicious and lip-smacking on the weekend to pamper yourself or enjoy getting together with your friends has become easier with these food delivery services. The revenue of the food delivery apps has increased from $22.0 billion to $26.5 billion in 2019 to 2020.
Since it’s a very huge market filled with apps. Questions like, What is the cheapest food delivery app? And does cheapest mean best? How can you select the best food delivery app without wasting money from the bank? are frequently asked by restaurant owners and customers all over the world, right now this has particularly become imperative. Finding a decent food delivery app with the lowermost fees can be a choice that creates or halts people’s food choice and restaurant’s business. That sounds severe, right?
However, many of us have strict budgets or health concerns and prefer healthy and affordable food only which brings us to the daunting question: what is the cheapest food delivery service?
With so many food delivery players available to the users, finding the best food delivery service for your requirements is confusing. Furthermore, more than 60% of US customers order food online. Thus, it becomes crucial to understand the world of service charges, surge charges, and other taxes, which is often confusing and demands detailed calculations.
So, today we bring you a quick and well-researched list of the top cheapest food delivery services. Before jumping to the list, let us briefly consider the factors that make these food delivery services more affordable.
Top factors to consider while selecting a food delivery app
Usually food delivery apps charges are a mix of different charges like delivery, taxes, etc. Thus it is crucial to go through the following factors while selecting a food delivery app for your requirements like,
- User interface: The user interface of the food delivery apps should be easy and facilitate quick ordering. The best food delivery apps does offer multiple filters for food prices, menus, and user ratings. Some food delivery services provide real-time tracking of your transit delivery, thus making your life easier.
- Minimum order: You may not always want to order in bulk as sometimes it is about ordering for yourself only. Thus, selecting the food delivery app that doesn’t put a bar on minimum order is recommended. There are food delivery services that don’t charge extra fees for placing minimum orders.
- Delivery fees: Many food delivery services charge standard delivery fees while others leave it to the particular restaurant to decide delivery fees. Also non-partner restaurants charge extra delivery fees from their customers too. Hence in that case, an app doesn’t has much contol over delivery fees.
- Work practices: You may never want to order your food from any delivery service that doesn’t maintain hygiene work practices while delivering your food. Hence it is crucial that your food is handled correctly.
- Payment methods: Any food delivery service should offer multiple payment options to all users. You should be able to select the food delivery service that provides cash on delivery also accepts all credit cards, debit cards, and online payments.
Quick list of the cheapest food delivery services
At times you just don’t like to cook extra meals. Gratefully, there are food delivery apps that mark it cool to order delivery from your favourite restaurants. With the help of these apps you can order food from thousands of restaurants, track your delivery in real-time, find deals, and more. Below are top 7 picks in the list of the most affordable food delivery services include:
DoorDash – Standard Delivery Fee ($1.99 to $4.99)
DoorDash is one of the leading food delivery services that offer cheap food delivery services. In 2019, the company had more than 27% of the market share, which is the highest for any food delivery apps.
It is available to as many as 50 US states with multiple options in the restaurants. If you already stay in the US then, DoorDash is the best option as the company offers killer promotion deals.
The delivery and service fees of DoorDash are way lower than the other counterparts. There are no minimum order limits on regular orders, and you can go for the DashPass that comes with a minimum order of $12. The 10-12% of the total order cost is charged as the service fee to cover the operating expenses.
The delivery fees of DoorDash vary from $1.99 to $4.99 with a nominal small order fee. The surge pricing for different orders on DoorDash is highest between 11 AM to 1 PM. It further depends on the location of the order.
Also new users can avail free delivery or up to 20% off on their first order from DoorDash. Many can get free delivery for up to a month. Whereas DashPass membership, at $9.99 per month, comes with free delivery on all orders above $12 and reduced service fees.
Many people are confused if DoorDash is cheaper than competitors UberEats?
The answer is a big yes as DoorDash’s service fees and delivery fees are lower than Uber Eats. Despite this, there are a lot of restaurant options on DoorDash compared to Uber Eats.
GrubHub: Standard Delivery Fee (Around $2 or more)
GrubHub is the best place to order food in advance. It allows pre-ordering food for up to four days. Thus, no more fuss arranging for food at your special meeting or at a get-together.
GrubHub is operating in more than 2700 cities in all 50 states. The POS integration offered by GrubHub enables different restaurants to integrate it with their website and ensure smooth order processing. It also works with the restaurant’s drivers.
The cost of the actual food ordered on GrubHub varies from restaurant to restaurant. It offers the lowest overall markup costs to all users. The minimum order amount on GrubHub is set up by the restaurants and ranges between $10 to $40. Also, all orders above $12 attract free delivery on GrubHub.
The small order fees, i.e., orders below $10 vary from location to location and are further decided by the individual restaurants. This fee is around $2. One of the best features of using GrubHub is that it never charges increased pricing during peak hours. Thus, you don’t have to pay extra on festivals, peak ordering hours, etc.
For new users, GrubHub offers 25% off on the first order of $15 or more and $7 off on the first order of $12 or more. The GrubHub+ is the membership program of this food delivery service available at $9.99 per month only.
GrubHub+ attracts free delivery above $12 order, 10% cashback on all orders with restaurant partners, and access to the elite customer support team. All GrubHub+ members are eligible for exclusive perks and access to local experiences and events.
GrubHub takes customer experience to the next level by offering a 14-days free trial that can be extended to 30 days for the persons participating in other food app trials.
Uber Eats: Standard Delivery Fee ($4 to $5)
Uber Eats comes as one of the affordable food delivery services that have the largest fleet of drivers. It is an easy-to-use food ordering app with availability in more than 500 cities globally. With zero small cart fees and reduced delivery fees, Uber Eats is a highly affordable food delivery service.
Uber Eats is best for the occasional ordering and hence doesn’t promote any subscription plans. All frequent travelers can order from UberEats without worrying about the location and subscription availability. The easy-to-understand and standard model of working of Uber Eats makes it a favorite for many food lovers.
The cost of the actual food ordered through Uber Eats is set up by the restaurants. There are no restrictions on the minimum order on UberEats. The service fee on UberEats orders never reaches more than 15% of the total order and is not applicable to the restaurants that deliver their own orders.
The delivery fees on Uber Eats vary from $4 to $5 depending on the location, availability, and type of the restaurants.
Whereas UberEats Pass comes at an affordable pricing of $9.99 per month and provides free delivery on all orders above $15, with 5% off on all delivery or pickup orders, and absolute zero surge pricing.
Caviar: Standard Delivery Fee ($9.99)
Caviar is available in 11 major American cities for food lovers. It comes with Square POS affiliation that makes the order processing smooth and feasible for different customers and restaurants. The delivery of pickup options makes it easy for different users to get their best food online.
The delivery fees of Caviar vary from restaurant to restaurant, but usually their service fees are around 18% of the total order. The minimum order amount varies from location to location.
Within the app, Caviar provides all details about the restaurants by offering reviews, photos, and detailed locations. It is easy to monitor the check drive-in time of the driver and the entire online ordering system of Caviar is easy-to-use and ensures proper tracking of your order.
Seamless: Standard Delivery Fee (Varies by restaurant)
Seamless is one of the affordable food delivery apps that comes with a great focus on customer satisfaction. It is a part of the GrubHub Incorporation of brands. It has changed the payment options recently and has included cash and PayPal to facilitate customers’ demands.
The popular cuisines on the home page with exact filters for different foods make it an easy-to-use food delivery service. The company offers different perks like $100 in savings to discover new restaurants along with different options in exclusive deals. It is available in all major cities of the US.
Seamless offers $10 off on all the first orders of more than $15. It doesn’t charge any service fee from the users and keeps the actual food cost with the restaurant only. This attracts more users, and hence seamless is one of the good options when it comes to ordering online food at cheap costs.
Instacart: Standard Delivery Fee ($4 to $8)
Instacart offers one of the fastest and great online food delivery services and covers groceries. It is easy to pick up your deliverables or get the orders delivered at your doorstep from Instacart.
The large options in popular national and regional retailers make Instacart a good affordable option with decent pricing. The company charges delivery fees based on the location and type of the restaurants. The service fees for non-alcohol items are up to 5%, with a minimum of $2.
The Express membership from Instakart comes at $9.99 per month offers benefits like free delivery on any order over $35 and reduced charges during peak hours.
Postmates: Standard Delivery Fee ($0.99 to $3.99)
Postmates is another affordable solution in this list of cheapest food delivery services and is available in more than 1500 cities in 50 states. It doesn’t only help in online food ordering but delivers medicines, party supplies, and kitchen staples.
It is available at unlimited free service to all new bees for seven days. Not to miss is the huge partnership with different local restaurants and the ability to deliver from any other establishment that is not on the Postmates app.
Postmates is a great option to order from several small specialty establishments with a variety of offers and deals. The cost of the actual food is set up by the restaurants with sales tax determined by the local tax laws. There are no minimum order delivery fees on Postmates, but their Postmates Unlimited service requires a minimum of $12 for free delivery.
The delivery fees on Postmates vary from $0.99 to $3.99 for partner restaurants and $5.99 to $9.99 for non-partner restaurants. The small cart fee varies from location to location and comes around $1.99 for orders below $10.
People who order online food frequently can avail the $100 in delivery credit for seven days, which is one of the most successful promotional offers of Postmates. Whereas Postmates Unlimited is available at $9.99 per month to all users and provides delivery within 30 minutes, free delivery on all orders above $12, no small cart fees, no surge of blitz pricing, etc.
Wrapping Up:-
Thus the mystery about what is the cheapest food delivery service is no longer a secret now. Grubhub is the most affordable app with its zero service fees and availability of small orders up to $2. This leading delivery service offers zero surge pricing with around 25% off and $7 off on new user deals. Grubhub is closely followed by Doordash, Uber Eats, and Postmates.
With several options in the food delivery services, the market projection with the current challenges of the covid-19 pandemic proposes the food delivery app revenue up to $42 billion in 2025 compared to $26 billion in 2020. Placing your order on all these delivery service apps is easy and quick. With all details about the leading food delivery services, it is your time to place the order and enjoy luxurious delicacies at affordable pricing.
