Grubhub Review: Is Driving for Grubhub Still Worth It in 2024?

Grubhub is an app that allows users to order food for delivery. When you sign up as a driver, you’ll be paid to pick up orders from restaurants and bring them to customers (usually to their homes).

Most people use a car to deliver, although you can also drive a scooter or motorcycle. If you don’t have access to a vehicle, you can also deliver using a bicycle (at least if you live in a dense city—in the suburbs, this is less practical).

How the Grubhub delivery process works

As a Grubhub driver, you can set your own schedule by choosing “blocks” you want to work in advance or by toggling your availability in real time.

During your shift, orders will show up in the app. You can view the details for each (including where you’ll have to go, how far you’ll have to drive, and how much you’ll earn) and accept or reject it. You’re under no obligation to accept any orders if none of them pay enough—it’s up to you.

When you accept an order, you’ll pick it up from the restaurant and drive to the delivery location. In some cases, you’ll hand the order directly to the customer. Grubhub also offers contact-free delivery, which means dropping the order at the customer’s door and taking a picture as proof of delivery.

Once you’ve dropped off the order, all you have to do is mark it complete in the app and you’ll be free to take on another one.

On average, Grubhub drivers earn about $15–20 per hour. However, that’s a rough estimate; drivers in large cities (where fares are higher) are sometimes able to earn more, whereas drivers in suburbs and small towns tend to earn less, both because Grubhub doesn’t pay as well and because there are fewer orders to pick up.

Moreover, if you happen to live in an area where Grubhub doesn’t have much of a presence, it might be a struggle to earn much on the app at all. Grubhub’s market share has declined since 2020, making this an increasingly common situation. We’ll go into this in more detail towards the bottom of this review.

What determines how much you can make on Grubhub?

Your earnings on Grubhub won’t actually be paid out on an hourly basis. Like most courier gig apps, Grubhub will pay you per order.

Three factors determine how much you’ll make on each Grubhub delivery:

1. Base pay

The base pay for each order is determined by:

• Mileage: The farther you have to drive to complete the order, the more you’ll make for it.
• Time: You’ll also get paid more for orders that are projected to take longer.
• Delivery type: Grubhub’s website indicates that this will affect your pay, although they don’t say exactly how. Larger orders presumably pay more.
• Demand: If there are a lot of available orders and the demand for drivers is high, Grubhub will boost their offers accordingly.

This is roughly in line with the system that Grubhub’s competitors all use as well. On virtually every delivery app, the farther you have to go and the longer an order will take to complete, the more it will pay.

2. Promotions

Like most delivery apps, Grubhub sometimes offers promotions, which they call “missions” and “special offers.” These will boost your pay by a variable amount. They often pop up during particularly busy periods.

You can see how a promotion will affect the price of a delivery before accepting it.

3. Tips

Your customers can tip you (something that Grubhub encourages but doesn’t require). If you do receive a tip, you’ll keep 100% of what you’re given; Grubhub won’t take a cut.

How Grubhub’s minimum hourly rate works

As mentioned, Grubhub pays by the order. However, in contrast to some gig apps, Grubhub also guarantees a minimum hourly rate during your scheduled blocks. They’ll pay you the difference if you fall short, either because you weren’t able to get enough orders or because they paid too little.

This minimum rate varies depending on where you drive (known as your “market”), and unfortunately, Grubhub doesn’t specify on their website what it is in any given city or state.

Note: To be eligible for Grubhub’s guaranteed minimum pay, you must maintain a 90% order acceptance rate during your scheduled block. Moreover, if you take on orders outside of your block, Grubhub will subtract your earnings from the extra compensation they send you to reach your hourly minimum.

How you’ll get paid

Getting paid with Grubhub is easy. When you sign up, the app will prompt you to link a bank account, which they’ll deposit your earnings into.

You can choose between two payment options:

Where can you work for Grubhub?

Grubhub is available in over 4,000 cities spread across all 50 US states.

You can find a list of the major cities Grubhub operates in on their website. Smaller cities may be excluded, so if you don’t see yours, don’t give up—you might be able to sign up as a driver anyway.

As with most gig apps, it’s pretty easy to get started working for Grubhub, but there are a few conditions. All workers need to meet the following requirements:

• 18 or older
• Have a valid state ID
• Own an iPhone with iOS 11 or higher or an Android with 5.0 or higher
• Have a data plan
• Have a checking account for direct deposit

If you plan on delivering by bike (which is mainly an option if you live downtown in an urban area), that’s all you need. However, if, like most workers, you plan on driving a car or another motorized vehicle, then you’ll also be required to have:

• A valid driver’s license (you must have had it for at least one year if you’re 18 years old, and at least two years if you’re 19+ years old)
• Auto insurance

Note that not all auto insurance plans cover commercial driving (which delivering for Grubhub is). Before you apply, check your policy or call your insurer to confirm that you’ll be adequately covered.

Grubhub’s background check

Most delivery gig apps, including Grubhub, will conduct a background check before allowing you to start working. This will be performed by a third-party company called Checkr.

When they conduct their background check, they’ll look to see if you have any:

• Major criminal offenses on your record
• Major driving violations from the past seven years

Most people pass Grubhub’s background check with no trouble, although it will take several days to complete. If your application stalls out for longer than a week, contact Checkr’s support team and ask about the status of your background check.

You can sign up for Grubhub in one of two ways:

• On the website: Go to Grubhub’s application page and click the blue button in the top right corner of the page that says “Apply.”
• In the app: If you’ve already installed the Grubhub for Drivers app for iPhone or Android, you can also apply from there by tapping “Sign up to deliver” at the bottom of the screen. To get the app, you can use the buttons below.

Where to download Grubhub

App Store Google Play

Once you’ve begun the application process, provide the requested information, along with a picture of your driver’s license (or state ID) and proof of car insurance (if you intend to drive).

You can check the status of your application using a link that Grubhub will send you via either text message or email. Once your application is accepted, you’ll be able to sign in to the app and access Grubhub’s onboarding procedures. You’ll learn how to use the app, set your schedule, and pick up orders.

What equipment will Grubhub send you?

After you complete your first delivery, Grubhub will send you an insulated delivery bag. It will take five to ten business days to arrive, so you’ll need to use your own until then.

In some markets, you’ll also be required to carry a Grubhub Driver Card—a company debit card that you’ll use to pay for orders at restaurants. You can start delivering without it, but be sure to activate it as soon as you receive it, and keep it with you when you drive. 1

In order to decide whether Grubhub is a worthwhile side hustle, you need to compare your earnings to your expenses, as well as evaluate what the work is actually like. We’ll look at both questions below.

How much will expenses eat into your profits with Grubhub?

As we’ve mentioned, you can reasonably expect to earn around $15–$20 per hour on Grubhub, assuming the app has enough of a presence in your market.

Unfortunately, you won’t actually get to keep all of that money. A lot of it will get eaten up by your expenses, which will be substantial.

Your three main expenses will be gas (which Grubhub won’t pay for), vehicle maintenance, and taxes. How much you’ll spend on each depends on several factors, including how fuel-efficient your vehicle is, but as a rule of thumb, plan on budgeting:

• Gas: 10% of your earnings
• Maintenance: 10% of your earnings
• Taxes: 15% of your earnings (use this self-employment tax calculator to get a more accurate estimate)

All told, you can expect your overhead to cut into your profits by around 35%, leaving you with just 65% of what you made. In other words, if you’re able to consistently make $20 per hour, you’ll take home just $13.

It’s up to you whether driving for a delivery service for $13 per hour is worth it or not. That’s comparable to what you’ll make at many entry-level retail jobs; depending on your perspective and expectations, that might be disappointing or perfectly fine.

For context, $13 per hour is considerably higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25. However, it’s below the minimum wage in 14 states and the District of Columbia, as of February 2024. 2

What is driving for Grubhub actually like?

When you evaluate whether or not you’re willing to deliver for Grubhub for an effective wage of $13 per hour, it’s important to have a clear idea of what the gig actually entails.

At Side Hustles, we’ve interviewed several delivery drivers for gig apps like Grubhub about what they like and dislike about their jobs. Here’s what they’ve told us:

• As you’d expect, most of the job consists of driving, which is a mixed bag. Navigating rush hour traffic can be very stressful, but during quieter periods, driving around can be surprisingly relaxing.
• The ability to earn money while listening to music or a podcast is a big selling point for many people.
• Delivery work doesn’t require much social interaction, since these days, many people opt for contact-free deliveries. Much of the time, you won’t have to see your customers, although you will have to interact with restaurant staff.
• There’s a lot of downtime, since frequently, there just won’t be many available deliveries on the app (and the offers that do pop up will be too low-paid to be worth taking).

The last point is a big deal, since the more downtime you have as a driver, the less you’ll earn. You can partially mitigate this by downloading multiple delivery apps and driving for them at the same time (i.e., taking orders from whichever one happens to be paying more at any given moment).

For obvious reasons, companies like Grubhub don’t encourage this, but it’s perfectly legal and doesn’t violate the app’s terms of service.

What do real Grubhub drivers think about the gig?

To give you a clearer picture of what delivering for Grubhub is like, here’s what a few actual gig workers think about the app.

Case A: Whether Grubhub is worth it “honestly depends on your area”

One user on Reddit gives Grubhub a mixed review. They say that they drive for Grubhub because it’s one of the most profitable delivery apps in their area (along with Uber Eats). As you’ll see, this is something of a rarity; relatively few people say this about Grubhub in 2024.

The user goes on to note that Grubhub’s flexible schedule makes it a good side hustle for college students, and that you can do homework or study while waiting for offers.

However, they’re critical of the app itself, complaining about glitches and other usability issues. They also don’t think much of Grubhub’s support for drivers, calling it “horrible, not even worth the hassle.”

Several other users in that thread echo their sentiments and offer a few pieces of advice for new drivers:

• Don’t be afraid to multi-app with Grubhub’s competitors when orders are scarce
• Don’t accept lowball offers (one user recommends rejecting anything paying under $3 per mile)
• If you drive for Grubhub, make sure you use a reliable vehicle that gets decent gas mileage
• Get to know a decent mechanic, and learn how to do basic maintenance (e.g., oil changes) yourself

Case B: Grubhub is “at rock bottom in my market”

Another user is much more negative about Grubhub, claiming that the app was once reasonably lucrative, but that in 2022, the flow of well-paying orders dried up.

This is a complaint that we’ve heard from several other Grubhub drivers. Many people seem to think that the app is on the decline, which is backed by a certain amount of hard data.

In January 2024, the consumer analytics company Bloomberg Second Measure reported that Grubhub’s market share in the US, which once had been roughly equal to its competitors’, had fallen to just 8%. In contrast, DoorDash has a 66% share of the market, and Uber Eats has 22%. 3

According to this Redditor, Grubhub is now a $5-an-hour gig. It’s hard to predict whether that’ll be the case in your area; if it is, delivering for Grubhub will be significantly less profitable than working any minimum-wage job.

Case C: Grubhub is “nothing like what it used to be”

In 2021, around the time when DoorDash and Uber Eats began eclipsing Grubhub, one Redditor wrote that it was “simply not worth doing anymore.”

In their thread, they briefly note that for some drivers in “unusual markets,” the picture might be different, but then go on to complain about poor offers and an overall lack of work.

These complaints are ubiquitous enough that we’re inclined to take them seriously, and we wouldn’t recommend relying on Grubhub for a reliable second income. If you use it, your best bet is to do so in tandem with another delivery app.

The good news, as pointed out by several people in the threads we’ve linked, is that you don’t have to make any long-term commitments when you sign up as a driver. If you find that there aren’t enough offers in your area or they’re too low-paid to be worth taking, you can simply stop using Grubhub.