Grubhub Commission Rate for Restaurants

Grubhub takes a fundamentally different approach to restaurant commissions than DoorDash or Uber Eats. Instead of a single commission percentage that covers everything, Grubhub uses a split model that separates the marketplace commission from the delivery fee. On top of that, Grubhub offers tiered marketing premiums that increase your visibility in exchange for higher fees. This layered structure makes the Grubhub commission rate harder to understand at a glance — but also creates more levers for restaurants to optimize their costs.

This guide breaks down the Grubhub commission structure for 2026, covering the marketplace and delivery fee split, marketing premium tiers, the Grubhub+ loyalty program, pickup commission rates, and how Grubhub’s total cost compares to DoorDash and Uber Eats. If you operate on Grubhub, understanding this split model is essential for knowing exactly what you’re paying and whether your current configuration is optimized for your margins.

Grubhub Commission Rate Breakdown

Grubhub’s commission is composed of two separate charges applied to each order. The marketplace commission covers listing visibility, order processing, and customer support. The delivery fee covers the cost of Grubhub providing a delivery driver. These two charges combine to form the total commission:

The delivery fee of approximately 10% is only charged when Grubhub provides the delivery driver. For pickup orders, only the marketplace commission applies, making pickup orders significantly more cost-efficient. Commission alone, however, only tells part of the story — for the complete inventory of Grubhub fees beyond commission (processing, marketing, Grubhub+ subsidies, refund deductions), see our full fees breakdown.

How Grubhub’s Split Commission Model Works

Marketplace commission (10–20%). This is the base fee for being listed on the Grubhub platform. It covers your restaurant’s presence in search results, the order processing system, customer communication, and basic customer support. The marketplace commission starts at approximately 10% for Basic visibility and increases to 15% or 20% depending on the marketing premium tier you select.

Delivery fee (~10%). When Grubhub provides a delivery driver for your orders, an additional delivery fee of approximately 10% is charged on the order subtotal. This fee covers driver compensation, insurance, and delivery logistics. If the customer picks up the order or if you provide your own delivery driver, this fee is not charged.

The split model is important because it means Grubhub pickup orders are substantially cheaper than delivery orders. A restaurant on Basic visibility pays only 5% on pickup orders compared to 20% on delivered orders — a 15 percentage point difference that can meaningfully reduce the blended commission rate for restaurants with significant pickup volume.

Grubhub Marketing Premium Tiers

What makes Grubhub’s commission model unique among major delivery platforms is its tiered marketing visibility system. Restaurants can choose how much marketing exposure they want, with each tier adding an incremental fee to the base marketplace commission:

Basic visibility (included). Your restaurant appears in standard search results with no additional marketing charge. This tier is included with every Grubhub partnership. Basic visibility means your restaurant is listed but receives no promotional boost, featured placement, or enhanced search ranking.

Pro visibility (+5%). Pro visibility adds approximately 5% to the marketplace commission in exchange for improved search placement, inclusion in curated collections, and periodic promotional features. For restaurants in competitive markets with many delivery options, Pro visibility can meaningfully increase order volume by placing the restaurant higher in search results.

Premium visibility (+10%). Premium visibility adds approximately 10% to the marketplace commission for maximum exposure. Premium restaurants appear at the top of search results, are featured in promotional emails and push notifications, and receive priority placement during peak ordering periods. This tier makes sense for restaurants in highly competitive markets where top-of-page placement directly translates to significantly more orders.

To understand how platform commissions evolve and why marketing premiums are increasingly common, see our analysis of how delivery platform commissions work.

How Grubhub+ Affects Your Commission

Grubhub+ is Grubhub’s customer loyalty program that offers subscribers free delivery on eligible orders and reduced service fees. Restaurants can opt into Grubhub+ eligibility to access this high-frequency customer segment.

Grubhub+ does not change the base commission rate, but it affects order economics:

Volume increase. Grubhub+ subscribers order more frequently than non-subscribers and tend to have higher average order values. Access to this customer pool can increase total revenue, which may offset the additional per-order costs.

Delivery fee subsidies. When a Grubhub+ subscriber orders from your restaurant, the customer’s delivery fee is waived. Grubhub may pass a portion of that subsidy cost to the restaurant as a separate line item on the payout statement. This charge is distinct from the marketplace commission and the delivery fee, adding a third layer of cost to subscriber orders.

Promotional exposure. Grubhub+ eligible restaurants receive additional visibility within the Grubhub+ section of the app, which functions as a built-in marketing channel at no extra marketing premium cost.

Auditing Your Grubhub Commission

Because Grubhub’s commission is split across multiple line items, auditing your payout statements requires more attention than with platforms that charge a single bundled rate. Each payout statement should show the marketplace commission, delivery fee, marketing premium charges, Grubhub+ subsidy deductions, payment processing fees, and any refund adjustments separately. For a line-by-line explanation of every charge on your Grubhub statement, see our guide on how to read a Grubhub statement, and for a walk-through of how Grubhub payouts actually arrive each week — deposit timing, deduction order, and reconciliation tips — see our Grubhub payout explainer.

The most common audit issue is marketing premium charges that exceed what the restaurant agreed to, or delivery fees applied to orders that should have been classified as pickup. For a step-by-step process for checking your delivery platform statements, see our guide on how to audit delivery platform fees, or the Grubhub-specific workflow in our guide on how to reconcile Grubhub statements.

How Grubhub Stacks Marketing Premiums on Top of Base Commission

The most-misunderstood part of Grubhub's pricing is the marketing premium stack. Unlike DoorDash or Uber Eats, which bundle marketing visibility into plan tiers (Plus, Premier), Grubhub charges marketplace commission, delivery commission, AND marketing premium as three separate, stackable percentages. This is why operators frequently say "Grubhub's pricing" looks lower at first glance but ends up costing more than competitors after all fees apply.

Here's how the stack actually works on a typical $40 Grubhub delivery order:

Base Marketplace: 15%
+ Delivery Fee: 10%
+ Marketing Premium (Plus tier): 5%
+ Payment Processing: 2.5% (of total transaction)
= Effective Rate: ~32.5% of subtotal

That same $40 order yields the restaurant ~$27 after every Grubhub deduction. On a $30 order, the effective rate often exceeds 35% because fixed-per-order fees (like the $0.50 small-order processing surcharge) hit smaller orders harder.

The marketing premium tier ladder

Grubhub presents marketing premium as "optional," but in practice it determines your visibility in customer search results. Restaurants that opt out of marketing premium ("Basic" visibility) are de-prioritized in algorithmic listings and often see 40–60% lower order volume than equivalent restaurants paying the premium. The tiers, as currently published:

• Basic (0% marketing premium): Restaurant appears in search but is not boosted. Limited DashPass-equivalent visibility. Effective combined rate: ~27–28% (15% marketplace + 10% delivery + 2.5% processing).
• Plus (5% marketing premium): Improved placement in search and category browsing. Effective combined rate: ~32–33%.
• Premium (10% marketing premium): Top placement, featured carousels, sponsored slots. Effective combined rate: ~37–38%.
• Custom enterprise (negotiated): Multi-location chains can negotiate custom marketing terms, sometimes bundling marketing into the base commission rather than stacking.

Worked example: $36 order across the three tiers

To check what marketing premium tier you're actually paying for, log into Grubhub for Restaurants → Settings → Marketing & Promotions. The current tier and effective rate are listed there. If the rate you see doesn't match what's deducted on recent payouts, that's a marketing-charge discrepancy worth disputing.

Example: True Cost of a Grubhub Order

Common Mistakes with Grubhub Commission Rates

Not understanding the split model. The most common mistake is treating Grubhub’s total commission as a single rate. Because the marketplace commission and delivery fee are separate charges, restaurants can reduce costs by encouraging pickup orders (which avoid the delivery fee) without changing their marketplace tier. Understanding the split is the first step to optimizing costs.

Overpaying for marketing visibility. Many restaurants default to Pro or Premium visibility without measuring whether the increased order volume justifies the additional 5–10% fee. If your restaurant is in a market with limited delivery competition, Basic visibility may generate nearly the same order volume at a significantly lower cost. Test different tiers and measure the revenue impact before committing to a higher marketing premium.

Ignoring delivery fee charges on pickup orders. Some restaurants have reported seeing delivery fee charges on orders that were classified as pickup. This is an error — pickup orders should only incur the marketplace commission, not the delivery fee. Audit your Grubhub payout statements to ensure delivery fees are not applied to pickup orders.

Not tracking Grubhub+ deductions separately. Grubhub+ subsidy charges appear as separate line items on payout statements, but restaurants that do not isolate these charges may not realize how much the loyalty program is adding to their per-order cost. Monitor Grubhub+ deductions separately to understand the true economics of subscriber orders.

Grubhub Commission Rate vs. Competitors

Grubhub’s split commission model gives restaurants more granular control over their costs than DoorDash or Uber Eats’ bundled models. The ability to separately optimize marketplace visibility and delivery costs is a genuine advantage. However, Grubhub’s smaller market share in most U.S. markets means lower order volume potential compared to DoorDash. Restaurants should compare the effective rate (total deductions as a percentage of gross revenue) across all platforms they operate on.