Food Delivery Menu Prices: What 330,988 Items Reveal
DealMeal Labs analyzed 330,988 menu rows across Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub, including 323,643 items with a recorded price. The strongest evidence does not identify a universally cheaper app. Instead, it shows that the same dish at the same restaurant usually carries the same menu price across platforms, while raw platform averages are heavily shaped by which stores and products each app lists.
Quick answer
Across 15,373 like-for-like item comparisons at 209 restaurants listed on more than one app, the median price difference was $0.00 for every platform pair. Exact-price matches ranged from 62.7% to 79.2%. When matched prices differed, the typical absolute gap was about $1.00, while the average difference across all matched items was only 12–17 cents, or roughly 1%.
This analysis covers menu-item prices observed during the 72 hours ending August 5, 2026. It does not include delivery fees, service fees, taxes, tips, memberships, or the final checkout total.
Key findings from 330,988 menu items
The overall median among 323,643 priced items was $10.25; the 25th percentile was $5.00 and the 90th percentile was $24.99.
The median matched-item difference was $0.00 for DoorDash versus Grubhub, DoorDash versus Uber Eats, and Grubhub versus Uber Eats.
Matched prices were identical to the cent in 66.5% of DoorDash–Grubhub comparisons, 79.2% of DoorDash–Uber Eats comparisons, and 62.7% of Grubhub–Uber Eats comparisons.
Raw platform medians ranged from $9.99 to $10.49, but those unmatched figures reflect different restaurant and product mixes.
Across 12 consecutive daily aggregates, the median menu price stayed within a 74-cent band even as observed item volume changed by 1.84×.
Do food delivery menu prices differ by app?
For the same item at the same physical restaurant, the answer is usually no. DealMeal matched stores by normalized name and location, then matched identically normalized menu-item names within those stores. This produced 15,373 comparisons across 209 restaurants available on at least two platforms.
Platform pair | Matched stores | Matched items | Identical price | Median difference | Mean difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DoorDash vs. Grubhub | 143 | 9,048 | 66.5% | $0.00 | 12.1¢ (0.97%) |
DoorDash vs. Uber Eats | 61 | 4,299 | 79.2% | $0.00 | 13.8¢ (1.05%) |
Grubhub vs. Uber Eats | 32 | 2,026 | 62.7% | $0.00 | 17.2¢ (1.27%) |
The direction of each mean difference was consistent—Grubhub above DoorDash, Uber Eats above DoorDash, and Uber Eats above Grubhub—but the magnitude was economically small. The median difference remained zero even when DealMeal summarized each restaurant first, so a few large menus did not create the result.
The matching was also repeated under five specifications, changing the geographic radius, store-name normalization, and item-name normalization. Every specification returned a $0.00 median difference for all three pairs. Identical-price rates moved by no more than 1.5 percentage points, and mean differences moved by no more than five cents.
DealMeal data insight
The strongest comparison is not each app’s raw median. It is the price of the same dish from the same restaurant. On that basis, no platform produced a lower median price in this snapshot.
When prices differ, how large is the gap?
Exact matches are common, but they are not universal. Among the 3,030 DoorDash–Grubhub items with different prices, the median absolute gap was $1.00. The same $1.00 median absolute gap appeared among 894 differing DoorDash–Uber Eats items.
The Grubhub–Uber Eats comparison showed the only notable asymmetry: Grubhub was cheaper on 31.1% of matched items, while Uber Eats was cheaper on 6.2%. Where those prices differed, the median gap was 32 cents toward Uber Eats. However, this pair covered only 2,026 items at 32 stores, so the result is suggestive rather than established and needs observation across more days.
Why raw platform averages can mislead
Looking at every priced item without matching restaurants produces a seemingly clear ranking: Grubhub had a $9.99 median, DoorDash $10.29, and Uber Eats $10.49. The raw means tell a different story: DoorDash averaged $13.94, Uber Eats $13.99, and Grubhub $16.74.
Measure | DoorDash | Uber Eats | Grubhub |
|---|---|---|---|
Priced items | 143,864 | 112,714 | 67,065 |
Raw median | $10.29 | $10.49 | $9.99 |
Raw mean | $13.94 | $13.99 | $16.74 |
Mean excluding alcohol/tobacco | $13.93 | $13.98 | $14.77 |
Like-for-like median difference vs. DoorDash | — | $0.00 | $0.00 |
What a typical food delivery menu item costs
Across all three platforms, 323,643 of the 330,988 rows had a positive price. The median was $10.25, the mean was $14.54, and the middle half of the observed prices ran from $5.00 to $17.00. The 90th percentile was $24.99.
The upper tail was small but extreme: 3.06% of priced items exceeded $50, 0.93% exceeded $100, and 0.21% exceeded $200. The maximum, $1,609.99, was a liquor item on Grubhub. Restricting the sample to items priced at $100 or less reduced platform means to $12.74 on DoorDash, $13.08 on Uber Eats, and $13.51 on Grubhub.
That distribution also explains why the median is more useful than the mean for describing an ordinary observed item: a small expensive tail pulls the average upward.
Cuisine comparisons require a narrower scope because DoorDash provided no cuisine metadata. Among 179,779 priced Uber Eats and Grubhub items carrying at least one cuisine tag, Asian was the most expensive high-volume category at a $14.00 median, while Burgers was the least expensive at $8.79. The $5.21 difference describes those two platforms’ tagged catalogs; it is not a three-platform or nationwide cuisine ranking.
Menu-price levels were stable across the 12-day window
The item-level analysis is a single rolling snapshot, so it cannot establish a trend. DealMeal’s separate daily aggregates do provide a short stability check from July 25 through August 5, 2026. Across those 12 days and 3,151,047 item-observations, daily item volume ranged from 180,038 to 330,988—a 1.84× swing—while the median stayed between $10.25 and $10.99.
That 74-cent band suggests the overall price level was relatively stable while investigation coverage changed. It does not show that individual dishes held their prices, because the daily aggregates do not contain item-level histories.
Deals may matter more than menu-price differences
The same snapshot included 14,861 offers. Among the 4,850 offers with a percentage value, the median was 20% on DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. Dollar-off promotions differed more: the median was $5.00 on DoorDash and Uber Eats and $10.00 on Grubhub, based on 4,063, 793, and 714 qualifying offers respectively.
Minimum-order requirements can change the value of those promotions. A threshold was available for 10,005 offers, with an overall median of $25.00. Coverage differed by platform, so each threshold needs to be evaluated in the context of the actual offer rather than treated as a universal rule.
The practical lesson is straightforward: when menu prices match, the best option may depend on an eligible promotion and the final checkout cost. This dataset did not measure delivery fees, service fees, taxes, tips, membership benefits, or surge pricing, so it cannot identify the cheapest completed order.
How to compare food delivery prices accurately
Start with the same restaurant location. Different branches can have different menus and prices even within one chain.
Compare the same item and options. Size, modifiers, sides, and bundles can turn similar names into different products.
Check promotion eligibility. Confirm that your intended item qualifies and that you meet any minimum-order requirement.
Build the same basket on each app. A one-item comparison can miss basket-level discounts or thresholds.
Compare the final total. Review all fees, taxes, tips, and membership benefits before paying; menu price alone is not the total cost.
For a broader look at how platform promotions differ, read DealMeal’s Uber Eats vs. DoorDash vs. Grubhub deal comparison and the 12-month DealMeal Labs promotion analysis.
Compare available food deals near you
DealMeal helps shoppers find and compare observed promotions across supported platforms and nearby restaurants. Availability varies by market and account, so use the deal as a starting point and verify the final basket before ordering.
Browse available DealMeal regions
Methodology and limitations
DealMeal Labs scanned every row in two menu files from the August 5, 2026 daily snapshot, with no sampling. The files contained 330,988 menu rows from 3,617 store-platform pairs across 12 states. Of those rows, 323,643 had a positive price. Prices were stored in cents, and percentiles used the nearest-rank method.
The snapshot is a rolling cache rather than a single instant. Menu records were observed during the 72 hours ending August 5; the median record age was 14.3 hours, the 90th percentile was 54.6 hours, and the maximum was 68.0 hours. Only 2,865 of 5,023 tracked stores had a menu in the daily aggregate, and 2,089 had a menu fresher than 24 hours.
For like-for-like analysis, DealMeal normalized store names, grouped identical normalized names, and clustered locations within one kilometer. It retained clusters spanning at least two platforms, then matched normalized item names within each cluster. This created 15,373 item comparisons across 209 matched restaurants, or 5.8% of the 3,617 store-platform pairs. Stores with the same name less than one kilometer apart could be falsely merged, although manual checks found no obvious errors and five matching specifications returned the same zero-dollar median result.
The geography is not a national probability sample. Although the data spans 12 states, Northern Virginia contributed 43,252 of the 200,262 city-attributed priced items, while only 105 city-attributed priced items were in Washington, DC. Metadata also depended on platform: Uber Eats supplied no city values, DoorDash supplied no cuisine values, and ZIP codes were Grubhub-only. For that reason, this article makes no city-level, ZIP-level, or three-platform cuisine ranking.
Finally, the data covers menu-item prices—not delivery fees or final order totals. It cannot establish which app is always cheapest, whether prices are rising or falling, or how the same dish changed over time.
Frequently asked questions
Are menu prices higher on Uber Eats, DoorDash, or Grubhub?
DealMeal’s like-for-like sample found a $0.00 median difference for every platform pair. Raw averages differed, but they compared different restaurant and product catalogs rather than the same dishes.
Is the same restaurant menu price identical on every delivery app?
Not always. Exact-price matches ranged from 62.7% to 79.2% across the three platform pairs. Where DoorDash–Grubhub or DoorDash–Uber Eats prices differed, the median absolute gap was about $1.00.
What is the median food delivery menu price?
The median among 323,643 priced items in this DealMeal snapshot was $10.25. This is a result from the observed 12-state panel, not a nationwide average for every restaurant.
Why did Grubhub have a higher raw average price?
Its catalog had a much larger alcohol- and tobacco-related component. Those categories represented 26.2% of Grubhub’s priced rows, and excluding them lowered its mean from $16.74 to $14.77.
Does a matching menu price mean the final order total will match?
No. Delivery fees, service fees, taxes, tips, memberships, and promotions can change the checkout total. Those costs were not included in this menu dataset.
Does this analysis prove that delivery menu prices are stable over time?
No. The item-level data is a single rolling snapshot. Twelve daily aggregates showed a narrow 74-cent range in the overall median, but they do not track individual dishes over time.
Conclusion
The clearest result is a non-winner: after matching the same menu items at the same restaurants, the median price difference was zero across Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub. Raw platform averages can look different because each app lists a different mix of stores and products.
For consumers, menu price is therefore only one part of the decision. Compare the same basket, confirm that promotions apply, and judge the final checkout total. DealMeal can help surface available promotions, but the app that delivers the best value will depend on the restaurant, basket, account, and current offer.
