Which Food Delivery Platform Has the Highest Minimum Order?
Grubhub has the highest food delivery minimum order for unlocking promotions among Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub. DealMeal analyzed 253,204 distinct offers observed across 39 days from July 25 through September 2, 2026. The comparison covers how often each platform states a minimum spend, how high those thresholds run, and what shoppers receive for meeting them.
One distinction matters before comparing the numbers: this article examines the spending threshold attached to a deal, such as “$10 off $50.” It is different from a restaurant refusing to accept a small order. Store-level minimums have almost disappeared in the available data; promotional minimums are what now determine whether many discounts unlock.
Quick answer
Grubhub has the highest promotional minimum-spend requirements by a wide margin. Its median stated threshold was $35, versus $25 on both DoorDash and Uber Eats. More tellingly, 42.6% of all Grubhub offers required a basket of at least $50, compared with 6.5% of DoorDash offers and 4.4% of Uber Eats offers.
That does not mean Grubhub always sets the highest threshold. Its overall result is driven mainly by dollar-off offers, which made up 68.56% of its observed deal mix. On percentage-off and free-item deals, Uber Eats had the highest median minimum.
Key findings
Grubhub's median stated promotional minimum was $35; DoorDash and Uber Eats were both $25.
42.6% of all Grubhub offers required $50 or more, 6.6 times DoorDash's rate and 9.7 times Uber Eats'.
Grubhub stated a minimum on 98.30% of offers, versus 75.75% on DoorDash and 45.32% on Uber Eats.
More than half of Uber Eats offers, 54.68%, had no stated minimum at all; only 1.70% of Grubhub offers did.
For dollar-off deals, Grubhub's median minimum was $50, compared with $30 on each rival.
Grubhub was not strictest for every deal type: Uber Eats led on percentage-off and free-item minimums.
Food delivery minimum orders by platform
Looking only at the median among deals that state a minimum gives Grubhub a $10 lead. That comparison is accurate, but incomplete, because each platform attaches thresholds to a very different share of its promotions.
Measure | Uber Eats | DoorDash | Grubhub |
|---|---|---|---|
Distinct offers analyzed | 73,066 | 151,937 | 28,201 |
Offers stating a minimum | 45.32% | 75.75% | 98.30% |
Median where stated | $25 | $25 | $35 |
All offers requiring $20+ | 34.9% | 51.8% | 75.6% |
All offers requiring $50+ | 4.4% | 6.5% | 42.6% |
Offers with no minimum | 54.68% | 24.25% | 1.70% |
The whole-population comparison is the fairest view. An offer without a stated threshold counts as not requiring one, rather than disappearing from the denominator. Under that measure, three-quarters of Grubhub offers required at least $20, while roughly half of DoorDash offers and one-third of Uber Eats offers did.
DealMeal data insight
The strongest separation appears at $50. A $50 minimum appeared on 42.6% of all Grubhub offers, compared with 6.5% on DoorDash and 4.4% on Uber Eats. Grubhub's 75th and 90th percentiles were also both $50 among deals stating a threshold, showing how strongly its promotions clustered around that basket size.
Why the median alone understates the difference
A median of $35 versus $25 can sound like a modest gap. However, that statistic covers 98.30% of Grubhub offers but only 45.32% of Uber Eats offers. The two medians therefore describe very different portions of each platform's deal inventory.
For a shopper, the practical question is not merely “How high is the typical stated threshold?” It is “How likely am I to face any threshold, and how often will it reach the size of my intended order?” Uber Eats offers were more likely than not to carry no minimum, while a Grubhub promotion was almost never threshold-free.
The deal mix explains part of Grubhub's lead
Minimums differ sharply by promotion type. Dollar-off offers tend to require larger baskets, while BOGO offers usually have no threshold. The platforms do not run the same mix: dollar-off deals accounted for 68.56% of Grubhub offers, while BOGO represented 33.51% of Uber Eats offers.
Promotion type | Uber Eats | DoorDash | Grubhub |
|---|---|---|---|
Dollar-off | $30 (n=16,204) | $30 (n=51,615) | $50 (n=19,086) |
Percentage-off | $25 (n=7,382) | $15 (n=57,173) | $20 (n=3,643) |
Free item | $25 (n=6,847) | $20 (n=6,305) | $20 (n=1,490) |
BOGO | Not available | Not available | $15 (n=3,502) |
The like-for-like comparison keeps Grubhub on top where it matters most to its inventory: its median dollar-off threshold was $50, compared with $30 for DoorDash and Uber Eats. Yet the ranking reverses on percentage-off offers. Uber Eats had the highest median at $25, Grubhub followed at $20, and DoorDash was lowest at $15.
This is why “Grubhub has the highest overall minimums” is supported, while “Grubhub always asks shoppers to spend more” is not. The platform's dollar-off strategy produces the overall result.
Does Grubhub's higher threshold provide better value?
For the median dollar-off promotion, Uber Eats and DoorDash each offered $5 off a $30 minimum, an effective discount of 16.7% at the threshold. Grubhub's corresponding figures were $10 off $50, or 20.0%.
That makes Grubhub's deal slightly stronger as a percentage of the qualifying basket, but it does not make it better for every shopper. You must spend $20 more to save an additional $5. If your planned order is $30, adding items solely to reach $50 can erase the benefit.
The best choice therefore depends on the order you already intend to place. A large family order may fit a $50 threshold naturally; a solo meal may be better served by a smaller minimum or a BOGO offer. For a broader explanation of this tradeoff, see DealMeal's comparison of percentage-off versus dollar-off deals.
Minimum spend is not the same as a store minimum order
The phrase “minimum order” can describe two different restrictions. A promotional minimum is the basket value required to receive a discount. A store minimum is the smallest order a restaurant will accept for delivery, even without a promotion.
In a separate set of 12,672 listings with a published store-minimum field, the value was $0.00 on all 4,869 DoorDash rows and on 96.8% of 7,803 Grubhub rows. Uber Eats did not publish a comparable structured field. Within the available evidence, the traditional store-level minimum has largely disappeared; the promotional threshold is the condition shoppers are more likely to encounter.
How to avoid spending extra just to unlock a deal
Start with the meal you intend to buy. Build a realistic basket before letting a headline discount change it.
Write down the threshold and the savings. “$10 off $50” means a $40 subtotal after the promotion, before any unmeasured charges.
Compare the amount you must add. A higher-value discount can still cost more if you need unwanted items to qualify.
Check another promotion type. BOGO offers recorded a minimum only 6.6% of the time and may fit smaller orders better.
Compare multiple platforms. Check the available promotion structures before choosing where to place the order.
Judge the final cart, not the badge. This analysis measures stated promotion thresholds, not taxes, tips, delivery charges, membership pricing, or the final checkout total.
DealMeal's guide explains how to discover and compare food deals, while the earlier analysis of the minimum-spend trap shows why a discount can encourage a larger order than planned.
Compare food deals before increasing your basket
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Methodology and limitations
The primary analysis covers 253,204 distinct USD offers observed on 39 days from July 25 through September 2, 2026: 73,066 from Uber Eats, 151,937 from DoorDash, and 28,201 from Grubhub. Offers were deduplicated by observation date, platform, external offer identifier, and offer title. Six non-USD offers were excluded.
The whole-population measures divide offers meeting a threshold by all offers on that platform. An offer without a stated minimum is treated as not requiring one. Medians and percentiles use only offers with a stated threshold; 175,931 offers met that condition. Percentiles use the nearest-rank method.
The analysis is concentrated in Northern Virginia, and DoorDash location coordinates were unavailable in the primary offer data, so no city comparison is presented. The DealMeal app works across the United States, while DealMeal.co currently showcases selected regional examples on the web. The results describe observed promotions in this dataset and should not be interpreted as coverage of every restaurant, market, account-specific deal, or continuously available offer.
A separate three-day dataset of 12,268 offers independently reproduced Grubhub's $35 median and $50 75th and 90th percentiles, as well as DoorDash's $25 median. It is used only as a directional cross-check. Grubhub's daily median ranged from $20 to $50 during the primary period, so one day's promotions may differ substantially from the 39-day result.
The analysis records stated thresholds, not whether checkout actually blocks an order below them. It does not measure taxes, tips, delivery charges, membership benefits, logged-in promotions, final cart totals, or how long an offer remains available. A thirteen-month historical dataset was not used to claim a trend because platform wording made minimums visible at unequal rates; within the 39-day primary window, the first-five-day and last-five-day medians were unchanged on all three platforms.
Frequently asked questions
Which food delivery app has the highest minimum order for deals?
Grubhub had the highest promotional minimums in DealMeal's analysis. Its median stated threshold was $35, and 42.6% of all its offers required at least $50.
Does Grubhub always require a higher minimum than Uber Eats or DoorDash?
No. Grubhub led overall and on dollar-off deals, but Uber Eats had the highest median minimum for percentage-off and free-item offers.
Which platform had the most offers with no minimum spend?
Uber Eats. In the observed data, 54.68% of Uber Eats offers had no stated minimum, compared with 24.25% on DoorDash and 1.70% on Grubhub.
Is a promotional minimum the same as a restaurant minimum order?
No. A promotional minimum unlocks a discount; a restaurant minimum determines whether the store accepts the order. Published store-minimum values were usually zero in the available DoorDash and Grubhub listing data.
Is a $10-off-$50 deal better than $5 off $30?
It provides a higher effective rate at the threshold, 20.0% versus 16.7%, but requires $20 more spending to save an additional $5. It is better only when the larger basket matches what you already need.
Are food delivery minimum-spend requirements rising?
The 39-day data showed no upward trend. The median for the first five days matched the last five days on all three platforms.
Conclusion: Grubhub asks for the largest basket
Grubhub has the highest promotional minimum-order requirements overall, led by a heavy concentration of dollar-off offers with $50 thresholds. DoorDash sits between the two rivals, while Uber Eats gives smaller-order shoppers the best chance of finding an offer with no minimum.
The winner changes with the promotion type and the basket you actually want. Compare how much you must spend, what you save, and the final cart value before adding food merely to qualify. DealMeal can help you compare available food deals without opening every delivery app separately.
