Unlike most other delivery services that compete with DoorDash, Grubhub is almost identical. So choosing between the two comes down to your specific preferences. Other factors like where you live, what your favorite restaurants are, and what features you prefer also come into play.
Overall Findings
If you’re trying to decide between Grubhub or DoorDash, the choice won’t be an easy one. In most respects, the two services match up neck and neck in every category. Menu prices are the same, fees are nearly identical, and plenty of delivery drivers serve both services. There are a few differentiating factors, however. It isn’t easy to see everything Grubhub has to offer in your area, until you perform one search and then remove all filters. DoorDash on the other hand, provides this straight on the main page. DoorDash offers fewer category selections, but far more filtering options so you can more easily find lower priced selections. This means it’s much easier to save money using DoorDash. But if options are what you’re looking for, especially in rural areas, Grubhub is the choice for you.
Availability: Grubhub Offers Wider Choice in Rural Areas
In metro areas across the country, most delivery services cover almost all of the popular restaurants in your neighborhood. However, for the vast majority of the United States, there is usually a much smaller selection of restaurants and fast food options to choose from. This is why it’s so important for a food delivery service to include as many of those few options as possible. DoorDash has become so popular that nearly every major restaurant, even in rural areas, are available there. However, since GrubHub has been around longer than DoorDash (since 2004 vs 2013), so it has established a strong foothold even in very rural communities. Because of this you’ll often find a slightly larger selection there.
Variety: Grubhub Offers More Food Categories
Over the years, Grubhub has added a larger variety of food categories than DoorDash offers. These include options all ethnic food options, as well as choices like Healthy, Donuts and Bagels, Wraps, and Southern, just to name a few. DoorDash, by contrast, offers about half as many food categories. With that said, DoorDash also lets you sort and filter restaurant listings by delivery time, delivery cost, convenience, meat type, and much more. Grubhub highlights the delivery time on listings and as a primary filter, which seems to indicate they view this as what they believe their customers care most about. DoorDash, on the other hand, highlights how much each restaurant’s delivery cost is.
Costs: Fees and Prices are Nearly Identical
When you browse the options listed in these two delivery services, you won’t find a lot of price differences. This includes overall menu prices, delivery fees, or taxes and extra fees. What you will find is that it’s much easier to bargain-hunt on DoorDash. On Grubhub, you can sort listings based on delivery prices, but not on average menu cost. Even when you do sort, the delivery fees still aren’t listed as part of the restaurant listings. Doordash, on the other hand, lets you sort by both delivery fees and average menu prices, and it features the delivery fee prominently on restaurant listings. While you aren’t likely to pay more buying from a specific restaurant on either service, you are more likely to be able to identify a better deal when you’re using DoorDash to search for takeout ideas.
User Friendliness: DoorDash Is Far Easier to Use
Both delivery services offer a very user-friendly interface which makes it easy to find exactly the type of food you’re craving. However, Grubhub takes a bit more work to see the entire population of restaurants available to you. DoorDash, on the other hand, makes faster work of seeing all offerings before applying filters. After ordering on GrubHub, the minimum delivery tip amount is 18%, while DoorDash is roughly 15% and much faster to adjust with just a click. Both give the option to enter a custom tip amount. The order status for both delivery services are nearly identical. The map has the same details, and the delivery steps are broken down into the same four basic steps. If you care more about selection than you do about how easy it is to find affordable prices, then GrubHub’s interface will do. But if price and filtering your options matters more, DoorDash wins by a landslide here.
Final Verdict: Options Vs Usability
When it comes down to it, Grubhub is going to net you more interesting restaurant choices that you may not see on DoorDash. This is especially true outside of metro areas where options are more limited and there are fewer big restaurant chains. Even some of the smallest Chinese eateries can be found on Grubhub. On the other hand, DoorDash has developed a site that seems to focus more on prices. You can more easily see all options in your area, and filter much more easily, with the DoorDash interface. In all other areas, DoorDash and Grubhub match up head-to-head, so the option you choose may simply boil down to those two factors.
