You’re sitting in your car, staring at two different apps, wondering if you're actually making money or just trading your car's transmission for a burrito. It’s the classic gig worker’s dilemma. We’ve all seen the screenshots of people making $40 an hour, but we’ve also seen the "trash" orders—those $2.50 requests to drive 12 miles through rush-hour traffic.
Determining who pay more uber eats or doordash isn't as simple as looking at a single number. If you ask a driver in a dense urban core like Seattle, they’ll swear by one. Ask someone in the sprawl of North Carolina, and they’ll tell you the exact opposite.
Honestly, the "winner" changes depending on the time of day, your specific city, and even how well you know the shortcut behind the local Chick-fil-A.
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The Raw Data: Comparing the Hourly Averages
Let's get the big numbers out of the way first. According to 2025 and early 2026 data from platforms like Gridwise and ZipRecruiter, the national averages look surprisingly different.
Recent industry datasets suggest that Uber Eats drivers often see higher hourly gross earnings, sometimes averaging around $24.68 per hour when you include tips and bonuses. DoorDash tends to hover slightly lower, often cited between $18.93 and $21.00 per hour.
Wait. Don't go deleting DoorDash just yet.
There is a massive "but" here. While Uber Eats might pay more per task (averaging roughly $10.00 compared to DoorDash’s $8.49), DoorDash absolutely dominates in volume. In the United States, DoorDash holds about 56% of the market share. Uber Eats sits around 23%.
What does that actually mean for your wallet? It means if you’re on DoorDash, the "ping" of a new order happens way more often. You might make less per trip, but you aren’t sitting in a parking lot for forty minutes waiting for the app to wake up. For many full-time drivers, that volume leads to higher weekly and monthly totals, even if the hourly rate looks smaller on paper.
How the Pay Breakdown Actually Works
Both companies use a formula that's basically some variation of: Base Pay + Promotions + Tips = Total. 1. Base Pay: This is the guaranteed minimum. For DoorDash, it usually ranges from $2 to $10 depending on distance and "desirability" (how many other drivers already said no to it). Uber Eats is similar, usually $2 to $4, but they calculate it more heavily on estimated time and distance.
2. Promotions: This is where the money is made. DoorDash has "Peak Pay," which adds a flat dollar amount to every order during busy times. Uber Eats uses "Surge" and "Boost." Surge is great because it’s a multiplier—if a city is popping, your base pay could double.
3. Tips: You keep 100% on both. However, Uber Eats allows customers to change their tip for up to an hour after delivery. This leads to the dreaded "tip baiting," where a customer offers a $15 tip to get their food fast and then changes it to $0 once the bag is on their porch. DoorDash doesn’t really have this problem; once the tip is in, it’s yours.
Market Dominance vs. Surge Potential
If you’re driving in a suburban area where every house has a three-car garage, DoorDash is likely your bread and butter. Their reach into the suburbs is legendary. They’ve spent years partnering with local spots that Uber Eats hasn't touched.
On the flip side, Uber Eats tends to shine in dense, high-traffic urban centers. Why? Because that’s where "Surge" pricing becomes a monster. If there’s a massive rainstorm in downtown Chicago or a festival in Austin, Uber’s surge pricing can skyrocket. I’ve seen drivers pull $35 an hour during these windows because Uber’s algorithm is more aggressive about raising prices when demand peaks.
Then there's the "deadhead" mile factor. DoorDash uses "zones." If you deliver an order that takes you ten miles out of your zone, you often have to drive all the way back before you get another order. Uber Eats? They don't care about zones. You can pick up an order wherever the last one dropped you off.
The Real Cost: What You Actually Keep
We have to talk about the IRS. For 2025 and 2026, the standard mileage rate is 70 cents per mile. If you make $20 in an hour but drove 20 miles, you didn't really make $20.
A lot of drivers forget to factor in:
- Gas: Obviously.
- Maintenance: Tires, oil changes, and that weird clicking noise your car started making last week.
- Self-Employment Tax: You’re the boss, which means you pay the boss’s taxes.
After all that, a $20 "gross" hour usually feels more like $13 or $14 in actual take-home pay. This is why who pay more uber eats or doordash is often decided by which app keeps your miles lower. DoorDash’s high density often means shorter trips, which can sometimes be more profitable than a high-paying Uber Eats trip that sends you halfway across the county.
The Strategy: "Multi-Apping" is the Only Way to Win
If you want to actually make a living doing this, you shouldn't be choosing one. You should be using both.
The pros run both apps at the same time. You keep them both open, wait for a high-value order to hit one, accept it, and immediately pause the other. This eliminates the "waiting time" that kills your hourly average.
It’s also worth noting some specific regional perks. For example, in California, laws like Prop 22 (and the newer AB 578 in 2026) ensure a minimum earnings guarantee and prevent apps from using tips to "offset" the base pay. In these states, the gap between the two apps closes significantly because they're both forced to hit a floor.
Actionable Insights for Maximizing Pay
If you’re trying to decide which to prioritize this week, look at these specific factors:
- Check the Promos First: If DoorDash is offering +$3.00 Peak Pay and Uber Eats has nothing, DoorDash is the winner for that shift. No question.
- Track Your Miles: Use an app like MileIQ or even just a notebook. If one app is consistently sending you on 15-mile treks for $10, it's losing you money even if the "pay" looks okay.
- Dinner vs. Lunch: Uber Eats often has a more "upscale" restaurant selection in many cities. Higher-priced dinners usually lead to higher percentage-based tips. Lunch is often fast food—fast, but the tips are small.
- The "Hidden" Uber Perk: If you also drive for Uber (passengers), you can toggle back and forth. DoorDash is strictly food and groceries.
The Final Verdict
So, who pay more uber eats or doordash?
If we’re looking strictly at pay per delivery, Uber Eats usually wins because of higher tips and surge multipliers.
If we’re looking at total earnings over a 40-hour week, DoorDash often wins for most people because of the sheer volume of orders available.
The best move is to sign up for both, spend a week on each, and track your "net" profit (earnings minus gas and miles). Your city's layout and the local appetite for Thai food will tell you more than any national average ever could.
The gig economy in 2026 is tougher than it was three years ago. There are more drivers on the road and customers are feeling the pinch of delivery fees. The only way to stay ahead is to be pickier with the orders you accept. Don't be afraid to let a low-paying order expire. Your time—and your car—is worth more than three dollars and a "thank you" in the app notes.