Whether the service fee goes to the driver depends on which app you opened. On DoorDash, none of it does — the company keeps the full service fee to run the platform. On Uber Eats, most of it goes to the courier, and Uber keeps only $0.10 per order. Tips are the one line item that reliably reaches your driver on every major app.
DoorDash Keeps Its Service Fee; Uber Eats Passes Most of Its Along
DoorDash states plainly that “This fee goes to DoorDash to help us operate the DoorDash platform.”1DoorDash. What Fees Do I Pay? The Dasher receives nothing from that charge. Grubhub and many smaller apps follow the same model, which is what most customers assume applies everywhere.
Uber Eats works differently. Its service fee scales with order size, but only $0.10 stays with Uber for “marketplace services.” The rest goes to the courier.2Uber Eats. What Fees May Apply to My Order? On a larger order with a higher service fee, that can add up to meaningful driver pay.
The practical takeaway before you tip: on DoorDash, your driver sees nothing from the service fee, so the tip is their main variable income. On Uber Eats, the service fee is already contributing to what the courier earns, though most drivers still lean heavily on tips.
What the Platform’s Share Actually Covers
When a platform keeps the service fee, that revenue funds the machinery behind the app. Server costs, software development, customer support staff, background checks on new drivers, and marketing all draw from it. Platforms also use service-fee revenue to cover insurance associated with active deliveries, which carries steep premiums given the volume of road time involved.
Restaurants pay the platform separately. Major delivery apps charge merchants commission rates that typically range from 15% to 30% of the order total, depending on the tier the restaurant selects. Between the merchant commission and the consumer-facing service fee, platforms collect from both sides of the transaction. The driver’s pay is calculated on a different track entirely.
How Drivers Actually Get Paid
Driver pay on most platforms is built from a formula that combines time and distance: a per-minute rate for the duration of an active delivery plus a per-mile rate for the distance traveled. These rates vary by market and platform. Many apps also set a minimum per-delivery floor so that a short trip to the restaurant next door still pays something worth accepting.
Active time typically starts the moment a driver accepts an offer and ends at drop-off, including waiting at the merchant.3DoorDash. Earn by Time Mode Fifteen minutes in a restaurant lobby while the kitchen runs behind still counts toward pay on platforms that use time-based earnings. Surge pricing and promotional bonuses can lift earnings during busy stretches like Friday dinner or bad weather, funded from the platform’s general revenue rather than from a specific fee line.
A growing number of cities and states have introduced minimum pay standards for gig drivers. Those guarantees apply to “engaged time” only, meaning the period between accepting and completing a delivery, not the time spent waiting for an offer. Rates vary by jurisdiction, but they set a floor the platform algorithm cannot pay below.
Tips Are the Line Item That Reliably Reaches the Driver
Every major platform passes 100% of customer tips to the driver. For workers classified as employees, federal regulations prohibit employers from keeping any portion of employee tips for any purpose, including offsetting business costs.4eCFR. 29 CFR Part 531 Subpart D – Tipped Employees Gig drivers are typically classified as independent contractors, so that FLSA protection doesn’t directly apply, but platforms pass tips through voluntarily, partly because any other approach would trigger customer backlash and regulatory scrutiny.
The distinction between a tip and a service fee also shows up at tax time. The federal “no tax on tips” provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act lets qualifying workers deduct up to $25,000 in tips per year from 2025 through 2028. Mandatory service fees don’t qualify for that deduction, even when a business distributes them to workers. The IRS position is consistent: a tip must be voluntary to count as a tip.
What the App Has to Tell You About Its Fees
Several cities have passed ordinances requiring delivery platforms to itemize every charge on the checkout screen and state clearly whether a fee functions as a tip. These local laws generally require the service fee to appear separately from the delivery fee and taxes, along with plain-language confirmation that the service fee is not a gratuity. Penalties for misleading customers about fee distribution can be significant under local consumer protection codes.
At the federal level, transparency rules haven’t caught up to delivery apps. The FTC’s Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, which took effect in May 2025, requires upfront total-price disclosure, but it currently applies only to live-event tickets and short-term lodging.5Federal Trade Commission. The Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees: Frequently Asked Questions Delivery platforms aren’t covered. Proposed federal legislation like the PRICE Act would extend itemization requirements to food delivery apps, but as of 2026 the obligation falls to local governments. If your city hasn’t enacted a fee transparency ordinance, the platform’s only real constraint is general consumer protection law prohibiting deceptive practices.
If you want the driver to be paid more, add it to the tip line. That is the one number on the checkout screen that is guaranteed to reach them regardless of which app you’re ordering from.