Grubhub fees for restaurants: 5%, 15% or 20%, then delivery on top

Grubhub Marketplace has three plans, and Grubhub calls the percentage a marketing commission. Basic is 5%. Plus is 15%. All-access is 20%. Grubhub says there are no platform or maintenance fees. It says you pay the marketing fee per order only once it has proved it can bring you customers.

Delivery is a separate choice. Grubhub Delivery adds a fee that starts at 10%. Self-delivery, where your own staff deliver orders placed on Grubhub, has no delivery fee. Supplemental delivery uses Grubhub's drivers only when you need them, at a fee that also starts at 10%. Pickup is available with any option.

Higher plans lower the delivery fee the guest sees and add exposure. Grubhub also lists ad credit, promotions and Grubhub+ members, who get $0 delivery fees.

Grubhub's page says the percentages do not include payment processing fees, and that pricing differs in New York City and some other markets. Rules in your area can change the fees, too. Ask for the processing rate in writing.

Take an order with $40 of food on it. Grubhub's percentages are charged on that order. Delivery fees start at 10%, so these are the best case for Grubhub delivery. Payment processing is not included.

• Basic with Grubhub drivers: 5% plus at least 10%, so you keep $34.00 or less.
• Plus with Grubhub drivers: 15% plus at least 10%, so you keep $30.00 or less.
• All-access with Grubhub drivers: 20% plus at least 10%, so you keep $28.00 or less.
• Self-delivery: $38.00 on Basic, $34.00 on Plus, $32.00 on All-access, before processing and before you pay your own driver.
• Direct on pickup.kitchen, paid by card: you list $40 and the guest sees $44, with our 10% in it. You keep about $38.42 after Stripe's standard 2.9% plus 30 cents.

If you have your own drivers, Grubhub's Basic plan at 5% is a cheap way to reach new guests. Five percent is less than our 10%, and we say so plainly. The comparison changes once the guest pays. On card orders the guest pays our 10% at checkout. On Grubhub the guest pays Grubhub's own fees on top of your menu price.

Those guest-side fees are not in the table. The processing fee Grubhub charges is not priced on its plan page, so ask for the number before you decide.

Grubhub brings hungry guests to a listing in its app and on Seamless, with an ordering link you can share. A low entry plan, no setup fee and the option to deliver yourself make it a gentle first step into marketplaces.

Grubhub also sells Grubhub Direct, a branded ordering site. Grubhub says it has zero marketing commission on online orders, zero set-up fees and zero platform fees. If you want to stay inside Grubhub, that is the closer fit than switching.

Pick Grubhub when you want a low-cost listing, and reaching new guests matters more than owning the relationship. Your own drivers or Grubhub's can deliver.

A Grubhub order is placed in Grubhub's app or on Seamless, under the guest's account. Your kitchen sees the order. Check Grubhub for Restaurants for what else it shows about the guest before you count on it as an email list.

The guest's next order starts in a list of restaurants, with yours beside the others. Omar H. in your neighbourhood orders from you every Friday at $40. At the 15% Plus plan with Grubhub's own drivers at 10%, that is $10 a week, or $520 over 52 orders. Direct, Stripe's card fees on the same 52 orders are about $82, and Omar H.'s details stay on your list.

You do not have to quit Grubhub. pickup.kitchen does not pull in Grubhub orders, so those stay on your Grubhub tablet or POS link. Direct orders arrive on your own kitchen screen with a sound. Your own drivers deliver them through the driver app, which is included for orders from pickup.kitchen.

• Put a card with your pickup.kitchen link in every Grubhub bag.
• Add the link to your Instagram bio and your Google Business Profile.
• Take pickup and delivery on your own site, with time slots that close when full.
• Send a short email to guests who ordered direct, from your customer list.

pickup.kitchen is not a courier network. We have no drivers to send. We are also a smaller marketplace: a free listing on pickup.kitchen helps people nearby find you, but it will not match Grubhub's audience. We charge 10% per order and no monthly fee.