Grubhub Amazon Prime perk: $120 for diners, $0 extra for drivers

The Grubhub and Amazon Prime deal changes what the customer pays. It leaves the driver’s pay alone. Delivery partners are paid the same for an order placed on Amazon as for one placed on Grubhub.com or the app, according to Amazon’s May 2024 announcement. For drivers, the Prime effect on pay per order is $0. US Prime members get Grubhub+ free, a membership that normally costs $9.99 a month.

The numbers (Grubhub driver, any order, Prime-linked or not)

Assumptions: gross is the median pay the FTC reported in December 2024, covering the period before its complaint, so it is not 2026 data. “Same pay for Amazon orders” is from Amazon’s May 2024 press release. No reliable source publishes per-hour costs or after-tax pay for Grubhub drivers, so those rows are left for you to fill in. Fees are shown to the cent, and company savings claims exactly as stated.

What the Prime deal does to the driver pay formula

Grubhub’s driver page describes pay in three parts:

1. Base pay, set by mileage, the type of delivery and the time spent delivering.
2. Tips from completed deliveries. Grubhub says delivery partners “always keep 100% of tips.”
3. Bonuses from completing “missions.”

None of those inputs depends on where the order was placed, and Amazon says couriers get the same pay for Amazon-placed orders. The perk sits entirely on the customer side of the receipt.

The driver page gives no base pay rates, per-delivery amounts or income estimates. Blogs quote figures that contradict each other, so none appear here.

Order volume or tips could change indirectly. A Prime member paying $0 in delivery fees might order more often or tip more. Neither Grubhub nor Amazon publishes data on whether Prime-linked orders bring drivers more orders, bigger tips or larger baskets, and no source says whether a driver can even tell an order came through Amazon. Treat “Prime orders tip better” as unproven.

Payouts work the same way either way. Earnings appear 15 minutes after a completed delivery, and drivers can take them by direct deposit, by Instant Cash Out in the Driver app, or by same-day payment.

Advertised pay vs median pay

The most reliable numbers on what Grubhub drivers actually made come from the FTC and the Illinois Attorney General. In December 2024 they said Grubhub’s recruiting ads used “highly inflated hourly pay rates.”

The gap, divided out:

• New York: $40 advertised ÷ $10 median = 4 times the typical pay
• Chicago: $26 advertised ÷ $11 median = about 2.4 times the typical pay

Under the settlement, any earnings claim Grubhub makes to drivers has to be “not misleading” and backed by written evidence.

Worked example: a 4-hour shift, Prime orders or not

Assumptions (swap in your own):

1. We assume gross pay of $10.00 an hour, the FTC’s New York median.
2. We assume a 4-hour shift.
3. We assume a share of orders, P, came through Amazon from Prime members. P can be anything from 0% to 100%.

Gross pay from the shift:

• Pay from non-Prime orders: $10.00 × 4 × (1 − P)
• Pay from Prime orders: $10.00 × 4 × P
• Total: $10.00 × 4 = $40.00, whatever P is

Costs stay the same too:

• Net for the shift = $40.00 − (miles driven × your cost per mile) − your phone and insurance cost for those hours
• Net per hour = that result ÷ every hour you were out, including time waiting at restaurants and between pings

Divide by the full time logged in, not just the time with food in the car. Unpaid waiting is still part of the shift.

Tax comes last. Grubhub’s driver page says nothing about withholding, so set money aside for your own tax bill and check how your earnings are reported to you. This is arithmetic, not tax advice. For your own return, use IRS guidance or a tax professional.

What Prime members actually get

The Grubhub Prime offer page lists:

• $0 delivery fees and lower service fees on eligible delivery orders, generally on orders of $12 or more.
• 5% back as Grubhub+ Credit on eligible pickup orders.
• A GH+ flag (or filter) for eligible restaurants.

The fine print in the Grubhub+ terms (last modified October 28, 2025):

• The order minimum is whatever the restaurant’s menu page says, measured before tax, tip and fees. $12 is the usual figure, but check the menu.
• Credit expires 90 days after the most recent credit was issued.
• Credit can’t be transferred or cashed out.
• Credit can’t be used on orders with alcohol, and can’t be earned or used on on-campus dining orders.
• The offer is for “active and authenticated Amazon Prime members in the U.S. only.”
• “Additional fees may apply.” Taxes, tips and other charges are still owed.

Pickup credit on an assumed $20 pickup subtotal:

• $20.00 × 5% = $1.00 in Grubhub+ Credit
• It expires 90 days after your latest credit if unused

The diner math: Prime vs paying for Grubhub+

Amazon and Grubhub value the perk at $120 a year. The table puts that next to Prime’s prices, which come from Amazon’s May 2024 release. Secondary trackers still showed $139 a year as of October 2026, and Amazon hasn’t announced a US Prime increase.

Amazon’s help page says Prime Student and Prime Access members also get Grubhub+ free while their membership is active.

If Grubhub+ were the only Prime benefit you used:

• Prime annual minus paid Grubhub+: $139.00 − $119.88 = $19.12 more a year for Prime
• Prime monthly minus paid Grubhub+: $14.99 − $9.99 = $5.00 more a month for Prime
• Paid Grubhub+ minus Prime Student: $119.88 − $69.00 = $50.88 less a year with Prime Student
• Paid Grubhub+ minus Prime Access: $119.88 − $83.88 = $36.00 less a year with Prime Access

On the standard plans, the numbers say don’t buy Prime just for Grubhub. If you already pay for Prime, or qualify for Student or Access pricing, the perk costs nothing extra.

The savings claims, divided out

These are company claims, and they don’t agree:

• Grubhub: about $336 a year for members who placed at least one Grubhub+ order a month for 12 months.
• Amazon (May 2024): about $300 a year for people ordering at least once a month.
• An older Amazon page (around mid-2023): about $300 a year for three or more orders a month.

Per order:

• $336 ÷ 12 orders = $28.00 per order (Grubhub, one order a month)
• $300 ÷ 12 orders = $25.00 per order (Amazon 2024, one order a month)
• $300 ÷ 36 orders = $8.33 per order (older Amazon page, three a month)

The highest per-order figure is more than three times the lowest. What you actually save depends on your order sizes and how often you order.

Promo codes add to this now and then, but none we found is live after October 15, 2026. Recent examples, all expired: DEALS20 ($20 off a $30+ Grubhub+ order, through October 5, 2026, once per customer, no alcohol) and FIRSTORDER ($10 off a first Grubhub+ order of $20+, through October 15, 2026).

Fees still apply: the FTC case

A $0 delivery fee leaves the rest of the bill in place. On December 17, 2024, the FTC and Illinois said Grubhub often advertised Grubhub+ as “free” or “$0” delivery while still charging subscribers for delivery. They also said its “service fees” and “small order fees” were delivery fees under another name, and that cancelling was hard.

The settlement:

• Grubhub pays $25 million, out of a $140 million judgment that is mostly suspended.
• It must show full delivery costs.
• It must offer simple Grubhub+ cancellation and remind subscribers once a year.

In August 2026 the FTC sent 640,038 payments, totaling more than $23.8 million, to Grubhub drivers and diners, according to its Grubhub refunds page. Checks had to be cashed within 90 days, and PayPal payments accepted within 30 days. The refund administrator’s number is 1-888-446-4992.

On April 14, 2026, the FTC asked for public comment on a possible nationwide rule on delivery-app fees (docket FTC-2026-0463). It is still a proposal.

Activation, and when the perk stops

1. Activate once through Amazon’s Grubhub+ Prime offer page (amazon.com/grubhub) by linking your Amazon and Grubhub accounts. Linking is required.
2. If you already pay for Grubhub+, signing up through Prime cancels the paid plan. The free membership starts the first calendar day after your current billing cycle ends.
3. If the two accounts use different emails, unlink them, sign in to your original Grubhub account, and add the Amazon connection from there.
4. To cancel, unlink Grubhub under “Manage apps & services with data access” in your Amazon account. If it isn’t listed, stop sharing with “Grubhub Holdings Inc.” under Amazon Pay Consents, or contact Grubhub support. Cancelling takes effect immediately.

If you pause or cancel Prime, Grubhub+ ends at once. If you rejoin Prime, you have to activate the offer again. The Prime version never turns into a paid plan on its own.

If you then pay for Grubhub+ directly, it auto-renews at the “then-current rate plus any applicable tax.” Cancel at least 24 hours before the next payment. Refunds generally aren’t given, and unauthorized charges must be disputed within 60 days.

Grubhub’s offer page says “no expiration” for US Prime members, but it also says Grubhub can cancel, suspend or change the offer at any time.

Why so many pages are out of date

• July 2022: Amazon took an option on a 2% stake in Grubhub, which could rise to 15%, and gave Prime members a one-year Grubhub+ membership. Before May 2024, that trial turned into a paid membership.
• May 29, 2024: the perk became ongoing, and Grubhub ordering was added to Amazon.com and the Amazon Shopping app, at the same prices as on Grubhub.
• January 2025: Wonder completed its $650 million purchase of Grubhub from Just Eat Takeaway. Grubhub’s corporate press site now redirects to Wonder’s newsroom.

A page that still describes “one free year” is describing the 2022 deal. As of November 2026, nothing we found shows the ongoing offer ending.

Security: activate only through Amazon

Around December 24, 2025, fake “Holiday Crypto Promotion” emails went out from Grubhub’s real b.grubhub.com subdomain, promising 10x returns on bitcoin. Grubhub called them inauthentic. On January 15, 2026, Grubhub confirmed a data breach and said financial information and order history were not affected. An email can come from a real Grubhub address and still be fake, so start activation from your Amazon account, not from an email link.

What changes the answer

For drivers:

• City. The FTC medians were about $10 in New York and $11 in Chicago. Your market may differ.
• Miles per hour. Base pay includes mileage, but your fuel and wear grow with every mile, paid or not.
• Waiting time. Unpaid minutes at restaurants and between orders pull net per hour down.
• Tips and missions. These vary by order and by week. There’s no published tip advantage for Prime-linked orders.

For diners:

• Order frequency. At one order a month, the company claims work out to $25 to $28 per order. At three a month, Amazon’s older figure works out to $8.33.
• Order size. Orders under the menu-page minimum don’t get the delivery fee waiver.
• Pickup vs delivery. Pickup earns 5% credit, but the credit expires.
• Whether you’d keep Prime anyway. If you would, the perk is free. If not, $9.99 a month for Grubhub+ alone costs less than Prime.

Compared with: the same order, three ways to place it

To judge driving itself, compare the FTC medians, minus your own costs, with the minimum wage. The federal minimum is $7.25 an hour, and many states set a higher one, so check yours. Before costs, the $10 to $11 medians are $2.75 to $3.75 above the federal floor. Fuel and wear can easily take that gap. For other apps, see Uber vs DoorDash driver pay after costs, what DoorDash pays per delivery before tips and the Uber Eats median net per hour. The Prime deal doesn’t change any of these comparisons.

This page is analysis, not financial or tax advice.

Sources

• Amazon press release, May 29, 2024
• Grubhub Amazon Prime offer page
• Grubhub+ terms, last modified October 28, 2025
• Amazon help page on Grubhub+
• FTC press release, December 17, 2024
• FTC Grubhub refunds
• Grubhub for Drivers

Verdict in one number

$0.00: the change in a driver’s pay when a Grubhub order comes from a Prime member through Amazon. The diner saves the Grubhub+ fee, and the driver’s numbers stay the same.