$6 an hour after car costs and tax: is Grubhub worth it?

As a driver, Grubhub is worth about $6 an hour by our estimate. That is the median $16.17 gross minus car costs and self-employment tax, before income tax. As a customer, Grubhub+ is clearly worth it only when Amazon Prime is paying for it.

The numbers

Assumptions: gross is Gridwise’s 2025 median across 7,371 Grubhub drivers, including tips and bonuses. Costs use 12 miles driven per hour (our assumption) at the IRS rate of 76 cents a mile for July to December 2026. Tax is the 15.3% self-employment tax only, with no income tax. Every figure is rounded to the nearest cent.

Where the $16.17 comes from

Grubhub’s driver page gives no average pay figure. The best available number comes from Gridwise, an earnings-tracking app that analyzed 2025 data from 7,371 Grubhub drivers. Its medians:

All of these figures are before expenses, and they are Gridwise’s, not Grubhub’s. Medians don’t add or subtract neatly, so treat any sums between rows as rough.

About half of a median driver’s gross comes from customer tips, not from Grubhub. Your pay depends heavily on who orders in your area and how much they tip.

Grubhub says base pay is set by “mileage, delivery type, and time spent delivering,” plus bonuses for completing missions. Drivers keep 100% of tips. Instant Cash Out sends available earnings to your bank, and earnings become available 15 minutes after a delivery is completed. The driver page doesn’t list a cash-out fee, so check the app before assuming it’s free. Scheduled blocks change how your hours are counted, and they are covered in how Grubhub schedule blocks pay.

Orders placed through Amazon pay couriers the same as orders on Grubhub.com or in the app, so where the customer orders doesn’t affect your pay.

To sign up you need to be 18 or older (21 in Las Vegas) and have a smartphone with a data plan. Depending on the market, you can deliver by car, motorcycle, bike or scooter. Car and motorcycle drivers need a valid license and auto insurance. Bike couriers need a license or state ID.

Assumptions

Swap in your own numbers wherever yours differ.

1. Gross pay: $16.17 an hour, the Gridwise median.
2. Miles per hour: 12. Nobody publishes this figure, so it is our assumption. It covers driving to restaurants, to customers and back toward busy areas. The sensitivity table below also runs 8 and 16.
3. Vehicle cost per mile: 76 cents, the IRS standard mileage rate for July 1 to December 31, 2026. From January 1 to June 30, 2026, it was 72.5 cents. The rate is a common way to estimate what a car costs per mile, and it covers more than fuel. So you will spend less than this at the pump, and the rest shows up later as repairs, tires and resale value.
4. Tax: 15.3% self-employment tax on net earnings. Federal and state income tax are left out because they depend on your bracket and your state.
5. Phone and data: not included. Add your share of your phone bill if you want it in the figure.
6. Rounding: to the nearest cent at each step.

The arithmetic, per hour

Gross pay                        $16.17
Miles driven                     12
Vehicle cost: 12 x $0.76         $9.12
Net before tax: $16.17 - $9.12   $7.05
SE tax: $7.05 x 0.153            $1.08
Net after SE tax: $7.05 - $1.08  $5.97

If you take the IRS standard mileage deduction, the $9.12 is also roughly what you would deduct for that hour. That’s why the $7.05 is treated as taxable profit in the SE tax line.

Worked example: a four-hour Friday evening

The headline figure counts only time on the app. For this example we assume a 15-minute drive each way between home and a busy delivery zone. That adds 30 unpaid minutes and 6 miles.

Paid hours on the app             4
Gross: 4 x $16.17                 $64.68
Deliveries at $9.92 median each   about 6.5
Miles on the app: 4 x 12          48
Miles to and from the zone        6
Total miles                       54
Vehicle cost: 54 x $0.76          $41.04
Net before tax: $64.68 - $41.04   $23.64
SE tax: $23.64 x 0.153            $3.62
Net after SE tax                  $20.02
Hours out of the house            4.5
Net per hour: $20.02 / 4.5        $4.45

The unpaid half hour and the extra 6 miles cut the hourly figure from $5.97 to $4.45. Gridwise’s hours may also leave out some of the time you actually spend waiting, such as sitting in a parking lot between offers. If so, your real figure is lower again. Divide what you earned by the whole time you were out, not just the time the app counts.

What changes the answer

Miles per hour. This has the biggest effect, and you control part of it by turning down long trips.

Tips. Say your market or time slot tips at half the median, which is $4.23 an hour less. Then gross drops to $11.94:

Gross: $16.17 - $4.23            $11.94
Vehicle cost (12 miles)          $9.12
Net before tax                   $2.82
SE tax: $2.82 x 0.153            $0.43
Net after SE tax                 $2.39

The mileage rate. At the first-half 2026 rate of 72.5 cents, 12 miles costs $8.70. Net before tax becomes $7.47, and net after SE tax becomes $6.33.

Vehicle type. In markets where Grubhub allows bikes, the per-mile car cost goes away. Gridwise’s figures aren’t broken down by vehicle, so there’s no data on whether bike couriers earn the same gross. Count your own costs, including repairs and gear, and your time and safety, before assuming a bike nets more.

Insurance. Grubhub requires auto insurance for car drivers. Whether your personal policy covers delivery work depends on your insurer and your state, so ask before your first shift. Any extra cost for coverage belongs in the costs row.

Compared with

Minimum wage varies by state and city, so look up the rate where you live. The Grubhub figures above have already had both halves of Social Security and Medicare taken out. An hourly employee pays only their own half. A W-2 hourly job never charges you for your car. Grubhub lets you pick your own hours.

For other delivery apps run through the same method, see DoorDash and Grubhub driver pay after costs and the Uber Eats breakdown.

Tax: the part the app doesn’t withhold

Grubhub delivery partners are independent contractors. The IRS charges self-employment tax of 15.3% on net self-employment earnings: 12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare. Contractors pay both the employee and the employer share. Two thresholds matter:

• $400: if your net self-employment earnings reach this, you must file Schedule SE and pay SE tax.
• $184,500: the 2026 cap on earnings subject to the 12.4% Social Security part. The 2.9% Medicare part has no cap. A side gig netting $6 an hour won’t come close.

Income tax comes on top of SE tax, so the “after tax” row in the opening table is a ceiling, not your final figure. Log every business mile, because at 76 cents a mile the deduction does most of the work of keeping your taxable profit down. This is arithmetic, not tax advice. A tax professional can tell you what applies to your situation.

The other question: is Grubhub+ worth it as a customer?

What the membership includes

Grubhub+ is the customer membership. From the Grubhub Prime page and Grubhub’s terms:

• $0 delivery fees and lower service fees on eligible delivery orders, generally of $12 or more. The official terms say the minimum is whatever the restaurant’s menu page states, measured before tax, tip and fees, so check the menu.
• 5% back as Grubhub+ Credit on eligible pickup orders. The credit expires 90 days after the most recent credit was issued. It can’t be cashed out or transferred, can’t be used on orders with alcohol, and can’t be earned or used on on-campus dining orders.
• “Additional fees may apply.” Taxes, tips and other charges still count.
• Eligible restaurants carry a GH+ flag, and there’s a filter for them.

Price with and without Prime

Without Prime, Grubhub+ costs $9.99 a month, which is $119.88 a year. Grubhub’s current pages show no annual plan price.

With Prime, it is included at no extra cost for US Prime members, with no expiration, “as long as you stay Prime.” This has been ongoing since May 2024, so older articles describing a one-year free trial are out of date. Prime Student and Prime Access members get it too. Amazon’s 2024 prices were:

• Prime: $14.99 a month or $139 a year
• Prime Student: $7.49 a month or $69 a year, after a six-month trial
• Prime Access: $6.99 a month, after a 30-day trial

Secondary sources still showed those prices in 2026, but check the current price when you sign up.

Grubhub+ alone, 12 months: 12 x $9.99   $119.88
Prime, annual                           $139.00
Difference                              $19.12

If you would pay for Grubhub+ anyway, Prime costs $19.12 a year more and includes it. The perk doesn’t add anything to driver pay, as the Prime perk math for drivers shows.

Break-even without Prime

The research found no published typical delivery fees, so the table uses hypothetical ones. Plug in what your usual restaurants charge, and remember the $0 fee only applies above the order minimum.

The table leaves out the lower service fees, because their size isn’t published, so the true break-even is a little lower. The pickup credit barely helps: covering $9.99 at 5% back takes $9.99 / 0.05 = $199.80 of pickup orders a month.

Grubhub says members who placed at least one Grubhub+ order a month for 12 months saved about $336 a year. Amazon said about $300 a year for people who order monthly. Both are company claims, and they don’t match.

“$0 delivery” and the FTC case

In December 2024 the FTC and the Illinois attorney general alleged that Grubhub 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 in disguise, and that cancelling was hard. Grubhub agreed to pay $25 million of a $140 million judgment, most of which was suspended. It must now show full delivery costs, offer simple cancellation and send subscribers a yearly reminder. In April 2026 the FTC also asked for public comment on a possible nationwide rule on delivery-app fees (docket FTC-2026-0463). Judge an order by the checkout total, not the delivery line.

Compared with Uber One and DashPass

Uber One is also $9.99 a month. It includes $0 delivery above the storefront minimum, “up to” 10% off eligible orders (a ceiling, not a typical discount), and 5% credits back on rides. If you also take Ubers, it gets more use. DashPass comes in monthly and annual plans, but DoorDash’s help page points to live pricing instead of listing it. Its benefits apply once an order meets the store minimum, which is $10 in listed areas such as Los Angeles and Dallas. All three give $0 delivery only above a minimum, and all three still charge service fees, taxes and tips.

Risks worth pricing in

• Ownership. Wonder bought Grubhub from Just Eat Takeaway for $650 million and completed the deal in January 2025. Grubhub then laid off 500 employees. Grubhub can change or cancel the Prime offer at any time, with or without notice.
• Scam emails. Around December 24, 2025, fake “Holiday Crypto Promotion” emails promising 10x bitcoin returns came from Grubhub’s real b.grubhub.com subdomain. Grubhub called them inauthentic. A real-looking sender doesn’t prove an email is genuine, so activate the Prime perk only through Amazon’s own pages.
• Data breach. Grubhub confirmed a breach on January 15, 2026. It said financial information and order history were not affected.
• FTC refunds. In August 2026 the FTC sent 640,038 payments totaling more than $23.8 million to Grubhub drivers and diners. 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.
• Prime ending. If you pause or cancel Prime, Grubhub+ ends immediately. If you rejoin, you have to activate the offer again.

Sources

• Gridwise: How much do Grubhub drivers make (2025 data)
• Grubhub for Drivers
• IRS: Standard mileage rates
• IRS: Self-employment tax
• Grubhub: Grubhub+ with Amazon Prime
• FTC: Action against Grubhub, December 17, 2024

Verdict in one number

$5.97 an hour is what a median Grubhub hour by car is worth after vehicle costs and self-employment tax, before income tax, so flexible hours are the main reason left to drive.