Per DoorDash's published partner pricing as of 2026, restaurants pay 15–30% commission on delivery orders. On $10,000/month of delivery volume, that's $1,500–$3,000 leaving your account every month. No wonder "DoorDash alternatives" is one of the most-searched phrases in the restaurant industry.
Here's an honest look at your actual options, including when keeping DoorDash makes sense.
What are the real alternatives to DoorDash?
There are three fundamentally different paths, and most restaurants end up combining them:
| Approach | Commission | Who does delivery | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct ordering on your own website | 0% | You (or none, pickup) | Repeat customers, pickup-heavy restaurants |
| Other marketplaces (Uber Eats, Grubhub) | 15–30% typical | The marketplace | Diversifying discovery, not saving money |
| Hybrid (marketplace + direct) | Blended | Both | Most restaurants |
Notice what's not a real alternative: switching from DoorDash to Uber Eats or Grubhub. Their published rates are in the same range (see our breakdowns of Uber Eats fees and Grubhub fees). Swapping marketplaces swaps logos, not economics.
Why is direct ordering the strongest alternative?
Because it attacks the actual problem: paying acquisition-level commissions on customers you've already acquired.
When someone orders from your own website:
- You keep the full order value minus normal card processing, with no 15–30% commission.
- You own the customer relationship. You get their email/phone and can bring them back with marketing, instead of the marketplace remarketing your customer to your competitors.
- You control the experience: your menu, your photos, your upsells, your brand.
The historical objection was that building this yourself was expensive and slow. That's no longer true. Menuline gives you an AI-built restaurant website with commission-free online ordering, a branded iOS/Android app, and AI marketing and loyalty tools for $29–$99/month flat, with $1/month for the first 3 months and no long-term contracts. See pricing.
How do you actually get orders without DoorDash?
Having a direct channel is step one. Getting orders into it is the real work. The playbook:
1. Win the branded search
When someone Googles your restaurant's name, they see your Google Business Profile. Make sure the ordering link on that profile points to your website, not a marketplace. This single change redirects your highest-intent traffic, people already looking for you, into your 0% channel. More in our Google Business Profile guide.
2. Convert marketplace customers into direct customers
Every DoorDash bag that leaves your kitchen can carry a QR-code insert: "Order direct next time, skip the fees, get a reward." You paid the commission once to meet this customer; don't pay it forever.
3. Follow up automatically
Repeat business is where the margin is. Email follow-ups, loyalty rewards, and win-back campaigns turn one-time customers into regulars. Menuline automates this with AI email marketing on its Growth plan.
4. Make your own site genuinely good
If your website is slow, hard to order from, or invisible on Google, customers will default to the app. A fast, SEO-optimized site with frictionless ordering removes the reason to open DoorDash at all.
When does keeping DoorDash still make sense?
Honesty time: DoorDash does two things your own website can't do on day one.
- Discovery. Hungry, undecided people browse DoorDash. If you're new, unknown, or in a competitive area, that shelf space brings customers you'd never reach otherwise.
- Delivery logistics. If you don't have drivers, DoorDash's network is genuinely hard to replicate for delivery orders.
That's why the winning strategy for most restaurants isn't "quit DoorDash." It's "stop giving DoorDash your regulars." Keep the marketplace as a paid discovery channel, treat the commission as marketing spend for new customers, and move everyone else direct. We walk through the full decision in Are Delivery Apps Worth It?
What does the hybrid math look like?
Say you do $12,000/month in online orders, currently all through DoorDash Plus (25% per its published pricing):
| Scenario | Marketplace fees | Direct platform cost | Total cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100% DoorDash | $3,000 | $0 | $3,000/mo |
| 50% direct / 50% DoorDash | $1,500 | $99 (Menuline Growth) | $1,599/mo |
| 80% direct / 20% DoorDash | $600 | $99 | $699/mo |
Shifting even half your volume direct saves roughly $1,400/month ($16,800/year) without losing the discovery benefits of staying listed.
Where should you start?
Start by seeing how your restaurant looks to customers searching for you right now. The free Menuline AI grader audits your website, Google presence, and online ordering setup in about a minute and shows you exactly where orders are leaking to third-party apps.