DoorDash vs Uber Eats vs Skip: For Restaurants

Fifty-four percent of Canadians ordered through Uber Eats last year. Forty-nine percent used DoorDash. And SkipTheDishes, the only platform born in Canada, still dominates the prairies and mid-sized cities where DoorDash barely registers. If you're an independent restaurant deciding which platform to join, or wondering whether to add a second one, the real question isn't which app is "best." It's which one fits your restaurant, your market, and your margins.

This comparison is built for independent operators. Not drivers, not consumers, not chains with dedicated delivery managers. For you: the owner running a 40-seat bistro who needs to know what each platform actually costs per order, how fast you get paid, and where each one has real customer density in your city.

How delivery commissions work in Canada

All three platforms use a percentage-of-order-subtotal model for their core plans. You list your menu, a customer orders, the platform delivers, and you pay a cut of the food total (before tax and tip). But the percentage varies by plan tier, and each platform layers additional fees differently.

The commission you pay determines what you get: more visibility in the app, inclusion in subscription programs like DashPass or Uber One, and access to marketing tools. Higher commission means more exposure. Lower commission means you keep more per order but fewer customers see you.

One thing to understand: these rates shift. Uber Eats raised its fees in March 2026 for the first time in about ten years. DoorDash adjusts promotional programs seasonally. SkipTheDishes negotiates individually. Treat every number here as a verified snapshot, not a permanent fixture.

Commission rates compared: the real numbers

Here's what each platform charges Canadian restaurants as of March 2026.

	DoorDash	Uber Eats	SkipTheDishes
Entry tier	Basic: 20% delivery, 10% pickup	Lite: 20% delivery, 7% pickup	20-25% (negotiable)
Mid tier	Plus: 25% delivery, 8% pickup	Plus: 25% delivery, 7% pickup	25-30% (negotiable)
Top tier	Premier: 29% delivery, 8% pickup	Premium: 30% delivery, 7% pickup	Flat-fee SkipGo: CA$7-9/order
DashPass/Uber One	Included in Plus and Premier	Plus: +5% on Uber One orders	N/A
Pickup commission	8-10%	7%	10-15%
Self-delivery option	Yes (reduced rates)	Yes (reduced rates)	SkipGo (flat per-order)

A few things stand out.

DoorDash's entry tier jumped. The Basic plan is now 20% for delivery in Canada, up from 15% in earlier years. If you signed up expecting 15%, check your current agreement.

Uber Eats hit restaurants with its first rate hike in a decade. The Lite tier went from 15% to 20% in March 2026. And if you're on the Plus plan, orders from Uber One subscribers now cost you an extra 5% on top of your 25%. That Uber One surcharge is new and easy to miss.

SkipTheDishes negotiates. Unlike DoorDash and Uber Eats, which publish fixed tiers, Skip's rates depend on your location, order volume, cuisine category, and how hard your account rep pushes. This makes SkipTheDishes the most variable platform, and the one where calling to renegotiate actually moves the needle.

What you actually keep on a $40 order

Commission percentages are abstract until you run them against your own numbers. Here's what a CA$40 delivery order looks like across all three platforms, assuming 30% food cost and CA$1.50 in packaging.

	DoorDash (Plus, 25%)	Uber Eats (Plus, 25%)	SkipTheDishes (25%)	SkipGo ($8 flat)
Order subtotal	$40.00	$40.00	$40.00	$40.00
Commission	$10.00	$10.00	$10.00	$8.00
Uber One surcharge	—	$2.00 (if Uber One)	—	—
Food cost (30%)	$12.00	$12.00	$12.00	$12.00
Packaging	$1.50	$1.50	$1.50	$1.50
You keep	$16.50	$14.50-$16.50	$16.50	$18.50

Compare that to the same $40 spent in your dining room: after 30% food cost, you keep $28.00. No commission, no packaging. The delivery order generates 41-59% less contribution than a dine-in cover, depending on platform and tier.

That gap is why delivery math matters. And it's why the SkipGo flat-fee model becomes interesting for restaurants with higher average order values. At $40, SkipGo saves you $2.00 per order over a standard 25% commission. At $60, the savings jump to $7.00 per order.

Market reach: where each platform actually has customers

Commission matters, but a platform with great rates and no customers in your city is worthless.

Uber Eats leads in Canadian monthly active users at 5.3 million (Sensor Tower, Q1 2025). It's strongest in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal, particularly for late-night and urban orders. If you're in a major metro, Uber Eats is likely where the most customers are already browsing.

DoorDash is the fastest-growing platform in Canada and particularly strong in suburban and lunch-focused markets. It excels at reaching customers who want delivery in areas that aren't downtown cores. DoorDash also has the strongest promotional engine: DashPass subscribers order more frequently, and DashPass inclusion (available at Plus tier and above) drives repeat orders.

SkipTheDishes is the Canadian platform: founded in Winnipeg, now operating in 250+ cities with 47,000+ restaurant partners. Skip's real strength is coverage in mid-sized Canadian cities where DoorDash has limited presence and Uber Eats has fewer drivers. In Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg, and many Atlantic Canada markets, Skip isn't the third option. It's often the first.

	Uber Eats	DoorDash	SkipTheDishes
Canadian MAUs	5.3M	~4.5M (est.)	2.9M
Strongest markets	Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal	Suburbs, mid-size metros	Prairies, Atlantic Canada, mid-size cities
Best for	Urban, late-night, dense cores	Suburban, lunch, family orders	Smaller cities, Canadian-specific coverage
Canadian cities	Major metros primarily	Growing across Canada	250+ cities

If you're in Calgary, Edmonton, or Halifax, check SkipTheDishes order volume against the other two before assuming DoorDash or Uber Eats is the right first platform. Regional strength varies more than most operators realize.

Payout timelines: when you actually get your money

Cash flow matters more than commission rates for many independents. A 2% difference in commission is meaningless if one platform holds your money for a week longer.

DoorDash pays weekly by default, with daily payouts available through DoorDash Fast Pay (instant transfer for a fee). Settlement typically takes 2-3 business days after the payout period closes.

Uber Eats also pays weekly by default. Instant cashout is available for a small per-transfer fee. Weekly deposits typically land within 2-5 business days.

SkipTheDishes processes payments weekly. Historically, Skip's payout cycle has been slightly slower than the other two, with some operators reporting 5-7 business days. Check your specific agreement: payout terms vary by market.

For a restaurant doing CA$8,000 per week in delivery orders, the difference between a 3-day and a 7-day payout cycle means CA$2,700-$6,300 floating in platform hands instead of your bank account. If cash flow is tight (and for 51% of Canadian restaurants at a loss or breakeven, it is), payout speed is a real operational factor.

Pickup: the margin play most operators miss

Every platform charges less for pickup than delivery. And pickup orders have no packaging cost beyond a bag. For operators looking to maximize margin from platform customers, pushing pickup is the single highest-leverage move.

	DoorDash	Uber Eats	SkipTheDishes
Pickup commission	8-10%	7%	10-15%
Pickup on $40 order	$3.20-$4.00	$2.80	$4.00-$6.00
You keep (30% food cost)	$24.00-$24.80	$25.20	$22.00-$24.00

Uber Eats has the lowest pickup commission at 7%. On a $40 order, you keep $25.20 after food cost, close to your dine-in contribution. That makes Uber Eats pickup orders almost as profitable as table service.

Some operators actively promote pickup through their platform listings: better photos, pickup-specific menu items, and shorter prep time commitments that push them higher in pickup search results. It's not glamorous. It works.

Support, disputes, and the realities of working with each platform

Commission and reach are quantifiable. Support quality is harder to measure but equally real.

DoorDash has a dedicated merchant support line and a dispute resolution process. Multiple Canadian operators report that DoorDash's merchant support is responsive compared to competitors, though resolution times vary. DoorDash has also faced criticism for auto-denying merchant disputes at certain times of year.

Uber Eats merchant support is available through the app and by phone. Uber's dispute process is more automated, which can mean faster resolution for simple issues but frustration when problems require human judgment. The March 2026 fee increase generated significant pushback from operators who felt the communication was inadequate.

SkipTheDishes has been praised by some operators for more personal account management, particularly in smaller markets where reps are accessible. But Skip's technology and merchant tools lag behind DoorDash and Uber Eats. The merchant dashboard is functional but not modern.

None of these platforms has great support. That's the honest assessment. But the quality of your relationship with your account rep matters more than the corporate support line, especially with SkipTheDishes where individual negotiation is built into the model.

Provincial regulations that affect your choice

Canada's delivery landscape includes provincial fee caps that change the economics in certain markets.

British Columbia caps delivery commissions at 20%. This means BC restaurants on Uber Eats Premium (30%) or DoorDash Premier (29%) see their rates capped, effectively making higher tiers less expensive in BC than elsewhere.

Nova Scotia caps at 15%, the lowest in Canada. This dramatically levels the playing field between platforms for NS operators.

Quebec's Bill 87 capped commissions at 20% during the pandemic, but that expired in summer 2022 and no permanent replacement has been passed. Quebec operators are back to standard rates.

If you're in BC or Nova Scotia, the commission cap makes platform choice less about rates and more about reach and features. In provinces without caps, every percentage point matters.

Which platform fits which restaurant

There's no single best platform. But there are clear patterns.

Choose DoorDash if you're in a suburban market, your average order skews toward family-sized meals, and you want the strongest promotional engine. DashPass drives repeat ordering, and DoorDash's suburban reach is unmatched.

Choose Uber Eats if you're in a major metro (Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal), you do strong late-night business, and you want the largest customer pool. Despite the March 2026 fee increases, Uber Eats still has the most active users in Canada's biggest cities.

Choose SkipTheDishes if you're in a prairie city, Atlantic Canada, or any market where Skip has genuine density. Also consider Skip if you have higher average order values, because SkipGo's flat CA$7-9 fee beats percentage-based commissions on orders above ~$35.

Consider two platforms if you're in a market where customer bases don't fully overlap. Running DoorDash plus SkipTheDishes, for example, can cover both suburban and prairie customer segments without cannibalizing orders.

Consider all three only if your kitchen capacity can handle the volume and your team can manage three tablets. Most independents find two platforms plus a direct ordering channel (your own website or a commission-free platform) is the practical ceiling.

The hybrid reality

The delivery profitability question is not "which platform?" but "what's each platform for?" For most Canadian independents, the answer looks like this:

Platforms for discovery. New customers find you through DoorDash, Uber Eats, or SkipTheDishes. You pay 20-30% for that introduction. That's expensive customer acquisition, but it's the cost of being visible where customers are already browsing.

Direct ordering for retention. Once a customer knows and likes your restaurant, every repeat order through a platform costs you another 20-30%. Moving repeat customers to your own ordering channel, where you keep 95%+ of the order, is where delivery becomes actually profitable.

Reorder rates tell the story: 35-55% of direct-ordering customers come back, versus 15-25% through third-party platforms (Tacit Corporation). And 43% of customers who order through an app don't even remember which restaurant the food came from. The platform owns that relationship. Direct ordering means you do.

Want to know exactly what delivery is costing you? Try our free Delivery Profitability Calculator to run the numbers with your own menu prices, food costs, and platform rates.

Sources: Uber Eats Canada Pricing, DoorDash Canada Products, Deliverect Canada 2025, Sensor Tower Q1 2025, Restaurants Canada 2024, Tacit Corporation.

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