Which Food Delivery Service Pays Best in Australia: Uber Eats vs DoorDash vs Menulog

From all the gigs out there, delivery service is one of the most popular ways to earn extra income. It has attracted many people looking for a side hustle. Because apart from providing extra income, this gig also offers flexibility and convenience.

Giving people the opportunity to deliver wherever and whenever they want without affecting their full-time job or their personal commitments such as study or family responsibilities. A gig that is simple enough to do for anyone is another reason.

When receiving a food delivery request, a delivery driver is only tasked with picking up the meals at the restaurant and then delivering it to the customer’s location. Of course, they must ensure that customer orders are received on time and in optimal conditions

When compared to other gigs such as ridesharing which requires quite a lot of requirements such as vehicle inspection and insurance. To start delivering with an on-demand delivery platform, they don’t need such complicated requirements. They only need to provide a few documents such as proof of ID, driver’s license and rego. Biker requirements are even less than that.

Best delivery app to work for

Australia is a lucrative market for on-demand food delivery services. Many multinational companies operate in this country. According to Roy Morgan’s research, nearly 4 million Australians aged 14+ used meal delivery services in 2020, up from 1.9 million in mid-2018.

There are currently many on-demand delivery companies operating in Australia. However, there are only about 3 delivery apps that Australians use the most. The following are some delivery services that can be your place to apply to become a delivery driver.

• Uber Eats. Even though it is not the first delivery app in the region, Uber has succeeded in establishing its influence by becoming the market leader and used by 12.8% of Australians according to Roy Morgan’s findings in 2021.
• Menulog. It is a food delivery company that was founded in Australia. Menulog is one of the pioneers of online food ordering services in the country. The company has been operating since 2006 or more than 10 years ago.
• DoorDash. Of all the most well-known food delivery in the country, DoorDash was the last to arrive. To catch up, the company continues to expand to several cities and is currently available in every state across the nation.
• Deliveroo. The company was officially available in Australia in 2015 and started its first two offices in Sydney and Melbourne. At this time, their service is now available in 24 cities and regions throughout the country. Unfortunately, the company has to leave the Australian market at the end of 2022.

Which delivery app pays best in Australia?

As we know, on-demand delivery drivers’ earnings depend on many factors such as customer demands, time, location, current driver’s promotion and several other factors.

Working location is the most decisive factor among others. For example, if you deliver around Sydney near the city centre you can expect to make more. Apart from location, another important factor is the day and time. This mostly takes place during busy hours, during lunch and dinner. The busy hours time frames at lunch take place from 11 am to 2 pm and the dinner takes place from 5 pm to 10 pm.

However, here we will still try to give you an idea of how much a delivery driver in Australia makes every day, based on information from several delivery drivers we met.

1. Uber Eats
In most cities in Australia, an Uber Eats driver can easily complete 2 – 4 deliveries in an hour on average. A driver will get around $7 – $10 for every completed delivery order. With this rate, they could make approximately $25 per hour.

So, if they work 40 hours a week, they could make around $1,000 – $1,200 per week. If you’ve heard of drivers who earn close to $2,000, they probably work 60 – 70 hours a week.

Uber Eats Driver Pay Example

This figure does not include the driver’s incentive or commonly called Uber Quest whose value varies for each driver. For example, a driver will get an extra $140 when they complete 100 trips, +$40 if they do 15 more trips and another +$120 if they complete 15 more trips after that.

2. DoorDash
DoorDash drivers or also known as Dasher can complete 1-4 deliveries per hour, depending on the time and location where they are online during the time. The rate for each delivery request varies from $7 – $20 per delivery.

Dasher Australia Pay Example

The pay sometimes includes the peak pay promotion which can be seen on the heat map. This promotion takes place when demand is high in an area, and usually ranges from $1 to $5.

3. Menulog
According to a Menulog delivery driver we met, he delivered using this platform for multi-apping purposes or as a backup when Uber or DoorDash is quiet. That’s why the income he shows is not too much, maybe his income will be different if he makes the app the main platform.

Based on a screen capture of the earnings we saw, the Menulog rate per delivery isn’t too bad, the average earnings are around $10 per delivery. According to the screen capture, it only took him 49 trips to earn $516 in a single week.

Menulog Driver Pay Example

4. Deliveroo

For Deliveroo, we cannot determine the right driver pay information due to the lack of information we have. But based on a screen capture from a driver, he made $361 by completing 30 trips. So on average, they earn around $12 per delivery.

This is a pretty good amount of money, although there aren’t too many delivery requests on weekdays. However, some of them said that the platform is quite busy on weekends and there will be a lot of driver’s promotions at that time which has the potential to multiply drivers’ earnings.

Deliveroo Driver Pay Example

Which one is better: DoorDash vs UberEats in Australia

After DoorDash came to Australia, many existing delivery drivers asked questions. Is this newcomer better than Uber Eats? In our opinion, there is no exact answer to this question because each platform has its own pros and cons.

Uber Eats Pros over Doordash
As we know, Uber is very popular, which means it has a lot of customers in Australia. This has been proven by several delivery drivers. No shortage of orders day or night, weekends or weekdays, not just lunch or dinner times. Generally, less wait time between orders. As a new player, DoorDash will certainly take longer to acquire more customers.

In addition, to start working we don’t need to schedule a shift in certain zones/areas, just GO online whenever you want. Actually, at DoorDash you can also start working without scheduling but it only applies to drivers who have met the criteria to become a Top Dasher.

UberEats Cons over DoorDash
Uber pay isn’t as high overall, fewer boosts but sometimes you will get Quests which allow you to earn more. Some say DoorDash seems to pay more per delivery even though you have to wait longer between orders. We have written a more detailed explanation of daily or weekly earnings for these two platforms in another section of this article.

Which one should I choose?
We recommend signing up for these two platforms together to complement each other, as many drivers say that DoorDash can help when Uber is quiet. So if you are already registered with Uber you can try to sign up to become a Dasher or vice versa.

DoorDash vs Menulog Driver Pay

Although Menulog arrived in Australia earlier than DoorDash, some drivers said they were getting more orders with DoorDash. But actually, it depends on the location and working time, because there are still people who say that they are getting more delivery requests with Menulog.

For the pay rate between DoorDash and Menulog, there is not too much difference. The rates per km are not far apart, more than $1 per km on average. We have explained a detailed explanation of the pay rates of the two in the previous section of this article.

If you are faced with a choice between the two, we still recommend you be active on these two platforms together. Because the pay might vary from day to day and area to area. If today’s DoorDash is better, maybe it will be Menulog’s turn to be better tomorrow.

Menulog vs UberEats

Honestly, they’re pretty much the same pay. Some delivery drivers say Menulog pays more per delivery, but because Uber Eats is more popular in Australia so you might get more deliveries overall. With Uber, you will also get double orders much more often.

Just choose which one is comfortable for you. Prefers to wait for more Menulog orders on the side of the road or is busy doing pickups and deliveries for Uber Eats with slightly lower pay. But keep in mind that Uber sometimes also provides opportunities to earn more with promotions and incentives such as quests and boosts.

One of the significant disadvantages of Menulog is that you have to schedule a shift to be able to start delivering, unlike Uber Eats which allows you to go online anytime. So, if you are planning to earn full-time earnings like $1,000+ per week you can consider prioritizing Uber orders when multi-apping. Menulog might also help you to get to those earnings targets faster when Uber is quiet.

Best times to deliver in Australia

Not every hour of the day is a good time to deliver with these platforms. That’s why understanding the busy hours that apply in the city where you work is very important.

As we know, delivering at busy hours can help you make the most of your earnings. Especially if you deliver with a vehicle that requires you to stop by a servo.

Busy hours can vary depending on the time of day, day of the week and several other factors. Here we try to let you know about when is the best time to deliver for delivery apps based on the median earnings of Uber delivery persons during May 2022.

Best time to deliver in Sydney and Melbourne – Uber.com

Early morning (3am – 6am) is not the best time to deliver considering the majority of individuals are still asleep in their beds. However, this is not fully applicable on weekends, as demand increases slightly on those days.

In the morning (6am-11am) it is not too different from the previous period, there are not too many delivery requests at these hours. Some delivery drivers usually start getting ready to leave the house to work at this time.

Lunch (11am – 2pm) is the first busy hour of the day. At this hour delivery persons can expect to get a lot of orders. So, make sure you are always in a busy area with lots of restaurants.

The afternoon (2pm – 5pm) is usually used by drivers to take a short break after being quite busy during lunch peak time. However, you can still expect to get a couple of orders during this time.

Dinner (5pm – 9pm) is the busiest hour after lunchtime. This applies on weekdays and will be very busy on weekends. You can expect to get more double delivery requests during dinner peak. So, make sure you’re in top condition and don’t forget to refuel your vehicle before this busiest hour starts.

At late night (9pm – 3am), delivery requests will slowly be reduced. Many drivers use it to take a break or prepare to go back home. However, some delivery persons take advantage of this period to work because of quiet traffic conditions and reduced competition from other drivers on the road.

Which delivery app should I join to?

All delivery apps that we mentioned earlier have their own gig drivers spread throughout Australia. Uber Eats is one of the platforms with the largest number of delivery drivers in the country.

But did you know that currently not all of these platforms routinely open opportunities for new drivers to register? Some of them will only open registration for new applicants only when the company thinks they need new drivers on the road.

Which delivery apps are easy to join?

Uber Eats, DoorDash and Menulog are delivery platforms that are quite easy to get into. It’s pretty easy to join these three platforms, as long as you have a clean background, a vehicle and a driver’s license. Some drivers say they can start working less than a week after signing up, although some take longer than that, especially for Menulog.

As far as we know, there is currently no waiting list for delivery drivers’ registration on these platforms in Australia. Once your account is activated, you can immediately work and make money. So it’s better to register directly on all those platforms because no one knows if one day they will limit registration to new drivers.

If you are confused about where to start or only want to register with one application. Consider choosing a platform that provides special offers for new delivery drivers.

For example, Uber Eats currently offers $300 extra when you sign up as a delivery person and complete several deliveries. You can read more details in our other post about Uber Eats sign up bonus.

If you look at the Menulog and Deliveroo websites, both of them still open up opportunities for anyone to become delivery drivers on both platforms. However, many drivers say the process was not as fast as Uber and DoorDash.

The Menulog activation process must go through several additional requirements, such as waiting for your hot bag to arrive, which of course takes a long time. If you didn’t order a hot bag during the registration process, you could also take a photo of the Menulog-approved bag on the courier portal.

Regarding Deliveroo, some say that it is currently quite difficult to get into this platform. They may only onboard new delivery drivers when they expect work to be available. This is understandable because they want to ensure that when new or existing drivers are online on the platform, there are sessions available for them.

Food Delivery Gigs Alternative in Australia

Easy to start and simple job is probably the reasons why the food delivery gig is well-accepted among Australians. But did you know that delivery gigs are not only related to food and restaurants?

So apart from being an Uber Eats or DoorDash delivery driver, you can also try identical jobs, such as being a courier on several platforms that connect business and customers.

The following are some of the logistics and delivery gig platforms that are officially operating in Australia.

• Amazon Flex
  Amazon was officially launched in Australia at the end of 2017 and after taking a bigger share of the market they finally announced the Amazon Flex program in the country in 2020. As an Amazon Flex driver, your job is to pick up parcels from a nearby delivery station to be delivered to Amazon customers.

  The pay rate depends on the size of the car you choose and the length of the work. For instance, as a sedan driver, you can earn a minimum of $114 for a 4-hours block. Find out more about the Amazon Flex driver here.

• Sherpa
  Sherpa is a delivery service based in Australia that offers on-demand delivery for businesses and individuals. The service can be found in major cities across Australia.

  Delivery drivers can earn from around $11 to $35 per delivery, depending on the delivery type and distance. Delivery partners are also eligible to earn bonuses for completing a certain number of deliveries or doing work during peak hours.

• Yello
  Yello is a delivery service based in Australia that specializes in providing same-day and express delivery solutions for businesses.

  Yello does not publicly disclose its driver pay rates on its website or other sources. Yello’s pay structure for its drivers may depend on several factors such as location, type of delivery, and demand for services.

• Zoom2u
  Zoom2u’s delivery platform connects customers with a network of independent drivers who use their vehicles to make deliveries and will be paid based on the number of deliveries they complete, with varying rates depending on the location, delivery type, and distance.

  According to their website, Zoom2u drivers can earn up to $60 per hour during peak hours, but earnings may vary based on demand and other factors.