DoorDash doesn't charge one flat commission — it runs three merchant plans, each with a different rate, and most owners only find out which one they're actually on when they sit down with a statement. Here's the current breakdown, plan by plan.
| Plan | Delivery commission | Pickup commission |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | 15% | 6% |
| Plus | 25% | 6% |
| Premier | 30% | 6% |
These rates apply to the order subtotal — the menu price before tax and tip — regardless of whether DoorDash's own drivers handle the delivery or the restaurant uses its own staff. Pickup orders are charged a flat 6% across all three plans, since no delivery is involved. DoorDash also offers "Online Ordering by DoorDash," a separate direct-ordering product with no marketplace commission — though that's a different product from the Marketplace listing itself.
The tiers aren't just about price — each one trades commission rate for reach. Basic keeps the commission lowest but limits delivery radius and marketplace visibility. Plus adds a wider delivery area and DashPass subscriber access at a meaningfully higher rate. Premier pushes commission to its highest point in exchange for priority placement in search results and the broadest delivery coverage. There's no universally "right" tier — it depends on whether the extra visibility a higher plan buys actually turns into profitable order volume, not just more orders.
The published commission rate is the starting point, not the full cost. A few things commonly push the effective rate higher than the headline percentage suggests:
On a $40 order at the Plus plan's 25% rate, DoorDash's commission alone is $10 — before any sponsored-listing spend or processing costs. Independent restaurants typically run on thin net margins to begin with; giving up a quarter of the order's value on top of food cost, labor, and overhead can turn an order that should be profitable into one that barely breaks even.
DoorDash genuinely earns its commission on new-customer discovery — someone browsing the app who wouldn't have found the restaurant otherwise. Where the commission stops making sense is on repeat orders from customers who already know the restaurant by name. Those orders don't need marketplace discovery; they need a place to order directly, at full margin.