Verified on Oct 11, 2026
You drive restaurant orders to people. The Grubhub pages we read print no typical pay rate, and your gas is on you. Needs a Social Security number.
You get an offer on your phone. It shows a restaurant, a drop-off and what the delivery pays. You accept it, drive to the restaurant, pick up the bag, and take it to the customer.
Then you wait for the next offer. You can deliver by car, motorcycle, bicycle or scooter, depending on your market.
You are not an employee. You are a contractor. Driving costs are yours.
On Oct 11, 2026 we read Grubhub’s driver site and six of its news releases. We also searched 296 driver help center articles for dollar amounts and pay words. None gave an hourly, weekly, per-order, average or “earn up to” rate for drivers in general. The only dollar rates were legal minimums, covered below. We could not read four pages. They are grubhub.com’s home and about pages, the driver card page, and a sample partner agreement page. We read only the headlines of the other 453 news releases.
Grubhub’s blog says it does not guarantee earnings. What Grubhub does publish is how pay is built. Base pay depends on factors that include mileage, delivery type and time spent. You are paid Delivery Pay plus 100% of your tips.
Grubhub also mentions a local minimum rate. You get it when you toggle on for a scheduled block and meet its acceptance criteria. The help center says an hourly minimum applies only where Grubhub offers one. We found no dollar amount for it.
The only dollar rates we found are legal minimums in three places:
Seattle’s labor standards office sets the 2026 minimums at $0.47 a minute, $0.80 a mile, and $5.34 per offer. Two Grubhub pages still show the older, lower figures: its Seattle page and its help center. The city has also posted $0.48 a minute and $5.54 per offer for 2027.
California’s State Treasurer lists $0.37 a mile for 2026. Grubhub’s page still shows $0.34.
A Grubhub news release from Dec 2025 prints $21.44 an hour for New York City. The city’s page says the rate rose to $22.13 in April 2026, so the release figure is the earlier one.
We cannot see inside the app, so we cannot tell you which number it pays. If you deliver in Seattle or California, compare your pay with the city or state figure. The city and state pages list the current minimums.
The FTC is the Federal Trade Commission, a US government agency. It works to protect Americans from unfair and deceptive business practices. In Dec 2024 the FTC made allegations about Grubhub’s driver ads. It said ads told New York area drivers they could make “up to $40/hour”. It said a Chicago campaign promised up to $26 an hour, and that the median was $11 an hour. These are the FTC’s allegations about old ads. They are not a pay figure for you.
Grubhub said it “categorically” denies the allegations. It said it reached a settlement and would change how it advertises earnings potential for delivery partners. The FTC release lists one term: Grubhub may only make driver earnings claims that are not misleading. That release calls the settlement proposed. We did not check whether it is final.
Grubhub sends your balance by direct deposit every Thursday. Some banks take 3-5 days to process it. Earnings are available 15 minutes after a delivery is completed.
Instant Cash Out lets you cash out up to $500 a day. Money often arrives in moments, but it can take up to three business days, depending on your bank. A fee may apply, and it depends on your market. The help center says it costs $0.50 each time if you have no Chase account on file. After you add or change bank details, Instant Cash Out is held for 72 hours.
This fits you if you have a working vehicle, a phone, and hours that move around.
It fits if you want to start and stop whenever you like. Grubhub says drivers have no set schedule. Scheduled blocks still matter for the local minimum.
It fits if you have no resume or delivery experience. Grubhub says none is needed.
Skip this if the car costs would eat the pay. Gas, maintenance and insurance are all yours. A high per-hour figure means little if your car is old and thirsty.
Skip it if you cannot carry a hot bag up a flight of stairs. Skip it if you cannot spend hours in a driver’s seat.
Skip it if you need to know what you will earn. On the pages we read, the only pay rates were legal minimums in three places.
Skip it if you have no Social Security number or no checking account. Grubhub lists both as requirements.
Skip it if you are under 18. You must be 18, and 21 in Las Vegas.
Skip it for now if your market has a waitlist. Grubhub pauses sign-ups in some markets.
The deactivation policy lists these background check grounds:
No look-back period is given for “recent”.
Before you pay anyone: We found no sign-up fee on the pages we read, and we cannot say none exists. Be careful with anyone who asks for money to get you approved, and check with Grubhub first.
Before day 1, you need approval. Grubhub says you can start as little as a day after it. The home page says most partners are on the road in just days, depending on the market.
Day 1. Work one lunch rush only. Write down the time you started, the time you stopped, and every dollar you were paid.
Day 2. Do the same at dinner. Compare the two. Your notes will show which one works better where you live.
Day 3. Fill the tank and write down the cost. This is the number that turns your pay into your actual pay.
Day 4. Try a different part of town. Write down the same things and compare.
Day 5. Do the arithmetic. Total pay, minus fuel, divided by hours with the app on, including the waiting.
Day 6. Open the app. Grubhub says earnings are available 15 minutes after a delivery. Check that your notes match.
Day 7. Check your balance in the app. Direct deposits go out on Thursday. Your first one may not land by day 7. Some banks take 3-5 days.
You need one thing on day one: an insulated bag. Any insulated bag works to start. Grubhub says you get a free Grubhub bag after your first delivery. It normally takes 5-10 business days to arrive, and some markets send a code for the Driver Shop instead. We found no price for a bag on the pages we read.
If you drive, a phone mount keeps the map steady. A car charger or power bank helps, because the app runs the screen and GPS all shift.
We looked at the dollar amounts on Grubhub’s pages. They included cash-out fees, a $500 daily cap, a $600 tax-form line, legal minimums, examples and perk offers. None was a sign-up fee. A fee worded another way could have been missed. We cannot say none exists.
Gas, maintenance and insurance come out of your pocket. Grubhub’s agreement warns that your personal auto policy may not cover you while you deliver.
You are a contractor. You handle your own taxes. The agreement says you are not eligible for workers’ compensation through Grubhub. It also says you are not entitled to unemployment insurance, unless you or someone other than Grubhub provides the coverage.
A 1099-NEC is a tax form for pay that is not from an employer. Grubhub’s help center says it goes to partners paid $600 or more in the previous calendar year. This is information, not tax advice. Ask a tax preparer how it applies to you.
Pay is hard to know before you start. On the pages we read, the only pay rates were legal minimums in three places. Grubhub’s own Seattle and California rates are behind the current minimums, as shown above.
Three account violations block your account. The rules for what counts as a violation are Grubhub’s, not yours.
Cash out is capped at $500 a day. A fee may apply, and it varies by market.
What does Grubhub actually pay an hour? We do not know, and we will not guess. None of the pages we read gave a typical rate. Real numbers show up only where the law sets a minimum, on the pages we read.
Do I keep the tips? Yes. Grubhub says drivers keep 100% of tips from completed deliveries, on top of base pay.
Can I deliver outside the US? We found no Grubhub page that says which countries drivers can work in. It requires a Social Security number and a checking account. That points to a US program, but that is our reading, not Grubhub’s statement.
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