Food delivery apps have completely transformed how we order food. Let's compare the best food delivery apps and see who comes out on top.

Who's Better: GrubHub vs DoorDash vs UberEats vs Postmates. In the past five years, food delivery services have completely transformed the way Americans — mostly city-dwelling millennials — think of meals. Think back to ten years ago. If someone had told you that in less then a decade, you'd be able to order breakfast, lunch, and dinner from virtually any nearby restaurant you could imagine, many without delivery fees, would you have believed them?

That's exactly the economy in which we live today — truly, the most convenient era in history. But, it's worth asking: when it comes to the "The Big 4" — GrubHub, Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Postmates — which food delivery app is the best?

Here's the head-to-head comparison you've been waiting for, including our opinion, the free market's opinion, and the preferences of some of America's most influential figures.

First — What Does the Market Say?

How do GrubHub vs DoorDash vs UberEats vs Postmates compare in terms of market share? In order to end the contentious argument concerning the best food delivery app, let's allow the free market have its say, according to data from Second Measure.

In 2016, mobile ordering and delivery was present in most of the major cities and growing fast. The earliest service to dominate the market was GrubHub, which began by taking over 80% of all orders via delivery app.

Today, the market looks a little different. Since then, GrubHub has stayed relatively steady while the other apps have grown. As of Q3 2019, DoorDash is in a narrow lead, with 34% of the market. GrubHub is second, with 30%. Then there's a bit of a gap.

With a respectable 20%, Uber Eats is holding it's own — although, it certainly helps to have the most popular rideshare app to fall back on.

Another 10% back is Postmates, with a modest 10% of overall food delivery app orders.

The Buzz on the Best Food Delivery Apps

Interestingly when looking at (GrubHub vs DoorDash vs UberEats vs Postmates), Postmates has the lowest market share of the food delivery apps, it wouldn't seem that way if you only paid attention to the viral nature of influencer marketing.

For example, Postmates is the only app of the four to invest heavily in celebrity promotion, starting a blog called Receipts that features different stars who talk about their orders. Culture icon Kylie Jenner notably spent $10,000 on food delivery in a single year. Not to be outdone, superstar rapper and singer Post Malone claims that he spent over 40k on food in less than a year and a half.

While the majority of us would never dream of spending that much — even if we had that much to spend — on food delivery apps in such a short time period, knowing that some of the world's most public figures act in a similar way (celebrities, they're just like us, right?) is more than a little bit relatable.

Ok, we're done stalling: let's get to the brass tacks — which food delivery app is the best?

GrubHub vs. DoorDash vs. UberEats vs. Postmates

Here are the pros and cons of each food delivery app in "The Big 4".

(A quick note — service quality, coverage, support and other factors may vary between different areas, so your experience with one or more of these apps may be different than you see here. If you have responses to anything we say here, feel free to let us know!)

Uber Eats

Uber Eats is a division of Uber, one of the two ridesharing services that dominate the transportation economy, has a well-established delivery service and a fairly user-friendly, responsive app.

One thing that users like about the app is the amount of options to sort and filter. These include: dietary factors, rating, delivery fee, distance, and delivery time estimate.

The negatives are few, but as some users have reported, have a pretty high impact on the overall experience of using the app. First, orders — even those to nearby restaurants — can take much longer than expected. Other issues are with the navigation; much like Uber's rideshare app, the food delivery app isn't known for impeccable location tracking, as users report that orders delivered to the wrong location aren't rare in some areas.

DoorDash

DoorDash is popular with users due to the ability to order takeout or delivery from a clean, user-friendly app. Delivery times tend to be lower compared to some of the other apps, and delivery tracking is highly accurate.

Another thing people like about DoorDash is the fact that some of their vendors don't have minimum orders. This isn't ideal for the people making the deliveries, but is highly customer-friendly.

The complaints about DoorDash are minor — we guess that's why it has the majority of the market share. The one thing we saw more than a few times was complaints about drivers messing up orders. Obviously this is more on the drivers than the restaurants involved.

Postmates

On the opposite side of the coin, it's not a coincidence that Postmates is the least popular delivery app, at least among non-celebrities. Numerous complaints have been logged about the app's inconsistent coverage, slow deliveries, and bad tracking.

Still, there are pros to go along with the cons. Postmates was the app that brought popular restaurants like Chipotle into the food service game. Customers like the frequent special offers and discount credits offered to frequent use of the app.

GrubHub

GrubHub is the original name in the industry, but even though the owner of Seamless and several other delivery apps is still commanding a decent market share, a lot of aspects of its business have been passed by.

Its history of dependability and solid coverage has made GrubHub a top player for years. But users have complain that the app is outdated. Apps like Uber Eats have better sorting options, while DoorDash outpaces GrubHub in expediency and delivery tracking.