DoorDash commission for US restaurants is 15% (Basic), 25% (Plus) or 30% (Premier) of the order subtotal on delivery orders, and 6% on pickup orders. On an ordering site you own, you pay Stripe's standard 2.9% + 30¢ per card payment instead. That's about $1.32 on a $35 order, against $8.75 on DoorDash Plus. Delivery is what decides whether the saving is real. If customers pay a delivery fee that covers the driver, your own site can pay back its build in a few months. If you pay a courier on every order yourself, it may never pay back.
I've built this kind of ordering system on WooCommerce. Below I put DoorDash next to an owned ordering site using sourced numbers, then work through a break-even example you can rerun with your own figures. If you're in the UK, there's a version for Just Eat and Deliveroo, and one for India on Zomato and Swiggy.
How much is DoorDash commission for US restaurants?
DoorDash charges US restaurants 15%, 25% or 30% of the subtotal on delivery orders and 6% on pickup orders. There's no monthly fee and no contract. DoorDash's US merchant pricing page lists the three Marketplace plans, and DoorDash also sells two products that work with your own website.
| Plan or product | What DoorDash charges | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | 15% of subtotal on delivery | Marketplace listing, Dasher delivery, card processing |
| Plus | 25% of subtotal on delivery | Wider delivery radius, access to DashPass customers |
| Premier | 30% of subtotal on delivery | Everything in Plus, plus extra marketing perks |
| Pickup (all plans) | 6% of subtotal | Marketplace orders the customer collects |
| Online Ordering by DoorDash | 0% commission, 2.9% + $0.30 processing | An ordering page for your own website, run by DoorDash |
| Drive On-Demand | $6.99 to $10.99 per delivery | A Dasher delivers an order taken on your own site |
A few details on that pricing page matter for this comparison:
- The commission includes card processing. You don't pay a separate card fee on DoorDash Marketplace orders. Keep that in mind when you put DoorDash next to Stripe.
- The partnership plans are for restaurants with 75 or fewer US locations. Bigger chains negotiate their own terms.
- The 6% pickup rate only applies if your DoorDash pickup prices match your in-store menu. For delivery orders, DoorDash lets you set different prices, and plenty of restaurants do.
What does a $35 order actually cost on each channel?
On a $35 order, DoorDash takes $5.25 on Basic, $8.75 on Plus, $10.50 on Premier and $2.10 on pickup. Stripe on your own site takes about $1.32. Percentages are hard to feel, so here's the same $35 subtotal in dollars.
- DoorDash Basic5.3$
- DoorDash Plus8.8$
- DoorDash Premier10.5$
- DoorDash pickup2.1$
- Own site (Stripe)1.3$
The own-site figure uses Stripe's standard US rate of 2.9% + 30¢ per successful domestic card payment. On $35 that's $1.02 + $0.30 = $1.32, or 3.77% of the order. Stripe charges on the full amount the customer pays, so delivery fees and tips push the fee up a little.
That chart flatters your own site, though. DoorDash's delivery commission pays for a driver. Stripe doesn't. Add delivery back in and it looks like this:
| Own-site scenario | Your cost on a $35 order | Compared with DoorDash Plus ($8.75) |
|---|---|---|
| Customer collects | $1.32 | $7.43 less |
| Customer pays a $6.99 delivery fee, you pass it to Drive On-Demand | $1.52 (Stripe on $41.99) | $7.23 less |
| You pay the cheapest Drive On-Demand fee ($6.99) yourself | $8.31 | $0.44 less |
| You pay the top Drive On-Demand fee ($10.99) yourself | $12.31 | $3.56 more |
| Your own driver | Stripe fee plus driver cost per drop | Depends on wages and drops per hour |
For pickup, compare against DoorDash's 6%, not Plus. On a $35 pickup order your own site saves $2.10 − $1.32 = $0.78. Not much.
Delivery is where the money is
If you plan to pay for delivery yourself on your own site, run the numbers first. On a $35 order, a $6.99 courier fee plus Stripe costs $8.31, more than DoorDash Basic's 15% ($5.25).
What does it cost to build your own ordering site in the US?
A US WooCommerce ordering site typically costs $1,600–$6,700 with a freelancer and $4,050–$16,150 with an agency, plus monthly running costs. Those ranges come from Project Cost Estimator's US WooCommerce figures. CMSMinds quotes custom agency WooCommerce builds from $4,000 to $100,000 and puts US freelance WooCommerce rates at $75 to $150 an hour. A restaurant site with a menu, modifiers and Stripe checkout sits near the bottom of those ranges. Custom delivery logic and kitchen printing move it up.
What changes the price of a WooCommerce ordering site:
- Menu complexity. Modifiers, add-ons, combos, allergens and items that sell out.
- Delivery rules. A radius in miles, fees that rise with distance, and minimum orders by zone.
- Kitchen workflow. Automatic receipt printing, prep times and order status messages.
- Collection slots and opening hours. Capping orders per slot so the kitchen doesn't get buried on a busy night.
- Integrations. POS sync, Drive On-Demand through a middleware provider, loyalty and SMS.
- Design. A custom design from Figma costs more than adapting a theme.
Then there's the monthly bill: hosting, premium plugin licenses, a maintenance retainer, Google Maps Platform usage if you check addresses, and PrintNode, which charges by print volume and has a free tier for very low use. These are small next to DoorDash commission, but they're real and they belong in your sums.
When does your own ordering site break even?
An owned ordering site breaks even when the DoorDash commission you stop paying is bigger than your Stripe fees plus monthly running costs. In the example below, with customers paying for delivery and 200 orders moved off DoorDash Plus, a build pays back in roughly 2 to 14 months depending on what it cost.
The inputs are made up, so swap in your own. The restaurant is on DoorDash Plus with a $35 average order, and it moves 200 delivery orders a month to its own site. Customers pay a $6.99 delivery fee, which goes straight to Drive On-Demand. I've assumed $250 a month for hosting, plugins, maintenance and printing. Replace that with real quotes.
- 1
DoorDash cost
200 orders × $8.75 commission (25% of $35) = $1,750 a month.
- 2
Own-site cost
200 orders × $1.52 Stripe fee on $41.99 = $304, plus $250 running costs = $554 a month.
- 3
Monthly saving
$1,750 − $554 = $1,196 a month, because the customer's delivery fee covers the Dasher.
- 4
Payback
A $1,600 build pays back in under 2 months, a $6,700 build in about 5.6 months, and a $16,150 build in about 13.5 months.
Now change one input. If the restaurant pays the $6.99 delivery fee itself, the saving drops to $0.44 an order, or $88 a month. That doesn't even cover the $250 running costs. If those 200 orders are pickups moved from DoorDash's 6% rate, the saving is $156 a month before running costs, so the restaurant is still behind.
So an owned site makes sense on two conditions: customers pay for delivery, and the orders you move are ones that currently sit on Plus or Premier. On top of that, your site has to give people a reason to order direct. DoorDash's marketing won't do that part for you.
What did I build for Whitfield Service Station?
For Whitfield Service Station in Dover, England, I built a WooCommerce ordering site with a custom delivery radius plugin and automatic PrintNode kitchen printing. Whitfield Service Station wanted to take food orders on its own website, and I built it in 2025 while working with the London agency Aura Clips. Two custom pieces handle the parts the client needed:
- A delivery radius plugin. At checkout it looks up the customer's address with the Google Maps API and measures the distance from the store. Addresses outside the delivery area get blocked, and the fee goes up with distance. I've written up how to limit WooCommerce delivery to a radius in miles.
- Automatic kitchen receipts. Every paid order prints on the kitchen printer through PrintNode, so nobody has to keep an eye on a tablet. Here's how to print WooCommerce orders automatically in a kitchen.
The same approach carries over to a US restaurant. The radius is already in miles, payment works the same way, and the distance-based fee is exactly what makes the break-even example above hold up: each customer pays for their own delivery, in proportion to how far away they live.
Should you leave DoorDash completely?
Usually not. Keep DoorDash Marketplace for finding new customers and move repeat customers to your own site. DoorDash brings you people who've never heard of you. Your own site keeps the margin on the ones who already have. Here's how the three options stack up:
| Feature | DoorDash Marketplace | DoorDash Online Ordering | Your own WooCommerce site |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commission | 15–30% delivery, 6% pickup | 0% | 0% |
| Card fees | Included in commission | 2.9% + $0.30 | 2.9% + 30¢ on Stripe standard |
| Monthly fee | None | Free plan, plus paid monthly tiers | Hosting, plugins and maintenance |
| New customer discovery | Yes, through the DoorDash app | No | No, you bring the traffic |
| Custom delivery rules and fees | DoorDash's rules | DoorDash's options | Anything you can specify |
| Kitchen printing and integrations | DoorDash's tools | DoorDash's tools | Built to your workflow |
| Who controls the platform | DoorDash | DoorDash | You |
If all you want is to stop paying commission on direct orders and you don't need custom rules, DoorDash's own Online Ordering is a fair option, and I'd tell you so. An owned WooCommerce site earns its cost when you need your own delivery zones and fees, your own kitchen workflow, or a site that isn't tied to one platform's pricing.
To move repeat customers over, put your order link on your Google Business Profile and Instagram, drop a card with a direct-order offer into every DoorDash bag, and put QR codes up in the restaurant. DoorDash lets you set different prices on delivery orders, so you can also make ordering direct the cheaper option for the customer.
What should you ask a developer before you build?
Before you sign anything, ask how delivery will be priced, who will own the accounts, and what the monthly running costs are, line by line. Those answers decide whether your break-even holds:
- How will delivery be priced and limited? Ask about a radius in miles, distance-based fees and minimum orders, not just a list of ZIP codes.
- What happens when the kitchen printer is offline? Orders should queue and print once it's back. They shouldn't vanish.
- Who owns the hosting, domain and Stripe account? You should. If a past developer holds them, get them transferred back to you before the build starts.
- Can my staff edit the menu, prices and opening hours without a developer?
- What are the monthly running costs, itemized? You need this number for your break-even.
- How will checkout hold up during the Friday night rush? A slow checkout loses orders.
- How are failed payments handled? Ask how they'll set up Stripe and test it before launch.
Your next step
Pull up your DoorDash statement and run the break-even above with your own numbers: your plan, your average order and how many orders you could realistically move. If the monthly saving clearly beats your running costs, an owned site is worth scoping. My WooCommerce stores and online ordering page shows what I build. When you're ready, book a 20-minute call and bring your menu, your delivery area and your current DoorDash plan.
