Grubhub: Food Delivery

Review by eFreeware

Grubhub is a food delivery app for Android, published by Grubhub itself and free to download. It has been on the Play Store since October 2010, and the numbers are large: more than 10 million installs and a 4.5 average across close to a million ratings. What gives it a distinct angle among delivery apps is a simple rule: restaurant orders over $50 carry no delivery or service fees.

That single detail shapes the whole review. The app is built around a different calculation than its rivals. If your typical order is a family dinner, a group lunch at the office or a weekend gathering, the math can look very different from what you are used to.

The catalog is broad rather than curated. The developer describes hundreds of thousands of restaurants and groceries, mixing national chains with local places, and there is a separate membership for people who order smaller amounts more often. I will go through what the app does, what it costs and where the trade-offs sit.

Who gets the most out of the $50 rule

The fee waiver is the feature that decides whether this app belongs on your phone. If you regularly feed four or more people, or you order for a group, crossing $50 happens without effort, and the checkout total stops climbing the way it does elsewhere. A household that orders a big dinner once a week is the clearest fit.

People ordering a single burrito for themselves are in a different position. The main draw does not apply, and the membership becomes the more relevant part of the app. That is not a flaw in the design; it is simply who the $50 rule was written for.

There is also a practical angle for anyone ordering together. When several people order together, the total is easier to divide without someone absorbing a delivery charge. If you usually order alone and in small amounts, I would look at the membership terms before deciding whether the app earns a place on your home screen.

Restaurants, groceries and paying your way

The app covers a wide range of food. Alongside independent restaurants, the app covers a long list of chains, including Taco Bell, McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut, Popeyes, Papa John's, Burger King, Dunkin', Starbucks, Buffalo Wild Wings, Chipotle, Wendy's, Jersey Mike's, Jimmy John's, Panda Express, Arby's, Panera Bread and Shake Shack. Groceries are part of the catalog too, so a single app can cover a takeout dinner and a top-up shop.

Payment options are unusually varied. You can pay with credit cards, PayPal, Venmo, Amazon Pay, Cash App or gift cards. When you are unsure where to order from, the app includes restaurant ratings and reviews to help you choose.

Once an order is placed, eligible deliveries can be followed in real time from the restaurant to your door, so you know roughly when to expect the knock. Customer support is available around the clock, which is the kind of thing you only appreciate when an order goes sideways at an awkward hour.

The Grubhub Guarantee, explained

Grubhub backs its pricing with a promise it calls the Grubhub Guarantee. Find a lower price elsewhere for a qualifying order and the difference comes back as credit, plus $5 off your next one.

The details matter, though. The guarantee applies to eligible orders and eligible competitors, and it is settled in Grubhub credits rather than a refund to your card.

I would treat this as a safety net rather than a reason to install the app on its own. Comparing prices across platforms before a large order is still the sensible habit, and the guarantee simply means a difference you spot afterward is not lost.

What Grubhub+ adds, and what it costs

The app itself is free. Grubhub+ is a separate membership: the developer offers a 30-day free trial, after which it renews automatically at $9.99 per month plus tax until you cancel. Membership is described as cutting delivery and service charges on qualifying orders, with extra offers and rewards.

The important word is eligible. The waived delivery charge covers qualifying Grubhub+ orders that reach a menu-page subtotal minimum, before tax, tip and fees. The terms are worth reading before the trial converts into a paid month.

The two offers stack in a useful way. The $50 restaurant rule applies whether or not you are a member. If you order often in modest amounts, the membership is the part of the app doing the work for you; if your orders are large, the fee waiver already handles it.

Because the membership renews on its own, the practical step is to decide during the trial whether your ordering pattern justifies it. The developer's own framing is that food costs less to have delivered. For occasional large ones, the free tier already covers the main benefit.

How it compares with other delivery options

Delivery apps broadly fall into two groups: those that compete on breadth and those that compete on price. Grubhub leans on price, with the fee waiver above $50 and a membership aimed at smaller baskets. If you have used a rival service and found the fees at checkout frustrating on large orders, this is the most direct alternative to weigh against it.

Ordering directly from a restaurant is the other option, and it is worth keeping in mind for places you know well. The trade-off is convenience: you take on the logistics yourself. For a large group order, the fee waiver is the argument for staying in the app.

Grocery delivery services are a separate category again, focused on weekly shopping rather than meals. Grubhub covers groceries alongside restaurant food, so if you would rather not juggle two apps for a dinner and a grocery run, that combination is part of the appeal.

None of these alternatives is strictly better. The question is how often your orders clear $50, how much you value real-time tracking and how willing you are to pay a monthly membership for smaller baskets.

A delivery app built around big orders

Grubhub is a mature, widely installed Android app with a clear proposition: restaurant orders above $50 carry no delivery or service charges, and the catalog also covers groceries, with flexible payment methods, live tracking on eligible orders and round-the-clock support. The 4.5 average across nearly a million ratings suggests a large body of users find it dependable.

It suits households and groups whose orders regularly pass $50, and anyone who wants a single app for restaurant food and groceries. It also suits frequent small-order customers who are willing to pay $9.99 a month for a membership that reduces delivery and service fees on eligible orders.

I would weigh it carefully if your orders are usually small and occasional, since the headline benefit would rarely apply and the membership would be doing the work instead. For everyone else, the fee waiver is a genuine reason to keep this app installed rather than treat it as one of several interchangeable options.

What's new in version 2026.40

We upgraded the app. Now upgrade your mealtime with something delicious. Plus, there's still no delivery or service fees on $50+ restaurant orders.