Food delivery services can be a great convenience when you’re too tired to cook or want food from your favorite local restaurant without having to leave the comfort of your home.
One of the biggest players in the food delivery market today is Grubhub.
In fact, the company claims to receive more total orders than any other food delivery app.
They operate in 1,600 cities across the U.S. and U.K., working with more than 80,000 partner restaurants.
Their acquisition of food delivery app Eat24 has also expanded their reach significantly.
If Grubhub is available in your city, it’s a good place to turn when you’re looking for food delivery.
However, Grubhub is not the only food ordering and delivery service out there, nor is it necessarily the best for your needs.
There are many other options worth trying, and in this post we’re going to take a look at six of them.
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Note: Unless otherwise noted, all services mentioned in this guide have mobile apps for iPhone and Android available on the iOS App Store and Google Play Store that allow you to track your order in real time.
Reasons to Choose a Grubhub Alternative
Why go with another service besides Grubhub? There are a few possible reasons.
To start, you might be in a city where Grubhub isn’t available.
Though Grubhub is one of the largest food delivery apps out there, they can’t be everywhere.
If this is the case, then one of the apps in this guide might be a better option.
It’s also possible that you’re dissatisfied with some aspect of the Grubhub service.
Maybe you haven’t had good experiences with the delivery people.
Maybe Grubhub doesn’t deliver from your favorite restaurant.
Maybe you don’t how the Grubhub app works.
Or maybe you’re hoping to find a service with lower delivery costs.
These are other reasons to consider one of the alternatives to Grubhub.
Finally, maybe you’ve exhausted the introductory promotions for Grubhub and are looking for discounts on other services.
Most of the services in this guide offer free delivery credit or other promotional credit to new users, especially if you sign up using a promo code from an existing user.
We’ll discuss the promotions available for each app, as relevant, so you can decide if they’d be a good deal for your needs.
With all that said, let’s take a look at each of the apps.
1. Postmates
Postmates is a delivery service that promises to be able to deliver just about anything.
Like Grubhub, they do restaurant delivery, with the ability to see restaurant menus from a variety of partner restaurants.
What sets them apart from Grubhub, however, is that they can do delivery from pretty much anywhere in the market where they operate.
This can offer a lot of value to you as a customer.
For one, it means that you can have them deliver from restaurants that haven’t partnered with other services.
Furthermore, you can have them deliver from convenience stores or even liquor stores in markets where it’s allowed.
Grubhub can’t do either of these things.
- Save on your first order with a Postmates promo code
- How much do Postmates drivers make?
2. Doordash
Another option you can consider instead of Grubhub is DoorDash.
This service is fairly similar to Grubhub, competing with them heavily across markets.
One major thing DoorDash offers that Grubhub doesn’t, however, is delivery to a few cities in Canada.
Residents of Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, and Vancouver can get delivery via DoorDash, while Grubhub has yet to make it into the Canadian market.
And, of course, DoorDash offers its own set of promo codes for new users, which can be a good place to turn to for free or discounted deliveries after you’ve run through all the Grubhub promo codes you can find.
- Save on your first order with a DoorDash promo code
- How much do DoorDash drivers make?
3. Uber Eats
You’re probably most familiar with Uber’s rideshare service, but did you know that the company also offers food delivery?
It’s true: Since 2014,
Uber has been rolling out their food delivery service in an increasing number of locations around the world.
See our guide to how Uber Eats works for more information.
This global reach is one thing that makes Uber Eats an especially attractive alternative to Grubhub.
Though Grubhub does have somewhat of an international presence through their operations in England, they’re mostly concentrated in the United States.
Uber Eats, on the other hand, is available in cities across six continents, meaning that it’s a good app to have on your phone when you travel internationally and still want to get something delivered.
- Save on your first order with an Uber Eats promo code
- How much do Uber Eats drivers make?
4. Amazon Restaurants
Amazon has gotten into the food delivery business, too.
This isn’t really that surprising, since Amazon already offers online delivery of everything else.
The extent of their operations depends on your city, but Amazon Prime members in certain markets can now place restaurant delivery orders from right within their Amazon account.
An Amazon employee, such as a Whole Foods Shopper, will fulfill their orders.
The main reason you’d choose Amazon Restaurants over Grubhub, in our opinion, is the sheer convenience of being able to do everything within your Amazon account.
There’s no need to download an additional app, create a new account, or input new payment information — you can do everything with the info you already have on file.
5. Caviar
Caviar is a premium food delivery service.
This premium aspect is the main way it distinguishes itself from Grubhub and other food delivery apps.
Caviar focuses on delivery from high-end restaurants, leaving fast food to their competitors.
They also have a variety of exclusive delivery agreements with restaurants, meaning they could be the way to get delivery from a place you love but that no one else delivers.
In addition to their premium aspect, there are a plenty of Caviar promo codes floating around.
Be on the lookout for those to save.
- Save on your first order with a Caviar promo code
- How much do Caviar drivers make?
6. Munchery
Our final Grubhub alternative is a bit of an oddball, in that it’s not a food delivery service in the same way as the other apps we’ve discussed so far.
Yes, Munchery does deliver food, but it’s not from local restaurants.
Instead, Munchery handles both the food delivery and food prep, offering both made-to-order meals and cooking kits that you can use to make food at home.
In this way, it’s difficult to make a direct comparison between Munchery and Grubhub, but it’s still worth considering as an alternative.
In particular, it could be a good option if you want the flexibility to have some meals delivered while also getting meal kit services when you want them, or if you want the guarantee of cuisine that’s friendly to a particular dietary preference.
Get Food Delivered on Your Terms
We hope you now see just how many options there are out there to order food besides Grubhub.
Grubhub is still an excellent service, for sure.
In the modern economy, however, you have lots of choices, and it’s good to be aware of them.
