You get the DoorDash payout report.
The order was $30.
You didn’t keep $30. You didn’t keep $25, either.
For most restaurants, the gap between the receipt total and the payout isn’t obvious until you run the numbers — and DoorDash’s fee structure has three different tiers, so the “commission” you’re picturing may not be the one you’re paying.
Here’s what DoorDash publishes for 2026, what it costs on a real order, and what a flat-fee alternative looks like next to it.
DoorDash’s Published Fee Tiers
DoorDash sells restaurants three Marketplace delivery plans. Commission is charged as a percentage of the order subtotal — before tax and tip, not the full amount the customer sees at checkout.
| Plan | Delivery commission | Pickup commission |
| Basic | 15% | 6% |
| Plus | 25% | 6% |
| Premier | 30% | 6% |
There’s no monthly subscription fee for Marketplace, no signup cost, no cancellation penalty. You pay commission only when an order comes in — but that commission is where the real cost sits. The higher tiers buy better in-app search placement and eligibility for DashPass, DoorDash’s subscription program for frequent orderers, and DoorDash’s own merchant blog confirms the current tier structure and benefits.
Source: DoorDash Merchant Pricing
What a $30 Order Actually Costs You
Run a $30 subtotal through each plan and the difference stops being abstract.
| Basic (15%) | Plus (25%) | Premier (30%) | Pickup (6%) | |
| Order subtotal | $30.00 | $30.00 | $30.00 | $30.00 |
| Commission | $4.50 | $7.50 | $9.00 | $1.80 |
| You keep | $25.50 | $22.50 | $21.00 | $28.20 |
On Premier, DoorDash takes almost a third of the order — before food cost, packaging, labor, or card processing are even counted. On a dish with a 30% food cost, that $9 commission alone can erase most of what’s left as margin.
DoorDash vs. Innowi: What You Actually Keep
DoorDash charges a percentage of every order. Innowi charges a flat fee per order and 0% commission. On a small order the gap is real; on a busy night, it compounds fast.
Here’s the same math applied to a real order — a $42.19 subtotal — comparing DoorDash’s 30% Premier tier against Innowi’s model, including the card processing and delivery cost that show up either way.
| 3rd Party (30% commission) | Innowi | |
| Commission | $12.66 | $0.00 |
| Service fee | $0.00 | $1.50 |
| Card processing | included above | $1.37 |
| Delivery cost | included above | $4.00 |
| Total cost to restaurant | $12.66 | $6.87 |
Same order, 46% less going out the door — $5.79 kept on a single ticket. That’s before counting what DoorDash’s markup does to menu prices at checkout, which is a separate cost the customer absorbs and one more reason price-sensitive diners compare you unfavorably to your own direct-order price.
What That Looks Like Across a Month
Third-party commission isn’t a one-order problem — it’s a recurring monthly line item. The chart below assumes a restaurant moves just 1 in 5 of its third-party delivery orders to Innowi’s direct ordering channel, at a $34 average ticket.
At $15,000 a month in third-party delivery revenue — a realistic number for a single-location restaurant — that’s roughly $559 saved a month, or $6,710 a year, without giving up a single order. At $50,000 a month, it’s over $22,000 a year back in the restaurant’s pocket.
For context, the National Restaurant Association’s 2026 State of the Restaurant Industry report described a median full-service margin under sustained cost pressure, with operators citing food, labor, and fees as the top stressors industry wide. On margins that thin, commission isn’t a rounding error — it’s often the difference between a profitable month and a flat one.
THE VERDICT
DoorDash puts your restaurant in front of a large existing audience of people already browsing the app for food nearby. That reach comes at a cost: commission on every order it sends you — including the regulars you’ve already earned once.
Every DoorDash order is DoorDash’s customer first. The restaurant gets a first name, an order, and a commission bill, not a phone number or a way to bring that person back without paying for the introduction a second time.
Innowi takes a different approach: marketing support to help grow your own audience, paired with a flat per-order fee and 0% commission on direct orders. You’re not paying a percentage cut to reach the customers who already know you.
The takeaway is simple: don’t pay commission twice for a customer you already won. Move repeat orders to Innowi and keep the difference.
Innowi’s online ordering platform gives restaurants a branded, flat-fee direct ordering channel — zero commission, with customer data connected across ordering, POS, kiosk, and loyalty, so a DoorDash customer’s second order doesn’t have to happen on DoorDash.
Book a free consultation: innowi.com/products/ordering-channel-product
