Best Food Delivery App In The Uk: Which One's Right For You In 2026

01 — The verdictThe 30-second answer

Quick comparison: the UK's main food delivery apps

If you want the fast answer before reading the details, here is how the leading UK food delivery apps compare in 2026.

The UK's food delivery apps, ranked

Deliveroo

Deliveroo is a British company, founded in London in 2013, and remains one of the most recognised food delivery apps in the UK. It has grown well beyond restaurant delivery: alongside thousands of independent restaurants and major chains, Deliveroo now delivers groceries from Waitrose, ASDA, Morrisons, M&S, Sainsbury's, Co-op, Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods, and several other supermarkets, plus everyday essentials from Boots, B&Q, and Screwfix. For the person ordering, that breadth means one app increasingly covers dinner, a missing ingredient, and a last-minute pharmacy run in the same evening, which is part of what separates Deliveroo from a pure takeaway app, it has positioned itself as a general on-demand delivery platform with food as its core.

Who it is genuinely best for: Customers who want the widest combination of restaurant variety and grocery delivery in one app, and who live in a city or large town where Deliveroo's rider density is high. Deliveroo's live order tracking, from kitchen to doorstep, is consistently rated among the most reliable in the UK market.

Fees: Delivery fees are dynamic and distance-based, starting as low as £1.49 for nearby restaurants and rising with distance. A service fee of 5% of the basket value applies, with a minimum of 49p per order, charged to support platform operations and customer support. Deliveroo Plus, the subscription tier, removes delivery fees entirely on eligible orders and provides 10% back on restaurant orders over £30 for Plus Gold members, along with discounted service fees.

Where it falls short: Subscriptions do not transfer between countries, a known frustration among users who sign up while travelling and continue being charged in a country where the benefits no longer apply. Delivery times have also lengthened in some markets as rider availability tightens during peak hours, occasionally pushing food quality down on longer routes.

Just Eat

Just Eat is the original UK food delivery pioneer, founded in 2001 and now operating in over 20 countries. Within the UK, it has built its reputation primarily around independent local takeaways rather than chain restaurants, giving it the deepest network of small, family-run kitchens of any major platform. As of 2025, Just Eat charges no fee to join the platform, which has historically made it the easiest entry point for small independent restaurants and, for customers, the app most likely to have their favourite local curry house or chippy listed at all.

Who it is genuinely best for: Customers in smaller towns and suburban areas where independent takeaways outnumber chain restaurants, and anyone specifically looking for a local curry house, fish and chip shop, or family-run kitchen that may not be listed on Deliveroo or Uber Eats.

Fees for restaurants: Just Eat's own partner FAQ states a 14% commission plus VAT per order when the restaurant handles its own delivery, rising to 30% plus VAT when Just Eat handles delivery. On a £20 order delivered by the restaurant, that works out to £3.36 in commission and VAT. On the same order delivered by Just Eat, it rises to £7.20. Many restaurant partners also pay a separate monthly access fee, typically £25-£50 plus VAT, on top of the per-order commission.

Where it falls short: As a pure aggregator, Just Eat offers no way for a restaurant to differentiate itself from the dozens of competing listings in the same search results. Restaurants also report being caught out by optional add-ons, featured placement fees, promotional discount costs the restaurant ends up subsidising, and refund deductions when orders go wrong, even when the fault sits with the delivery rider rather than the kitchen.

Uber Eats

Uber Eats benefits from the brand recognition and existing user base of its parent company. It holds approximately 27% of the UK food ordering and delivery market and integrates with Uber's ride-sharing service, which gives it a built-in advantage among existing Uber users who already trust the app for transport. Coverage spans more than 40 towns and cities across the UK, with a restaurant mix that skews more heavily toward national chains than Just Eat's independent-first network.

Who it is genuinely best for: Existing Uber riders who want a single app for both transport and food, and customers who specifically want fast access to large chain restaurants. The Uber One subscription, which bundles ride and delivery discounts, is genuinely useful for people who already use Uber regularly for both.

Fees: Delivery fees are distance-based and vary by city. Service fees apply on top, varying by market and restaurant. Uber One provides discounted or free delivery on eligible orders and reduced service fees, with the added benefit of carrying over to ride-share discounts on the same subscription.

Where it falls short: Restaurant selection is narrower outside major UK cities, and the platform's chain-heavy mix means independent restaurant variety in smaller towns often lags behind Just Eat. Outside the roughly 40 covered towns and cities, Uber Eats simply isn't available.

Foodhub

Foodhub takes a fundamentally different approach from the three platforms above. Foodhub operates a 0% commission policy for restaurants, customers pay the same prices as if they were ordering directly from the restaurant, with no extra delivery charges, just a small marketplace fee added to the order. It covers over 30,000 takeaways and restaurants, concentrated in select UK cities rather than nationwide.

Who it is genuinely best for: Customers who want to support an independent local takeaway without inflating the price through platform commission, and restaurant owners specifically looking for an aggregator that does not eat into their margin the way Just Eat, Deliveroo, or Uber Eats do. Foodhub is the rare example of a major aggregator built around restaurant economics rather than platform revenue maximisation, which for the customer often means a noticeably lower bill for the exact same meal.

Fees: No commission charged to restaurants. Customers pay a small marketplace fee per order rather than the stacked delivery and service fees common on other platforms.

Where it falls short: Coverage is significantly narrower than the big three. Foodhub is not available nationwide, and restaurant selection in any given area will typically be smaller than what Deliveroo or Just Eat offer in the same postcode.

DoorDash in the UK: what's actually true

A growing number of searches ask whether DoorDash operates in the UK, and the honest answer requires some nuance that most articles get wrong.

DoorDash does not operate under its own brand in the United Kingdom. There is no standalone DoorDash app for UK customers to download, and no UK restaurant signs a direct DoorDash merchant agreement the way a US restaurant would. DoorDash's UK presence exists entirely through its 2025 acquisition of Deliveroo, completed for approximately $3.9 billion. Through that acquisition, DoorDash gained access to the UK market, alongside Ireland, France, Italy, Belgium, the UAE, Kuwait, and Qatar, but the customer-facing brand in all of these markets remains Deliveroo, not DoorDash.

For UK customers and restaurant owners evaluating their options, this means DoorDash's strategy, technology, and balance sheet now sit behind Deliveroo's operations, but the app you open, the prices you see, and the way a restaurant signs up all remain entirely Deliveroo for the foreseeable future. Anyone searching for a DoorDash UK app, DoorDash UK delivery, or how to sign up for DoorDash as a UK restaurant should look at Deliveroo's merchant terms directly, since that is the actual platform involved.

London food delivery: does the app matter more in the capital?

London is the densest and most competitive food delivery market in the UK, and the choice of app matters more here than almost anywhere else in England.

All four major platforms, Deliveroo, Just Eat, Uber Eats, and Foodhub, operate extensively in London, but restaurant variety, delivery speed, and rider availability differ meaningfully by borough and even by postcode. Central London and zones with high restaurant density typically see delivery times of 25-35 minutes across all platforms during normal hours, with delays during peak Friday and Saturday evening demand pushing this to 45-60 minutes regardless of which app is used.

For food delivery in London specifically, Deliveroo's grocery integration with Waitrose, M&S, and Whole Foods gives it a practical edge for customers who want to combine a restaurant order with a few grocery items in a single delivery, a use case that is more relevant in London than in most of the rest of England simply because of how many premium grocery partners are concentrated in the capital.

Outside London, across the rest of England, coverage becomes more uneven. Just Eat's independent-restaurant-first model tends to perform best in mid-sized towns and suburban areas where chain restaurant density is lower. Uber Eats coverage is limited to its roughly 40 covered towns and cities, meaning smaller towns across England may have access to Just Eat and Deliveroo but not Uber Eats at all. Anyone searching specifically for delivery in England outside the major cities should check restaurant count in their own postcode on each app before assuming national coverage claims apply locally, coverage density in rural and small-town England varies significantly between platforms.

Which app is right for you: five scenarios

You live in a major UK city and want maximum restaurant choice. Use Deliveroo or Uber Eats. Deliveroo edges ahead on combined restaurant and grocery variety; Uber Eats is the better choice if you're already an Uber user and want the subscription to cover both.

You're ordering from a small independent takeaway in a town outside a major city. Use Just Eat first. Its independent-restaurant network is the deepest of any major platform, and Foodhub is worth checking second if it's available in your area, its 0% commission model often means slightly lower prices for the same food.

You want to minimise what you're paying above the menu price. Use Foodhub where available. With no restaurant commission baked into pricing and only a small marketplace fee, it is consistently the cheapest of the four for the same order compared across platforms.

You order food delivery frequently and want a subscription that pays for itself. Deliveroo Plus or Uber One both make sense if you order two or more times per week. Deliveroo Plus is the stronger choice if grocery delivery is part of your regular order mix; Uber One is stronger if you also use Uber for rides.

You're outside a major city and unsure what's even available. Check Just Eat first, since it has the widest geographic spread across English towns, then Deliveroo. Uber Eats and Foodhub have the narrowest coverage outside major metro areas, so confirm availability in your specific postcode before assuming either is an option.

What these apps cost UK restaurants

Every major UK food delivery platform charges a meaningful share of restaurant revenue, and the structures differ enough to matter, both for the restaurant and, indirectly, for the customer footing part of that bill in higher menu prices and added fees.

Just Eat charges 14% commission plus VAT when a restaurant delivers its own orders, rising to 30% plus VAT when Just Eat handles delivery. Deliveroo's restaurant-facing commission typically runs in a similar 20-30% range depending on the contract and service level, on top of the customer-facing 5% service fee that does not flow to the restaurant. Uber Eats operates on a comparable commission structure. Foodhub is the clear outlier among the four, charging 0% commission to restaurants and recovering its revenue through the small customer-facing marketplace fee instead.

For a restaurant generating £4,000 a month through a standard aggregator contract, the commission alone typically represents £600-£1,200 of that revenue before VAT, payment processing, and any optional promotional spend are added. Some of that cost inevitably shows up in what the customer pays too: customers typically pay an additional £3-£7 per order in combined service, delivery, and small-order fees on the major aggregators, which inflates the effective price of the meal without any of that extra money reaching the restaurant.

For restaurant owners weighing whether to commission a full custom build from a food ordering app development company or use an existing white-label platform, the comparison usually comes down to what changes for the customer either way. A diner ordering through a restaurant's own branded site still gets the same menu, the same kitchen, and often a faster, simpler checkout, while the restaurant keeps more of every order to reinvest in the food and service that brought that customer back in the first place. The restaurant owners who navigate this most effectively tend to treat the major aggregators as a discovery channel for new customers, while building a direct white label restaurant online ordering site for the regulars who already know the business and would rather order straight from a familiar checkout than search a crowded marketplace each time.

For an independent UK takeaway, a meaningful share of aggregator orders typically come from existing regulars rather than genuinely new customers, and those are the orders where commission is being paid for traffic the restaurant already had, traffic that could just as easily be served through an on demand delivery solutions channel the restaurant owns, with no change in the food or the service the customer actually came for.

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