Gig Driver Pay: DoorDash vs Uber Eats vs Skip
Every comparison compares gross pay. This one subtracts the car — at 61¢ a kilometre, the platform paying most on paper often isn't the one you keep most from.
EveryLastMile
Every comparison of Canadian delivery apps makes the same mistake. They compare what the platform pays you and stop there.
That’s the wrong number. The federal government’s own study puts the all-in cost of running a personal vehicle at 61 cents per kilometre. A courier covering 25 kilometres in an hour is spending $15.25 on the car before touching anything else — which can be most of the hour’s earnings.
So the honest answer to “which app pays more” is: it depends on your kilometres, and nobody publishes them.
What this guide does instead is give you the framework. How each platform pays, what the vehicle actually costs, and a sensitivity table showing where the ranking flips. Plus the two things that differentiate these platforms far more than gross pay does — insurance and GST/HST.
One finding up front: in a dense downtown core, a bike courier earning less gross frequently keeps more. Removing the vehicle entirely removes the largest cost in the business.
Key takeaways
- The government’s own figure for operating a personal vehicle is 61.0¢/km — ownership 43.5%, maintenance 20.6%, fuel 18.6%.
- No credible source publishes kilometres per delivery for any Canadian platform. Anyone quoting one is guessing. Use the sensitivity table below with your own data.
- Bicycle delivery removes essentially the entire cost base. Lower gross, often higher net.
- SkipTheDishes provides no accident or liability insurance. Uber Eats and DoorDash both do, with different scopes.
- Passenger ride-share requires GST/HST registration from the first dollar. All delivery uses the $30,000 threshold.
- BC’s floor is materially stronger than Ontario’s — $21.89/hour engaged time plus a per-kilometre allowance, versus Ontario’s engaged-time minimum with no distance allowance.
How each platform pays
DoorDash
Base pay + 100% of tips + promotions. Base pay runs $2 to $10+ per offer in Earn per Offer mode, set by estimated time, distance and desirability. It doesn’t change with the tip.
Promotions are Peak Pay, Challenges and Delivery Streaks. Offers show pay and both addresses before you accept.
Earn by Time mode is available in select Canadian cities: a guaranteed active hourly rate plus 100% of tips, with one decline or unassign permitted per hour before the dash ends.
Weekly direct deposit, arriving by Wednesday night. Fast Pay cashes out daily for $1.99. DoorDash Crimson replaced DasherDirect on April 1, 2025. Our DoorDash driver requirements guide covers signing up.
Uber Eats
Dropoff fee + pickup fee + per-kilometre + per-minute, minus a service fee, plus promotions and tips.
Upfront fares show the pickup, dropoff and a minimum earnings amount before you accept, with estimated tips included. A Trip Supplement bridges the gap between that guarantee and the calculated fare, and Uber’s Canadian documentation says supplements can reach an additional $12 in heavy traffic or when couriers are scarce.
Promotions are Boost, Quest and surge. Tips are 100% yours.
Weekly direct deposit plus Instant Pay. Our Uber Eats driver requirements guide covers the modes and eligibility.
SkipTheDishes
The least documented of the three, and structurally different.
Transit Pay — a base per order set by estimated distance and delivery time — plus 100% of tips, plus reimbursements for long restaurant waits and cancelled orders, plus zone promotions. You see complete earnings, both addresses and estimated distance before accepting.
Scheduling is shift-based, not on-demand. You set weekly availability and receive scheduled delivery runs, and can pick up open runs. That’s a real difference from Uber Eats.
Skip runs a priority system called Delivery Data: couriers with stronger stats get preference in schedule creation on a rolling 28-day window, and in order assignment. New couriers get a 14-day boost. Skip states that acceptance rate and customer ratings are not currently used for scheduling — contrary to a lot of forum advice.
Weekly direct deposit. Fast Cash instant cashout costs $1.99 per use where available. Our SkipTheDishes courier requirements guide covers the shift system, Delivery Data and the insurance gap in full.
Ownership note: Skip is Winnipeg-based and owned by Just Eat Takeaway, which Prosus fully acquired — settled October 21, 2025, with JET delisting from Euronext Amsterdam on November 17, 2025. The ultimate owner is now Prosus.
Amazon Flex and Instacart, briefly
Amazon Flex is block-based fixed pay, advertised at $22–27/hour, tips on grocery blocks only, four provinces only, 4-door car required. High kilometre intensity — long suburban routes. See the Amazon Flex driver requirements guide.
Instacart pays per batch with 100% of tips. The long in-store shopping time means low kilometres per dollar earned, which is favourable on a net basis even if the gross looks similar.
What drivers report earning
There is no audited Canadian per-platform hourly dataset. Everything below is self-reported and unaudited, and most of it is American.
| Source | Figure | Caveat |
|---|---|---|
| Gridwise 2025 (101,709 drivers) | Uber Eats median $14.07/hr trip pay; $15.03/hr with tips and promotions | US-weighted |
| Gridwise 2025 | DoorDash $12.43/hr gross active hour; base pay covers 42–43% of a typical payout | US-weighted |
| Gridwise 2025 | Uber Eats 1.70 deliveries/hour; DoorDash 1.51 | US-weighted |
| Glassdoor Canada | SkipTheDishes courier $14–$21/hour total | Machine estimate, unaudited |
| Canadian aggregators | Delivery drivers $20.06–$21.60/hour gross; $12–$18 net after expenses | Self-reported |
Treat every one of these as directional. The spread between $12.43 and $21.60 tells you how little any single figure is worth.
What the car actually costs
The National Joint Council’s Corporate Fleet Services 2026 Annual Report — the study the federal government uses to set its own reimbursement rates — puts the weighted average nationwide operating cost of a personal vehicle at $0.610 per kilometre, unrounded $0.606.
The breakdown matters, because it shows what you can and can’t control:
| Component | $/km | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Ownership — depreciation $0.180, interest $0.034, acquisition tax $0.049 | $0.263 | 43.5% |
| Maintenance — servicing, repairs, tires | $0.125 | 20.6% |
| Fuel | $0.113 | 18.6% |
| Insurance | $0.099 | — |
| Registration | $0.006 | — |
| Total | $0.606 → $0.610 |
Ownership is the biggest component, not fuel. Depreciation, financing and acquisition tax together are more than double what you spend on petrol. That’s why the vehicle you drive matters more than the price at the pump — and why a paid-off older car changes the economics entirely.
The study assumes 20,000 km a year across four vehicle classes, with a 2025 Toyota RAV4 LE AWD as the demographic base.
Your figure will differ. The NJC publishes separate rates by province, and fuel alone ranged from 12.4¢/km in Alberta to 20.5¢/km in Yukon in the May 2026 update. It also moves within a year — the February 2026 update cut rates by up to 1.0¢/km, and the May update raised them 2.5–3.5¢/km.
Use 61¢ as a starting point, then build your own from the CAA Driving Costs Calculator and your actual kilometres.
The calculation nobody runs
Here’s the honest position: no credible source publishes typical kilometres per delivery or per hour for any Canadian platform. Not the platforms, not the aggregators, not the government.
So rather than invent a figure, here’s the sensitivity. Gross pay of $18/hour, vehicle cost at 61¢/km:
| Kilometres per hour | Vehicle cost | Net before tax | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 km | −$9.15 | $8.85 | |
| 20 km | −$12.20 | $5.80 | |
| 25 km | −$15.25 | $2.75 | |
| 30 km | −$18.30 | −$0.30 | Break-even |
| 40 km | −$24.40 | −$6.40 | Losing money |
At $25/hour gross, the same exercise:
| Kilometres per hour | Net before tax |
|---|---|
| 15 km | $15.85 |
| 20 km | $12.80 |
| 25 km | $9.75 |
| 30 km | $6.70 |
| 40 km | $0.60 |
Read the tables, not the headline. A platform paying $25/hour at 40 km/hour nets $0.60 — less than one paying $18/hour at 15 km/hour, which nets $8.85. The kilometre intensity matters more than the advertised rate, and it’s the variable nobody discusses.
Kilometre intensity differs structurally by platform:
| Work type | Pattern | Effect on net |
|---|---|---|
| Food delivery (Uber Eats, DoorDash, Skip) | Short urban hops, moderate deadhead | Moderate |
| Grocery (Instacart) | Long in-store time, few kilometres per dollar | Favourable |
| Parcel (Amazon Flex) | Long suburban routes | Unfavourable |
| Passenger ride-share (Uber, Lyft) | Heavy unpaid deadhead to pickups | Worst |
Ride-share is the outlier on the wrong side: you drive to the passenger unpaid, then drive back toward demand unpaid. Our Uber driver requirements guide covers what else that side of the business demands.
The bicycle exception
Now remove the vehicle.
A bike courier’s cost base is maintenance, parts and tires — call it a dollar an hour, generously. There is no depreciation on a $600 bike comparable to a $30,000 car, no insurance premium, no fuel, no registration.
| Car courier | Bike courier | |
|---|---|---|
| Gross | $18.00/hour | $16.00/hour |
| Vehicle cost (20 km at 61¢) | −$12.20 | — |
| Bike maintenance | — | −$1.00 |
| Net before tax | $5.80 | $15.00 |
Lower gross. Nearly triple the net.
Illustrative figures, but the structure is real: the entire largest cost in the business disappears.
Where this works: dense downtown cores with short trips, heavy traffic, and expensive or scarce parking — exactly where a car is slowest anyway. Where it doesn’t: suburbs and small cities with long routes, and Canadian winters in most of the country.
Which platforms permit it: Uber Eats supports bike, scooter and on-foot delivery in eligible cities, at a lower minimum age — 18 to 19 rather than 21 for car. DoorDash permits bike and scooter in some larger cities. Skip permits bikes in select cities. Amazon Flex does not — 4-door car only.
If you’re in a downtown core and weighing platforms, the mode question matters more than the platform question.
Insurance: the difference nobody prices
Gross pay comparisons never mention this, and it’s worth real money.
| Platform | What’s provided |
|---|---|
| Uber Eats | Commercial auto (Economical/Definity) for cars during active delivery — $1M liability in Period 1, $2M in Periods 2–3, contingent collision with a $2,500 deductible. Plus Chubb Life accident cover for bike, scooter and on-foot couriers. |
| DoorDash | Excess third-party liability during active deliveries. Plus occupational accident insurance from March 1, 2026 — medical to $100,000 after a $50 deductible, income support to one year at 85% of average weekly earnings, max $500/week. Excludes BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, where workers’ compensation applies. |
| Amazon Flex | Northbridge commercial policy — Ontario only. |
| SkipTheDishes | None. Couriers must hold their own coverage; Skip’s contractor terms require a $1,000,000 third-party liability policy. |
That last row is the one to sit with. If you deliver for Skip and you’re injured or at fault, you’re on your own. Uber Eats is the only platform covering bike and on-foot couriers at all.
And in every case your personal auto policy almost certainly excludes delivery. You need a delivery endorsement or a commercial policy — in BC, a delivery rate class, since “pleasure use” doesn’t cover delivery for compensation at all. Our gig driver insurance guide covers the exclusion wording, the endorsement you need in each province, and what happens after a crash.
The tax layer
Two things differentiate platforms after tax. One is large.
GST/HST: ride-share versus delivery
All food and parcel delivery uses the $30,000 small supplier threshold. You register when your taxable revenue crosses it.
Passenger ride-share requires registration from the first dollar. The CRA’s guidance is explicit: the $30,000 threshold does not apply to commercial ride-sharing, a rule in force since July 1, 2017.
What that means in practice at $25,000 of income:
| Delivery courier | Ride-share driver | |
|---|---|---|
| GST/HST registration | Not required | Required from day one |
| Tax collected and remitted on earnings | $0 | On every fare |
| Filing obligation | None | Returns, from the start |
That’s an administrative burden and a cash-flow difference the gross-pay comparisons never capture. If you’re weighing UberX against Uber Eats, this belongs in the calculation. Our GST/HST filing deadlines guide covers registration and the Quick Method.
Do both and the ride-share rule wins — and once registered, GST/HST applies across your commercial activities, including delivery.
Everything else is identical
The vehicle deduction is the same on every platform: actual costs × business-use percentage on line 9281 of Form T2125. There’s no per-kilometre method in Canada — the 73¢/67¢ figure is an employer reimbursement ceiling under section 7306 of the Income Tax Regulations, and our CRA mileage rate guide explains who it’s for.
But the size of that deduction differs, because kilometre intensity does. The high-kilometre platform costs you more and deducts you more. Our T2125 vehicle expenses guide works through the calculation.
CPP applies identically — 11.90% self-employed for 2026 on income above $3,500 to the $74,600 YMPE, plus CPP2 at 8.00% to $85,000, combined maximum $9,292.90. File by June 15, pay by April 30; our self-employed tax deadlines guide covers instalments.
All platforms report to the CRA under Part XX, with your income information filed by January 31.
See our Uber driver tax deductions guide for the full deduction list by T2125 line.
Labour floors: BC and Ontario differ more than you’d think
British Columbia has the stronger regime. Under the Online Platform Workers Regulation, the engaged-time minimum wage is $21.89/hour as of June 1, 2026, plus a distance allowance on top of wages and tips: $0.35/km for delivery and $0.45/km for ride-hail. That allowance doesn’t count toward the minimum.
Ontario’s Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act, in force July 1, 2025, guarantees minimum wage for each work assignment — engaged time only, exclusive of tips — plus recurring pay periods, tip protection, two weeks’ written notice before suspensions of 24 hours or more, and dispute resolution in Ontario. The general minimum wage rises to $17.95 on October 1, 2026.
No distance allowance in Ontario. That’s the material gap.
| BC | Ontario | Everywhere else | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engaged-time floor | $21.89/hr | Provincial minimum ($17.95 from Oct 2026) | None |
| Distance allowance | $0.35/km delivery, $0.45/km ride-hail | None | None |
| Effect on platform ranking | Narrows differences; raises the floor | Modest | Gross minus vehicle cost decides |
Practical read: in BC the distance allowance partly compensates for kilometre intensity, so the high-kilometre platforms are less punishing. In Ontario and elsewhere, kilometre intensity is entirely your problem.
Neither framework makes you an employee for tax purposes. You’re still self-employed, still filing a T2125.
Worth noting the arithmetic: BC’s $0.35/km delivery allowance covers 57% of the 61¢/km the car actually costs.
The platforms side by side
| Uber Eats | DoorDash | SkipTheDishes | Amazon Flex | Instacart | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pay model | Base + promos + tips | Base + Peak Pay + tips | Transit Pay + tips | Fixed block rate | Batch + tips |
| See pay first | Yes, upfront fares | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Scheduling | On demand | On demand or scheduled | Shift/run-based | Blocks | On demand |
| Minimum age | 21 car, 18–19 bike | 18 | 18 (19 for alcohol) | 19 | — |
| Vehicle | 2-door OK | Any car | Car or bike | 4-door only | Car |
| Bike allowed | Yes | Yes, some cities | Yes, select cities | No | No |
| Platform insurance | Commercial auto + bike accident cover | Excess liability + occupational accident (excl. BC/SK/MB) | None | Ontario only | — |
| Kilometre intensity | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | High | Low |
| Instant payout | Instant Pay | Fast Pay $1.99 | Fast Cash $1.99 | — | — |
| Coverage | Broadest | Broad | Broad | 4 provinces | Broad |
Which platform suits which driver
Dense downtown, willing to cycle → Uber Eats bike delivery. Highest net by a wide margin, plus it’s the only platform with accident cover for bike couriers. DoorDash bike where available.
Older, paid-off, fuel-efficient car → DoorDash or Uber Eats food delivery. Your ownership cost — the 43.5% component — is largely already sunk, so the per-kilometre figure is genuinely lower for you than the $0.610 average.
Newer financed vehicle → avoid the high-kilometre platforms. Amazon Flex and passenger ride-share will consume the deduction and then some. Ownership cost at 26.3¢/km is the dominant term and it doesn’t fall with careful driving.
Suburban or small city → DoorDash for volume, or Amazon Flex for a guaranteed block rate. Distances are long everywhere, so the guaranteed rate has real value.
Want predictable hours → Amazon Flex blocks or SkipTheDishes runs. Both schedule in advance.
Want maximum flexibility → Uber Eats. Purely on demand.
Student with limited hours → Uber Eats bike or Skip shifts. If you’re on a study permit, note the 24-hour weekly cap counts self-employment.
In BC → the engaged-time floor plus distance allowance narrows the gap between platforms considerably. The comparison matters less than it does elsewhere.
Doing ride-share and delivery → understand that the passenger side triggers GST/HST registration for everything.
Six things the comparisons get wrong
- Comparing gross, never net. The car can consume most of an hour’s earnings.
- Using US data for Canadian readers. Gridwise’s figures are US-weighted; the US mileage rate doesn’t exist here.
- Ignoring vehicle operating cost entirely. It’s the largest expense in the business.
- Ignoring the GST/HST split between ride-share and delivery.
- Ignoring insurance differences. Skip provides none; ride-share coverage costs more.
- Treating all delivery as equivalent when kilometre intensity varies by a factor of two or more between grocery, food and parcel.
The number that decides everything
Which platform pays best, whether the job is worth doing, and how large your tax deduction is — all three come down to kilometres per dollar earned. No platform reports it, and you can’t reconstruct it after the fact.
EveryLastMile, an iOS mileage tracking app, records every drive on-device using your iPhone’s motion and location sensors, so trips are captured whether or not you remembered to start anything. Each is classified business or personal from rules you set once, which produces the ratio rather than just the numerator, and a CSV export hands the whole year to your accountant. Your location history never leaves your phone.
Our free CRA mileage log template covers the four fields the CRA requires if you’d rather do it on paper.
Frequently asked questions
Which delivery app pays the most in Canada?
On gross pay there's no reliable winner — the published figures are self-reported and overlap heavily. On net pay, the answer depends on your kilometres per hour, which no platform publishes. At 61¢/km, a platform paying $25 an hour at 40 km/hour nets less than one paying $18 at 15 km/hour.
Is DoorDash or Uber Eats better in Canada?
They're structurally similar. Uber Eats supports bike, scooter and on-foot delivery with accident cover for those couriers; DoorDash offers occupational accident insurance for car Dashers but excludes BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Choose on mode and insurance rather than headline pay.
Does SkipTheDishes pay more than DoorDash?
No reliable comparison exists — Glassdoor estimates Skip couriers at $14–$21 an hour, unaudited. The bigger difference is that Skip is shift-based rather than on-demand, and provides no insurance.
How much do delivery drivers make in Canada per hour?
Canadian aggregators suggest $20–$22 gross while actively delivering, netting $12–$18 after expenses. All self-reported. Your net depends on your vehicle and your kilometres.
Uber Eats or Uber ride-share — which pays more?
Ride-share typically pays more per hour gross but carries heavier unpaid deadhead kilometres, more expensive commercial insurance, commercial licensing in BC and Alberta, and mandatory GST/HST registration from the first dollar. Delivery is lower gross with a lower cost base.
Which app is best for bicycle delivery in Canada?
Uber Eats — it supports bike, scooter and on-foot delivery in eligible cities at a lower minimum age, and it's the only platform providing accident insurance to non-car couriers. DoorDash permits bikes in some larger cities.
Is bike delivery actually more profitable?
In dense downtown cores, often yes. A bike courier avoids essentially the entire vehicle operating cost, so lower gross earnings can produce substantially higher net pay. In suburban markets with long routes, a bike isn't practical.
How much does it cost to operate my car per kilometre?
The National Joint Council puts the weighted average at 61.0¢/km — ownership 43.5%, maintenance 20.6%, fuel 18.6%. Your figure varies by province and vehicle; fuel alone ranged from 12.4¢/km in Alberta to 20.5¢/km in Yukon in 2026.
Does SkipTheDishes provide insurance for couriers?
No. Skip provides no accident or liability coverage, and its contractor terms require couriers to hold their own $1,000,000 third-party liability policy.
Amazon Flex vs DoorDash — which pays more?
Flex advertises $22–27/hour with predictable blocks, but routes are long and kilometre intensity is high, so more of it goes to the car. DoorDash offers shorter urban trips and bike options in some cities. Flex also operates in only four provinces.
Instacart vs DoorDash — which is better in Canada?
Instacart's long in-store shopping time means fewer kilometres per dollar earned, which is favourable on a net basis. DoorDash pays per delivery with more driving. If your vehicle cost is high, the grocery model treats you better.
What is the minimum wage for gig workers in BC?
$21.89 per hour of engaged time as of June 1, 2026, plus a distance allowance of at least $0.35/km for delivery and $0.45/km for ride-hail, paid on top of wages and tips.
Does Ontario have a minimum wage for gig workers?
Yes, under the Digital Platform Workers' Rights Act in force since July 1, 2025 — the general minimum wage for each work assignment, engaged time only. Unlike BC, there's no distance allowance.
Can you make a living doing food delivery in Canada?
It depends almost entirely on your vehicle cost and kilometre intensity. A bike courier in a dense core, or a driver with an older paid-off car, can do reasonably. A driver with a newer financed vehicle covering long distances often can't, once the true cost is subtracted.
Should I multi-app across DoorDash, Uber Eats and Skip?
Many couriers do, and it's a rational response to order density varying by time and place. Note that Skip's shift-based scheduling makes it harder to combine than the on-demand platforms, and running two apps at once doesn't halve your kilometres.