Cost & Pricing
Uber Eats Alternative for UK Restaurants: The Real Cost of 30% Commission
Every restaurant owner in the UK knows Uber Eats and Deliveroo cost a lot. Most cannot tell you exactly how much. This article does the maths once, properly, with the current 2026 commission rates and Stripe processing fees. By the end you will know what your real take-home is on a £15 order via each channel, what an Uber Eats alternative looks like for an independent restaurant, and where the maths starts to favour switching.
What you actually pay Uber Eats, Deliveroo, and Just Eat in 2026
Listing-platform commission in the UK lands at around 30% before VAT for most independent restaurants. There is variation: marketplace-only is closer to 14%, full-service (their drivers, their delivery) is 30% to 35%. New onboarding offers regularly include 0% for the first 30 days or a flat-fee period, but the long-run rate is the relevant number.
On top of commission, the customer pays a delivery fee and a service fee. Those do not go to you. Stripe-style processing fees are baked into the marketplace number, so on Uber Eats you do not pay them separately. If you accept the customer call yourself and use marketplace-only, you pay Stripe (or equivalent) on the order on top of the lower commission.
| Channel | Commission to platform | Payment processing | Total deduction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uber Eats (full service) | 30% | Bundled | 30% |
| Deliveroo (full service) | 30% to 35% | Bundled | 30% to 35% |
| Just Eat (orders only, own delivery) | 14% to 16% | +2.9% + 25p | 17% to 19% |
| Your own app via Aexir | 0% | 1.5% + 20p (Stripe) | roughly 1.5% + 30p |
A £15 order, four ways
Lets walk a single £15 order through the four channels above to see what hits your bank account.
On Uber Eats
- Customer pays £15 + £2.99 delivery + service fee.
- Uber Eats takes 30% commission: £4.50.
- Card processing: bundled, zero extra to you.
- You receive £10.50.
On Deliveroo (35% tier)
- Customer pays £15 + delivery and service.
- Deliveroo takes 35%: £5.25.
- You receive £9.75.
On Just Eat (15% marketplace, own delivery)
- Just Eat takes 15%: £2.25.
- Stripe-equivalent processing on the order: about £0.65.
- You receive £12.10.
On your own Aexir-built app
- Stripe takes 1.5% + 20p: £0.43.
- Aexir 10p per-order platform fee: £0.10.
- You receive £14.47.
Scaling to a year: this is where it gets painful
Most independent UK restaurants do somewhere between 30 and 120 orders per day across all channels. Lets take a middle case: 50 orders per day, £15 average ticket, 60% of which currently go through a listing platform at 30%. That is 30 orders per day, 10,950 orders per year, with 30% taken off the top.
| Order volume | Annual revenue | Annual commission to Uber Eats/Deliveroo at 30% | Annual fees on the same volume via own app |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 orders/day at £15 | £54,750 | £16,425 | £712 |
| 30 orders/day at £15 | £164,250 | £49,275 | £2,136 |
| 50 orders/day at £15 | £273,750 | £82,125 | £3,561 |
| 100 orders/day at £15 | £547,500 | £164,250 | £7,122 |
Aexir column: Stripe (1.5% + 20p) plus Aexir 10p per order. No subscription baked in; the £31 per month subscription is fixed regardless of volume.
The gap is staggering. A restaurant doing 50 orders per day pays Uber Eats roughly £78,000 more per year than it would pay Aexir for the same revenue. Even after the £31 per month subscription and the £399 one-time setup, the saving runs to roughly £77,500 in year one.
Reality check: most restaurants will not move 100% of orders to their own app on day one. A realistic year-one shift is 40% to 60%. The savings on the moved portion are still life-changing.
Why restaurants stay on Uber Eats anyway
Knowing the maths is not the same as switching. Three real reasons restaurants stay on listing platforms even when the numbers do not work.
- Customer acquisition. Uber Eats and Deliveroo bring new customers who would never have found you. For new openings or quiet locations, this is genuine value.
- No tech ownership cost. If your app goes down on a Friday night you have to fix it. On Uber Eats it is their problem.
- Lock-in by habit. Customers who order from you on Uber Eats once will keep ordering on Uber Eats unless you actively redirect them.
All three are real. None of them justify paying 30% on every order forever. The right strategy is hybrid: use listing platforms as a paid-acquisition channel, then convert customers to your own app with loyalty rewards, smaller delivery fees, and faster service.
How to actually switch (the 90-day plan)
- Month 1: Launch your own app via a builder like Aexir. Do not change anything on Uber Eats or Deliveroo. Get the app live, tested, and stable.
- Month 2: Push the app to existing customers. Receipt inserts, table QR codes, Instagram link, "10% off your first order via our app" promo. Goal: 20% to 30% of orders on your own app by end of month two.
- Month 3: Adjust delivery fees and minimum order on listing platforms slightly upward; keep your own app the cheaper option. Add a stamp loyalty tier. Goal: 50% on your own app by end of month three.
- Month 4 onwards: Most restaurants reach 60% to 80% own-app share within six to twelve months. The remaining 20% to 40% on listing platforms become your paid-acquisition budget. Many restaurants eventually drop one platform entirely.
Stop renting your customers from Uber Eats.
Aexir gives you your own branded ordering app in under 30 days. Zero commission, from £1/day.
Start onboardingCommon questions answered.
Uber Eats charges UK restaurants 30% commission on full-service orders (using Uber drivers). Marketplace-only orders, where you handle delivery, are charged at around 14% to 16%. New restaurants often get a 0% introductory period.
The strongest alternative is your own branded ordering app. White-label builders like Aexir launch fully branded iOS, Android, and web ordering for £31 per month plus 10p per order. You pay no commission, you own the customer relationship, and the maths starts beating listing platforms after 10 to 20 orders per day.
Yes, and most successful restaurants do. The standard strategy is to keep Uber Eats and Deliveroo as paid customer-acquisition channels, then convert those customers to your own app with loyalty rewards and lower delivery fees. Most restaurants hit 50% own-app share within 3 months and 80% within a year.
For a typical UK restaurant doing 30 orders per day, Aexir pays for itself within the first week of orders. The £399 setup and £31 per month subscription are offset by the savings on roughly two days of typical order volume, every month.
Yes, when there is a clear reason. Loyalty stamps, points discounts, and exclusive offers are the proven drivers. Most Aexir restaurants see 30% to 50% of their regular customers install the app within the first 60 days post-launch.
Build your own restaurant app.
Aexir launches branded ordering apps for UK restaurants in under 30 days. Zero commission. From £1/day.