How Much Does DoorDash Cost Restaurants in Australia? (2026)

The headline: tiered commission, commonly cited at 15 to 35%

DoorDash prices its Australian restaurant partners on a tiered model. DoorDash commission is commonly cited in roughly the 15 to 35% range, with the rate depending on which plan you choose and how much visibility you want inside the app. The lower end usually buys a basic listing, while the higher end buys more promotion and reach.

As always, treat those numbers as reported ranges rather than a quote. Plans and pricing change, and the only figure that matters for your venue is the one in your own merchant agreement. What is consistent is that even the lowest DoorDash tier is many times higher than what a direct ordering channel costs.

On a $30 order, a tier at the lower end of around 15% is about $4.50 to DoorDash, while a higher tier near 30% is about $9. That is before you have paid for ingredients, staff, rent, or power.

How DoorDash's pricing is structured

The tier you pick

The defining feature of DoorDash pricing is the tier. A higher commission generally buys more visibility and marketing reach in the app, while a lower commission means a more basic presence. The trade-off is real: pay less and fewer new customers may find you; pay more and the commission eats further into each order. Work out whether the extra reach genuinely brings incremental orders before committing to a higher tier.

Promotions and advertising

On top of the plan commission, DoorDash typically offers promotions and in-app advertising as additional paid options. These can stack on top of your tier, so a venue running ads on a mid tier can end up with an effective rate well above the headline commission.

Refunds and cancellations

When an order is wrong, missing, or cancelled, restaurants often absorb part or all of the cost. The detail depends on your agreement, but it is a genuine expense that the headline commission figure does not capture.

The customer relationship

Like every marketplace, DoorDash largely owns the customer. You generally do not get customer contact details or full ordering history, which makes repeat marketing and loyalty difficult. That lost relationship is a strategic cost on top of the commission.

Real dollar impact on an average Australian restaurant

Here is an illustrative example. These figures are assumptions to show the shape of the maths, not a quote for your venue. Say a restaurant does $5,000 per week through DoorDash. We will model a mid tier at an illustrative 25%.

Cost item (illustrative)	Weekly	Annual
Base commission (~25% mid tier)	$1,250	$65,000
Promotions and ads (~4%, if used)	$200	$10,400
Refund deductions (~2%, illustrative)	$100	$5,200
Total cost to DoorDash	$1,550	$80,600

In this illustrative scenario, that is around 31% of DoorDash revenue once you add promotion and refunds on top of a mid-tier commission. On the 5 to 10% net margins typical in hospitality, that can wipe out the profit on every order. Pick a lower tier and the base cost falls, but so does your visibility. Run these numbers with the actual rate in your agreement.

The margin maths that matters

On a $30 order at an 8% net margin, your profit is about $2.40 before any platform takes a cut. A mid-tier DoorDash commission near 25% is about $7.50 on that order, several times your entire margin. Even a lower tier around 15%, at roughly $4.50, exceeds the profit on that order.

This is the same trap as every delivery marketplace: the commission comes off the top of revenue while your profit is a thin sliver at the bottom. The platform only pays off if it brings you genuinely additional orders you would not otherwise have won, and for many independent venues, much of the volume is demand that would have come direct anyway.

The alternative: a direct ordering channel

The smart structure for most independent venues is to use DoorDash for delivery only, where you actually need its driver network, and move dine-in and pickup orders to a channel you own.

A customer at your table or collecting at your counter does not need a delivery driver, so there is little reason to pay a double-digit commission on those orders. A direct ordering page like Windsor Digital costs around 2% per transaction with no monthly fee. On $5,000 per week, that is about $100, compared with the $1,250 or more in the illustrative mid-tier example above.

A side-by-side comparison

	DoorDash (reported)	Windsor Digital
Commission	~15 to 35% tiered (verify your agreement)	2%
Monthly fee	Varies by plan	$0
Setup fee	$0	$0
Customer data	Platform owns it	You own it
Your branding	Minimal	Your name, your logo
Delivery included	Yes	No (dine-in + pickup)

DoorDash earns its place when you need delivery logistics and the reach of a large app. For dine-in and pickup, a direct channel keeps far more of each dollar with you. For more on how the marketplaces stack up, see what UberEats really costs and how to reduce delivery commission.

The bottom line

DoorDash uses a tiered commission model commonly cited at roughly 15 to 35% in Australia, plus optional promotions and absorbed refunds. The figure that matters is the tier in your own merchant agreement, and even the lowest tier is heavy on thin hospitality margins.

For delivery, it may be worth it. For dine-in and pickup, a direct ordering channel at around 2% keeps the revenue with your restaurant, where it belongs.