How Much Does It Cost to Create a Food Delivery App Like DoorDash?
The food delivery industry is booming thanks to the convenience of apps like Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Deliveroo. These apps bring thousands of jobs into the system, while the customer can get their favorite meals right to their doorstep with a few taps. Statista predicts that the global online food delivery market will reach a staggering $1.89 trillion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 7.83% from 2025 to 2029. In the U.S. alone, DoorDash has more than 50% of the market share, while Uber Eats remains the most popular food delivery app globally.
As the demand continues to grow, more and more businesses are eager to enter this booming market and are starting to think about building their own version of such an app. But building a food delivery app is not a one-size-fits-all process—development costs can vary greatly depending on the complexity of the platform, its features, team location, and other factors. Whether you're launching a simple solution for a local restaurant or a full-scale competitor for large companies, understanding the cost factors is crucial.
This blog post is dedicated to the key elements influencing the cost of developing a food delivery app, its main features, and its types. Let's find out.
Features of food-ordering app
Every successful app offers something unique - special features designed to enhance the user experience and meet the specific needs of its audience. In our previous posts, we've broken down the development costs of apps like Booking, Skyscanner, Duolingo, and others, highlighting what makes them work.
However, when developing a platform like DoorDash, the challenge - and opportunity - lies in its multi-party structure. Unlike a typical single-user application, DoorDash requires three different user interfaces that need to be brought together in sync:
The consumer side is where users browse restaurants, place orders, and track delivery.
The restaurant side is where salespeople manage incoming orders, update menus, and coordinate preparations.
The delivery side is where dashers (as couriers) receive orders, plan routes, and make deliveries.
Along with these 3 interfaces, you need to create an administrative panel where the platform owner can control all operations - manage users, track orders, analyze efficiency, and solve problems.
This means that you're not just building one app—you're building three interconnected apps, each with its own functionality and design features. This multi-tiered architecture significantly affects the overall cost and complexity of development.
When launching a food delivery app like DoorDash, you can prioritize key features early to manage costs and focus on user needs, then gradually add more advanced features as your app grows. Below is an example list of features from the DoorDash repository, each designed to improve the consumer, restaurant, and delivery driver experience:
Search & Filter: Consumers should be able to search and filter features to find eateries quickly.
Basic ordering and payment integration: Users can browse restaurant menus, select dishes, and pay securely within the app for a seamless checkout experience. Restaurants and drivers with this feature can see the progress of the order, payment status, and payment method.
User registration and profile management: This feature allows users to register, log in, and set up profiles with data such as delivery addresses and preferences for a personalized experience. For dashers it is an opportunity to see the order and a clientʼs location. Restaurants can also see the status of orders and update their menus.
Real-time order tracking: This feature offers updates on order progress, from preparation in the kitchen to delivery to the door, with map-based tracking for transparency.
Push Notifications: Users and dashers can receive real-time notifications on order status, special offers, or new restaurants to stay updated.
Advanced reports and analytics: Provides detailed insights into sales, customer behavior, and delivery trends, allowing restaurants and administrators to make more informed business decisions.
Multiple payment methods: For convenience of all users the app should support multiple payment methods, including cards, digital wallets, and cash.
Loyalty programs: To enhance customer loyalty, this feature allows to reward repeat orders with points, discounts, or special deals.
Personalized recommendations: This feature provides customized recommendations, such as dish combinations or local specials, to increase the user's choice.
Reviews and ratings: This feature allows users to rate restaurants and dishes, allowing others to make informed choices. The feature is useful not only for users but also for establishments that receive feedback to improve their service and offerings and dashers who can improve their rating and receive additional tips.
Factors that affect the cost of the app
Launching a food delivery app is an individual journey, the scope and cost of which depends on your vision, choice of features, and budget. Whether it’s a small MVP (Minimum Viable Product) or a super advanced, feature-packed app, your choices (what features you want, how you build it, what tech you use, etc.) will directly affect how much it costs:
1. Development Team
One of the main factors affecting the total cost of developing a food delivery app is the location and type of development team you choose. Each option has its own advantages, disadvantages, and pricing structure. Here are some of them:
Freelancers
Freelancers are ideal if you want to develop a minimum viable product (MVP) quickly and on a limited budget. This is often the cheapest way but also the riskiest. Managing freelancers can be challenging, they often fail to meet deadlines, and may not be entirely reliable, especially when dealing with sensitive business information. However, for small applications or initial proof-of-concept testing, they can be a financially viable option.
Outsourcing
Outsourcing your project to a specialized app development company is a balanced option between cost and expertise. It offers access to experienced developers, reduces the hassle of recruiting, and provides structured workflows and support. This option allows you to work with teams around the world - often at lower rates than hiring in-house staff. For example, hourly rates in North America and Western Europe typically range from $75 to $125 per hour, while developers in Asia and Eastern Europe can offer much more competitive rates of comparable quality. Before signing any contracts, be sure to carefully evaluate the company's portfolio, communication practices, and transparency.
In-house development team
Hiring an in-house team means hiring full-time professionals such as UI/UX designers, front- and back-end developers, iOS/Android specialists, architects, and QA testers. While this gives you complete control over the process, it also comes with significant costs, including hiring, onboarding, salaries, benefits, and time spent managing the team. While this option can deliver high quality and better communication, it is also the most expensive: costs usually vary based on your location and team size.
The location of your development team will also significantly affect the costs. Here is a detailed breakdown of costs in the major development hubs:
2. Type of app platform
In addition to development approach and development team location, the cost of developing a food delivery app can vary depending on such factors as the features you want to include, the platform (Android, iOS, or both), and the complexity of the development. On average, the cost of developing a food delivery app is between $30,000 and $40,000. This price range usually includes design, development of Android or iOS versions, quality assurance, testing, and launch of the app.
If you are also planning to create a web app for restaurants and customers to manage orders, menus, and customer interaction, the total development cost will probably increase to $50,000 to $60,000. This is because a web application requires additional resources and development time .Developing an app for both mobile and web has an impact on cost. And if you decide to develop separate native apps with advanced features, such as real-time tracking, payment integration, or AI-powered recommendations, rather than cross-platform, this can increase the cost even further.
3. App Features
The features you decide to include in your food delivery app significantly impact the cost of developing it. Basic features such as ordering, user registration, and payment integration can keep costs around $7,000. However, including advanced features such as AI-powered recommendations or custom dashboards can increase expenses from $20,000 to over $50,000, depending on the complexity and labor intensity of the development. Below is an approximate list of features that can be added to your development to help you estimate the cost of your app:
User registration and profile management: $1,800 - $4,200
Search and Filter Options: $2,500 – $6,000
Basic order and payment integration: $2,500 - $5,500
Real-time order tracking: $4,500 - $10,500
Push notifications: $1,000 - $3,500
Multi-payments: $2,800 - $7,500
Loyalty programs: $3,500 - $8,500
AI-based offers: $9,000 - $22,000
User recommendations: $14,000 - $26,000
Restaurant dashboard: $5,500 - $12,500
Customer Support & Feedback: $2,500 – $7,000
Advanced reporting and analytics: $7,500 - $16,000
Basic Admin Panel $5,000 – $9,000
5. UI/UX design
UI/UX design is another important factor that affects the cost of developing a food delivery app. The price can vary depending on the complexity of the design. The more customization, animation, or unique features you need, the higher the design cost.
When launching your app, you can focus on creating a less complex and user-friendly design. A simple, user-friendly interface can help attract users and increase popularity while giving you the flexibility to scale with more advanced features and design in future updates as your app grows.
Here is a breakdown of the estimated cost based on the complexity of the design:
Simple UI/UX design: A basic design with a minimum number of elements and no animations will cost between $3,000 and $5,000.
Advanced UI/UX design: A customized design with animation and interactive elements will cost between $5,000 and $20,000.
Premium UI/UX design: A highly creative and unique design with advanced animation can cost more than $20,000 - $30,000+.
6. App Maintenance
Creating a DoorDash analog for food delivery involves more than just the initial development costs. Maintaining the app is an ongoing expense that should be factored into your budget. After launching your app, you must regularly fix bugs, update performance, ensure compatibility with the latest operating system standards, and constantly add new features to keep the app up-to-date and functional.
Below is a breakdown of the maintenance costs you can expect for a food delivery app:
Regular bug fixes and updates: $1,000 - $5,000
Major feature updates, new features, or system enhancements: $10,000+ per update
System compatibility updates to meet the latest OS standards or changes in device support: $2,000 - $4,000
Server & Hosting Maintenance: $3,000 – $8,000 per year
Third-Party Service Integrations: $3,000 – $10,000 per year
By considering these maintenance costs, you can ensure that your food delivery app will work properly, adapt to market changes, and provide users with an even better experience.
So, how much does app development cost?
Depending on the complexity, developing an app like DoorDash can cost anywhere from $30,000 to $150,000+. The price depends on the features you implement and the complexity of the application:
1. Client application ( from $25,000)
The client application includes functionality that allows the user to choose and buy goods in stores and cafes/restaurants and receive orders right at the door.
2. Courier app ( from $25,000)
The courier app includes functionality that allows the courier to accept orders, view order details, and deliver them. Couriers usually need as many types of notifications as possible. This includes changes in order status, balance, etc. Here, it is recommended to release an app for couriers with minimal functionality to save money. This way, couriers are not overloaded with unnecessary information but have only the necessary functionality.
3. Application for the seller (optional) (from $25,000)
For sellers, you need to start with basic functions, such as adding information about the store, adding and managing products, and tracking incoming orders. Store and establishment owners usually prefer to have very little interaction with the application and the system. Therefore, it is worth automating as many processes in the store as possible.
4. Admin panel ( from $10,000)
The admin panel is, so to speak, the brain of the system, so it should basically include everything related to the application's operation: managing orders, couriers, customers, and stores.
These three interfaces - customer, courier, and seller - form an interconnected system and are inextricably linked to create a fully functional, integrated delivery app. However, depending on your needs and business goals, you can experiment with different configurations, for example, launching only the customer and courier app at first.
Here is a rough estimate by configuration and scale:
MVP (basic functions on one platform): $30,000 - $60,000
Medium level (two platforms (iOS + Android), client and courier applications, administrative panel): $80,000 - $150,000
Full-featured application (multi-platform application (web + mobile), advanced functionality, analytics, real-time tracking, etc.): $150,000+
Conclusion
The cost of building a food delivery app depends on striking a reasonable balance between vision and budget. Starting with basic features such as order and payment integration gives you a wallet-friendly starting line - ideal for startups or small businesses just trying their hand at the market. However, spending on advanced features like AI-powered suggestions or real-time analytics can increase user satisfaction and give you an edge, albeit at a cost in terms of time and money. The right way to go is to start with a simplified MVP filled with must-have features for a quick start, followed by an enhanced premium version based on user feedback and market changes. Costs can range from $30,000 to $150,000+, depending on your choices, but this phased approach keeps costs under control while paving the way for lasting success in a booming industry.
