With the rise of delivery apps, the takeaway food industry has entered a new era. Once, there were only a select few restaurants that would deliver to your door, but now, apps have opened up a wide range of choices and cuisines that will bring your dinner of choice in just a free download and a few clicks.
Food delivery apps are perfect for lazy days, hangovers, or when you just don’t fancy the hassle of dining out. We’ve researched the top apps in the UK, comparing their usability, selection, prices, and deliveries to bring you this ultimate guide to shopping for a food delivery app. Read on for our advice on how to pick, then head on to the recommendations!
For those after a quick look, here is our Top 5:
For a more in-depth look at the comprehensive top 8 selection, make sure to read on to learn more about the different food delivery apps available and understand how our ranking was determined.
Image | 1 ![]() Just-Eat.com | 2 ![]() Deliveroo | 3 ![]() Uber Technologies, Inc. | 4 ![]() Zomato Media Pvt. Ltd. | 5 ![]() One Delivery | 6 ![]() Food Hub Limited | 7 ![]() Scoffable | 8 ![]() Domino's Pizza Group |
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Name | Just Eat | Deliveroo | UberEats | Zomato | One Delivery Ltd | Foodhub | Scoffable | Domino's |
Features | The Most Popular Food Delivery App in the World | Food Deliveries by Bikes in and Around London | Offers 24/7 Ordering and Delivery Tracking | Restaurant Reviews, Area Guides and Food Delivery, All in One App! | Fast Food and Restaurant Cuisine Delivered in Major UK Cities | The Discount Delivery App With the Cheapest Fees | Designed for Users Around Scotland and Northern England | Pizza Delivery for Small Towns and Big Cities Alike |
Price | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 |
Type of Food | Fast food, restaurants and groceries | Restaurants, fast food and groceries | Fast food, restaurants and groceries | Restaurants, fast food and groceries | Fast food and restaurants | Fast food and restaurants | Fast food and restaurants | Fast food |
Filters Available | Low delivery fee, cuisine, breakfast, alcohol, cafe, vegan, vegetarian | Offers, takeaway, groceries, cuisine, healthy, breakfast, dessert | Pizza, burgers, street food, Halal, Chinese, Japanese, sushi, Korean, healthy, Italian, Mexican, comfort food, desserts, breakfast | Cuisine, rating, cost, luxury, halal | None | Cuisine | Chinese, Indian, Malaysian, Mexican, desserts, chip shop, kebab, Nepalese | Pizza, sides, desserts, drinks |
Payment Options | Card and cash | Card only | Card and cash | Card and cash | Card and cash | Card and cash | Card and cash | Card and cash |
Delivery Fee | Free - £3.99 | Distance dependent, free delivery subscription service available | Distance dependent | Distance dependent | £3.99 | Free | £2.50 - £5 | Free |
Mode of Transport | Car, scooter and bicycle | Scooter, bicycle | Car, bike, scooter | Scooter | Car, scooter | Scooter, car | Scooter, bike | Bike, car, e-bike |
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It might not be the best thing to eat every day, but fast food is perfect on a hangover, or to satisfy those not-so-healthy cravings. Some apps have a large focus on fast food, with the majority of their options fitting into this category.
Fast food options will include meals like burgers, tacos, kebabs, pizzas or fish and chips. Generally, there will be a mixture of small businesses-like local fried chicken shops and big brands such as McDonald's or Pizza Hut.
Craving some healthy vegan pizza or veggie burger?
If you’re looking for food that feels a bit more like a treat rather than a guilt-trip, go for an app which has lots of restaurant options. Many restaurants now only offer deliveries through a food delivery app, so take advantage of that!
These often include popular chains like Franco Manca, Leon or Wagamamas, and will serve dishes like poke bowls, pizzas, salads, ramen and anything the cooks are dishing up on a regular basis. But if you're lucky, you'll find more obscure, one-off restaurants like Muriel's Kitchen, Alberts Delhi or The Richmond Hill Bakery.
Along with entire meals, warm and ready to devour, food delivery apps are also branching out into groceries. This is perfect for those times when you’ve just run out of milk, you need another bottle of wine at a gathering, or a recipe you’re making needs more butter than you have.
These options usually aim to deliver your goods in under 30 minutes, by means of bicycle. Using supermarkets and small, corner shops, depending on the app in question, there’s the opportunity for quite a wide range of products available. You can also find wine merchants and alcohol shops listed on some!
It’s great when an app promotes that it has over 30,000 restaurant partners, but for us indecisive folk, 30,000 choices sounds like an absolute nightmare! If your food delivery app contains lots of filters, you can easily narrow down your search.
If you have a favourite cuisine, such as Indian, Chinese or Italian, choose an app with cuisine filters – this is quite common amongst food delivery apps, so you shouldn’t have a problem.
For the more obscure filters, you'll usually need to look a bit deeper. Other categories you might want to filter could include healthy eating, vegetarian or vegan food, or gluten-free options.
Here are the best Indian, Chinese and Italian cookbooks to help you create your favourite cuisine at home.
Card payments are the go-to for ordering online. They provide you with contactless delivery, it becomes easy to pay the correct amount, and it’s much less hassle than sifting through your wallet, counting out change. But if you prefer to pay in cash, make sure the app offers this option.
As for tips, if you don’t have a few coins left to give your super-speedy delivery person their hard-earned cash, see if they offer an option to tip by card along with your order.
In most cases, you will need to foot the bill for the delivery. These fees are usually not made apparent until you reach the basket to complete your order. At just one or two pounds in most instances, it shouldn’t break the bank, but it is something to be aware of.
If you’re keen to save some pennies, you can download an app which offers free delivery over a certain amount – this is more likely if there's more than one of you eating, as your total will almost always go over the minimum.
If you find an app which advertises free delivery, be aware that the company might have upped the cost per meal to cover this loss, which, depending on how much you have ordered, can cost significantly more than a flat-rate delivery fee.
Delivery apps either use cars, motorcycles, or bikes to deliver their goods, and each has its pitfalls and benefits. Food delivery companies like UberEats use their own cars, meaning that more often than not your food will arrive promptly so that it’s good to eat straight away!
The same cannot be said of companies that use bicycles. Of course, depending on how far away your chosen restaurant is, the GPS that the deliverers use, and the speed of their little legs, the food might arrive still hot, but we wouldn’t depend on it! The timings of these companies vary from between 30 minutes to occasionally over an hour.
This ranking has been compiled by the writing team at mybest UK via careful evaluation of the points made in the buying guide and thorough research of each product and comparing multiple verified customer reviews across the EC sites used.
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Type of Food | Fast food, restaurants and groceries |
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Filters Available | Low delivery fee, cuisine, breakfast, alcohol, cafe, vegan, vegetarian |
Payment Options | Card and cash |
Delivery Fee | Free - £3.99 |
Mode of Transport | Car, scooter and bicycle |
£0.00
Type of Food | Restaurants, fast food and groceries |
---|---|
Filters Available | Offers, takeaway, groceries, cuisine, healthy, breakfast, dessert |
Payment Options | Card only |
Delivery Fee | Distance dependent, free delivery subscription service available |
Mode of Transport | Scooter, bicycle |
£0.00
Type of Food | Fast food, restaurants and groceries |
---|---|
Filters Available | Pizza, burgers, street food, Halal, Chinese, Japanese, sushi, Korean, healthy, Italian, Mexican, comfort food, desserts, breakfast |
Payment Options | Card and cash |
Delivery Fee | Distance dependent |
Mode of Transport | Car, bike, scooter |
£0.00
Type of Food | Restaurants, fast food and groceries |
---|---|
Filters Available | Cuisine, rating, cost, luxury, halal |
Payment Options | Card and cash |
Delivery Fee | Distance dependent |
Mode of Transport | Scooter |
£0.00
Type of Food | Fast food and restaurants |
---|---|
Filters Available | None |
Payment Options | Card and cash |
Delivery Fee | £3.99 |
Mode of Transport | Car, scooter |
£0.00
Type of Food | Fast food and restaurants |
---|---|
Filters Available | Cuisine |
Payment Options | Card and cash |
Delivery Fee | Free |
Mode of Transport | Scooter, car |
£0.00
Type of Food | Fast food and restaurants |
---|---|
Filters Available | Chinese, Indian, Malaysian, Mexican, desserts, chip shop, kebab, Nepalese |
Payment Options | Card and cash |
Delivery Fee | £2.50 - £5 |
Mode of Transport | Scooter, bike |
£0.00
Type of Food | Fast food |
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Filters Available | Pizza, sides, desserts, drinks |
Payment Options | Card and cash |
Delivery Fee | Free |
Mode of Transport | Bike, car, e-bike |
Written and researched by Roxy Pratley
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