How Much Do Delivery Apps Pay in Canada? DoorDash, Uber Eats, Skip and Instacart

DoorDash, Uber Eats, SkipTheDishes and Instacart pay for each offer, delivery or batch you complete, and each shows you the pay or an estimate of it in the app. Each says you keep 100% of customer tips. What that adds up to over a shift depends on the offers you take; Uber says what you make depends on when, where and how often you drive.

Two provinces set an hourly floor for app delivery work. In Ontario, platforms must pay at least the general minimum wage, $17.95 an hour from October 1, 2026, for the time spent on each work assignment. In British Columbia, the minimum is $21.89 an hour of engaged time from June 1, 2026, plus a per-kilometre allowance for deliveries. In Ontario and British Columbia, tips don’t count toward the minimum.

How each app calculates pay

DoorDash. Base pay is DoorDash’s own contribution to each offer, and offers that mean a longer trip, more time or are less popular with Dashers should carry more of it. If you choose to earn by time instead of per offer, base pay follows a minimum guaranteed hourly rate for the time you’re actively on a delivery. Peak Pay and Boosts are added automatically while they run, and you receive 100% of what applicable promotions pay.

Uber Eats. On top of the standard amounts for pickup and distance, you’re paid for every drop-off. Uber says Boost lets you earn more at busy times in places where more people order food. Most Canadian delivery people can use Instant Pay once they’ve completed their first trip.

SkipTheDishes. Skip pays you for each delivery; the fee differs from offer to offer and the app shows it before you accept.

What moves your pay. The apps name the same few levers:

• Distance, time and size: DoorDash says longer or slower offers should carry more base pay, and Instacart says batch pay depends on order size, driving distance and effort.
• Promotions: DoorDash’s Peak Pay lets select Dashers earn extra on each offer while it is in effect, Uber says Boost lets you earn more at busy times, and Instacart offers chances to earn extra through promotions.
• Which offers you take: on DoorDash you see what an offer pays and can accept or reject it.

Instacart: what a shopper does

Instacart shoppers use the app to see orders in their area, pick the ones they want, then shop for the items and deliver them to the customer. You pay at each store’s checkout with a payment card Instacart gives you. Full-service shoppers are independent contractors and are paid for each batch they complete. Unlike the restaurant apps, which also take bikes or scooters, Instacart asks for regular access to a reliable car, and you must be able to lift up to 40 lb (18 kg) without accommodation.

What you need to start on each app

DoorDash says you must keep your own insurance as the law requires while you deliver, auto insurance included, and Uber says you must tell your broker or insurer that you deliver.

Which app suits you. Without a car, Uber Eats and Skip are open to you by bike, as is DoorDash where your location allows it, and Uber Eats and (in some places) DoorDash also by scooter; Instacart needs a car. If you want to deliver by car and are under 21, Uber Eats is out, while DoorDash, Skip and Instacart take you from 18. If you need money between paydays, Instacart says you can cash out in as little as 2 hours, and DoorDash, Uber Eats and Skip each offer a faster cash-out for a fee. DoorDash, Skip and Instacart each ask for a smartphone.

Is there a minimum? Ontario and British Columbia

Ontario. The Digital Platform Workers’ Rights Act, 2022, in force since July 1, 2025, covers ride share, delivery and courier work offered through an app or website, whether or not the worker is an employee. Platforms must pay at least the general minimum wage, checked for each work assignment or over a pay period. A work assignment starts when you accept it in the app and ends when its work is done; travel before it starts or after it ends doesn’t count. Tips aren’t counted toward the minimum. DoorDash tells Ontario Dashers they’re guaranteed the minimum wage for each hour of active time on a delivery, with tips on top.

British Columbia. Engaged time runs from accepting an assignment to completing it and leaves out time waiting between assignments. The $21.89 hourly minimum is about 120% of BC’s general minimum wage, and when a pay period’s earnings fall short of it for your engaged time, the platform must top up the difference. Delivery work also earns at least 35 cents a kilometre, bicycles and scooters included, paid separately from the wage. Tips aren’t counted toward the minimum, and 100% of them must be paid to you.

Complaints and the other protections are on the gig workers’ rights page.

What you keep after costs and tax

DoorDash, Uber Eats and Instacart describe their couriers and shoppers as independent contractors, and Skip signs couriers up as self-employed. DoorDash says that in general Dashers pay all the costs of dashing themselves. The CRA’s gig-economy page says gig workers operate as independent contractors and report their self-employment income on Form T2125 with their return. Self-employed people pay both the employee and the employer share of CPP contributions on their net business income (11.90% above the basic exemption up to the first earnings ceiling, plus 8% CPP2 between the first and second ceilings), worked out on Schedule 8 and paid with the income tax return. A non-refundable tax credit is claimed on half of the base contributions, and the other half, the first additional contributions and all CPP2 contributions are deducted from income. You pay no EI premiums on that income unless you opt in for EI special benefits. If you use your car for delivery and for yourself, you can deduct only the business part of its costs, so keep a record of the kilometres you drive.

GST/HST. Delivery isn’t commercial ridesharing, which the CRA defines as passenger transportation. In the CRA’s own example, a driver whose ridesharing and food delivery sales together stay under $30,000 charges GST/HST on the rides but not on the deliveries. When you only deliver, the CRA’s usual small-supplier rule is the one that applies. You have to register for the GST/HST once you make taxable sales in Canada and are no longer a small supplier: that happens when your taxable sales go over $30,000 in a single calendar quarter (register from that sale) or over the last 4 consecutive calendar quarters (by the end of the month after that quarter); below that you can register voluntarily. Sellers on rideshare and delivery platforms are among those whose information may be reported to the CRA.

More on each: gig worker taxes, taxes for delivery couriers, Form T2125 and vehicle expenses.

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