Quick answer. Pick a food delivery app by four criteria in order: the restaurants that actually cook the food you want, true total cost after all fees, delivery speed on your real routes, and rider fairness. Headline price is the tie-breaker, not the starting point. Most cities have 2–4 competing apps; most regular users benefit from having two installed.

Restaurant Coverage First

A 20% discount is worthless if your favourite restaurants are not on the app. Before committing loyalty, search the app for the ten restaurants you have actually ordered from in the last three months. The app that covers the most of them, with real menus and real prices, is the one that fits your life — not the one with the best marketing.

True Total Cost

Every food delivery order has five line items:

Food subtotal.
Delivery fee.
Service fee (platform commission on you, separate from restaurant commission).
Tip.
Any surge or small-order fee.

Compare total at checkout, not menu prices. Some apps inflate menu prices above the dine-in price to hide commission; others keep prices honest and charge a larger delivery fee. Net total is what matters.

Speed on Your Real Routes

Advertised speed and actual speed are different things. For one week, order from the same restaurant on two different apps at different times and log the time from order to delivery. The difference on your real routes is usually 10–30%; the winner on your routes may not be the winner on the marketing page.

Rider Fairness

The food-delivery economy runs on riders working on thin margins. Apps that publish rider earnings transparently, guarantee a minimum per hour, and let you tip in-app directly to the rider (not a pool) build a more sustainable ecosystem. GeraEats publishes rider commission terms and supports 100%-to-rider in-app tipping.

Loyalty That Compounds

A regular orderer spends meaningfully per year. GeraEats integrates with the wider Gera ecosystem — GeraCoins on every order redeemable across GeraRide, GeraClinic, and GeraMarket. The annual cumulative benefit across your actual life usually beats a single-app rewards stack.

City-Specific Dynamics

London. Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Just Eat dominant; GeraEats adds fair-commission restaurants and loyalty across the Gera ecosystem.
Tbilisi, Yerevan. Wolt and Glovo are the incumbents; GeraEats adds local-currency transparency.
Nairobi. Glovo, Uber Eats, Jumia Food; each has different restaurant coverage by neighbourhood.
Lagos. Chowdeck, Jumia Food, Glovo; GeraEats is growing on Ikoyi/Lekki/Ikeja corridors.
Bangalore, Mumbai. Swiggy and Zomato dominant; GeraEats adds a transparent commission model for independents.

Red Flags

App where menu prices differ materially from dine-in prices without notice.
Hidden fees revealed only at checkout.
Tips that go to a pool rather than directly to your rider.
Platform where restaurant ratings are not moderated for fake reviews.

Running Two Apps

Loyalty to a single app is fine when coverage is consistent. When it is not, having a primary and a secondary app installed lets you pick whichever covers the specific restaurant you want tonight. Most regular users converge on two apps within a few months.

Next Step

For the next week, log your orders across two apps and compare coverage, speed, and all-in cost. Commit loyalty to the one that wins on your real routes.

Food Delivery Buyer’s Guide 2026: How to Pick the Right App in Your City