Is Uber One Worth It? Just How Much Money Will You Save?

Uber One is a newly-minted subscription service that merges benefits across the Uber and Uber Eats platforms.

It’s also undeniably Uber’s best attempt at a premium plan to date.

Yet, that hardly means Uber One is worth it for everyone. After all, it still costs money.

We wanted to know just how much you’d have to spend on commutes and deliveries through Uber’s apps to ensure you’d be getting back more than you’d be putting it.

Find out the answer, along with a detailed overview of how Uber One works, and the benefits it provides in the sections below.

What is Uber One?

Uber One is a paid membership plan that provides Uber and Uber Eats users with a slew of premium benefits. These include discounts on food deliveries and rides, access to exclusive promotions, premium customer support, and quite a bit more.

The service replaced both Eats Pass and its more expensive counterpart Uber Pass in November 2021.

Now, users only have to sign up for one plan to receive benefits across multiple Uber apps. This is a welcome relief for those of us who found Uber’s old multiple subscription model confusing (ourselves included).

Despite all the added perks, Uber One retains the same $9.99 monthly price point at Eats Pass, and even tacks on a cheaper, annual option.

Uber One benefits

Uber One offers a fairly exhaustive list of benefits, including:

• Unlimited $0 deliveries on eligible food, grocery, and alcohol purchases through Uber Eats
• 5% discount on eligible rides
• 5%+ discount on eligible Uber Eats delivery and pickup orders
• The Uber One Promise, which guarantees $5 Uber Cash if your delivery order is late
• Access to a variety of perks, including Uber One promotions

Most of the benefits appear straightforward, but there are definitely some caveats worth knowing about. Let’s look at them one by one:

Unlimited $0 delivery fee

Members who spend at least $15 on food, alcohol, or groceries through Uber Eats are eligible for free delivery. Most of the time.

The two exceptions are:

• If the store or restaurant does not participate in Uber One. This is pretty rare.
• If the delivery comes from a grocery store. In this case, members must spend $30 to unlock free delivery.

From the detective’s desk: If you purchase groceries from a non-grocery store, like a CVS or a Wawa, you’ll still unlock $0 delivery fees on $15+ purchases. The $30 minimum only applies to actual grocery stores, which are found under the “Grocery” tab of the Uber Eats app. Confusing, we know.

Ride discounts

Members receive a 5% discount on most rides booked through the Uber app. Again, there are a couple of exceptions:

• Rides booked more than 30 minutes in advance are not eligible
• Shared rides are not eligible

One of the benefits of the Uber app is the ability to price shop. So the fact that you won’t receive a discount on rides booked well in advance is a downer.

Not to mention, Uber’s carpooling option, UberX Share, is more affordable than the cheapest single-rider option, UberX. Not having it included as part of Uber One is a strike against it.

Uber Eats discounts

Uber One members receive a 5%* discount on all non-grocery store orders through Uber Eats. This benefit covers both delivery and pickup orders.

The discount is based on the order’s subtotal, which is the total before fees, taxes, and tips. This is significant (especially for deliveries) since it means you’ll only receive a discount on a portion of your order.

For example, assume your subtotal is $50, but you pay $7.50 in service fees, a $5 tip, and $3 in taxes. 5% off your subtotal works out to a $2.50 discount, which is only 3.82% of your total order.

From the detective’s desk*: On the plus side, Uber One often provides a larger discount on delivery orders. It depends on the price, with smaller subtotals of about $40 or less receiving up to 10% off. Why Uber doesn’t advertise this, is beyond us.

On delivery orders, the discount is subtracted from Uber Eats’ service fee. It’s applied as a membership benefit on pickup on pickups. Either way, the discounted amount is based on the subtotal.

Uber One Promise

The Uber One Promise acts as a sort of insurance policy. If your order is delivered past Uber’s latest estimated arrival time, then you’ll receive $5 Uber Cash.

The catch is that the latest arrival time is determined after you’ve placed your order, not before. That puts the responsibility more on the driver.

A slight ding against an otherwise solid benefit.

Other Uber One perks

Moving beyond recurring discounts, Uber One provides members with a variety of other perks.

• Premium member support
• Invite-only experiences
• Access to top-rated drivers on rides
• Exclusive offers and promos

Most of these are just nice little extras that you’d expect from a premium subscription. However, Uber One’s promotions go above and beyond.

To kick off your membership, Uber One offers users a huge discount on their first Uber Eats order. The exact offer changes frequently, but it’s rarely less than $15 off.

From the detective’s desk: Patience is a virtue. Wait long enough, and Uber One may offer you up to $30 off your first order. This alone is worth three months of monthly subscription fees.

Typically, once a company has reeled you in, the offers die down. That isn’t the case with Uber One, which continues to throw great promos at you long after you’ve subscribed.

We’ve received incredible offers like 60% off our next two orders, up to $15, and you likely will too.

Uber One cost

An Uber One membership costs $9.99 per month and can be canceled at any time. Like DashPass, Uber One can also be purchased on an annual basis.

The cost of an annual plan is $99.99, which works out to $8.33 a month, a cost savings of 16.6%. That’s a tad more expensive than DashPass, which is $96 per year ($8 per month).

Uber One subscriptions auto-renew every month or year, depending on your plan.

How do you cancel Uber One?

If you’d like to cancel Uber One, then you’ll need to do so at least 48 hours before the next billing cycle. Should you cancel early, you’ll still be able to enjoy Uber One benefits for the duration of the current period.

To cancel or change your current membership:

1. Go to the “Account” menu from either the Uber or Uber Eats app on desktop or on mobile. Both apps are available for Android- and iOS-powered devices.
2. Scroll down and click/tap on “Uber One”
3. Select “Manage membership”
4. From there you’ll be able to see when your plan renews, your current billing plan, and payment details. You can easily cancel your membership by clicking/tapping the “End membership” field.
5. if you wish to change your current plan, select “Change” under “Billing plan” instead.

Uber One free trial

Even if you decide to never pay for an Uber One membership, it’s still worth signing up for a 30-day free trial.

Trial members will receive a hefty discount (up to $30) on their first Uber Eats order. Place at least one order, and you’ll likely receive additional promotional offers.

The free trial unlocks all member benefits, including unlimited $0 deliveries, the 5%+ discount on deliveries and rides, and the Uber One Promise.

You will have to provide payment information before beginning your trial, so make sure to cancel within 28 days if you don’t want to continue.

Uber One eligible restaurants and stores

Uber Eats is available in all 50 U.S. states and services a total of 6,000 cities spanning 45 countries. But having an Uber One membership wouldn’t be all that valuable unless most restaurants and stores participated in the program. Luckily, they do.

We looked at over 3,600 locations across a dozen large and small U.S. cities and found that over 97% are Uber One eligible.

As expected, big cities had more selection and a higher percentage of Uber One eligible locations, but even in smaller cities like at least 84% of restaurants and stores were opted in.

Here’s a complete look at our survey:

Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that you can filter by Uber One eligibility from the Uber Eats app. Instead, just look for the little Uber One icon next to your favorite restaurant, grocery, or liquor store.

Uber Eats does provide plenty of other filters, so narrowing down where you’d like to order from is a cinch.

Can Uber One really save you money on Uber services?

Whether Uber One is a good fit is going to depend on a few factors.

Let’s get this out of the way: If you infrequently place delivery orders or use rideshares, then the allure of Uber One shouldn’t compel you to start. The fact is, Uber rides are always going to be more expensive than driving yourself or taking public transportation.

Likewise, cooking at home, eating out, or even ordering pickup directly through a restaurant is going to be cheaper than using a delivery service.

However, using services like Uber and Uber Eats saves you loads of time, and for many, time is the most valuable commodity. So, if you’re already using Uber’s tech, then it’s definitely worth looking into Uber One.

Here are a couple of hard and fast guidelines that give you an idea of how much you’d have to spend with Uber One to justify the cost:

• If you spend $200+ a month on eligible Uber services, then the monthly subscription is guaranteed to save you money.
• With the annual plan, you’ll need to regularly spend $167+ a month on eligible services to come out ahead.

These rules are based solely on the 5% minimum discount you’ll receive on rides and order subtotals.

However, it’s quite possible that Uber One will save you money even if you spend significantly less than these amounts. It really all depends on your average delivery fee expenditures, the size of your orders, and how many promotions you use.

So let’s factor those in next.

Delivery fee savings

Delivery fees on Uber Eats vary by restaurant or store, but also by distance.

We looked at the average delivery fee in the six largest U.S. cities and six small cities, and came up with the following:

In our sample, delivery fees soared as high as $16.99, but most were in the $0.49 – $4.99 range. Grocery store delivery fees trended higher than restaurant fees.

Based on this information, we conclude that:

• Delivery fees on Uber One are generally pretty low.
• Delivery fees are much lower in bigger cities, probably due to there being more nearby options.
• Those who consistently place orders with local restaurants or stores will benefit less from Uber One than members whose favorite places are far away.

However, even if your delivery fees are low, you can still offset a big chunk of Uber One’s cost just by placing a couple of orders per month. We took a sampling of different delivery fees to find out just how much:

Notice that someone who places just 2 orders per month at a $1.99 delivery fee (which is about the national average), would only have to spend $120.20 on eligible Uber One rides and order subtotals to break even with the monthly plan, and just $87.05 under the national plan.

Increase the delivery fee to $2.99 and the number of orders to 3, and Uber One pays for itself (as denoted by the negative number).

The only folks that won’t see a ton of difference are ones that order very infrequently and don’t pay high delivery fees.

Additional subtotal savings with Uber One

Uber One doesn’t advertise this, but it sometimes offers a greater than 5% discount on order subtotals.

We found that larger subtotals over $80 were generally discounted by 5%, but smaller subtotals were discounted between 5.5% – 10%.

Also, the discount percentage appears negatively correlated with price. In other words, very small subtotals in the $15 – $30 might receive a 9%-10% discount, while medium-sized subtotals (~$50 – $60) were more like 6% – 8% off.

This tells us that Uber Eats customers that tend to place smaller orders will save more with Uber One.

If we take our previous table and adjust the fee discount to 9%, look what happens:

Now, someone who places two orders per month, and normally pays a $1.99 delivery fee, only needs to spend $66.78 per month on rides and order subtotals to break even with Uber One’s monthly plan, down from $120.05. The annual plan break-even point dips from $87.05 to $48.36.

From the detective’s desk: You can find how much you’re saving on subtotals by hovering over the info icon next to either “Taxes & Fees” or “Membership Benefit” from the Uber Eats checkout screen.

Promotional savings

Uber Eats offers promos that are open to the public, as well as exclusive promotions for Uber One members. Both are good, but the Uber One offers often knock it out of the park.

Considering we’ve never seen an offer for less than $10 off, taking advantage of just one exclusive promo per month will automatically cancel out the cost of Uber One.

Now the catch is that Uber Eats tends to award more promotions to loyal customers. But that won’t be a problem, since you wouldn’t have Uber One if you didn’t use Uber services at least somewhat regularly. (Or at least you shouldn’t).

The bottom line: is Uber One worth it?

Determining whether Uber One is worth it for you is going to require a bit of legwork. Ask yourself questions like:

• How many rides do I take per month, and what do they cost?
• How many food or grocery orders do I place per month?
• Are my delivery orders from places close by, or far away?
• How much do my favorite restaurants charge for delivery fees?
• Do I place small delivery orders of at least $15 but no more than $50, or larger orders?
• Am I willing to check my email and notifications often for promotional discounts?

If you tend to place multiple small or medium-sized delivery orders each month, and they’re from places that aren’t around the corner, then Uber One will probably be worth it.

Even if you only place occasional orders, but get lifts from Uber drivers and cash in on promos, it may still be a good fit.

Take a few minutes to look at your average monthly spending habits, use the data provided in this post, and the answer should become clear.

You always have a 30-day free trial to test the waters.

Can you get Uber One for free?

Currently, the one way to get Uber One for free is through the 30-day free trial, but that’s only reserved for new customers.

There have been Uber One offers in the past, including:

• When the service launched on November 16, 2021, the annual plan was discounted to $49.99. That offer was short-lived, expiring on November 29, 2021.
• In September 2021, Hulu customers were eligible for six free months of Uber One (then Eats Pass). That offer expired in January 2022.
• Select American Express were eligible for free Uber One memberships. That offer is also no longer.
• In May 2022, Paypal and Uber teamed up to offer six months of Uber One’s monthly membership for the price of one. The only caveat was that you had to sign up through PayPal. This offer was open to the first 500,000 customers and sold out well before the June 30, 2022 expiration date.

All these offers leave us hopeful that Uber One will continue to toss membership discounts our way. So, if you’re on the fence about Uber One, just be patient — another promotional offer may be right around the corner.

Uber One FAQ

Uber One vs. DashPass: Which one is better?

It’s close. Both Uber One and Doordash’s Dashpass offer unlimited free delivery, but Dashpass unlocks free delivery on all orders $12 and up, whereas you have to spend $15 with Uber One.

Dashpass also offers better discounts on food deliveries, but Uber One has stronger promotions and includes discounts on rides.

Both services cost $9.99 a month, and both have an annual option. Uber One’s annual plan is slightly more expensive ($99.99 vs. $96), but you’ll still save about $20 per year.

Dashpass can be earned for free through Chase Sapphire and Chase Freedom. Currently, the only way to get Uber One for free is through the 30-day free trial.

Uber One vs. Lyft Pink: Which one is better?

At $19.99 per month, Lyft Pink is twice the price of Uber One, but its ridesharing benefits are far better.

Members receive 15% off car rides, uncapped. They also receive priority airport pickups, exclusive promotions, waived lost and found fees, and 3 free 30 min bike or scooter rides each month.

Uber One members get a 5% discount on select rides that aren’t booked more than 30 minutes in advance. Rideshares are not eligible for the discount.

However, Uber One provides Uber Eats members with a slew of benefits like unlimited free delivery, 5% off order subtotals, and lucrative promotional offers. Lyft doesn’t offer food delivery, so naturally Lyft Pink doesn’t offer equivalent benefits.

Do American Express card owners receive Uber One benefits?

They do not, but AmEx Gold cardholders receive $10 Uber Cash monthly, while Platinum card owners receive $15 Uber Cash per month and $20 in December.

Learn more about this benefit here.