Gig Platform Comparison Calculator — True Net per Hour

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Rank DoorDash, Uber, Instacart and Amazon Flex by what an hour is really worth after fuel, vehicle wear, the mileage deduction and self-employment tax.

By Konstantin Iakovlev · Updated September 2026 · Source: IRS — Standard mileage rates

Enter what each platform pays you per active hour and how many miles that hour puts on your car. Leave a platform at zero to drop it from the comparison.

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Best Net per Hour

Uber / Lyft — $17.59

Worst Net per Hour

Amazon Flex — $14.04

Cost per Mile Driven

$0.28

Uber / Lyft — $17.59 net per hour

Gross pay$26.00
Driving cost (20 miles)-$5.68
Cash profit$20.32
Standard mileage deduction$15.20
Taxable profit after the deduction$10.80
Self-employment tax-$1.53
Income tax-$1.20
Net per hour$17.59

Instacart — $17.01 net per hour

Gross pay$24.00
Driving cost (10 miles)-$2.84
Cash profit$21.16
Standard mileage deduction$7.60
Taxable profit after the deduction$16.40
Self-employment tax-$2.32
Income tax-$1.83
Net per hour$17.01

DoorDash — $15.34 net per hour

Gross pay$22.00
Driving cost (12 miles)-$3.41
Cash profit$18.59
Standard mileage deduction$9.12
Taxable profit after the deduction$12.88
Self-employment tax-$1.82
Income tax-$1.44
Net per hour$15.34

Amazon Flex — $14.04 net per hour

Gross pay$21.00
Driving cost (18 miles)-$5.11
Cash profit$15.89
Standard mileage deduction$13.68
Taxable profit after the deduction$7.32
Self-employment tax-$1.03
Income tax-$0.82
Net per hour$14.04

Taxable profit uses the standard mileage rate of 76 cents (in force since July 1, 2026), which for most drivers is worth more than actual vehicle expenses — track your miles from the moment you go online, because that deduction is usually the single largest one on a gig return. Self-employment tax is 15.3% on 92.35% of net profit and half of it is deductible against income tax, which is reflected above. Waiting time between orders counts as an active hour here; if you spend hours unpaid waiting to be dispatched, lower the gross figure rather than raising the hours.

Use the Gig Platform Comparison Calculator — True Net per Hour above to calculate your results. Enter your values and see instant results — all calculations run in your browser.

Disclaimer: This calculator is for informational purposes only and does not constitute tax, financial, or legal advice. Results are estimates based on the information you provide and current rates. Always consult a qualified tax professional or financial advisor for advice specific to your situation.

How It Works

Every gig platform advertises earnings per hour, and every one of those figures is gross. What decides which app is actually worth working is what survives after the car and the tax collector take their share, and the platform with the highest headline number is regularly not the one with the highest net.

Miles are the variable that does the damage. For an average new car, AAA's Your Driving Costs 2025 study puts fuel at 13 cents a mile (with gas at $3.15), maintenance, repairs and tires at 11 cents, and depreciation at about 29 cents ($4,334 a year over 15,000 miles), roughly 53 cents in all, so before tax an app that pays four dollars an hour more while putting eight more miles on the car has already given the advantage back. Delivery work that keeps you inside a small radius beats long-haul dispatch at the same gross rate, and no earnings calculator that ignores mileage can see that.

The tax side pushes in the opposite direction and is why the comparison needs both effects at once. The standard mileage deduction — 76 cents a mile since July 1, 2026 — is normally larger than the actual cash cost of driving, so a high-mileage platform generates a bigger deduction and pays less tax on the same take-home. That claws back part of what the driving cost. Comparing platforms on cash profit alone overstates the low-mileage option; comparing on the deduction alone overstates the high-mileage one. Both belong in the same calculation.

Two practical points on top of the arithmetic. Track your miles from the moment you go online rather than only during an active delivery — miles driven while waiting for and driving to a dispatch are deductible business miles, and drivers who only log the delivery leg understate the deduction. And be careful what counts as an hour: if you spend long unpaid stretches waiting to be dispatched, lower the gross figure you enter rather than raising the hours, because the waiting hour costs you time without generating either earnings or a deduction.

Example: $24 an hour over 8 miles versus $26 an hour over 22 miles

  1. 1 Step 1: Work out cost per mile. At 20 mpg with fuel at $3.80 and 15 cents a mile in maintenance and wear, driving costs $0.19 + $0.15 = $0.34 a mile.
  2. 2 Step 2: The lower-paying platform: $24 gross, 8 miles costing $2.72, leaving $21.28 of cash profit. For tax, the standard mileage deduction replaces the actual car costs: 8 × $0.76 = $6.08, so taxable profit is $24 − $6.08 = $17.92.
  3. 3 Step 3: Tax on that is $2.53 of self-employment tax ($17.92 × 92.35% × 15.3%) plus $2.00 of income tax at 12% on the $16.65 left after deducting half the SE tax, $4.53 in all, leaving $21.28 − $4.53 = $16.75 net for the hour.
  4. 4 Step 4: The higher-paying platform: $26 gross, 22 miles costing $7.48, leaving $18.52. Its larger mileage deduction of $16.72 cuts taxable profit to $9.28 and total tax to $2.35 ($1.31 self-employment, $1.03 income tax), leaving $16.17.
  5. 5 Step 5: The deduction claws back part of the gap but does not close it: the high-mileage platform pays $2.18 less tax, yet its 14 extra miles cost $4.76 more in cash, so it finishes 58 cents an hour behind despite the $2 higher headline rate. Over a thousand hours that is about $576, decided by miles rather than by the rate on the screen.

Source: IRS — Standard mileage rates · Last updated: September 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

Which gig platform pays the most?
There is no single answer, because it depends on your market, your hours and your car. What is consistent is that the ranking by gross pay per hour is often not the ranking by net pay per hour — miles decide it more often than the headline rate does.
How much does driving actually cost per mile?
For an average new car, AAA's Your Driving Costs 2025 puts fuel at 13 cents a mile (gas at $3.15), maintenance, repairs and tires at 11 cents, and depreciation at about 29 cents ($4,334 a year over 15,000 miles), roughly 53 cents before insurance and financing. An older paid-off car loses far less to depreciation, so its cost sits closer to fuel plus upkeep; a thirstier vehicle or pricier gas raises the fuel line.
Should I use the standard mileage rate or actual expenses?
For most gig drivers the standard rate of 76 cents a mile (since July 1, 2026) is larger than actual costs, so it produces a bigger deduction with far less record-keeping. Actual expenses can win for an expensive vehicle with heavy depreciation, but you must choose the standard rate in the first year you use the car for business if you want the option to switch later.
Which miles can I deduct?
All business miles from the moment you go online: driving to a pickup, waiting-time repositioning between orders, and the delivery itself. Driving from home to your starting area and back is commuting and is not deductible. Drivers who log only the delivery leg understate the deduction.
How much self-employment tax do gig drivers pay?
15.3% on 92.35% of net profit, covering both halves of Social Security and Medicare. Half of it is deductible against income tax, which the comparison above accounts for. This is on top of ordinary income tax at your bracket rate.
Do I need to make quarterly estimated payments?
Generally yes if you expect to owe $1,000 or more for the year, since nothing is withheld from gig income. Missing them produces an underpayment penalty even when the return itself is filed and paid on time.

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