Ride Together › How much a courier earns
An honest answer instead of nice numbers from ads. How much you can earn per hour, what affects it most and how much you actually keep.
A typical courier in Slovakia earns roughly €8 to €13 per hour before commission and contributions. The number varies with the city, time of day, weather and vehicle. Ads promising "up to €15 an hour" are talking about the best hours of the best couriers, not the average.
Let's be honest: earnings are not guaranteed. You are paid for delivered orders, not for time spent waiting. Someone riding at noon on a Tuesday in a small town will earn far less than someone riding on a rainy Friday evening in Bratislava.
The difference between a good and a bad hour is bigger than the difference between cities. You earn best during the lunch peak (roughly 11:00-13:30) and the evening peak (17:30-21:00). Friday and Saturday evenings are the strongest; Monday and Tuesday at noon the weakest.
When it rains or it's cold, people order more and there are fewer couriers on the street. These are the best-paying hours of the whole week — and also the ones when you need to ride most carefully.
On a bike you have zero fuel costs and in the centre you're often faster than a car. By car you cover longer distances and carry bigger orders, but you must deduct fuel, wear and parking from your earnings. A scooter is somewhere in between.
Bratislava and Košice have the most orders, so you wait less. In smaller towns earnings per order are similar, but there is more idle time between rides.
From your gross earnings, the fleet commission is deducted, then taxes and contributions depending on your form of cooperation. Example with gross earnings of €1,200 a month and our 10 % commission:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Earned from the platform | €1,200 |
| Fleet commission (10 %) | − €120 |
| Hidden fees | €0 |
| Left before tax | €1,080 |
How much of that goes to taxes and contributions depends on your form of cooperation — it differs for individuals, sole traders and employment contracts. When you register, we'll go through it with your actual numbers, not in general terms.
On our homepage you'll find a calculator where you can adjust hours and hourly rate and immediately see an estimate.
Fill in the application and we will get back to you within the next few days. On Bolt Food you often ride within 24 hours.
I want to ride