You drive for two apps? Compare them by net profit, not per-trip pay

Many gig drivers run two apps at once — or switch between them during the week. And most of them compare the apps the wrong way: by which one pays more per trip.

Per-trip pay is the noisiest number you can compare. One app might pay $18 for a trip that took 25 minutes with a 4-mile drive to the pickup. The other pays $14 for a trip that took 12 minutes with the customer right next door. The $18 trip looks better on the earnings screen. After fuel, waiting time, and the empty miles to the pickup, it often isn't.

The fair comparison is net profit per real hour, per app:

1. For each shift, write down the gross pay from that app.
2. Subtract the costs of that shift: fuel, tolls, parking, food on the job, and a per-mile cost for wear on your vehicle — tyres, brakes, servicing. Use your own estimate, and expect it to move month to month.
3. Count ALL the hours the shift really took: driving, waiting between jobs, the drive to the pickup, and the empty return — not just the paid minutes.
4. Net profit divided by all real hours is the number that actually compares.

A quick illustrative example — not real earnings, just the maths: App A pays $90 for a shift. Costs are $22, and the shift really took 4.5 hours. Net is $68, about $15 an hour. App B pays $75. Costs are $12, and the shift took 3 hours. Net is $63, about $21 an hour. App A paid more. App B left you better off per hour.

Two rules before you switch apps on the strength of one night: track both columns for at least two weeks, and compare weeks, not single shifts. One busy Friday can flatter either app. A pattern over two weeks is much harder to argue with.

That's the whole point of logging shifts properly: the app earnings screen tells you what you were paid. It doesn't tell you what you kept, or which app kept you better off.

I built a small free tool for exactly this — ShiftLog logs each shift's pay, costs, and hours offline, with no account needed, so you can see the real net profit per shift and per hour: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shiftlog.app