The top on-demand apps right now

What are the top on-demand apps right now?

On-demand apps are hot. Super hot, in fact. When we want something, we apparently want it RIGHT NOW. And we seem to want a lot.

Just 1 small example: what industry grossed $185 billion in 2023 but is ballooning to a staggering $771 billion in 2032? If you guessed the on-demand economy … you’re actually wrong. It’s actually just 1 part of the on-demand economy: transportation. The entire on-demand space is so much bigger: instant food, instant alcohol, grocery delivery, transportation across a city, or transportation across a nation. A date for dinner tonight … a dogwalker for Max, a massage for you, flowers for mom, and someone helpful to mow the lawn or vacuum the carpets.

The on-demand economy is pretty much anything you want, almost instantly available.

But what are the top on-demand apps globally?

Finding the top on-demand apps: 12 key categories

On-demand companies put their apps in dozens of different categories. To combine them, I analyzed 3,300 of the most downloaded apps worldwide across categories like Shopping and Lifestyle and Health & Fitness.

170 of those 3,300 apps fit a reasonably strict definition of on-demand apps: services people can book, order, or activate pretty much instantly. Then I ranked them by recent global downloads and daily active usage, and grouped them into logical categories:

1. Ride-hailing & taxis
   Summon a driver instantly, often with pooled or premium options
2. Micromobility (scooters & bikes)
   Shared bikes and scooters for short urban trips
3. Food delivery
   Meals from restaurants delivered to your door
4. Grocery delivery
   Fresh groceries and essentials, often in under an hour
5. Pharmacy & medicine delivery
   OTC and prescription drugs, sometimes linked with telehealth
6. Courier & errands (same-day)
   P2P delivery of parcels, documents, or errands
7. Travel ticketing (flights, trains, bus)
   Book transportation instantly, with e-tickets
8. Accommodation (hotels & rentals)
   Hotels and short-term rentals like Airbnb
9. Car rental & carsharing
   Temporary vehicle access without long-term commitments
10. Home & local services
    On-demand cleaners, movers, handypeople
11. Telemedicine & medical booking
    Book virtual or in-person care
12. Roadside assistance
    Get towed, jump-started, or refueled on demand

That provides the data for a global ranking of top on-demand apps. Note: this won’t provide details on which are the overall biggest. This methodology prioritizes those apps that are fastest-growing right now. It’ll certainly capture most — probably all — of the biggest. But a few might slip through the cracks here and there.

But you probably want more than just global rankings. After all, on-demand apps are super-local. You need regional rankings to know what’s best for you, where you are.

So I also enriched the data with regional information, revealing which services dominate in India, China, Southeast Asia, North America, and beyond. 

First, let’s look at the key categories …

Global leaders: top on-demand apps

Here are the top on-demand apps globally in each on-demand sector, by recent download velocity:

Ride-hailing & taxis

Ride-hailing is still a massive growth machine. Regional players dominate outside North America: Bolt in Europe, Ola in India, and inDrive in Russia/CIS. 

• Uber (U.S.)
• Bolt (Estonia)
• inDrive (U.S./CIS focus)
• Maxim (India/Russia)
• Ola (India)
• Careem (Middle East, Uber-owned)
• FREE NOW (Europe)
• Yandex Go (Russia/CIS)

Micromobility (scooters & bikes)

Micromobility is still largely concentrated in Europe and North America. Lime is the most global, while TIER and Voi dominate in Europe. Growth is steady but constrained by regulation and weather seasonality: not every city is L.A. or Lisbon, with pretty much year-round good weather.

• Lime (U.S.)
• Bird (U.S.)
• TIER (Germany)
• Voi (Sweden)
• Spin (U.S.)
• Dott (Europe)
• Nextbike (Europe)

Food delivery

This is one of the most fragmented categories globally, which makes sense because food preferences differ, and while all on-demand apps deliver locally, cooking and fast delivery before food cools is especially hyper-local. 

U.S. apps dominate at home, Indian services are thriving, and China is massive with Meituan and Ele.me.

Get way more details about top food delivery apps here …

• Uber Eats (U.S.)
• DoorDash (U.S.)
• Swiggy (India)
• Zomato (India)
• Meituan (China)
• Ele.me (China)
• Deliveroo (U.K.)
• Just Eat / SkipTheDishes (Europe/Canada)
• Glovo (Europe)
• Wolt (Finland)

Grocery delivery

“Quick commerce” is still hot, but sustainability is a question mark. China’s scale dwarfs most, while India shows fierce local competition.

• Instacart (U.S.)
• Getir (Turkey, Europe expansion)
• Blinkit (India)
• Dingdong Maicai (China)
• JioMart (India)
• BigBasket (India)
• Zepto (India)
• Flink (Germany)
• Gorillas (Germany, now part of Getir)

Pharmacy & medicine delivery

India dominates in medicine delivery, partly due to fragmented offline pharmacy markets and high demand for affordable care.

• PharmEasy (India)
• NetMeds (India)
• Apollo 24|7 (India)
• 1mg (India)
• Practo (pharmacy arm) (India)
• Alodokter / Halodoc (Indonesia, health + pharmacy)

Courier & same-day errands

For obvious reasons, same-day logistics are highly regional. Interestingly, they serve both consumers and SMEs. China’s players are highly scaled, while Middle Eastern and Indian startups are carving out their own niches.

• Lalamove (China/global)
• SF Express (China)
• Mrsool (Middle East)
• Dunzo (India)
• Borzo (ex-Delivery Club) (Russia/India/SEA)
• Postmates (U.S., now Uber-owned)
• PickMe (Sri Lanka)

Travel ticketing

China’s Trip.com is global, while Skyscanner is strong in Europe and has inroads in North America. India is emerging with ixigo and MakeMyTrip.

• Trip.com / Ctrip (China)
• Skyscanner (U.K.)
• ixigo (India)
• MakeMyTrip (India)
• Omio (Europe)
• Cleartrip (India)
• Trainline (U.K./Europe)
• Hopper (U.S./Canada)

Accommodation

Airbnb and Booking.com are still the top global competitors, but Agoda and OYO are significant regional powerhouses.

• Airbnb (U.S.)
• Booking.com (Europe)
• Agoda (Southeast Asia)
• OYO (India)
• Expedia (U.S.)
• Hotels.com (U.S., Expedia-owned)
• Tripadvisor (U.S.)
• Trivago (North America, Europe, Expedia-owned)

Carsharing

This is still a niche in on-demand apps compared to ride-hailing, but carsharing is growing as consumers look for flexible car access without ownership.

• Turo (U.S.)
• Getaround (U.S./Europe)
• Zipcar (U.S.)
• ShareNow (Europe)
• Sixt (Europe)
• Hertz (U.S./Global)
• Avis/Budget (U.S./Global)

Home services

India leads with Urban Company, while the U.S. has multiple well-funded platforms.

• Urban Company (India)
• TaskRabbit (U.S.)
• Thumbtack (U.S.)
• Angi (HomeAdvisor) (U.S.)
• Handy (U.S.)
• Airtasker (Australia)
• Helpling (Germany)

Telemedicine

Telemedicine reflects local healthcare systems: fragmented, regulated, and highly regional.

• Doctolib (Europe)
• Practo (India)
• Halodoc (Indonesia)
• Zocdoc (U.S.)
• Amwell (U.S.)
• K Health (U.S.)
• Alodokter (Indonesia)

Roadside assistance

This is a smaller on-demand category but — of course — it’s critical when you need it. Roadside apps tend to be tied to insurance companies or auto clubs and are highly local due to service network requirements.

• • AAA Mobile (U.S.)
  • Allstate Roadside (U.S.)
  • Nationwide Roadside (U.S.)
  • Blink Roadside (India, niche)
  • GEICO Mobile (roadside features) (U.S.)

Regional leaders

Top on-demand apps are always local. Even if they’re global apps, they need local boots on the ground to compete and deliver. That’s why while Uber, Airbnb, and Booking.com are global names, most markets are defined by local champions.

• • • China: closed ecosystem but huge scale
      • Dingdong Maicai
      • Didi
      • Ele.me
      • Meituan
      • Trip.com
    • Europe: highly competitive and fragmented
      • Bolt
      • FreeNow
      • Glovo
      • Wolt
    • India: dominant in medicine, food, services
      • Blinkit
      • Ola
      • PharmEasy
      • Swiggy
      • Urban Company
      • Zomato
    • Latin America: regional giants in delivery and groceries
      • Cornershop
      • iFood
      • Rappi
    • Middle East & North Africa: ride-hailing and delivery are tightly integrated
      • Careem
      • HungerStation
      • Mrsool
      • Talabat
    • North America: fewer players, but very high scale
      • DoorDash
      • Instacart
      • Turo
      • Uber
    • Russia/CIS: deeply entrenched local tech firms
      • inDrive
      • Yandex Eats
      • Yandex Go
    • Southeast Asia: budding superapps for ride-hailing, food, and payments
      • Gojek
      • Grab

Top on-demand apps: key themes

A few things are apparent when we see all this data …

No global monopoly

As we can see, there’s no global monopoly. Except for a few giants (Uber, Airbnb, Booking), on-demand is strongly regional. Regulation, culture, and logistics make global scale hard, although we do see the giants buying up local top on-demand apps to compete in new regions.

Superapps are winning

Superapps are winning in a number of regions.. Grab, Gojek, Meituan, Careem, and others combine multiple on-demand services into one ecosystem. While this is less the case in the United States, we also see Uber adding services like shopping, delivery, and transit tickets to its app … so maybe it’s coming.

India is massive in on-demand

India is the growth engine here. India loves on-demand services, and virtually every on-demand category has Indian leaders in the top 15 globally.

China is massive but very China-focused

China is massive but closed. With Meituan, Didi, and Trip.com, China runs parallel ecosystems that rarely expand abroad.

The U.S. has global visibility

Top U.S. on-demand companies still lead in global visibility. Uber, DoorDash, Instacart, and Airbnb are household names almost everywhere.

Health is huge and growing

Health and medicine are the next frontier. Telemedicine and pharmacy delivery are seeing explosive growth, especially in India and Southeast Asia.

Wrapping up: top on-demand apps

The world has fundamentally changed.

On-demand apps aren’t just a convenience … they’re becoming core infrastructure. These apps are now core to how billions live their daily lives, and that’s only going to accelerate as delivery gets faster and cheaper via drones, delivery robots, and self-driving vehicles. 

The next phase?

Expect more consolidation into superapps, which we’re finally starting to see in the U.S. and Europe. Plus, expect more integration of AI and automation (drones and robots!).

It’s a brave new on-demand world.