Grab Review

Grab is an Asian transportation startup based in Singapore. In Vietnam, Grab is the equivalent of Uber, but way, way cheaper, because in Vietnam most people use a bike to get around and the cost of living is lower as well.

Grab Bike

For backpackers and single travelers not carrying a lot of stuff, Grab Bike is the most economical solution. You can literally travel some kilometers or miles and pay between 30,000 and 70,000 vnd (1 and 3 euros).

For people not used to traveling in Asia with a bike, it can feel a bit scary as the traffic is a bit chaotic. But it’s also a refreshing and adventurous way to travel for most foreigners. Note that drivers are trying to make as much profit as possible, so they will often drive a bit aggressively.

Grab Car

Grab Car is the classic on-demand car-driver solution. It is effective and safe, but a bit more expensive than grabbing a bike. If you have luggage, children, or don’t want to take any risks, this solution may be for you.

The prices are dynamic, so depending on the time, the number of drivers available, and the number of drives requested, you’ll find the price varying quite significantly. It is still less expensive than in Western countries, but by Vietnamese standards, it can be a tad pricy. For example, it costs around 350,000 vnd (around 15 euros) to go from Hoan Kiem Lake to the airport.

Grab Food

Grab Food is an on-demand food delivery service. Since the price of driving a bike is so cheap, the price for delivering food is also very attractive. Most expats and foreigners order their food in because the restaurants usually have tight margins compared to Western countries.

I tend to order several times a week. The only downside is that it is hard to get healthy and cheap food. After the COVID crisis, most restaurants have now been registered in Grab, which makes it very diverse in terms of food variety. Note that most deliveries have to be made within a radius of 10 km to make sense for the drivers.

Grab Express

Grab Express is a delivery service. If you want to send something from point A to point B and you want it to be fast, this is one of the best services available. This service is often used by companies or individuals who need to ship a product within the same day or hour. I personally use this method for sending my films to the lab.

Promos and vouchers

Finally, Grab is very interesting economically because of the constant promotions and vouchers within the app.

It’s very common with Grab Food to have at least the shipping cost canceled with a promo (10–20%) and sometimes even more than 100,000 VND if you order more than 500,000 VND. To give you an example, sometimes it is cheaper to order food on Grab than to go down on the street to buy it, which I have to admit is incredible.

When it comes to transportation, the vouchers are less common but still present; especially with long rides, there is almost always a way to get a reduction. Which is why the final price of the ride ends up being a good deal.

Verdict

10 out of 10

For us, living without Grab would be like living without the internet. Their services are so convenient that it is hard to function when they are offline.

The prices with promotions are so attractive that going directly to the restaurant doesn’t make any sense, even if it is on the same street.

Grab is a service well implanted in big cities, but in smaller places like Phu Quoc, the service is still being developed.