Key Points

  • The 2025 PayPal-linked offer for five free months of Uber One has expired; current promos are shorter and more targeted.
  • Uber One still costs $9.99/month or $96/year and bundles delivery fee waivers, 5% back on rides, and 10% off eligible Eats orders.
  • Several credit cards now cover Uber One automatically, which is the most reliable way to hold the membership without paying for it.

TL;DR

The summer 2025 "5 months free Uber One via PayPal" deal is over. As of April 2026, the cleanest way to get Uber One free is through a card that includes it, not promo trials.

What the offer was

In mid-2025, Uber ran a promotion that gave new and returning Uber One members five free months of the $9.99/month subscription, normally a $49.95 value. The widely shared version of the deal asked users to add PayPal as their default payment method inside the Uber Eats app, then activate the trial from Account > Wallet. Reader reports at the time also surfaced a quieter version with no payment-method requirement, served to a subset of accounts.

The catch was always that the offer was targeted. Two accounts on the same household could see different versions, and Uber never published the eligibility rules. By late 2025 the PayPal banner had largely disappeared, and most users opening the app today see either no Uber One offer or a one-month trial.

Who could activate it

Uber One's terms classify users as "new or returning," meaning anyone whose previous membership had ended could re-enroll. Active subscribers were excluded. The five-month version required the Uber Eats app (not the rideshare app), a U.S. account, and PayPal as the default payment method for the duration of the trial. Users who switched payment methods mid-trial risked losing the discount, though points-and-miles communities reported that Uber rarely enforced this if the account already had a long order history.

What Uber One actually includes

The benefits haven't changed much since launch, and they're the reason the membership is worth tracking even when there's no free trial running. As of April 2026, Uber One members get:

  • $0 delivery fee on eligible Uber Eats orders over $15
  • 5% back as Uber Cash on eligible rides and Eats orders
  • 10% off eligible deliveries and pickup orders (replaced the older 5% credit on Eats earlier in 2026)
  • Member-only promotions and pricing on select restaurants
  • Priority customer support

For someone ordering Uber Eats two or three times a month and taking a couple of rides, the membership pays for itself. For lighter users, it usually doesn't.

How Chase and Amex tie in

The most useful way to think about Uber One in April 2026 is through the cards that bundle it. Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders get a complimentary Uber One membership through November 14, 2025, with the benefit extended into 2026 for cardholders who activated before the cutoff. Holders of the new Chase Sapphire Reserve refresh tier and several Chase Ink products have similar coverage.

On the Amex side, the Platinum and Gold cards don't include Uber One outright, but they do provide monthly Uber Cash credits ($15/month on Platinum, $10/month on Gold) that can be applied to either rides, Eats orders, or the membership fee itself. The Apple Card has historically run its own six-month free Uber One offer for new members, which has been more durable than the Uber-direct promotions.

If you have one of those cards and you haven't activated, that's the move. If you don't, the standalone $9.99/month subscription is the only path right now, since the five-month promo isn't reliably appearing.

The current Uber One landscape

Uber has spent the past year tightening promotional spend. The five-month trial was a 2024-2025 acquisition push, and the company has shifted toward shorter trials (one month, occasionally two) and toward partnerships with banks and card issuers that fund the membership directly. The numbers Uber reported in its early-2026 earnings show membership growth coming from card partners rather than direct promotions, which lines up with what's visible inside the app.

For readers, that means the playbook has changed. The right question isn't "is there a free trial right now" but "does the card I already use cover this." If the answer is no and you order delivery often enough to justify $9.99/month, the paid membership is fine. If you're a once-a-month user, skip it.

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