If you only want one number: Grab is cheap in Vietnam. A short GrabBike hop costs around 15,000–30,000 VND ($0.60–1.20), a cross-town GrabCar around 60,000–150,000 VND ($2.50–6), and even the long airport runs rarely clear 400,000 VND ($16) without surge, as of mid-2026. This page is the dedicated fare reference — base fares, per-km and per-minute rates, sample trips, surge behavior, and how Grab stacks up against Be, Xanh SM, and metered taxis on price alone.
For everything that is not a number — how the app works, which ride type to pick, safety, and the airport taxi scam — see our Grab and taxis in Vietnam guide. This page assumes you already have the app and only want to know what rides cost.
One caveat before the tables: Grab prices dynamically and adjusts its tariffs by city and demand without notice. Every figure below is a hedged range as of mid-2026, and the upfront quote in the app is always the real price.
Grab fare structure: base fares and per-km rates
Grab quotes a single upfront price, but underneath it the fare is built from a base fare (covering roughly the first 2 km), a per-km rate, and a small per-minute charge that accounts for traffic. The approximate bands below reflect Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the most expensive markets; provincial cities often run lower.
| Ride type | Approx base fare (first ~2 km) | Approx per-km after | Approx per-minute |
|---|---|---|---|
| GrabBike | Around 12,000–14,000 VND | Around 4,000–5,500 VND | Around 300–400 VND |
| GrabCar (4-seat) | Around 27,000–32,000 VND | Around 9,000–12,000 VND | Around 350–500 VND |
| GrabCar (7-seat) | Around 32,000–38,000 VND | Around 12,000–16,000 VND | Around 400–550 VND |
| GrabTaxi | Partner taxi's meter — no fixed upfront fare | Roughly 12,000–18,000 VND all-in | Included in meter |
Three practical readings of this table. First, the base fare means very short rides are proportionally poor value — a 1 km GrabCar ride costs nearly as much as a 3 km one, so walking the last few hundred meters saves nothing. Second, the per-minute component is why the same route costs more at 5.30pm than at 2pm even without surge. Third, GrabTaxi is the odd one out: it books a metered taxi through the app, so you get an estimate rather than a locked price — useful during surge, when meters can undercut GrabCar.
Sample trip costs
These are the five rides travelers actually price-check, with hedged mid-2026 ranges at normal (non-surge) demand.
| Trip | Approx distance | GrabBike | GrabCar (4-seat) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noi Bai Airport to Hanoi Old Quarter | ~27 km | Around 150,000–200,000 VND ($6–8) | Around 280,000–380,000 VND ($11–15) |
| Tan Son Nhat Airport to District 1 | ~8 km | Around 90,000–140,000 VND ($3.50–5.50) | Around 180,000–280,000 VND ($7–11) |
| Da Nang centre to Hoi An | ~28 km | Not practical | Around 450,000–600,000 VND ($18–24) |
| Short Old Quarter hop (Hanoi) | ~2 km | Around 15,000–25,000 VND ($0.60–1) | Around 30,000–50,000 VND ($1.20–2) |
| District 1 to Thao Dien (HCMC) | ~7 km | Around 35,000–60,000 VND ($1.40–2.40) | Around 90,000–140,000 VND ($3.50–5.50) |
The airport runs deserve their own planning — pickup zones, alternatives, and late-night pricing all differ — so use the dedicated Noi Bai to Old Quarter and Tan Son Nhat to District 1 breakdowns for those. For how these fares sit inside a full daily budget, our Vietnam travel cost index has the wider baseline.
Surge pricing: when fares jump
Grab surges on demand, and in Vietnam demand has three reliable triggers: rain, rush hour, and holidays. A typical surge multiplies the fare by around 1.2–2x, and a sudden tropical downpour in Ho Chi Minh City can push beyond that band because half the city opens the app at the same moment.
The predictable windows: weekday rush around 7–9am and 5–7pm, Friday and Saturday nights, the 11pm–5am stretch (which also carries an automatic late-night surcharge on many routes), and the week around Tet, when fares and waiting times both climb. The mitigation is patience — surge decays fast once a squall passes or rush hour thins, and waiting 15–20 minutes routinely drops an airport quote by 50,000–100,000 VND. Because the surged price is quoted upfront, the decision is always yours before you book, never a surprise after.
Booking, cancellation, toll and airport fees
A few small charges sit on top of the distance math, and they explain most gaps between the tables above and a real quote.
- Platform fee. Grab folds a small booking fee — typically a few thousand dong — into the upfront price. You will not see it broken out on most rides.
- Cancellation fee. Canceling after a driver has accepted, or failing to show up within the wait window, typically costs around 10,000–15,000 VND, charged to your card or appended to your next cash ride. Canceling before a driver accepts is free.
- Airport surcharges. Pickups at Noi Bai, Tan Son Nhat, and Da Nang airports add roughly 10,000–25,000 VND, normally included in the quoted fare.
- Tolls. Expressway tolls — the Hanoi airport highway is the one most travelers meet — are passed on to the rider, sometimes inside the quote and sometimes added at the end for cash rides. Expect roughly 10,000–40,000 VND when a toll road is on the route.
Grab vs Be vs Xanh SM vs metered taxis on price
Grab has real competitors in Vietnam, and on pure price the race is closer than most travelers assume.
- Be (Vietnamese-owned, green branding) frequently prices around 5–15% under Grab, especially on bikes, and runs aggressive promotions. Coverage is strong in the big cities, thinner elsewhere.
- Xanh SM (VinFast's electric fleet, teal cars) prices close to Grab — sometimes slightly above on short rides — but its fares have historically moved less with demand, which makes it attractive exactly when Grab surges. The cars are new and quiet.
- Metered taxis (Mai Linh, Vinasun) run roughly 12,000–18,000 VND per km with a small flag-fall, which usually lands above a non-surged GrabCar and below a heavily surged one. No upfront price, but no surge either.
The neutral summary: at normal demand, Grab and Be are usually cheapest; during rain or rush, Xanh SM or a meter often wins. Keeping two apps installed and comparing quotes takes under a minute. For which taxi brands to trust and when to abandon apps entirely, the Grab and taxis guide covers the non-price side.
Paying for Grab: cash, card, and tipping
Cash is the default and works for every ride — hand the driver the fare shown in the app, nothing more. Adding an international card moves everything in-app: no change fumbling, automatic receipts, and cancellation fees handled cleanly. Foreign Visa and Mastercard credit cards generally work; some foreign debit cards fail verification, which is a known quirk rather than a problem with your account. For the broader question of where cards work in Vietnam, see our card versus cash guide.
Tipping is not expected. Vietnam has no tipping norm for rides, drivers do not wait for one, and the quoted fare is the whole transaction. Rounding up a cash fare or adding a small in-app tip after a luggage-heavy airport run is a kind gesture, not an obligation — our Vietnam tipping guide covers the etiquette across every service.
Limitations
- Fares change frequently. Grab adjusts base fares, per-km rates, and surcharges by city and without notice. The bands here are a mid-2026 planning baseline, not a live tariff sheet — the upfront quote in the app is the only real price.
- Regional variance is real. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City anchor the top of these ranges; Da Nang, Hue, Nha Trang, and provincial cities often quote lower per-km rates, and coverage gaps change the picture entirely in rural areas.
- Promotions distort everything. Grab and Be push discount codes constantly, so two travelers on identical routes can pay meaningfully different prices in the same hour.
- USD conversions are approximate. Dollar figures use a rough mid-2026 exchange rate and drift with it.
Related reading
- Grab and taxis in Vietnam — how the app works, ride types, safety, and the airport taxi scam
- Noi Bai Airport to Hanoi Old Quarter — every option for the Hanoi airport run
- Tan Son Nhat Airport to District 1 — the HCMC airport run in detail
- Vietnam travel cost index 2026 — the full sourced cost baseline
- Card versus cash in Vietnam 2026 — where cards actually work