Square vs Toast, and only one of them tells you the price.

The short answer

Square tells you what it charges. Toast does not.

Square publishes 2.6% + 15¢ tapped, dipped or swiped, 3.5% + 15¢ keyed, with a genuinely free plan and paid tiers at $49 and $149 a month per location. Toast publishes software plans at $0, $69 a month, and $69 plus $9 per employee a month, and publishes no card processing rate at all — its pricing page says it is a payment facilitator that partners with processors, and leaves it there.

That is not a scandal; it is how most of the restaurant point-of-sale industry works, and Toast’s software is genuinely strong. But it means you cannot do this comparison from the internet. The first useful step is to make Toast put its processing rate, its term, its hardware cost and its monthly fees in writing, and only then compare.

What we can say in advance: Toast is a far more capable restaurant system, and Square’s restaurant product is adequate for a simpler operation at a much lower software cost. Whether Toast’s capability is worth its total cost is a question only its quote can answer.

Square — free plan$0.00

Square — Plus$49.00

Square — Premium$149.00

Toast — $0 plan$0.00

Toast — next tier$69.00

Published pricing, side by side

Square: squareup.com — read 2026-10-08. Toast: pos.toasttab.com — read 2026-10-08.

Published prices change. These were read on the dates above and are list prices for a business buying direct — a quote you are given may differ, and should be compared as a quote rather than against a price list.

Square, also published:

• ACH via invoice 1%, $1 minimum
• Afterpay 6% + 30¢
• EBT 1.8% + 5¢
• Custom pricing available above $250,000 a year

Toast, also published:

• Toast publishes software plan prices and does not publish a processing rate anywhere on its pricing page
• The plan figures are for new customers and single locations, and include the first hardware terminal subscription

Where they actually differ

Capability. Toast is built for restaurants and only restaurants — coursing, kitchen display, table management, online ordering, delivery integrations, handhelds, inventory, labour. Square’s restaurant product covers the common ground well and thins out at the complex end. For a full-service restaurant with a real kitchen workflow, this is not a close contest on features.

What the software costs. Both have a $0 tier. Toast’s $0 tier is explicitly for new customers, single locations, and includes the first hardware terminal subscription, with “additional charges apply for subsequent devices” in the footnotes. Square’s free tier is genuinely free and unlimited in time. Read both sets of conditions, because the headline $0 is doing different work in each.

Hardware. Toast does not publish hardware prices — its page says hardware and implementation costs vary, with 0% financing available by application. Square publishes hardware prices. For a restaurant fitting out several stations, “varies” is a large unknown and it is usually the biggest line in year one.

The term. Square states no contract. Toast publishes no contract term. Restaurant point-of-sale contracts commonly run multiple years, and multi-year commitments in this category are the norm rather than the exception, so ask directly and get the answer in the agreement. Agreement red flags.

The processing lock. Both tie processing to the system. That means the processing rate is not a decision you can revisit after you have built your menu, trained your staff and wired your kitchen printers. Price it before you commit, not after. Choosing a restaurant POS.

Tips and labour. Both handle tipping and tip adjustment. Toast’s labour and scheduling tools are substantially deeper, which for a twenty-staff restaurant is worth real money in a way the rate comparison will not capture. Restaurant processing.

Who each one suits

Square suits a cafe, quick-service counter, food truck, bar with simple service, or a restaurant that wants to keep software cost near zero and does not need coursing, kitchen display or deep labour tools.

Toast suits a full-service restaurant with a kitchen workflow, multiple service areas, handhelds on the floor, online ordering and delivery to integrate, and enough volume that the software cost is small relative to the operational benefit.

Neither is the cheapest way to process. Both bundle processing with the system. A restaurant doing $80,000 a month in card volume on a flat rate is a restaurant where interchange-plus would save a meaningful amount every month — and the reason it cannot is the system lock, not the rate. If processing cost is your main concern, the question to ask is which systems let you bring your own processor.

What the comparison does not show

Toast’s rate is the whole unknown. Until you have it in writing you do not have a comparison, you have one price and one blank. Ask for the rate, the per-item, every monthly fee, the term, the early termination terms and the hardware total.

Square’s restaurant tier is not the free tier for most restaurants. The free plan takes payments; the features a restaurant actually wants sit on the paid tiers at $49 or $149 a month per location. Compare like for like.

Implementation is a real cost in both cases, and it is the one nobody budgets. Menu build, hardware install, staff training, running two systems for a week. Toast’s own page names implementation as a variable cost; Square’s does not, which does not mean it is free in effort.

Both are flat-rate arrangements, so both charge you the same whether a guest paid with a plain debit card or a premium card. Your card mix decides whether that is a good deal, and a flat rate cannot show you. What rewards cards cost.

How to settle it with your own numbers

Half of this comparison cannot be done from a web page, because Toast publishes no rate. So the comparison has to happen on your own numbers instead, and the figure that makes it possible is your effective rate: total fees for a month divided by total card volume for that month.

Get the Toast quote in writing, with the markup as a number, the per-item, and every monthly fee named individually. Apply all of it to your own volume, your own average ticket and your own card mix, add the monthly fees, and divide by volume. That single number is the only thing comparable to Square’s published figures — or to anybody else’s. A quote that cannot be reduced to it is not a quote.

Comparing two quotes is the full method for an unpublished rate, and the calculator does the arithmetic once you have the figures.

What we charge

Interchange + 0.50% + 10¢ in person, interchange + 0.75% + 25¢ keyed, with no contract, no monthly fee and no monthly minimum.

If you are holding a quote from Toast, send it to us with one page of a statement. We will reduce the quote to an effective rate at your own volume and put it next to Square’s published figures and ours, so you are comparing three numbers of the same kind instead of a price list against a sales conversation.

While we are on the subject

What does Toast charge for processing?

Toast does not publish a processing rate on its pricing page. You have to get a quote, and you should get it in writing alongside the software and hardware figures.

Is Square good enough for a full-service restaurant?

For simpler service, yes. For coursing, kitchen display, multiple service areas and deep labour management, Toast is built for the job and Square is not.

Is Toast's $0 plan really free?

The software tier is $0, with conditions: new customers, single locations, and the first hardware terminal subscription included. Additional devices carry charges, and hardware and implementation are separate.

Can I use my own processor with either?

Not meaningfully. Both tie card processing to the system, which is why the rate has to be settled before you commit to the platform.