Toast vs SpotOn, one of them shows its terms.
SpotOn publishes 2.79% + 20¢ on its $0 plan with a two-year minimum term, and 2.45% + 15¢ on its $55-a-station plan month-to-month. Toast publishes software plans and no processing rate at all.
What this page settles.
Three questions, in the order most people ask them.
The short answer
SpotOn tells you the price and the term. Toast tells you the software price. On disclosure this is not close.
SpotOn publishes two restaurant plans. All-In is $0 per station per month with POS hardware and software included, at 2.79% + $0.20 card present and 3.79% + $0.20 keyed — with processing minimums and a two-year minimum term stated on the page. POS Essentials is $55 per station per month, with a Station 15 at $750 and handhelds at $297 plus implementation, at 2.45% + $0.15 card present (Amex 3.19% + $0.15) and 3.45% + $0.15 keyed, month-to-month.
Toast publishes software plans at $0, $69 a month, and $69 plus $9 per employee a month, and publishes no processing rate.
The honest headline is SpotOn’s own. Its free-hardware plan carries a higher rate and a two-year commitment, and its paid plan carries a lower rate and no commitment. That is exactly the trade that “free equipment” always involves, and SpotOn is one of the few in this category that prints it.
Published pricing, side by side
| Toast | SpotOn | |
|---|---|---|
| In person | Not published | 2.79% + $0.20 All-In plan; 2.45% + $0.15 on POS Essentials, except Amex at 3.19% + $0.15 |
| Keyed | Not published | 3.79% + $0.20 All-In; 3.45% + $0.15 on POS Essentials |
| Online | Not published | Not published separately |
| Pricing model | Software published, processing quoted | Flat rate, inside a plan |
| Monthly | $0, $69/mo, and $69/mo plus $9 per employee a month are the plan figures on the pricing page | $0 per station (All-In); $55 per station (POS Essentials) |
| Contract | Not published | All-In: processing minimums apply and a two-year minimum term. POS Essentials: month-to-month. |
| Monthly minimum | Not published | Stated to apply on the All-In plan; the amount is not published |
| Funding | Not published | Not published |
| Chargeback fee | Not published | Not published |
| Hardware | Not published. The page says hardware and implementation costs vary, with 0% financing available by application. | Included on All-In. On POS Essentials: Station 15 $750 each, handheld $297 each, plus implementation. |
| Account type | Toast describes itself as a payment facilitator that partners with processors | Own merchant account through SpotOn |
Toast: pos.toasttab.com — read 2026-10-08. SpotOn: www.spoton.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.
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
SpotOn, also published:
- Core Bundle add-on $50/mo plus 20bps of gross processing volume
- The $0 hardware plan is the one with the two-year term. That trade is the whole point of the plan.
Where they actually differ
The free-hardware trade, quantified. On $60,000 a month of card volume, the 0.34% difference between SpotOn’s two plans is $204 a month, against a $55-per-station software fee and roughly $750 to $1,800 of hardware. The paid plan pays back the hardware in months and then keeps saving. The free plan is a financing arrangement, priced into the rate and secured by a two-year term — which is the same structure as an equipment lease, described honestly.
Capability. Toast is the deeper restaurant system, particularly for complex kitchen workflow, delivery aggregation and labour management. SpotOn is capable and generally simpler, and competes hard on price and service.
Term. SpotOn publishes a two-year minimum on All-In and month-to-month on Essentials. Toast publishes no term. Multi-year commitments are the norm in restaurant point-of-sale, so ask and get it in the agreement. Auto-renewal clauses.
Add-ons. SpotOn publishes a Core Bundle at $50 a month plus 20 basis points of gross processing volume. Twenty basis points on $60,000 a month is $120, so that bundle is $170 a month at that volume — worth pricing rather than accepting as a bolt-on.
What neither publishes. Funding timing, chargeback fees, and the amount of SpotOn’s processing minimums. Three things to get named.
Processing is locked to both. Whichever you pick, you commit your processing cost for the life of the system. Price it before the software decision. Choosing a restaurant POS.
Who each one suits
Toast suits a full-service restaurant where kitchen workflow is the operation — coursing, multiple service areas, handhelds, heavy online ordering and delivery — and where the capability justifies whatever the quote turns out to be.
SpotOn suits a restaurant that wants a published price it can check, and particularly one that will take the Essentials plan and buy its hardware. For an operator who genuinely cannot fund hardware, the All-In plan is an honest version of the free-equipment deal — just know that you are financing it through the rate for two years.
Neither is the cheapest way to process. Both bundle processing with the system, and both published SpotOn rates are flat rates. A restaurant at $80,000 a month would save a meaningful amount on interchange-plus, and the reason it cannot is the system lock.
What the comparison does not show
SpotOn’s processing minimums are not published. The All-In page says they apply. Get the figure, because a minimum you miss in a quiet month is a charge.
Toast’s rate is the entire unknown. Until it is in writing, you do not have a comparison. Ask for the rate, the per-item, every monthly fee, the term, the exit terms and the hardware total.
The Amex carve-out on SpotOn Essentials matters if Amex is a real share of your volume: 3.19% + $0.15 against 2.45% + $0.15 is a 0.74% difference on those tickets.
Implementation is a cost in both cases, and neither publishes it as a number. Menu build, install, training and a messy week of two systems.
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 SpotOn’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 SpotOn’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
Is SpotOn cheaper than Toast?
SpotOn publishes rates and Toast does not, so it depends on Toast’s quote. SpotOn’s own published rates range from 2.45% + 15¢ to 2.79% + 20¢ depending on plan.
Is SpotOn's free hardware really free?
The hardware and software carry no upfront or monthly cost on the All-In plan. You pay for it through a 0.34% higher rate, processing minimums and a two-year minimum term.
Which is the better restaurant system?
Toast is deeper for complex full-service operations. SpotOn is capable, simpler, and publishes its price.
What is SpotOn's Core Bundle?
An add-on at $50 a month plus 20 basis points of gross processing volume. At $60,000 a month that is $170 a month, so price it rather than accepting it as a small extra.