Toast

Who Toast is for

Toast is built for one thing: restaurants. If you run a restaurant, bar, cafe, or food truck, Toast goes deeper on food service features than any other POS. Online ordering, kitchen display screens, tip management, table service, menu customization, payroll, scheduling, loyalty programs, and marketing are all built in or available as add-ons. No other POS system matches this depth for food service.

The Starter Kit at $0 upfront and $0/month makes it accessible for new restaurants or small operations that need to minimize initial costs. The trade-off (and it is a significant one) is that Toast requires you to use their payment processing. You cannot plug in a cheaper processor. That lock-in is the central fact about Toast, and everything else flows from it.

Software plans: what you pay monthly

Toast keeps its plan structure simple compared to Clover’s business-type tiers:

Plan	Monthly fee	In-person rate	Best for
Starter Kit	$0	3.09% + $0.15	New restaurants, low volume, food trucks
Point of Sale	$69	2.49% + $0.15	Established restaurants, 1-2 terminals
Custom	Quote-based	Negotiable	Multi-location, high volume

The Starter Kit’s $0 price tag is real, but the processing rate is the catch. At 3.09% + $0.15 per transaction, you are paying roughly 0.60% more per swipe than the Point of Sale plan. On $7,000/month in card volume, the extra processing cost exceeds $69, meaning the Point of Sale plan is cheaper despite the monthly fee. That crossover point is worth calculating for your volume.

There is another wrinkle: if you add features to the Starter Kit like online ordering (bumps rate to 3.39% + $0.15) or the Marketing Suite (bumps rate to 3.69% + $0.15), the rate increase applies to your entire transaction volume, not just online orders. A Starter Kit restaurant doing $20,000/month that adds online ordering goes from ~$635 to ~$695 in processing fees, a $60/month jump for a feature that costs $75/month on the Point of Sale plan.

The Point of Sale plan at $69/month is where most established restaurants land. The lower 2.49% + $0.15 in-person rate saves real money at volume, and you get access to features without rate penalties.

Processing rates: the full picture

Toast’s processing rates vary by plan and transaction type:

Transaction type	Starter Kit	Point of Sale plan
In-person (card present)	3.09% + $0.15	2.49% + $0.15
Online ordering	3.39% + $0.15	3.50% + $0.15
Keyed-in	Higher (not published)	Higher (not published)

For context, here is how the Point of Sale plan’s in-person rate compares:

• Helcim (interchange-plus): ~2.2% effective rate at typical interchange, $0/month
• Square (flat rate): 2.6% + $0.15, $0/month (Free plan)
• Clover (direct): 2.3% + $0.10, $0-$189/month depending on plan
• Toast: 2.49% + $0.15, $69/month

Toast is not the cheapest on processing. It is not trying to be. The pitch is that the restaurant-specific features justify the premium, and for many restaurants that is a fair trade. But you should know exactly how much that premium costs at your volume.

The processing lock-in problem

This is the defining trade-off of Toast: you must use Toast for payment processing. No exceptions. You cannot bring a third-party processor, negotiate rates with a competing provider, or separate your POS software from your payment processing. If you want Toast’s features, you accept Toast’s rates.

What this means in practice:

You cannot shop rates. With a processor-agnostic POS (like Lightspeed or a standalone system), you can switch processors whenever you find better rates. With Toast, your processing rate is whatever Toast charges, and your only leverage is threatening to leave entirely.

Toast can raise rates mid-contract. Per Toast’s merchant agreement, they can increase processing rates during your contract with just 30 days written notice. You can decline and terminate, but the early termination fee may still apply. This means the rate you sign up at is not necessarily the rate you will pay for the life of your contract.

The cost compounds at volume. A restaurant processing $40,000/month at Toast’s 2.49% + $0.15 pays roughly $1,034 in processing. The same restaurant using Helcim (interchange-plus, ~2.2% effective) would pay roughly $880. That is $154/month ($1,848/year) in extra processing cost, and it scales linearly with volume. At $80,000/month, the gap is roughly $300/month ($3,600/year).

Toast knows their features are sticky enough that most restaurants will not leave over processing costs. That is a deliberate business model. Go in with your eyes open.

Hardware: what it costs

Toast hardware is proprietary. If you leave Toast, your devices cannot be used with another processor or POS system. The equipment becomes e-waste.

Device	Price	Monthly fee	Notes
Starter Kit (1 terminal)	$0	$0	Pay-as-you-go processing (3.09%+)
Toast Flex Terminal + Tap	~$719	$50/month	Countertop terminal
Toast Flex + Tap + Display	~$944	$50/month	Terminal with customer-facing screen
Toast Go 2 (handheld)	$494-$627	$50/month	Tableside ordering and payment
Kitchen Display System	~$674	$25-$35/month	Order routing to kitchen
Self-Serve Kiosk (22”)	~$1,034	$90/month	Customer self-ordering
Guest Display (mounted)	~$225	—	Customer-facing order confirmation
Kitchen Printer	~$305	—	Backup/supplementary printing
Receipt Printer	~$296	—	Standard receipt printing
Cash Drawer	~$134	—	Cash operations

The $0 Starter Kit is genuinely free hardware. You own the terminal from day one. The trade-off is the higher processing rate (3.09% vs. 2.49%). For a restaurant processing under $7,000/month, the Starter Kit is cheaper. Above that, the Point of Sale plan saves more in processing than it costs in monthly fees.

For a full-service restaurant setup (two handhelds, one countertop terminal, one KDS), expect $2,000-$3,000 in hardware plus $125-$185/month in device subscription fees.

Add-ons: where the real cost lives

Toast’s base plans are relatively affordable. The add-ons are where monthly costs escalate. Every add-on is optional, but most restaurants end up needing several.

Add-on	Monthly cost
Online Ordering	$75
Kitchen Display System (software)	$25-$35
Toast Payroll + POS Bundle	$90 + $9/employee
Loyalty Program	$50-$75
Gift Cards	$50
Email Marketing	$75
Toast Websites	$75
Catering & Events	$100
Third-Party Delivery Integration	$30/service
Handheld Device License	$50/device
Self-Serve Kiosk Software	$90

A realistic example: a full-service restaurant with online ordering ($75), one KDS ($35), payroll for 15 employees ($90 + $135), and a loyalty program ($50) pays $385/month in add-ons alone. Add the $69 Point of Sale plan and you are at $454/month before processing fees and hardware subscriptions.

One restaurant owner reported paying $1,400/month in Toast module subscriptions plus $800 for Toast payroll, totaling $2,200/month before hardware. That is not unusual for a full-service operation running most of Toast’s add-on stack.

Contracts and cancellation

Toast requires 2-3 year contracts on most plans, with automatic renewal. The early termination fee consists of remaining software fees plus unfulfilled processing commitments for the rest of your contract term. On a 2-year contract at $69/month with add-ons, terminating a year early could cost you $5,000+ in penalties.

You must provide 30+ days written notice before your renewal date to cancel. Miss that window and you are locked in for another term.

Combined with the processing lock-in and the ability to raise rates with 30 days notice, the contract structure means Toast has significant leverage over your business once you sign. This is not unusual in the POS industry (Clover resellers do the same thing), but it is worth understanding before you commit.

Complaints and support issues

Toast holds a BBB profile with documented complaint patterns. The BBB’s analysis from January 2025 identified a high volume of refund-related complaints and billing issues. Common themes:

• Account holds and deposit freezes: Restaurants reporting deposits from multiple days held without explanation. One complaint documented over $1,200 in deposits not credited to their bank account.
• Double billing and unauthorized charges: Merchants overcharged repeatedly, with refund processes taking weeks. One case involved Toast Payroll charging a customer who cancelled over a year prior.
• Customer service responsiveness: Cases closed without investigation, emails unanswered, inability to reach supervisors, and delayed callbacks on support tickets. This is the most consistent complaint theme.
• Rate increases without warning: Merchants reporting processing rate changes with minimal notice.

Toast’s support quality appears inconsistent. When it works, restaurant owners report knowledgeable reps who understand food service operations. When it does not, the experience mirrors the worst of the payment processing industry: automated responses, long hold times, and unresolved billing disputes.

The pricing math: Toast vs. alternatives

For a restaurant processing $40,000/month in-person with a $25 average ticket (1,600 transactions):

System	Processing cost	Software/month	Total monthly
Toast Point of Sale	~$1,034	$69 + add-ons	$1,103+
Toast Starter Kit	~$1,276	$0 + add-ons	$1,276+
Square Free	~$1,100	$0	$1,100
Square Plus (restaurants)	~$1,100	$60	$1,160
Clover direct (restaurant)	~$960	$79-$189	$1,039-$1,149
Helcim + standalone POS	~$880	$0	$880

At $40,000/month, the difference between Toast and an interchange-plus processor like Helcim is roughly $220/month ($2,640/year) in processing alone. Over a 3-year contract, that is nearly $8,000 in extra processing fees for the convenience of Toast’s integrated features.

Whether that premium is worth it depends on how much value you get from Toast’s restaurant-specific features versus cobbling together a standalone POS with a separate processor. For many restaurants, the integrated online ordering, KDS, and tip management save enough time and errors to justify the cost. For others, the math does not work.

Who should not use Toast

Restaurants processing under $10,000/month: The processing premium and add-on costs are hard to justify at low volume. Square’s free plan with no monthly fees and lower total cost is a better fit.

Restaurants that prioritize processing cost above all else: If your primary goal is the lowest possible transaction rate, Toast is the wrong choice by design. A standalone POS with Helcim or Dharma processing will always be cheaper on a per-transaction basis.

Non-restaurant businesses: Toast is purpose-built for food service. If you run a retail store, salon, or service business, you are paying for restaurant features you will never use. Square or Clover covers these verticals better.

Businesses that hate long-term contracts: 2-3 year terms with substantial ETFs and mid-contract rate increases are not for everyone. Square offers month-to-month with no contracts. SpotOn also offers more flexible terms.

Bottom line

Toast is the best restaurant POS on the market for feature depth. Nothing else matches its combination of online ordering, kitchen display, tip management, table service, payroll, and marketing in a single integrated platform. If you run a restaurant and you want everything in one system, Toast delivers.

The cost of that integration is the processing lock-in. You cannot shop rates, you are locked into 2-3 year contracts, and Toast can raise your rates with 30 days notice. For a restaurant doing $40,000/month, you are paying roughly $150-$220/month more in processing than you would with an interchange-plus processor. Over a 3-year contract, that is $5,400-$7,900 in premium processing fees.

Whether that trade-off makes sense depends on your operation. If Toast’s features save you a server’s worth of labor, reduce order errors, or bring in meaningful online ordering revenue, the processing premium pays for itself. If you are a simple counter-service cafe doing $15,000/month, Square’s free plan does 80% of what you need at a fraction of the cost.

Run the numbers before you sign. Calculate your total monthly cost including the base plan, every add-on you need, hardware subscriptions, and processing fees at your actual volume. Compare that against Square (for simplicity), Clover direct (for lower processing with restaurant features), or a standalone system with Helcim (for the lowest processing cost). A statement audit can show you exactly what you are paying now and where the savings are.