Toast vs Clover: what each costs a restaurant in 2026

Clover publishes every bundle and rate: $135 a month on a 36-month subscription for its cheapest quick-service system, or $849 plus $89.95 a month, with cards at 2.3% + 10¢ in person and 3.5% + 10¢ online. Toast publishes two rates, 3.09% with no hardware or software cost, or 2.49% with hardware bought up front and a monthly software fee, and quotes the rest. On $30,000 a month in counter sales, before hardware bought up front, Toast costs $816 to $927 a month and Clover’s Starter bundle $900 to $945.

What do Toast and Clover charge?

These are the prices on each company’s own site on October 30, 2026.

Toast’s starter kit page gives both of its rates as a plain percentage and names no per-payment fee. Its comparison page says Toast “offers custom processing rates built for your restaurant’s needs” and sends you to a demo for the quote, so the rate in your contract may be neither of these. Toast limits the no-upfront-cost Starter Kit to new customers and single locations.

Clover’s prices are “only available on Clover.com.” Its FAQ says contract terms and termination fees vary by provider, and Clover is also sold by Citi, PNC, Wells Fargo and more than 3,000 other financial institutions. If your bank offers Clover, ask for its rates in writing; they may not match the ones above.

What does a month cost on each?

Say a counter-service restaurant takes $30,000 a month in card payments at the register: 1,200 payments averaging $25. We used Clover’s quick-service bundles and Toast’s two starter kit rates.

We used the $69 Point of Sale plan for Toast Traditional because it is the lowest software price on Toast’s pricing page. Toast does not publish what the hardware costs on Traditional pricing. If your Toast quote adds 10¢ per payment, as Clover’s rate does, the Traditional total rises by $120 to $936.

Over 36 months, the Clover Starter subscription comes to $4,860 and the bought Starter to $4,087.20, card fees not included. Toast’s $69 software comes to $2,484 over the same 36 months, before its hardware. When a Clover subscription ends, Clover’s FAQ says you buy or return the equipment, or the subscription carries on at the same monthly charge.

For a full-service restaurant with $60 checks, Clover’s subscription drops below Pay-as-you-Go. The same $30,000 is 500 payments, so Clover’s processing is $740, and the full-service Starter bundle with a Station Solo adds $179 a month on subscription, for $919 in total. Toast stays at $927 on Pay-as-you-Go and $816 on Traditional.

What do online orders add?

Add 300 online orders at $30, or $9,000 a month, which we keep before tax and tip. Clover charges its typed-in rate, 3.5% + 10¢, and nothing else for its ordering page: $315 + $30 = $345 a month. That puts the Clover Starter subscription at $1,290 and the bought Starter at $1,244.95.

Toast does not publish the Digital Storefront price, or an online card rate for Traditional and quoted plans. Its processing page says card-not-present payments, which include online orders, cost more to process than in-person ones. The Pay-as-you-Go FAQ says 3.09% on every transaction; if that holds for online orders, they cost $278.10 in card fees, before the add-on. On $9,000 a month, each percentage point of the online rate is $90, and each 10¢ per order is $30. Get both numbers in the quote before you compare; our Toast online ordering cost breakdown lists what Toast does publish, including what it charges per delivery.

Which ticket size favors which?

Toast’s rates are a straight percentage. Clover adds 10¢ to every payment, which is a bigger share of a small ticket. Per payment:

Clover’s per-payment rate beats Pay-as-you-Go on any ticket above about $12.66, but its monthly fee has to be covered first. At a $25 average, Clover’s $135 subscription costs less than Pay-as-you-Go once card sales pass about $34,600 a month. The bought Starter at $89.95 does once they pass about $23,100, not counting the $849 up front, or about $29,100 if you spread the $849 over 36 months. Against Toast’s 2.49%, Clover’s rate only costs less on tickets above about $52.63.

What else is different?

• Online ordering. Clover includes it in every restaurant bundle. Toast sells it as an add-on and quotes it. Toast’s own comparison page says both charge $0 commission per order.
• Fees to guests. Neither company’s pricing pages list a fee charged to your guests on its own ordering page. At one Clover ordering page we checked on October 26, a pickup order showed tax and tip and no service fee. Toast’s plan chart lists surcharging on every plan, which you would set yourself (see credit card surcharge rules in California).
• Loyalty and gift cards. Clover includes a customer database, promotions, a loyalty program and gift cards on its quick-service Standard and Advanced bundles, not Starter. Toast sells email marketing, loyalty and gift cards as the Marketing Essentials add-on. Toast’s comparison page says its gift cards carry no load fee and Clover’s charge 5¢ for every $2 loaded.
• Payroll and scheduling. Toast’s comparison page says Clover has no native payroll or scheduling and needs third-party apps. Toast sells payroll as an add-on, or bundled with its POS for new restaurants from $69 a month plus $9 per employee.
• Table ordering. Clover lists QR-code ordering on every restaurant bundle. Toast sells Mobile Order & Pay as an add-on on Point of Sale and custom plans, and its chart does not list it for the Starter Kit.
• Support. Toast’s pricing page includes 24/7 support by phone or web messaging with every software subscription, though its comparison page gives 7am to midnight ET. Clover’s pricing page says it is available 24/7. Toast’s comparison page says Clover’s support depends on where you bought it.

Which one fits your restaurant?

• You are a new, single-location restaurant and want no money down and no monthly fee. Toast’s Pay-as-you-Go kit, if one or two terminals are enough.
• You run a counter with tickets around $25 and want every price before you call anyone. Clover publishes all of them, and its bought Starter costs less than Pay-as-you-Go above about $29,100 a month in card sales, with the $849 spread over 36 months.
• You run full service with $60 checks. On processing alone, Clover’s 2.3% + 10¢ and Toast’s 2.49% come out about a cent apart per check, so the monthly fee and the hardware decide it.
• You want online ordering without another quote. Clover includes it. On Toast, price Digital Storefront Essentials before you sign.

Square is the other common choice; our Toast vs Square comparison runs the same $30,000 month on Square’s plans.

Where Expresso fits

Expresso is not a POS, so it replaces neither Toast nor Clover. It takes online and table orders for an independent restaurant and runs beside whichever POS you use, with orders ringing on its own kitchen tablet ($149 once), not inside your POS. It has no delivery.

There is no monthly fee and no contract. The restaurant pays card processing of 3.2% + 30¢ on the order total, and guests pay a 2.5% convenience fee on the food subtotal, shown at checkout. On the same 300 orders at $30, before tax and tip, that is about $385 a month to you and $225 in guest fees.

If you run Clover, its own ordering page costs you $345 on those orders, with no guest fee at the restaurant we checked, and puts orders straight into the POS, so use it. If you run Toast, put Expresso’s $385 next to the Digital Storefront quote plus Toast’s online card fees. Our comparison of online ordering systems prices the other options.