Toast vs Square: what each costs a restaurant in 2026

Square publishes its plan prices and card rates: $0, $49 or $149 a month per location, and 2.4% to 2.6% plus 15¢ on each card payment in person. Toast publishes two starter kit 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 after a demo. On $30,000 a month in counter sales, the five plans cost $816 to $1,049 a month before Toast’s hardware. Toast’s flat 3.09% beats Square Free on tickets under about $30.

What do Toast and Square charge?

These are the prices on each company’s own site on October 16, 2026.

The starter kit page gives both Toast rates as a plain percentage and names no per-payment fee. Toast’s comparison page says it “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. Square may offer custom pricing to businesses processing over $250,000 a year. Toast’s no-upfront-cost Starter Kit pricing applies to new customers and single locations only.

Both let you pass a fee on to guests: Square has service charges, shown as a line item to you and your customer, and Toast’s plan chart lists surcharging.

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 the $69 Point of Sale plan for Toast Traditional because it is the lowest software price on Toast’s pricing page. If your Toast quote adds 15¢ per payment, as Square’s rates do, the Traditional total rises by $180 to $996.

Add 400 online orders at $30, or $12,000 a month. On Square that is $516 more on Free and $468 more on Plus or Premium, with ordering included, so the monthly totals become $1,476, $1,447 and $1,517. Toast publishes neither its online ordering price nor its online card rate, so ask for both in the quote before you compare.

Which ticket size favors which?

Toast’s Pay-as-you-Go rate is a straight percentage. Square Free adds 15¢ to every payment, which is a bigger share of a small ticket. The two cost the same on a ticket of about $30.61:

• A $12 coffee and pastry: 37¢ on Toast Pay-as-you-Go, 46¢ on Square Free.
• A $25 lunch: 77¢ on Toast, 80¢ on Square.
• A $60 dinner for two: $1.85 on Toast, $1.71 on Square.

A cafe or quick-service counter with small tickets pays less on Toast’s Pay-as-you-Go than on Square Free, and owns the Toast hardware from day one. A full-service restaurant with $60 checks pays less on Square Free than on Pay-as-you-Go: $855 against $927 on $30,000 a month. Square’s lower percentages only make up for the monthly fee above about $49,000 a month in card sales for Plus, and $100,000 for Premium over Plus.

Which one fits your restaurant?

• You want to start with no monthly fee and use phones or tablets you already own. Square Free. You move to Plus at $49 when you need phone support past the first 90 days, or kitchen displays at $30 a month per screen on top.
• You run a counter with small tickets and want no upfront cost. Toast’s Pay-as-you-Go kit, if one terminal is enough or once you have priced the second.
• You run full service with split checks, preauthorized tabs and coursing. Toast says it covers these even if you are starting small, while on Square they need Plus or Premium, and Square’s own page lists coursing and seat management on Premium. Compare Toast against Square’s paid plans rather than Free.
• You want to know every price before you talk to sales. Square. Toast’s comparison page sends you to a demo for its processing rates.

Where Expresso fits

Expresso is not a POS, so it does not replace either one. It takes online and table orders for an independent restaurant and runs beside whichever POS you choose. Guests order pickup, curbside or scheduled orders from your link, or scan a QR code at the table and pay there. Orders ring on Expresso’s own kitchen tablet ($149 once), not inside your Toast or Square POS.

There is no monthly fee and no contract. Card processing is 3.2% + 30¢ on the order total, and guests pay a 2.5% convenience fee on the food subtotal, shown at checkout. On 400 online orders at $30, before tax and tip, that is about $514 a month to you and $300 in guest fees.

If you run Square, its own online ordering costs about the same ($516 on Free, $468 on Plus) and puts orders straight into the POS, so start there. If you run Toast, put Expresso next to the Digital Storefront quote you get. Our comparison of online ordering systems prices the others.