Restaurant POS cost FAQ
Owner questions, answered with sourced numbers.
What is the cheapest legitimate restaurant POS in 2026?
Square for Restaurants Free at $0/mo SaaS plus 2.6% + 10c card-present processing. Below ~$30K monthly card volume it is the cheapest all-in. Above that, the flat rate stops being cheap and a negotiated interchange-plus rate from SpotOn or Toast beats it.
Is Square for Restaurants Free actually free?
The SaaS line is genuinely $0/mo (we model Online Ordering at $40/mo if turned on). Processing is the real cost: 2.6% + 10c card-present, 3.5% + 15c card-not-present (flat). On $80K monthly card volume at 78% card-present, $42 average ticket, that is approximately $2,450/mo. The Free plan is the right pick for coffee shops, food trucks, and low-volume QSR. Above $150K monthly volume, a negotiated interchange-plus rate from SpotOn or Toast beats it.
Why does Clover lock you into a 36-48 month lease?
Clover hardware is financed through Fiserv ISO and bank-reseller channels. The lease is the financing instrument. Combined with Fiserv processor lock-in, switching processors usually means switching hardware too. Exit options: buy out the lease residual, sell to a hardware-broker market, or run out the term.
What is the Toast March 2026 Volume Subscription Fee?
Toast added a 10bps Volume Subscription Fee in March 2026: $0.10 per $100 processed. On $80K monthly card volume that is $80/mo extra. It is surfaced in the Toast central knowledge base, not on the front-of-house pricing page.
How much does a 4-terminal Toast install actually cost in year one?
On the default profile (FSR, $80K monthly card volume, 78% card-present, $42 average ticket, KDS on, online ordering on): SaaS + KDS = $326/mo. Hardware financed at 0% for 36 months = $156/mo. Processing = $2,455/mo. Toast Volume Subscription Fee = $80/mo. PCI + statement = $20/mo. Monthly all-in approximately $3,037. Year-one all-in approximately $36,444. Numbers emitted by the lib/calculate.ts model on these exact inputs.
Is SpotOn's interchange-plus genuinely cheaper than Toast's flat rate?
At $1.5M annual revenue, $80K monthly card volume, SpotOn's interchange-plus typically clears around 2.35% effective card-present vs Toast's 2.49% on the negotiated tier. That is roughly $112/mo less on processing. Toast's published Starter rate (2.99%) is materially worse than either negotiated rate.
Should I buy POS hardware outright or lease it?
Buy outright if you can. A Toast hardware bundle at ~$1,300 per terminal, 4 terminals, is $5,200 cash vs $156/mo for 36 months ($5,616). The financing is close to neutral. Clover's 36-48 month lease compounds to 2x-3x cash. Hardware-as-a-Service makes sense only for very tight cash positions where the lease ends inside the operational life of the hardware.
What does third-party delivery actually cost vs first-party online ordering?
DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub commissions run 15% to 30% per order, before in-app discounts. Stack two marketplaces and the all-in take exceeds 40% on incremental orders. First-party online ordering at $0 marginal beats marketplace breakeven at roughly 70 to 90 orders per month assuming an average ticket of $42.
Source notes
Pricing sources: Toast Toast pricing · 2026-06-20, Square Square fees · 2026-06-20, Clover Clover pricing · 2026-06-20, SpotOn SpotOn pricing · 2026-06-20.