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Toast POS pricing (October 2026): $0 or $69 a month, and what you actually pay

By Kareem FaridPayments analyst·Updated October 20, 2026·How we score

The short answer

Toast has three plans. The Starter Kit is $0 a month but charges 3.09% + 15¢ per card sale. The Point of Sale plan is $69 a month for the first terminal and charges 2.49% + 15¢. Build Your Own is a custom quote.

Each extra terminal or handheld adds $50 a month or more. Toast's checkout lists a 2-year agreement (custom quotes set their own term), and you must use Toast's own card processing. A 2-terminal café doing $30,000 a month in card sales pays about $1,166 a month on the $69 plan, processing included. Hardware adds $2,429 upfront.

Toast plans and prices (October 2026)

Toast's pricing page shows two plan prices, $0 and $69 a month, plus a payroll bundle. Everything else, from extra terminals to package upgrades, shows up only in its checkout or in a sales quote.

Plan	Software	Card rate (in person)	Hardware	Fits
Starter Kit (pay-as-you-go)	$0/mo	3.09% + 15¢ (Basic) · 3.39% (Core) · 3.69% (Growth)	$0 basic kit, and you own it	1 location, up to 2 terminals
Point of Sale	$69/mo	2.49% + 15¢ · Amex and online/keyed 3.50% + 15¢	Bought upfront (Countertop kit $1,153)	Restaurants that want the lower rate
Build Your Own	Custom quote	Custom	Quoted	Multi-terminal and multi-location setups
Payroll bundle	$69/mo + $9 per employee	—	—	New restaurants; includes the Point of Sale plan plus payroll and basic scheduling (was $90)

Verified October 20, 2026 on Toast's pricing page (last updated August 20, 2026) and Starter Kit checkout. Toast's fine print: "Pricing applies to new customers and single locations only" and "Pricing includes first hardware terminal subscription. Additional charges apply for subsequent devices."

Those extra devices are priced in Toast's checkout:

Each extra terminal or handheld: +$50 a month.
Kitchen display: +$35 a month.
Self-service kiosk: +$100 a month.

Basic, Core and Growth packages

Both plans come in three feature packages. On the $69 plan you pay more per month; on the Starter Kit you pay a higher card rate instead.

Package	What's added	$69 plan (monthly)	Starter Kit (card rate)
Basic	Payments, 24/7 support, reporting	$69 + 2.49%	$0 + 3.09%
Core	+ Online ordering and delivery; DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub integrations	$219 + 2.49%	$0 + 3.39%
Growth	+ Gift cards, loyalty, SMS and email marketing, websites, catering	$578 + 2.49%	$0 + 3.69%

Toast doesn't price its add-ons one by one, but you can work out their cost from the package prices. On the $69 plan, online ordering and delivery cost $150 a month ($219 − $69), and the marketing, loyalty and gift-card bundle another $359 ($578 − $219).

Toast payment processing fees

On the $69 plan, Toast charges 2.49% + 15¢ for most in-person cards. American Express and online or keyed cards cost 3.50% + 15¢. The $0 Starter Kit charges 3.09% + 15¢ or more on every sale.

Toast's fee on a $100 card sale

Rates from Toast's Starter Kit checkout ("Pricing plan info"), October 20, 2026. Each fee = $100 × rate + 15¢.

Toast's terms also set these processing rules:

Toast can raise processing rates with 30 days' written notice. Software fees stay fixed during your initial term.
If you object to a rate increase, you can leave without the early termination fee. You must send written notice before the change takes effect, and any fee on financed software still applies.
Toast charges a chargeback fee but doesn't publish the amount.

The 15¢ is charged on every sale, so small tickets pay the most. On a $15 coffee order the $69 plan works out to about 3.49% per sale instead of 2.49%.

$0 Starter Kit or $69 plan? The break-even

The $69 plan is cheaper above about $19,507 a month in card sales once you count the hardware you buy. On software alone, it pays for itself at $11,500 a month.

Monthly cost: $0 Starter Kit vs $69 plan, by card sales

Both lines leave out the 15¢ per transaction, which is the same on both plans. $69 plan line = $69 + $1,153 kit ÷ 24 months ($48.04) + 2.49% of sales. Starter Kit line = 3.09% of sales, no software fee, $0 kit.

Rate gap: 3.09% − 2.49% = 0.60 points. Software only: $69 ÷ 0.006 = $11,500/month. With the $1,153 kit spread over the 24-month term: ($69 + $48.04) ÷ 0.006 = $19,507/month.

Below that level, the Starter Kit's higher rate costs less than the $69 fee plus the hardware. Above it, the $69 plan is cheaper, and the saving grows with sales. At $30,000 a month the $69 plan saves the 2-terminal café about $111 a month, enough to pay back the $1,153 kit in about 10 months.

The break-even moves if you add packages. On Core, the Starter Kit's rate rises to 3.39% while the $69 plan becomes $219. The rate gap widens to 0.90 points and the fee gap to $219, so the break-even rises to about $29,671 a month.

Toast hardware cost

A basic Toast countertop setup costs $1,153 upfront on the $69 plan, or $0 on the Starter Kit. That kit has no receipt printer or cash drawer, so most restaurants add about $430 more.

Item	One-time	Monthly fee
Countertop Starter Kit (Flex terminal + Tap reader + router)	$1,153 · $0 on pay-as-you-go	$69 (Basic) · $0 on pay-as-you-go
Handheld Starter Kit (Go 3 Wi-Fi + access point + router)	$613 · $0 on pay-as-you-go	$19 (Basic) · $0 on pay-as-you-go
Guest Self-Service Kit (22" kiosk)	$1,553 · $1,149 on pay-as-you-go	$109 ($9 Basic + $100 kiosk) · $100 on pay-as-you-go
Extra 14" Toast Flex terminal	$749	+$50
Toast Go 3 handheld (Wi-Fi)	$599	+$50
Toast Go 3 handheld (Wi-Fi + cellular)	$749	+$70
Kitchen display (14" Flex for Kitchen)	$749	+$35
Guest-facing display (8")	$299	—
Receipt printer · kitchen printer	$329 · $339	—
Cash drawer	$99	—
Toast Tap card reader	$99 (some kit pages show $149)	—

Toast shop list prices, US, before tax and shipping, October 20, 2026. Only Toast-approved hardware works with Toast.

A few things the shop doesn't make obvious:

Toast advertises 60% off all hardware for new customers (fewer than 15 locations) who sign their first order by December 31, 2026. The shop shows no strikethrough prices, so ask your rep whether a quote already includes it.
The cellular handheld kit's page says "$0 to own", but the checkout adds a $749 handheld at $70 a month. Get the total in writing.
Toast's merchant agreement says pay-as-you-go accounts "may be subject to an inactivity Fee" if they miss card-processing minimums. Toast publishes neither the fee nor the minimum, so ask for both in writing.
0% financing is available on approval. Toast Easy Pay is a 180-day lease repaid from 0.75% of your daily card sales (1.75% before you go live), with the rest collected by bank transfer at the end. Toast says there's no interest or fees, and you can buy the hardware when the lease ends.
Terminals carry a 24-month warranty and handhelds 12 months, with 90-day returns. The return policy doesn't cover pay-as-you-go or Easy Pay purchases. Toast supports devices for three years after the warranty ends; after that they may stop getting updates.

What Toast really costs per month: two examples

Most of what you pay Toast is card processing: 70% to 96% of the monthly bill in the examples below.

What Toast costs over its 2-year term ($30,000/month in card sales)

Café: 2 countertop terminals, printer, drawer, $15 average ticket. Full-service: 4 terminals, 2 handhelds, 1 kitchen display, 2 printers, 2 drawers, $60 average ticket. All cards in person, none Amex; 15% Amex at 3.50% would add about $45 a month on the $69 plan. List prices before tax, shipping, install services and the 60% hardware promo.

$30,000/month in card sales	Café, $69 plan	Café, $0 Starter Kit	Full-service, $69 plan
Setup	2 terminals, printer, drawer	2 terminals, printer, drawer	4 terminals, 2 handhelds, 1 KDS
Average ticket (sales a month)	$15 (2,000)	$15 (2,000)	$60 (500)
Hardware upfront	$2,429	$1,276	$6,500
Software per month	$119	$50	$354
Card processing per month	$1,047	$1,227	$822
Total per month	$1,166	$1,277	$1,176
Effective card rate	3.49%	4.09%	2.74%
Over the 2-year term	$30,413	$31,924	$34,724

Café, $69 plan: software $69 + $50 (2nd terminal) = $119; processing $30,000 × 2.49% + 2,000 × $0.15 = $1,047; total $1,166/month. Hardware: $1,153 kit + $749 Flex + $99 Tap + $329 printer + $99 drawer = $2,429. Two years: $2,429 + 24 × $1,166 = $30,413.

The full-service setup is bigger than the Starter Kit allows (two terminals), so a real quote would come through sales. The examples leave out install services and a wireless access point for the handhelds. If the 60% promo applies, it would cut the full-service hardware from $6,500 to about $2,600.

Packages raise the bill. With Core (online ordering), the full-service setup costs $1,326 a month; with Growth, $1,685.

Toast Payroll pricing

Toast's pricing page lists a payroll bundle for new restaurants: $69 a month + $9 per employee. The $69 is the Point of Sale plan itself. The bundle includes "Everything in Point of Sale, plus: Payroll essentials, Basic scheduling". So payroll adds $9 per employee to a bill you'd pay anyway. For 20 employees the bundle is $249 a month, and $180 of that is payroll.

Toast's billing article (updated October 15, 2026) sets these rules for payroll:

You pay whichever is highest under your contract: a monthly minimum, a per-employee rate times your active employees, or a base fee plus the per-employee rate.
Everyone active on the first check date of the month is billed, whether or not they get paid that run, so deactivate staff who have left.
Minimums apply per pay group, so two pay groups can mean two minimums.

Other Toast Payroll fees	Price
Wage amendment · SSN or name amendment	$250 each
Missing EIN	$100 a month
SaaS sales tax (where it applies)	$30 a month
Insufficient funds	2%, $300 minimum
Direct deposit reversal · stop payment	$25 each
Shipping · Saturday paycheck delivery	$20 · $30 per package
Printed W-2	$5 per copy
Off-cycle payroll	No fee for now (Toast says the typical fee is $50)

Source: Toast Support, "Toast Payroll: Invoice and Billing Information", updated October 15, 2026.

For comparison, Square Payroll is a separate add-on: $35 a month + $6 per person paid, or $155 for 20 people. That comes on top of your Square plan ($0, $49 or $149 per location). So for 20 staff, payroll adds $180 a month on Toast and $155 on Square. Square counts people paid; Toast counts active employees.

Add-ons, delivery and setup fees

Toast publishes no individual prices for online ordering, loyalty, gift cards, email marketing, Toast Tables, xtraCHEF or its new Toast IQ packages. Each product page sends you to a demo. The package prices above are the only official guide.

Fees Toast does publish:

Delivery through Toast Delivery Services: Uber Direct from $6.99 per order under 6 miles, and DoorDash Drive $7.49 within 5 miles plus 50¢ per extra mile up to 10. California, New York City and Seattle add $2 to $5 in regulatory fees. You choose how much to pass on to guests.
For self-serve setup, Toast charges $250 to build your menu, $250 for a virtual install and $225 for first-day support. Building your own menu and installing yourself is included.
On-site installation is $1,000 a day, plus $750 travel outside covered areas. Rescheduling less than 7 days out costs $300 a day per person.
After go-live, on-site help is $140 an hour, remote help $100 an hour and on-site training $1,000.
Toast Capital loans run from $1,000 to $300,000, repaid from a daily share of card sales, for a fixed fee Toast doesn't publish.

Toast contract, renewal and early termination

Toast software comes with a 2-year agreement. After that it renews automatically for one year at a time, and promotional terms end at renewal.

To leave at the end of a term, give at least 30 days' written notice before it ends.
Leaving early costs the software fees left in your term. On the pay-as-you-go Starter Kit, it's $150 for each remaining month. Either way, any processing fee on financed software is added.
Toast may delete your data 30 days after termination, so export your sales and customer data first.
You own your hardware, but Toast's software runs only on Toast-approved devices. Toast doesn't say whether its devices can run another POS; third-party guides report they generally can't.

Leaving with 18 of 24 months left	Early termination fee
Café on the $69 plan ($119/month software)	18 × $119 = $2,142
Café on the $0 Starter Kit	18 × $150 = $2,700
Full-service setup ($354/month software)	18 × $354 = $6,372

If Toast raises your processing rate or core software fee, you can terminate without the early termination fee, as long as you send written notice before the change takes effect. Toast gives 30 days' notice of rate changes, so act inside that window and keep every notice.

Can you use your own processor with Toast?

No. Toast's processing terms say the merchant uses Toast "as its exclusive provider of Payment processing services". To get a different card rate, you'd have to leave Toast's software. Third-party guides report Toast devices generally can't be reused with another POS, so plan on replacing the system.

If processor choice matters to you, a few systems let you bring your own:

TouchBistro says it works with "a wide range" of processors. It's iPad-based, from $69 a month, and its terms renew for the same length with no early exit.
JET POS (JET Resto for restaurants), made by the company that publishes WHICHpos, has $0 monthly software and pay-once stations from $1,299, and it works with any processor. You still pay that processor's rates, and the card terminal comes from the processor; JET doesn't sell terminals. JET runs on Android only and has no kitchen display system (it prints kitchen tickets). For a full-service room that runs on handhelds and KDS screens, Toast is the stronger tool.

Our processor lock-in guide explains why the right to switch is worth money.

Is Toast worth it?

Toast earns its price in busy full-service restaurants that need handhelds, kitchen displays and 24/7 support, and that sell enough to justify the $69 plan. That's why it scores 8.1 in our Toast review.

It's a harder sell in three cases:

Small cafés, where small tickets push the effective rate to about 3.5%.
Owners who want flexibility, since the 2-year term and Toast-only processing make it costly to leave.
Multi-terminal counters, where every extra terminal or handheld adds $50 a month or more and a kitchen display $35.

Compare it line by line in Toast vs Square and Square vs Toast vs Clover, or see every system's price in one table.

See every POS price side by side Read the Toast review →

Frequently asked questions

How much does Toast POS cost per month?

Toast's software is $0 a month on the Starter Kit (you pay 3.09% + 15¢ per card sale instead) or $69 a month on the Point of Sale plan, which covers the first terminal. Each extra terminal or handheld adds $50 a month and a kitchen display $35. With card processing included, a 2-terminal café doing $30,000 a month pays about $1,166 a month on the $69 plan, plus $2,429 of hardware upfront.

Does Toast have a free plan?

Yes, the Starter Kit: $0 a month and $0 for the basic one-terminal kit. It covers one location with up to two terminals; a second terminal costs $749 + $50 a month. The catch is a higher card rate: 3.09% + 15¢, rising to 3.39% or 3.69% if you add online ordering or marketing. It still comes with a 2-year agreement, and leaving early costs $150 per remaining month. Toast's merchant agreement also allows an inactivity fee if you miss card-processing minimums. Toast publishes neither amount.

What percentage does Toast take per transaction?

On the $69 Point of Sale plan, 2.49% + 15¢ for most in-person cards and 3.50% + 15¢ for American Express and online or keyed cards. On the $0 Starter Kit, 3.09% + 15¢ (Basic), 3.39% (Core) or 3.69% (Growth).

What is Toast's fee on a $100 sale?

$2.64 on the $69 plan (2.49% + 15¢), $3.24 on the Starter Kit's Basic package (3.09% + 15¢), and $3.65 for an Amex or online card on the $69 plan (3.50% + 15¢).

How much does Toast hardware cost?

The Countertop Starter Kit (Flex terminal, Tap card reader, router) is $1,153 on the $69 plan or $0 on pay-as-you-go. Single devices: Flex terminal $749, Go 3 handheld $599, kitchen display $749, receipt printer $329, cash drawer $99. Through December 31, 2026, Toast advertises 60% off hardware for new customers' first order.

Does Toast require a contract?

Yes. Toast software comes with a 2-year agreement that then renews automatically for one year at a time unless you give 30 days' written notice before the term ends.

How much is Toast's early termination fee?

The software fees left in your term, or on pay-as-you-go $150 for each month remaining. Leaving 18 months early on a $119-a-month plan costs $2,142. Toast waives it if it raises your processing rate or core software fee and you terminate in writing before the change takes effect.

Can I use my own payment processor with Toast?

No. Toast's processing terms say the merchant uses Toast "as its exclusive provider of Payment processing services". Switching processors means leaving Toast's software, and Toast devices are commonly reported not to work with other POS software.

How much is Toast Payroll?

Toast lists a bundle for new restaurants at $69 a month + $9 per employee (down from $90). The $69 covers the Point of Sale plan, so payroll itself adds $9 per employee: $180 a month for 20 staff, or $249 for POS and payroll together. Billing counts every active employee on the first check date of the month, paid or not.

Is Toast cheaper than Square?

On card rates they're close: Toast's $69 plan charges 2.49% + 15¢ and Square Plus ($49 per location) 2.5% + 15¢. Toast costs more once you add terminals ($50 a month each), and it locks you into a 2-year agreement; Square is month-to-month. Toast has deeper full-service tools.

Sources

Every price and rate on this page was checked on October 20, 2026 against the pages below. Something out of date? Tell us and we fix it with a visible note.