Toast POS fees,
explained

The short answer

Toast charges restaurants across three separate layers — a monthly software subscription, hardware, and card processing — and only the first two are published; the card-processing rate is quoted per restaurant, so no single public number tells you what Toast will cost you. As published at pos.toasttab.com/pricing (rates as of 2026), Toast lists a $0 starter software tier for qualifying single-location restaurants plus paid per-terminal plans, with online ordering, loyalty and payroll priced as separate modules. To know your real cost, read the processing rate off your own Toast agreement or statement, convert it to an effective rate (total processing fees divided by total card volume), and compare that figure — not the headline software price — against transparent interchange-plus or dual pricing.

Toast built something restaurants genuinely love: menus, kitchen display, online ordering, and payments in one system designed for how a restaurant actually runs. This is not a takedown. It is a map — because when software, hardware, and processing arrive as one bundle, the easiest cost to lose track of is the one that scales with every dollar you ring up: the processing rate.

How much does Toast POS cost?

Every Toast quote is really three quotes stacked together. Pull them apart and it gets much easier to judge.

1. Software subscription

As published at pos.toasttab.com/pricing (re-checked 2026-08-17; Toast last updated that page 2026-07-08), Toast offers a Starter Kit from $0 per month for qualifying single-location restaurants, a restaurant Point of Sale plan from $69 per month, a retail Point of Sale plan from $90 per month, and a payroll bundle from $69 per month plus $9 per employee. Additional modules (online ordering, loyalty, payroll add-ons, and more) are priced separately. This layer is straightforward and openly listed — read the plan page and you know what you are paying. The processing rate is not on that page.

2. Hardware

Terminals, handhelds, kitchen displays, and receipt printers are either purchased up front or financed. Hardware is a real cost, but it is one-time or predictable, so it rarely surprises anyone after the fact.

3. Card processing

This is the layer that matters most and shows up least clearly. Toast bundles payment processing into the platform and quotes the rate per business rather than publishing one universal number. Because it is custom, two restaurants on the same software plan can pay very different processing rates — and that rate, applied to every sale, is where most of your lifetime cost lives.

A $0 software line does not mean a $0 bill. The processing rate is where the real money moves.

What is Toast’s payment processing rate?

Toast does not publish a single universal card-processing rate: it bundles payment processing into the platform and quotes the rate per restaurant, so two restaurants on the identical software plan can pay materially different processing costs. That is the single most important thing to understand about Toast pricing, because processing is the only layer that scales with every dollar you ring up. When processing is fused to the software, you also lose the ability to see the three real cost components — interchange, assessments, and markup — as separate lines. A bundled rate is a rate you cannot decompose, and a rate you cannot decompose is one you cannot negotiate. The fix is mechanical rather than adversarial: pull your last statement, isolate total processing fees, divide by total card volume, and you have the effective rate that lets you compare Toast to anything else. Reading your merchant statement is the antidote.

Does Toast charge a fee on online ordering and delivery?

Yes — Toast’s online ordering and delivery capabilities are billed separately from your in-person card processing rate, and they stack on top of it rather than replacing it. There are two distinct costs to account for. The first is the module itself: online ordering, delivery dispatch and marketing tools are priced as add-on products, listed separately from the core point-of-sale plan on Toast’s own pricing page. The second is the transaction economics. An order placed online is a card-not-present transaction, and card-not-present interchange published by the card networks runs higher than the card-present interchange applied when a card is physically dipped or tapped at the counter. So a delivery order can cost you more in two places at once. When you compare Toast to another setup, compare the whole stack — module fees plus the card-not-present rate — not just the in-person swipe rate, and confirm current module pricing on Toast’s pricing page before you budget.

Does Toast take Apple Pay, and does it cost extra?

Toast’s card readers accept contactless taps, including mobile wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, and accepting a wallet does not add a separate wallet fee to your bill. The reason is structural: a wallet tap is a card transaction underneath. The wallet tokenizes the same Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Discover credential you would otherwise swipe, so the transaction is priced as card-present processing under your existing agreement, not as a new fee category. In practice, contactless acceptance is usually neutral-to-favorable on cost, because a tap at the terminal is card-present rather than card-not-present, and card-present interchange is generally the lower of the two. What accepting wallets changes is how the card is presented and how fast the line moves — not your rate. If someone tells you wallets carry their own surcharge on your account, ask them to show you the line item on your statement.

How do you compare Toast fees to another processor?

• Separate the three layers. Get the software plan, the hardware cost, and the processing rate as three distinct numbers in writing.
• Convert processing to an effective rate. Total processing fees divided by total card volume is the only number that lets you compare Toast to anything else.
• Value the platform honestly. If Toast's restaurant features save you real labor, that is worth paying for — just price it against the processing premium rather than assuming the bundle is automatically cheapest.
• Ask about dual pricing. A dual-pricing program can move your net processing cost toward zero, which changes the whole calculation regardless of which software you run.

Frequently asked questions about Toast fees

How much does Toast POS cost?

Toast's cost has three layers: software, hardware, and card processing. As published at pos.toasttab.com/pricing (rates as of 2026), there is a $0 starter software tier for qualifying single-location restaurants and paid plans billed per terminal, plus hardware and a separately quoted processing rate. The processing rate is custom per restaurant.

What is Toast's payment processing rate?

Toast bundles processing with its platform and quotes the rate per business rather than publishing one universal number. The reliable way to know your rate is to read it off your Toast agreement or statement and convert it to an effective rate. Ask for the rate in writing before signing.

Does Toast's free plan really cost nothing?

The starter software tier can be $0 per month, but processing, hardware, and add-on modules are separate. A $0 software line does not mean $0 total cost — the processing rate is where most of the money is, so evaluate the full bundle.

How much does Toast charge per transaction?

Toast does not publish one universal per-transaction rate — it quotes card processing per restaurant, and the number varies by plan, card mix, and whether you have surcharging enabled. Your own rate is the only rate that matters: pull your last Toast statement, divide total processing fees by total card volume, and you have your true effective rate. Compare that figure, not the headline one, against any alternative.

Does Toast charge a fee on online ordering and delivery?

Online ordering and delivery are billed separately from your in-person processing rate. Card-not-present orders carry higher interchange than a card physically dipped at the counter, and Toast's delivery and online-ordering modules are their own line items on top of that. When you compare Toast to another setup, compare the whole stack — module fees plus the card-not-present rate — not just the in-person swipe rate. Confirm the current module pricing on Toast's own pricing page before you budget.

Is Toast Payroll priced separately from the POS?

Yes. Payroll and team management are a separate product from the POS and payments bundle, typically billed on their own monthly base plus a per-employee charge. It is not included in a POS software tier, so add it into your total cost of ownership rather than assuming the POS plan covers it.

Does Toast accept Apple Pay and other contactless wallets?

Yes — Toast's card readers accept contactless taps, including mobile wallets. A wallet tap is still a card transaction underneath, so it is priced as card-present processing, not as a separate wallet fee. Accepting wallets does not change your rate; it changes how the card is presented.

Can I use my own processor with Toast?

Toast is designed as an integrated platform with payments bundled in, so it generally does not support outside processors on its terminals. If transparent, portable processing matters to you, weigh that lock-in against the convenience of the all-in-one system.