Toast Review: The Restaurant Standard, With a Processing Rate Nobody Agrees On
This Toast review concludes that Toast is the most complete restaurant-specific platform for independent restaurants, and its reach means new staff often already know it, but a buyer cannot price it from Toast’s own website: the plan figures load dynamically, and third-party guides disagree on the pay-as-you-go processing rate by as much as 0.7 percentage points.
Toast fits full-service and quick-service restaurants that want ordering, kitchen display, online ordering, payroll, and marketing in one ecosystem and will process payments through Toast. It fits poorly for restaurants that want to use their own iPads or hardware, shop their processing rate, or keep software costs flat as they add modules.
Toast review: what Toast’s pricing page confirms
Toast’s pricing page, updated 20 August 2026, did not display plan prices in our read. It does confirm several terms in its FAQ and footnotes:
- Toast runs only on hardware Toast approves. Buyers cannot bring their own devices.
- Toast describes itself as a payment facilitator that partners with processors.
- Upfront costs are hardware and implementation, with 0 percent financing available by application.
- A Pay-as-You-Go option within the Starter Package reduces upfront hardware and installation costs through an all-in-one platform rate.
- Listed pricing applies to new customers and single locations only, and includes the first hardware terminal subscription; additional devices cost extra.
- Toast Care support is included 24/7 in every software subscription.
What third parties say it costs, and where they disagree
Most guides agree on one figure: the Point of Sale plan at $69 a month with in-person processing at 2.49% plus $0.15.
They disagree on the Starter or Pay-as-You-Go rate:
- 2.99% plus $0.15: RestauNax (a competitor, January 2026) and POSUSA (June 2026).
- 3.09% plus $0.15: Loman and Restaurantify.
- 3.09% to 3.69% plus $0.15, tiered by package: KORONA POS (a competitor, July 2026), Certus (July 2026), and Checkthat (March 2026). KORONA lists Basic at 3.09%, Core at 3.39%, and Growth at 3.69%.
The most likely explanation is that Toast now tiers its pay-as-you-go rate and older guides describe a single rate. Get the rate for your package in writing.
The difference matters. On $50,000 a month in card sales, every 0.5 percentage points costs $250 a month. The $69 plan pays for itself against a 3.09% pay-as-you-go rate at about $11,500 a month in card volume, and against a 2.99% rate at about $13,800.
Module prices reported by Certus in July 2026: online ordering about $75 a month, loyalty $50, gift cards $50, email marketing $75, payroll $90 plus $9 per employee, and kitchen display software $25. Certus’s conclusion, that the $69 plan becomes $200 to $400 a month once the usual modules are added, matches what Restaurantify and POSUSA report.
Hardware estimates run from about $449 for a handheld setup to roughly $1,024 for a countertop terminal (Certus), with NerdWallet citing $1,068.20 for a countertop setup.
What Toast does well
Toast is built only for restaurants, and it shows in the depth of its kitchen display, handheld ordering, menu management, and restaurant payroll. Certus reports Toast at about 171,000 restaurant locations, adding roughly 7,000 in the first quarter of 2026. RestaurantTools, which scans US restaurant websites, finds Toast on 38.6 percent of those with detectable POS technology, twice Square’s share.
That reach has a practical benefit: staff hired from other restaurants have often used Toast already.
How we sort Toast’s AI claims
Toast markets Toast IQ, described as an AI assistant that takes action, and Toast IQ Grow, a package of growth tools. Neither was priced in our read. Using our three-tier framework, the Toast IQ positioning sits in marketing until Toast names what the assistant does and a restaurant can measure the result.
Who should skip Toast
Do not buy Toast if any of these describe your restaurant:
- You want to use iPads or hardware you already own. Toast runs only on approved Toast hardware. Square runs on iPads.
- You want to shop your processing rate. Toast processes your payments. Clover is sold through many resellers with negotiable rates.
- You process little in card sales. Below roughly $11,000 to $14,000 a month, the pay-as-you-go option can cost less than the $69 plan, but at the higher rate on every transaction.
- You want a published price list. Toast’s page did not show one in our read.
- You want reservations and loyalty in the base price. SpotOn bundles more in its Core Bundle.
Toast against the alternatives
We compare Toast with its two closest rivals in Toast vs Square and Toast vs SpotOn, and cover the category in our guide to restaurant POS systems.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Toast cost per month? Third-party guides agree the Toast Point of Sale plan is $69 a month with 2.49% plus $0.15 in-person processing. Pay-as-you-go rates are reported between 2.99% and 3.69% plus $0.15. Toast’s own pricing page, updated 20 August 2026, did not display plan figures in our read.
Can I use my own iPad with Toast? No. Toast’s pricing FAQ says its services work only on devices Toast approves.
Do I have to use Toast for payment processing? Toast describes itself as a payment facilitator for its platform, and third-party guides report that processing through Toast is required.
What add-ons does Toast charge for? Third-party reports list online ordering at about $75 a month, loyalty $50, gift cards $50, email marketing $75, payroll $90 plus $9 per employee, and kitchen display software $25.
The verdict
Toast is the right choice for an independent restaurant that wants the deepest restaurant-specific system and is comfortable committing to Toast’s hardware and processing.
Price it on a written quote that states your processing rate, every module, every device subscription, and the hardware cost. The $69 headline is the smallest line on a real Toast bill.