Processor Fees & Pricing · Toast

Toast Fees: What Restaurants Pay, and the Rate You Can’t Shop Around

Toast is built for restaurants and most operators like the software. The bill is another matter. Processing fees are the largest Toast cost by far, and because Toast requires you to process through Toast, the one number that matters most is the one you cannot shop around.

Written by Robert Day, Founder and Managing Partner of weAudit.com, previously an executive at Fifth Third Processing Solutions, later Vantiv and Worldpay, now part of Global Payments, the world’s largest card processor. Published October 2026.

The headline finding

On Toast, the POS, the hardware, the software and the payment processing are one platform under one agreement. You cannot keep the system and move the processing somewhere cheaper. That is what makes the processing rate the most important line in a Toast quote, and the one restaurants negotiate least.

Figures in brief

2.49% plus 15 cents: Toast’s widely reported in-person rate on its paid Point of Sale plan.
About 3% to 3.5% plus 15 cents: the range reported for online and keyed-in payments.
$69 a month: the Point of Sale plan. The $0 Starter Kit moves that cost into a higher processing rate.
15 cents on every sale: on a $5 coffee, that alone is 3% before the percentage is added.
2 weeks: how long Toast’s 2023 99-cent fee on diners lasted before restaurants forced it out.

What Toast charges, plan by plan

Toast quotes many restaurants individually, and several 2026 guides note that it no longer posts a fixed processing rate on its pricing page. These are the figures published and reported most consistently.

Plan	Monthly software	Reported card rate	Worth knowing
Starter Kit	$0	Higher than 2.49%, reported from 2.99% up to 3.69%, plus 15 cents	The software is free; the processing is not
Point of Sale	$69	2.49% plus 15 cents in person	The rate most restaurants are quoted
Pay-as-you-go hardware	$0 upfront	Reported at 2.99% plus 15 cents	Has been offered with a two-year agreement
Online and keyed-in payments	On any plan	Reported around 3% to 3.5% plus 15 cents	Online ordering pays the higher rate
Custom pricing	Quoted	Negotiated	Mainly larger and multi-location restaurants

Sources: Toast’s published pricing as reported by independent 2026 restaurant-technology and POS comparison guides. Reported rates vary between sources and quotes; your Toast agreement and statement show what applies to you.

What Toast costs on a real restaurant

Take a restaurant running $50,000 a month in card sales at an average check of $40, which is 1,250 card payments.

$1,432

a month in processing at 2.49% plus 15 cents. That is about twenty times the $69 software fee, and it is the number to negotiate.

$3,000

a year more at 2.99% plus 15 cents, the rate reported for pay-as-you-go hardware. The free hardware is paid for many times over.

$187

a month of that is the 15-cent fixed fee alone. Small checks make it worse: a coffee shop with a $6 average pays far more in fixed fees per dollar than a steakhouse.

Why Toast’s flat rate costs restaurants more than it looks

Every card is charged the same 2.49% plus 15 cents, whatever it actually costs. A regulated debit card costs a fraction of that in interchange; a premium rewards card costs more. Restaurants see a lot of both, and on a flat rate the low-cost cards subsidize the processor, not you.

Restaurants also have their own interchange programs, tied to their merchant category code. On a flat rate those programs still exist; you just never see the benefit, because your price does not move when the card’s cost does.

The 99-cent lesson. In July 2023 Toast added a mandatory 99-cent fee to diners’ online orders over $10, without giving restaurants the option to absorb it. Restaurants revolted and Toast removed it within about two weeks, with its CEO saying the company made the wrong decision. Credit to Toast for reversing it. But on a closed platform, pricing decisions get made for you. Read every notice Toast sends.

Leaving Toast means leaving everything

Because processing is tied to the platform, switching processors means switching the POS, the hardware and usually the online ordering. That is the business model of bundled platforms, and it is why the processing rate you accept on day one matters so much: changing it later is a project, not a phone call. Before you sign, ask how long the agreement runs, what it costs to leave early, and who owns the hardware if you go.

The contract terms make this sharper. As our Toast rating documents, Toast may change your card processing rate during the term on thirty days’ notice, and saying nothing counts as agreeing. The early termination fee accelerates every remaining month of subscription, and the agreement auto-renews into further one-year terms.

Can you negotiate Toast’s rate?

Yes, and more restaurants should. Larger and multi-location restaurants are routinely offered custom pricing, and any restaurant can ask in writing for a lower rate. Ask three questions: what the rate is on in-person, online and keyed payments; whether it changes after an introductory period; and what happens to it if you add locations. Then check your statement against the answers every few months.

Remember that the quoted rate is only part of the bill. Processors compete on the number you compare and make it up elsewhere, which is how a restaurant can have the lowest rate and the worst deal.

How to lower what you pay on Toast

Do the math on the Starter Kit. At most restaurant volumes, the higher rate costs more than the $69 software fee it avoids.
Get every rate in writing, in person, online and keyed, plus any change after the first year.
Watch your online share. Online orders pay the higher rate, so a growing online business raises your blended cost.
Think twice before surcharging. The networks now fine non-compliant programs, and debit cards can never be surcharged. See surcharge laws by state.
Get an audit before renewal, when you have the most leverage.

Toast elsewhere on weAudit

Our Toast rating covers how Toast treats restaurants beyond price. For another restaurant platform’s fees, see Clover fees, and for why bundled pricing costs more than it looks, read who has the best credit card processing rates.

Common questions

What are Toast’s processing fees?

Toast’s published and widely reported rate on its paid Point of Sale plan is 2.49% plus 15 cents for in-person card payments. Online and keyed-in payments are reported higher, generally in the 3% to 3.5% range plus 15 cents, and the $0 Starter Kit carries a higher rate in exchange for no monthly software fee.

How much does Toast POS cost per month?

Toast’s Point of Sale plan is $69 a month and its Starter Kit is $0 a month, according to Toast’s published pricing reported in 2026. Most restaurants add modules such as online ordering and kitchen displays, and the processing fees on card sales are usually far larger than the software bill.

Can I use my own payment processor with Toast?

No. Toast requires restaurants on its platform to process payments through Toast, so the processing rate cannot be shopped around separately from the POS.

Is the Toast Starter Kit really free?

No monthly software fee, but not free. The Starter Kit and pay-as-you-go hardware options move the cost into a higher processing rate, and the pay-as-you-go option has been offered with a two-year agreement. On busy restaurants the higher rate costs far more than the software fee it avoids.

Can I negotiate Toast’s processing rate?

Larger and multi-location restaurants are offered custom pricing, and any restaurant can ask in writing. Ask what the rate will be after any introductory period, and what happens to it if you add or drop locations.

What was the Toast 99-cent fee?

In July 2023 Toast added a mandatory 99-cent fee, paid by diners, on online orders over $10. Restaurants pushed back hard, and Toast removed it within about two weeks, with its CEO saying the company had made the wrong decision.

Cite this page

weAudit.com, “Toast Fees: What Restaurants Pay, and the Rate You Can’t Shop Around,” October 2026.

How these figures were built. Plan prices and rates are Toast’s published pricing as reported by independent 2026 restaurant-technology and POS guides; where sources differ, the page gives the range. The 99-cent fee history is from Restaurant Business, the Boston Globe and Payments Dive reporting in July 2023. Dollar examples are arithmetic on the reported rates. Next review: April 2027.

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