Toast POS Pricing: The Complete Cost Breakdown

Pricing a point-of-sale system involves more moving parts than most business owners expect. What a food truck needs looks nothing like what a gourmet grocery store needs. The hardware, software features, and scale needed are all different. As a result, Toast offers customizable packages to help meet these different needs. Note: All pricing in this guide reflects Toast’s US plans and is listed in USD. Pricing and availability differ in other markets.

This guide walks through how Toast's pricing is structured and the questions to ask before you commit. If you'd rather skip ahead to exact numbers tailored to your business, book a demo with a Toast expert and get a custom quote.

How Toast POS pricing works

Choosing a POS system can be genuinely complex for any business type. There's no one-size-fits-all answer for how much hardware each business needs or which software features best suit it. 

For restaurants, the features that typically shape which plan and add-ons make the most sense fall into three buckets: Front of house tools (mobile ordering, table management, split checks), back-of-house tools (kitchen display systems, menu routing), and operational tools (payroll, scheduling, real-time reporting, inventory). There are also additional add-ons, like online ordering and loyalty programs, that many businesses may find beneficial. 

For retailers, the priorities usually center on inventory management (including barcode scanning and supplier tracking), online store, customer-facing displays, and loyalty or gift card programs. Retailers that also serve food, like a coffee shop that sells merchandise or a market with a prepared-foods counter, may be a fit for Toast's hybrid retail and foodservice model, which is built to support both workflows on one platform.

Once you know which features matter most to your business, it's easier to see which Toast plan fits the best.

Toast plan tiers and starting prices

Toast offers different pricing options depending on what works best for your business. 

Toast pricing options for restaurant operators

Toast pricing options for retailers

Payment processing: Why it's bundled in

Bundling payments with the POS has practical upside: sales data, tips, refunds, and reporting all live in one system, and support for a payment issue runs through the same team that supports the rest of the platform. This can help mitigate extra steps between vendors when something breaks.

The three plans for restaurant operators price processing differently. The Starter Kit uses pay-as-you-go processing, which keeps the software price at $0** but carries a higher per-transaction rate. The $69/month¹ Point of Sale plan and Build Your Own plan carry a lower processing rate in exchange for a monthly software fee. Which is cheaper depends on your monthly card volume. At higher volumes, the lower rate on the paid plan may offset, or outweigh, the monthly fee.² 

The two plans for retailers both pair software with processing.

What the Starter Kit's $0/month** covers

The Starter Kit's pay-as-you-go pricing covers a single-location setup that includes one terminal with an option to add a second (at an additional cost). It includes order management, payment processing, basic reporting, and 24/7 support. Additional hardware and installation are separate costs, and payment processing fees apply based on transaction volume.

Hardware and device requirements

Toast runs on its own Android-based hardware, built for high-traffic restaurant and retail environments. Because the hardware and software are designed together, you get a consistent, fully supported experience, designed specifically for proprietary Toast hardware. This hardware is intentionally built for rigorous hospitality environments, including kitchens and high-volume service. For example, the Toast Go 3 handheld device has an IP65 durability rating. 

Upfront hardware and installation costs vary by the hardware package and setup you choose. Toast offers flexible payment options to minimize upfront costs with no interest or credit checks.³ The Starter Kit's pay-as-you-go option is designed to reduce upfront hardware and installation costs in exchange for the processing-rate trade-off described above.

Add-ons to plan for

Depending on how you run your business, you may want to layer on additional features or integrations, each billed separately. Common categories include additional delivery integrations, advanced inventory management, and payroll. Because pricing on individual add-ons varies to fit the needs of each business, the most reliable way to see current add-on costs for your setup is with a customer quote. 

Getting your custom Toast pricing estimate

Choosing a POS system is a real operational decision, and if you're switching from another system, the research and comparison shopping can take time. If you’re not sure which plan is right for you, Toast experts are happy to build a plan around your specific business — your locations, your team, and your goals.

Book a demo with a Toast expert to talk through which features are most important to you, get a breakdown of what your tech stack would look like, and understand what it would cost.

FAQs

What is the monthly cost of Toast POS?

Base software subscriptions range from $0/month* to $69/month for standard restaurant plans (or starting at $90/month for retail), plus custom pricing for multi-location or enterprise setups. Your total monthly cost will vary based on factors like transaction volume, add-on features (such as payroll, online ordering, or loyalty), and hardware costs. For the most accurate estimate, request a custom quote or demo from a Toast representative.

Is Toast a payment card processor?

Toast is a payment facilitator, not a processor,  that partners with processors to offer card processing services.

Does Toast pricing include support?

Toast Care is included in every software subscription at no additional cost, with support available 24/7/365 via phone or web messaging.

*Payment processing fees apply; rate varies by plan

**Pricing applies to new customers and single locations only. Hardware, installation, and higher transaction processing rates may apply.

¹Pricing includes first hardware terminal subscription. Additional charges apply for subsequent devices.

²Break-even points vary based on average ticket size, card mix, and overall monthly transaction volume. Consult a Toast sales representative for a customized break-even analysis.

³Easy Pay is a commercial lease offered by Toast, Inc. Toast reserves the right to change or discontinue this product at any time. On a daily basis, we withhold a fixed percentage of your Toast transactions, up to a max dollar amount. This may underpay or overpay the daily payment due (your lease amount divided by the term length). Underpayments may be reconciled periodically during the term via ACH of your bank account with notice to you.