ComparisonsUpdated

Restaurant POS costs over three years: Toast, Square, Clover and five more, with what it costs to leave

Eight options a US restaurant would shortlist, priced over 36 months at $50,000 a month in card sales from each vendor's own pages, with the contract term, exit cost and data rules for each. The software fee is the small number.

Alex Riesenkampff

17 July 2026 · Updated 6 October 2026 · 16 min read · Markdown

A US restaurant running two terminals and a kitchen display on $50,000 a month of card sales pays between $53,603 and $66,178 over three years on six price plans from the five systems below that publish enough to add up. SpotOn's figure leaves out an implementation charge it does not price. Card processing is 85% to 94% of every one of those totals, so the software fee each vendor leads with is the smallest number in the decision. The National Restaurant Association puts the scale plainly: "For most restaurants, processing credit card transactions is the third largest operating expense, behind food and labor."

The second number is what it costs to leave. On Square it is nothing. On Shift4 Dine, one year into a 36-month processing agreement, it is $14,400 or more. Every other system sits somewhere in between, and the contract, which is rarely on the pricing page, decides where.

Who publishes this

Super44 publishes this page and is not one of the entries, because we do not sell a POS or process payments. We read sales data out of several POS systems, Square and Lightspeed among them, so a restaurant on either is one we can work with. We have no commercial relationship with any of the eight.

The eight side by side

Both tables use one restaurant: two terminals, one kitchen display, $50,000 a month in card sales at a $45 average ticket (about 1,111 transactions), every payment taken in person at the vendor's published rate.

The software column runs from $69 to $219. The processing behind it runs from about $1,261 to $1,712 a month. That is why the cheapest software that can be totaled, Square's, does not produce the cheapest total, and why Toast's $0 kit produces the dearest one.

The system you already have

The POS on your counter now, with the contract you signed for it. It belongs on the list because switching carries costs neither table can show: a menu rebuilt from scratch, integrations reconnected, and a week of slower service while staff relearn every screen.

What it does well is cost nothing to keep, and at this volume the threat of leaving is worth money. A restaurant taking $600,000 a year on cards is a customer processors compete for. Square says so outright: above $250,000 a year, "talk to our team to see if you’re eligible for custom pricing and processing fees." Card costs may also fall without you doing anything. A revised Visa and Mastercard settlement won preliminary court approval in June 2026, would cut interchange by 10 basis points for five years, and has its fairness hearing on 16 November 2026. Ask your processor in writing whether that cut will reach your rate.

Who should not stay: a venue whose processor has raised its rate mid-term, one still paying monthly for hardware it has long since paid off, and one whose system cannot export sales history in a usable file. That last problem grows every year you stay.

What it costs: work it out from your last statement. Divide total card fees by total card sales for your effective rate, add the software and hardware lines, and multiply the month by 36. Every entry below has to beat that number after paying its own cost of entry and your cost of leaving.

Square for Restaurants

Square's restaurant POS, sold per location in three tiers: Free at $0, Plus at $49 a month and Premium at $149, each with its own published card rate. A kitchen display needs Plus or Premium, at $30 or $20 a month per screen.

What it does well is let you read the whole price before talking to anyone, and let you go. It is one of two systems here with no minimum term (SpotOn Essentials is the other): its terms say you may cancel a subscription "at any time from your Square Account settings," with no refund for the month already paid. Hardware is bought outright from a public shop, a Register at $899 and a 10.1-inch kitchen screen at $699, so leaving strands no lease. At this volume Plus beats Premium: Premium's rate is 0.1 points lower, worth $50 a month, and its software costs $90 more.

Who should not pick it: an owner who needs a rate fixed for a set period, since Square can change subscription fees "upon reasonable advance notice" without naming a number of days. And a restaurant at $600,000 a year should not pay list price at all. Ask for the custom pricing Square offers above $250,000.

What it costs: $56,341 over three years on Plus with two Registers and one kitchen screen, of which $51,000 is processing at 2.5% plus 15 cents. Keyed-in cards cost 3.5% plus 15 cents on every plan, and non-US cards add 1.5%. Square tells you to export your payment history, item library and customer directory before you deactivate, because you cannot reach them afterwards.

Clover

Clover's POS is sold both on Clover.com and through banks and resellers, and the price depends on which. Clover.com publishes restaurant bundles: the Standard bundle, a Station Solo plus a handheld Flex, is $2,548 up front and $109.90 a month, or $239 a month for 36 months. A 14-inch kitchen display is $799 plus $25 a month.

What it does well is the card rate. On its own site Clover publishes 2.3% plus 10 cents in person, the lowest here, and the 10-cent fee matters at a $45 ticket. Its own terms let either side close the account on 30 days' notice and promise 30 days' notice before adding or changing fees for Clover Services.

Who should not pick it: anyone who might change processor. Clover states that its devices "cannot be used with other payment processors," even when bought elsewhere. Skip the monthly hardware option if you might leave, because Clover calls those subscriptions "non-cancelable". And if a bank sold you Clover, these prices are not yours: Clover says terms and termination fees "can vary based on your service provider," and the Citibank agreement it hosts runs three years and then extends a year at a time.

What it costs: $53,603 over three years buying the Standard bundle and a kitchen display outright, $45,400 of it processing. That rate is marked "only available on Clover.com". The $450 statement credit offered with a Station or Flex "Requires a 3-year contract," so price the credit against the term before taking it.

SpotOn

A restaurant POS sold per station, with installation. Two plans are published: POS Essentials at $55 per station a month, which SpotOn sells with "month-to-month flexibility", and All-In at $0 per station, which pays for hardware and software through a higher card rate.

What it does well is publish enough to do the sum. Essentials lists 2.45% plus 15 cents in person, $20 a month per kitchen display, and hardware prices: $750 for a Station 15, $500 for a kitchen screen and $100 to install it. Its merchant terms promise 30 days' notice of a fee change and let you leave before the change takes effect.

Who should not pick it: a venue that may change processor. SpotOn processes your payments, and keeping the POS while paying someone else costs "a $995 conversion fee" and doubles the software license. Avoid All-In unless you have no cash for hardware. At this volume its 2.79% plus 20 cents costs $8,120 more in processing over three years than Essentials, against $5,460 saved on stations and station fees, and it carries a two-year minimum and a processing minimum.

What it costs: $56,880 over three years on Essentials, before an implementation charge SpotOn does not price. Amex costs 3.19% plus 15 cents. The station prices are discounts from a $995 list, and leaving within a year (two, under the merchant terms) can claw the difference back: $490 on two stations. The processing agreement named on your application may carry its own term, so read that one too.

Toast

Toast sells its restaurant POS two ways in its own shop. Traditional pairs software from $69 a month with hardware bought up front; Pay-as-you-Go has a $0 kit and a higher card rate. Each additional terminal is $749 plus $50 a month, and a kitchen display $749 plus $35.

What it does well is hold the software price still. Its merchant agreement says software fees "will remain unchanged during the Initial Term", and its exports cover orders, payments, items, menus and time entries, set to run automatically. On Traditional pricing at this volume, its card cost is within $5 a month of Square's.

Who should not pick it: anyone who wants to choose a processor or bring hardware. You agree to use Toast "as its exclusive provider of Payment processing services", and its services "may only be used on approved Toast hardware." Card rates, unlike software, can change on 30 days' notice, though a rate rise lets you leave without the early termination fee if your written notice reaches Toast before the change takes effect. Avoid Pay-as-you-Go at this volume: the $0 kit costs $7,163 more over three years than Traditional, and leaving early costs $150 for every month left. Toast's payments pages also describe rates as custom-built while its shop prints fixed ones, so get yours written into the order.

What it costs: $59,015 over three years on Traditional Basic: $2,651 of hardware, $154 a month in software and device fees, and $50,820 of processing at 2.49% plus 15 cents. The shop sells it with a two-year agreement that then renews a year at a time unless you give 30 days' written notice. Leave early and you owe the software fees for the rest of the term. Once you have left, you can retrieve your data only if you ask within 30 days.

Lightspeed Restaurant

Lightspeed's restaurant POS comes on Starter, Essential and Premium plans listed at 69, 189 and 399 dollars, plus an Enterprise tier by quote. The page shows no billing period and adds that "Prices may vary depending on the nature of the business and the industry." A kitchen display is $30 a screen a month.

What it does well is negotiate. Essential and Premium carry a "Custom" payments rate rather than a default one, which suits a group with several sites and enough volume to get a better rate written into its order form.

Who should not pick it: a single restaurant that wants to know what it will pay. There is no card rate and no hardware price on the pricing page. The service agreement requires Lightspeed Payments "unless otherwise agreed to by Lightspeed in writing", and using another processor costs $400 a month at $35,000 to $99,999 of monthly volume. The term is set on your order form and renews "for a duration equal to the Initial Term" unless you give 90 days' notice.

What it costs: 219 dollars in software on Essential with one kitchen display, at a billing period the page does not state, and nothing else can be added up. A 2021 post on Lightspeed's own blog quotes 2.6% plus 10 cents for card-present payments through Lightspeed Payments; that is a blog post, so treat it as the opening figure for your quote. Leave early and you owe every recurring fee left in the term, plus the gap between list price and the discounted price you paid for software or hardware. Discounted hardware also requires 24 months on Lightspeed Payments. After termination, Lightspeed "may immediately deactivate Customer's account and delete Customer Content."

TouchBistro

An iPad POS built for restaurants. POS software starts at $69 a month without hardware, and the Essentials Bundle at $119 a month with hardware, both "starting at" prices with payment processing and "additional fees" on top.

What it does well is leave the processor to you. TouchBistro is the only system here that says it does not tie you to its own payments: it "is compatible with a wide range of payment processing solutions." It also offers hardware financing for venues with two or more terminals, and if it changes its fees you may cancel at the end of the current term and keep paying the old fees until then.

Who should not pick it: anyone who wants a number before a sales call. Kitchen display, extra terminals, hardware and card rate are all quoted rather than published. The term is set in your sales quote, renews for the same length unless you give 30 days' notice, and cannot be ended before it expires. If you default, the amount due includes processing fees that would have been payable for the rest of the term.

What it costs: from $69 a month, with the rest by quote, so a three-year cost cannot be worked out from TouchBistro's own pages. Reports export to CSV. After the contract ends, your content will "shortly thereafter, cease to appear" on TouchBistro's services, so export first.

Shift4 Dine (SkyTab)

Shift4's restaurant POS, sold in the US as Shift4 Dine while its contracts still carry the SkyTab name. The table-service bundle, a 14-inch workstation with card reader, cash drawer, receipt printer and software, is $0 up front and $29.99 a month. A kitchen display is another $29.99.

What it does well is remove the hardware bill. The monthly fee covers software, hardware "with a lifetime warranty" and round-the-clock support, and two stations plus a kitchen display come to $89.97 a month, less than Clover, SpotOn or Toast Traditional charge for the same setup.

Who should not pick it: anyone not certain to stay three years. The service agreement requires "exclusive use of Shift4's Processing Services at all times." The processing agreement runs 36 months, renews a year at a time, and needs 90 days' notice to stop. Leaving early costs a fee per terminal ID for every month left: $300 a month at $25,000 to $50,000 of monthly volume, $350 from $50,000 to $75,000. Leaving after one year with two terminal IDs, 24 months to go, costs $14,400 to $16,800. Shift4 may also raise POS fees each year by the greater of CPI plus 1% or 4%.

What it costs: $58,739 over three years, $55,500 of it processing at 2.75% plus 15 cents, and nothing up front. The hardware goes back to Shift4 when the agreement ends. Its processing agreement prices unreturned devices at $200 to $1,000 each and reserves the right to charge $79 per merchant ID a year for free equipment. Back up your own reports, because the software license ends the day the agreement does.

So which one

If your contract ends within the year, start with the system you have. Take your effective rate and one written quote from a rival to your current provider. At $50,000 a month every 0.1 point is worth $600 a year, and a second quote is the only thing that moves a list price. The same preparation-first approach works on food suppliers, and our supplier negotiation scripts cover what to bring to that call.

If being able to leave matters most, Square for Restaurants on Plus has no term, published rates and hardware you own. If you will stay three years and want the lowest published rate, Clover bought outright on Clover.com wins on processing, provided you accept that its devices only work with Clover's payments.

If you want installation and month-to-month software, SpotOn Essentials. If you want Toast, take Traditional rather than Pay-as-you-Go and read the two-year term first. Lightspeed suits a group with the volume to negotiate. TouchBistro is the choice for keeping your own processor. Sign Shift4 Dine only if three years on one processor is a certainty rather than a hope.

Before you sign anything, put the numbers through this.

Card fees sit outside the two costs most owners watch, and our prime cost guide covers food and labor, the two that come before processing on the NRA's list. If you run a venue in the UK rather than the US, prices and terms differ entirely: our comparison of till systems for a first cafe covers the UK options with their exit terms.