Who should pick which?
Square if you sell across a counter and process under about $20K a month. Clover if you're an established QSR or bar above that line. Toast if you run a full-service kitchen or multiple locations and will actually use the native stack. The triggers in detail:
Pick Square if
- Counter-service, coffee, food truck, or pop-up.
- Under ~$20K/mo in card volume.
- You want $0 monthly software and no contract.
- You may pivot — month-to-month matters.
Pick Clover if
- QSR, bar, or taproom at $20K+/mo.
- The lowest per-swipe rate matters (2.3% + 10¢).
- You want hardware that survives a processor switch.
- Cash discount is on your roadmap.
Pick Toast if
- Full-service with a real kitchen workflow.
- You'll use native online ordering and KDS.
- Multi-location reporting is non-negotiable.
- You accept locked hardware and a 1–3 year term.
Which rates changed recently (and which guides missed it)?
Two of the three repriced within the last year, and a large share of comparison articles still quote the old numbers:
- Square (October 2025):in-person moved from 2.6% + 10¢ to 2.6% + 15¢ on the free plan, and online from 2.9% + 30¢ to 3.3% + 30¢. Paid plans (Plus $49/mo, Premium $149/mo) buy the rates back down.
- Toast (Starter Kit restructure):the "free" Starter plan no longer has one rate. Buy the hardware upfront and you get the standard 2.49% + 15¢; pay as you go and the rate is 3.09% + 15¢, rising to 3.39% with online ordering and 3.69% with gift cards and loyalty. Guides still quoting "2.99% + 15¢" are describing the old structure.
- Clover:unchanged — restaurant tiers still publish 2.3–2.6% + 10¢ card-present.
Every figure in this guide was checked against vendor pricing pages and current trade coverage in June 2026; confirm current pricing before you sign anything.
How do Toast, Clover, and Square compare side by side?
Toast is the restaurant-native platform with the deepest kitchen stack; Clover has the lowest published rate and the only portable hardware; Square has the lowest cost of entry and the only no-contract structure. Thirteen rows, each one a point where operators actually decide:
| Feature | Toast | Clover | Square |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | Restaurant-native platform: kitchen-heavy, full-service, multi-unit | General-purpose POS with restaurant tiers; flexible across concepts | Turnkey counter commerce: QSR, coffee, mobile, light retail |
| Card-present rate (published) | 2.49% + 15¢ (POS plan, or Starter w/ upfront hardware); 3.09–3.69% + 15¢ (Starter pay-as-you-go) | 2.3–2.6% + 10¢ by tier | 2.6% + 15¢ (Free); 2.5% / 2.4% + 15¢ (paid plans) |
| Keyed / card-not-present | 3.5% + 15¢ | 3.5% + 10¢ | 3.5% + 15¢ |
| Software (restaurant plans) | Starter $0/mo; Point of Sale $69/mo; Build Your Own by quote | QSR $135–$245/mo; Full-Service $179–$354/mo | Free $0; Plus $49/mo; Premium $149/mo (per location) |
| Flagship hardware | Bundled kits (~$875+ reported; most SKUs by quote) | Flex ~$749; Station Duo ~$1,699–$2,099 (individually priced) | Reader ~$59; Terminal $299; Register ~$799–$899 |
| Hardware portability | Locked to Toast Payments | Runs on many processors — survives an ISO switch | Locked to Square |
| Contract / ETF | 1–3 year terms; ETF not publicly disclosed | 36-month standard via most ISOs; ETF varies | Month-to-month, no ETF |
| Kitchen display / coursing | Native, best in class | Available via apps/tiers | Basic KDS support |
| Online ordering & delivery | Native + first-party delivery integrations | Via app market | Square Online (free tier exists) |
| Multi-location management | Flagship strength: central menu, labor, reporting | Workable; weaker cross-unit reporting | Good dashboards; per-location plan fees stack |
| Account structure | Processor-bundled merchant account | Real merchant account via the ISO channel | Payment facilitator — sub-merchant; automated holds risk |
| Cash discount / dual pricing | Vendor program rules; ISO-style setup not default | Supported on many ISO channels, compliance-correct | Restricted by TOS |
| Best fit | Full-service, fast-casual using the native stack, multi-unit groups | Owner-operated QSR/bars at $20K+/mo; anyone valuing portability | Counter-service and mobile under ~$20K/mo |
What does each cost in software and processing?
All three bundle software and processing, so the monthly fee is only half the price tag — the rate that runs alongside it is the other half, and at restaurant volume it's the bigger half.
Toast
- Starter Kit: $0/mo. Processing 2.49% + 15¢ with upfront hardware, or 3.09–3.69% + 15¢ pay-as-you-go depending on add-ons.
- Point of Sale: $69/mo. Processing 2.49% + 15¢ card-present; 3.5% + 15¢ keyed.
- Build Your Own: custom quote; processing negotiated. Multi-unit quotes can exceed $200/mo per terminal.
Clover
- QSR plans: Starter $135/mo, Standard $185/mo, Advanced $245/mo.
- Full-Service plans: Starter $179/mo, Standard $239/mo, Advanced $354/mo.
- Processing across tiers: 2.3–2.6% + 10¢ card-present; 3.5% + 10¢ keyed.
- Hardware individually priced (Flex ~$749, Station Duo ~$1,699–$2,099) and processor-portable.
Square
- Free: $0/mo. In-person 2.6% + 15¢; online 3.3% + 30¢; keyed 3.5% + 15¢.
- Plus: $49/mo per location. In-person 2.5% + 15¢; online 2.9% + 30¢.
- Premium: $149/mo per location. In-person 2.4% + 15¢.
- Hardware: Reader ~$59, Terminal $299, Register ~$799–$899 — locked to Square.
One structural note that matters more than any single rate: Square is a payment facilitator (you process as a sub-merchant under Square's master account, with the automated-holds risk that brings), while Toast and Clover-via-ISO put you on processor merchant accounts. Our Stripe vs Square comparison covers the payfac hold risk in depth.
Which costs less at $15K, $40K, and $90K a month?
Square wins at $15K, Clover edges ahead at $40K and pulls away at $90K — and interchange-plus undercuts all three at every volume shown. Assumptions: card-present only, $25 average ticket (600 / 1,600 / 3,600 transactions), single location. Toast on Point of Sale ($69/mo, 2.49% + 15¢), Clover on QSR Starter ($135/mo, 2.3% + 10¢), Square on Free (2.6% + 15¢). Hardware excluded — kits vary too much to average honestly.
| Monthly total (software + processing) | $15K/mo | $40K/mo | $90K/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Square Free | ~$480 (3.20%) | ~$1,280 (3.20%) | ~$2,880 (3.20%) |
| Toast Point of Sale | ~$533 (3.55%) | ~$1,305 (3.26%) | ~$2,850 (3.17%) |
| Clover QSR Starter | ~$540 (3.60%) | ~$1,215 (3.04%) | ~$2,565 (2.85%) |
| Interchange-plus (illustrative, ~2.2% + $15/mo) | ~$345 | ~$895 | ~$1,995 |
Illustrative calculations on published rates, not quotes. Actual cost depends on card mix, rewards-card share, average ticket, MCC, and negotiated markup. The interchange-plus row assumes a typical restaurant card mix at common ISO markups.
Three readings worth taking from the table. First, at $15K the spread between the three systems is about $60/month — feature fit should decide, not rate. Second, by $90K Clover's rate edge is worth ~$300/month over Square, which is most of a part-time shift. Third, the gap between any of the three and interchange-plus grows from ~$135 to ~$570–$885/month across the same range — that line is the quiet cost of bundled convenience. Model your own numbers in the fee calculator.
Can you keep your hardware — and how locked in are you?
Only Clover's hardware survives a processor switch. Toast and Square terminals are locked to their own processing, so leaving either means replacing the fleet. Contracts run the other way: Square is the only month-to-month option, Toast runs 1–3 year terms, and Clover via most ISO channels runs 36 months.
That combination creates three distinct lock-in profiles. A Square restaurant can leave anytime but writes off the hardware. A Toast restaurant is committed contractually and physically for the term. A Clover restaurant signs the longest paper, but its terminals — often the largest sunk cost — move with it, which changes the negotiating posture at renewal time more than any other row in the table.
The practical advice: whatever you sign, get the early termination fee as a number in writing before you sign it, and treat "free hardware" offers as what they are — a loan repaid through the processing rate.
Which fits your restaurant type?
Service model first, volume second, lock-in tolerance third. The matrix, with the caveats that decide edge cases:
Coffee shop / counter QSR (under $20K/mo)
Pick: Square
Why: Zero monthly software cost, instant setup, month-to-month freedom. At low volume the rate differences between all three are smaller than one subscription payment.
Caveat: Re-run the math when you pass ~$20K/mo — that's where Clover's rate edge starts winning.
Established QSR / bar / taproom ($20K–$60K/mo)
Pick: Clover (QSR tiers), or the cash-discount path on Clover hardware
Why: Lowest published card-present rate of the three, durable hardware, tab management, and the terminals survive a processor switch.
Caveat: 36-month ISO terms are standard — get the ETF in writing. App-market features can add monthly cost.
Full-service restaurant
Pick: Toast (Point of Sale plan)
Why: Coursing, KDS, tableside, and online ordering are native rather than bolted on. The $69/mo plan at 2.49% + 15¢ is the honest way to buy it.
Caveat: Hardware locked to Toast and a multi-year term. Avoid the Starter pay-as-you-go rates (3.09–3.69%) at any real volume.
Food truck / market vendor
Pick: Square; Clover Flex if catering share is growing
Why: Square's hardware-to-app pipeline and offline mode are the smoothest for mobile. Clover Flex on a merchant account starts winning when keyed catering invoices become a real share.
Caveat: Watch keyed rates (3.5%) on phone orders either way.
Fast-casual (counter order, kitchen throughput matters)
Pick: Toast if you'll use the native ordering/KDS stack; Clover if you won't
Why: Toast's kitchen flow is stronger out of the box; Clover is cheaper per swipe and per month at the tiers fast-casual actually needs.
Caveat: Toast's value disappears if you keep paying for third-party ordering anyway.
Multi-location group (2–5 units)
Pick: Toast
Why: Central menu, labor, and cross-unit reporting is the flagship feature; nothing in Clover's or Square's stack matches it at this depth.
Caveat: Per-unit costs scale fast; Build-Your-Own quotes deserve line-item scrutiny.
Any card-present restaurant above ~$30K/mo in Florida
Pick: Price a traditional merchant account before re-signing anything
Why: At that volume the flat-rate markup inside all three systems is real money, and a compliant cash discount program on open hardware can shift most of the processing cost legally.
Caveat: This is the option none of the three vendors will mention. Run your statement first.
For the pairwise deep-dives behind this matrix: Clover vs Toast covers the full-service decision, Stripe vs Square covers counter-vs-online concepts, and Square vs a traditional merchant account covers the structural trade-off underneath all of it.
Is there a fourth option?
Yes — and above roughly $30K/month it's usually the cheapest one: a traditional merchant account on interchange-plus pricing, running open hardware (Clover, Dejavoo, PAX), optionally with a compliant cash discount program. All three bundled systems price every card at a blended flat rate; interchange-plus passes the true card cost through and adds a fixed, visible markup.
For Florida restaurants there's a second lever: cash discount, done compliance-correct — posted base price, disclosed card fee at the point of sale, line-item on the receipt. Clover hardware on an ISO channel runs this cleanly; Toast and Square program rules don't default to it. Florida's 2025 service-charge disclosure law raised the bar on menu and receipt language, so setup details matter.
The full walk-through — signage, receipt language, the Durbin debit carve-out, and an 8-step setup checklist — is in our Florida cash discount compliance guide. Pricing-model mechanics: interchange-plus vs flat-rate.
What changes for Orlando and Central Florida restaurants?
Three things: tourism seasonality moves you between the volume brackets above mid-year, bilingual operations are table stakes in much of the market, and Florida's disclosure rules shape the cash-discount option.
- Seasonality moves the verdict.An I-Drive or Kissimmee 192 operator doing $40K/month in summer can run $80K+ November through April. That means the "which is cheapest" answer flips mid-year on flat-rate pricing — and it's exactly when interchange-plus saves the most.
- Bilingual FOH and BOH. English/Spanish menu and POS flow matters across Kissimmee, Osceola, and east Orlando. Toast handles bilingual menus natively; Clover and Square get there via apps and settings. None has a decisive edge; staff training does.
- Florida's 2025 service-charge law. If cash discount or dual pricing is part of why you're comparing systems, the disclosure requirements favor setups where you control the program — which in practice means the ISO/open-hardware path rather than a vendor-controlled program.
How do you choose in five steps?
Classify your service model, project your volume, decide your lock-in tolerance, price only the features you'll use, then check the math against your own statement:
Classify your service model
Counter-service, food truck, or pop-up points to Square. Full-service with kitchen stations, coursing, or table management points to Toast or Clover full-service plans. Multi-location points strongly to Toast. This single classification eliminates most of the grid.
Project your monthly card volume
Under ~$20K/month, low fixed costs win: Square's $0 plan or Toast's $69 plan beat Clover's $135+ subscription. Above ~$20K, Clover's 2.3% + 10¢ rate starts overtaking the subscription gap. Above ~$30K, all three flat-rate structures start losing to interchange-plus on a merchant account.
Decide how much lock-in you can live with
Square is month-to-month with locked hardware. Toast is a 1–3 year term with locked hardware. Clover is typically a 36-month ISO term but with portable hardware. Match the commitment to your confidence in the concept — a first-year restaurant should weight flexibility heavily.
Price the features you'll actually use
Toast's online ordering, delivery integrations, and KDS justify its cost only if they replace tools you'd otherwise pay for. Clover's app market covers most needs à la carte. Square includes the basics free. A feature you won't use is just rate markup with a brochure.
Run your statement before you re-sign anything
Once you have ~3 months of processing history, upload a statement to the statement analyzer. Your real effective rate — not the headline rate — is what decides whether staying, switching systems, or moving to a traditional merchant account with cash discount nets out cheapest.
Comparison guides you should not trust
Any three-way guide still quoting Square at 2.6% + 10¢ or Toast's Starter at a flat 2.99% is working from pre-repricing data, and its cost tables are wrong. The same goes for pages ranking all three with methodology-free scores (9.1/10, 8.7/10) while carrying affiliate links to each. We're a local merchant-services provider: our bias is that above a certain volume none of the three is the cheapest answer, and the math for that claim is in the table above.
Already on one of the three? See what you're really paying.
Upload a monthly statement from Toast, Clover, or Square. The analyzer computes your true effective rate, flags junk fees, and shows the same volume on interchange-plus — with or without cash discount. Free, no signup, no sales call triggered.