Toast vs Square, run through the Zayos math
Published July 2026 · Updated July 26, 2026
Neither Toast nor Square charges commission on a direct online order. The cost difference is software plus card processing. Square publishes $0, $49 and $149 per month plans. Toast publishes $0 and $69. Below roughly $200,000 a month in in person card volume, Square is usually cheaper.
Free, no card, about 60 seconds.
Do Toast and Square take a cut of my online orders?
No. Both are commission free on your own site. Toast states its online ordering has no commissions and that orders land in the Toast point of sale the same way an in house ticket does. Square states you can take orders on your restaurant website with no monthly fees and no commissions.
That settles the question everybody asks first, and it makes the rest of this page arithmetic. If neither takes a percentage of the order, the entire cost gap between them lives in two lines: what you pay per month, and what you pay the card networks.
What does one $30 order actually cost in processing?
Same order, same restaurant, three different ways it can be taken. These use Square's published rates because Square publishes all three. Toast publishes its in person rate and quotes online separately, which is exactly the point of this section.
Square Free in person, 2.6% + $0.15. That is $0.78 of percentage plus the $0.15 fixed fee.
Square online, 3.3% + $0.30. That is $0.99 plus $0.30, about 39% more than the same order at the counter.
15% to 30% published base commission on the same $30, before the blended real cost of delivery, marketing and processing fees is added.
The middle number is the one to argue about with your rep. Card not present costs more than card present nearly everywhere in payments, and online ordering is entirely card not present. Square publishes 3.3% + $0.30 for online payments and invoices, and 2.9% + $0.30 for online API transactions. Toast does not publish a separate online figure on its plan pages, so a quote that only mentions 2.49% is describing the register, not the website.
At what volume does each one win?
The $0.15 per transaction is identical on both vendors, so it cancels. What is left is a percentage against a monthly fee, and that has one crossing point you can compute. Three matchups, three answers, all from published in person rates.
Toast Point of Sale ($69/mo, 2.49%) vs Square Free ($0/mo, 2.6%)
Below that, Square Free is cheaper. Above it, the 0.11% rate gap pays for the $69.
Toast Point of Sale ($69/mo, 2.49%) vs Square Plus ($49/mo, 2.5%)
Square Plus is cheaper for almost every independent. The rate gap is only 0.01%, so the $20 software difference dominates until you are enormous.
Toast Point of Sale ($69/mo, 2.49%) vs Square Premium ($149/mo, 2.4%)
Below that, Toast is cheaper. Above it, Square Premium’s 2.4% pays back the $80 software gap.
Read that middle row again, because it is the honest headline of this page: for the large majority of independent restaurants, Square Plus is the cheaper of the two on published numbers, and it is not close until you are doing roughly $200,000 a month on cards in the dining room. Both vendors also negotiate. Toast states it builds a custom rate per restaurant, and Square offers custom pricing above $250,000 processed per year, so treat these crossings as the starting line for a conversation, not the finish.
What does each one publish?
Pulled from each vendor's own site on July 26, 2026. Where a vendor does not publish a figure, this table says so.
Swipe the table sideways to see both columns.
Which one fits the restaurant you actually run?
Pick Square if the register is simple and the capital decision is scary
Counter service, a food truck, a cafe, a bakery, a second concept you are testing, a place with a $9 average ticket, or any operator who wants to try online ordering without buying hardware. Square Free is $0 per month, states no locked in contracts, and runs on devices you may already own. On published rates it also costs less than Toast for most independents until you are very large. If you are not sure, this is the lower risk answer, and being able to walk away cheaply is worth real money in year one.
Pick Toast if the floor is complicated and the volume is high
Full service with a bar, coursing, tab transfers, handhelds at the table, a real prep line, and card volume north of roughly $89,000 a month where the 2.49% starts paying for itself against Square Premium. Toast builds only for restaurants, which shows up in the parts of the job a general commerce platform treats as an edge case. If your problem is the floor rather than the website, Toast is the better tool and the rate math stops being the deciding factor.
Pick neither yet if you have not asked for the online rate in writing
This is the single most common way a restaurant gets surprised. Both quotes will lead with an in person percentage. Online ordering does not use that percentage. Send one email to each rep that says: what is my card not present rate, in writing, including the per transaction amount. The answers will move your comparison more than any feature list on this page.
Where does Zayos fit in this?
We wrote this page, so here is the disclosure. Zayos does not sell you a register. Toast and Square both do that job well and this comparison is a real one worth making on its own terms.
Zayos is for the operator whose register is already settled and whose problem is that most of the online volume still arrives from DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub at 15% to 30% published base commission, or 25% to 35% blended once delivery, marketing and processing fees stack. It is $499, $599 or $699 per month per location, month to month, no setup fee. Direct orders carry a small service fee the diner pays at checkout, $0.99 pickup, $2.99 delivery, $0 dine in, 10% catering. The restaurant never pays it and keeps 100% of food revenue and tips.
Naya Grill in Pompano Beach and West Palm Beach runs its direct ordering on Zayos and keeps $48k+ a year that used to leave as commission. If your register question is still open, settle that first with Toast or Square. We are the layer that comes after.
Toast and Square, the questions that come up in the demo
Does Square or Toast take a commission on my online orders?
If neither takes a commission, why is one cheaper than the other?
At what sales volume does Toast become cheaper than Square?
Why does the online card rate matter more than the in person rate?
I already have iPads. Does that change the answer?
I run a full service restaurant with a bar. Which one?
Which one is better for a coffee shop or a small counter service place?
Sources
- Square unified plans: Square Free $0 per month per location, Square Plus $49 per month per location, Square Premium $149 per month per location, with 2.5% + 15¢ in person on Plus and 2.4% + 15¢ on Premium. squareup.com/us/en/press/unified-pricing-and-packaging, announced October 6, 2025, accessed July 26, 2026.
- Square processing rates: 2.6% + 15¢ in person on Free, 3.3% + 30¢ for online payments and invoices, 2.9% + 30¢ for online API transactions, 3.5% + 15¢ keyed in, international cards plus 1.5%. squareup.com/help/us/en/article/5068, accessed July 26, 2026.
- Square for Restaurants: kitchen display app $30 per month per device on Plus and $20 on Premium, kiosk app $50 per month per device on Plus and $30 on Premium, custom pricing available over $250,000 processed per year, online ordering with no monthly fees or commissions, free 30 day trials on Plus and Premium. squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing, accessed July 26, 2026.
- Toast published plans: Starter Kit $0 per month, Point of Sale plan $69 per month, Build Your Own custom quote, 2.49% + $0.15 per in person transaction, 2.99% + $0.15 pay as you go, 3.5% + $0.15 keyed in, custom rate built per restaurant. pos.toasttab.com/pricing and pos.toasttab.com/payments/payment-processing-fees, accessed July 26, 2026.
- Toast online ordering and delivery: no commissions on Toast Online Ordering, Toast Delivery Services via Uber Direct at a flat $6.99 per delivery under 6 miles and $8.74 for 6 to 8 miles plus regulatory fees in California, New York City and Seattle. pos.toasttab.com/products/online-ordering and support.toasttab.com Toast Delivery Services article, accessed July 26, 2026.
- Zayos pricing: zay-os.com/pricing.
Break even figures are our arithmetic on the published rates above, not vendor claims. Both vendors negotiate custom rates, which moves every crossing point. Vendor pricing changes, so confirm on each vendor's own page before signing. If a number here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
Know your number before the rep tells you theirs.
The free report reads your real order mix and shows what the marketplaces are taking this month. About 60 seconds, no card, no call.