Square vs Toast POS

Fees, tax handling, payouts and coverage side by side, plus how many verified RevMRR startups use each.

The short version

Neither is a merchant of record, so with either one you register for and remit sales tax and VAT yourself.
On the standard published rate, Square (3.3% + $0.30) is cheaper per transaction than Toast POS (3.5% + $0.15).
Pick Square for: small and new businesses, mobile and seasonal sellers, and anyone who wants to take cards today without negotiating a merchant account — retail, food trucks, salons, and pop-ups especially..
Pick Toast POS for: full-service and fast-casual restaurants, bars, and multi-location groups doing steady volume that want POS, kitchen display, online ordering, payroll, and loyalty from a single vendor on rugged, spill-resistant hardware..

RevMRR Score	C64	C51
Type	POS & Retail	POS & Retail
Standard fee	3.3% + $0.30	3.5% + $0.15
Monthly fee	None	$69
Merchant of record	No	No
Sales tax / VAT	You handle it	You handle it
Subscriptions	Not supported	Not supported
Payouts	Next business day	Next business day if batched by 9:30pm ET, else…
Who can sign up	Founded in 2009, based in San Francisco, California, USA	Founded in 2012, based in 401 Park Drive, Boston, MA 02215
Payment methods	Cards (Tap & Chip), Apple Pay, Google Pay, Contactless	Cards (Tap & Chip), Apple Pay, Google Pay, Contactless
Best for	Small and new businesses, mobile and seasonal sellers, and anyone who wants to take cards today without negotiating a merchant account — retail, food trucks, salons, and pop-ups especially.	Full-service and fast-casual restaurants, bars, and multi-location groups doing steady volume that want POS, kitchen display, online ordering, payroll, and loyalty from a single vendor on rugged, spill-resistant hardware.
Used on RevMRR	Not connectable yet	Not connectable yet

Square

Square remains the easiest on-ramp to card payments for a small business: flat, transparent pricing, no monthly fee or contract, free software that punches above its price, and next-business-day payouts. The A grade comes with two genuine cautions — account holds are common enough to be the top complaint about the company, and support is weak precisely when a hold happens. Stable, low-risk businesses rarely hit either problem.

+ Transparent flat-rate pricing with no monthly fee, contract, or early-termination fee
+ Free, genuinely good POS software with inventory, reporting, and customer management built in
+ Wide hardware selection, from a free magstripe reader to full register setups
+ Next-business-day payouts standard, with instant transfers available for 1.95%
+ Strong fraud and security features handled for you, with chargeback dispute management included
– Account holds and frozen funds are the dominant complaint theme — instant approval means underwriting happens after you start processing
– Customer support is hard to reach and slow to resolve exactly the problems (holds) that matter most
– Flat rates get expensive at volume, and keyed-in transactions cost a steep 3.5% + $0.15
– Many capabilities are paid add-ons, and offline functionality is limited

Square pricing ↗

Toast POS

Toast is the most complete restaurant platform on the market, and the operational upside is real — but you pay for it with a multi-year commitment — Toast sets the term in your Order and publishes no length, though two years is what operators consistently report, mandatory processing, above-market online rates, and a contract that lets Toast raise fees mid-term on 30 days' notice. Go in with the agreement read line by line, not on the sales rep's summary.

+ Purpose-built for food service, with the deepest restaurant feature set in its class
+ POS, kitchen display, online ordering, payroll, loyalty, marketing, inventory, and delivery in one platform
+ Restaurant-grade hardware designed to survive spills, heat, and heavy use
+ Built-in offline mode keeps service running through internet outages
+ 24/7 support with published in-person rates rather than fully opaque quotes
– Mandatory processor lock-in — no third-party processing allowed, and Toast can raise rates mid-contract with 30 days' notice
– Two-year standard contract (three on some promos), with early termination costing the remaining software subscription fees for the term
– Reported online ordering rate of 3.50% + $0.15 is significantly higher than competitors
– Billing transparency and post-sales support are recurring complaint themes, reflected in a 1.23-star BBB customer review average

Toast POS pricing ↗