1v1 Pricing Showdown
Toast vs TouchBistro
Side-by-side pricing breakdown for Restaurant POS Software decision-makers
Prices in USD, verified from the United States. Regional pricing may vary.
When choosing between Toast and TouchBistro for your restaurant pos software stack, the right answer depends on three things: your budget, the specific features you actually use day-to-day, and your tolerance for renewal-price increases. Below we lay out the prices each vendor advertises today (verified against their live pricing pages), the plan limits that decide whether they'll fit your team, and the features that differ between them.
Toast starts at $69/mo; TouchBistro starts at $69/mo. The cheaper headline price isn't always the cheaper total cost — renewal pricing, per-user fees, and overage charges can shift the math. Use the plan-by-plan tables below to model your actual spend.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| restaurant specific category leader | Toast is restaurant-specific POS category leader — IPO 2021 (TOST) with $45B+ market cap | — |
| starter kit free freemium | Category-disruptive $0 software + free hardware + processing revenue model | — |
| processing revenue model | 2.49%+$0.15 card-present default (generates Toast revenue vs subscription) | — |
| commission free direct online ordering | Direct online ordering without DoorDash/UberEats commissions | — |
| loyalty program | Core+ | — |
| multi location support | Growth+ | — |
| inventory management | Growth+ | — |
| marketing tools | Growth+ | — |
| integrations ecosystem | 100+ integrations (DoorDash, UberEats, QuickBooks, 7shifts, etc.) | — |
| restaurant specialization strategic | Purpose-built for restaurants vs Square/Clover general-purpose | — |
| historical 24 36 month contracts | Historical contract length — verify current terms | — |
| pricing page blocked in audit | pos.toasttab.com/pricing returned 403 in audit — industry knowledge for pricing | — |
| no commission fees online ordering | — | UNIQUE — online ordering add-on with NO commission fees (vs DoorDash/UberEats 20-30%) |
| no cover charges reservations | — | Reservations add-on with no cover charges |
| essentials bundle zero hardware | — | $0 Upfront Hardware Costs on Essentials Bundle |
| transparent cost plus payments | — | TouchBistro Payments Interchange + fixed markup |
| table management | — | Core POS |
| tableside ordering | — | Core POS |
| menu management | — | Core POS |
| reporting analytics | — | Core POS |
| staff management | — | Core POS |
| 180m series e 2022 | — | TouchBistro raised $180M Series E 2022 — restaurant-specific positioning |
| iPad based pos historical | — | iPad-based POS legacy (now supports multiple platforms) |
| canadian founded north america focus | — | Founded Toronto, focused North American restaurant market |
| extensive addon ecosystem | — | 12+ add-on solutions (CFD, inventory, labor, KDS, profit mgmt, online, reservations, loyalty, gift cards) |
Affiliate links — you pay the same price
Dive Deeper
About the restaurant pos software category
Restaurant POS Software in 2026 spans free entry-level tiers (Square, Toast) to premium enterprise platforms (Lightspeed Premium, Toast Enterprise). Published rates: Lightspeed Restaurant Starter $69/month, Essential $189/month, Premium $399/month + Enterprise custom (+ KDS $30/screen/month). TouchBistro Core POS Software starting $69/month, The Essentials Bundle $119/month (includes hardware + payments). Square for Restaurants Free $0/month (entry), Plus available with 30-day free trial (~$60/month/location typical industry rate), Premium custom for businesses processing $250K+/year. Custom-quote or bundled: Toast Starter Kit Free $0/month (Toast POS software free + 2.49% + $0.15 per transaction processing — unique free SaaS model), Toast Core tier ~$69/month, Toast Growth ~$165/month industry estimates, Toast Enterprise custom. Clover Restaurant plans custom by reseller network (typical $60-400/month + hardware $500-2,000 upfront). Major 2024-2026 category developments: Toast went public 2021 (TOST) and has emerged as restaurant-specific POS category leader with $45B+ market cap reflecting restaurant-specialization strategy. Toast's 'Starter Kit Free' freemium model (free POS software + 2.49%+$0.15 processing) is category-disruptive — no monthly software fees, revenue from payment processing. Square for Restaurants maintains Square freemium model with dedicated restaurant UI. Lightspeed acquired Upserve 2020, Ecwid 2021 + others — consolidating restaurant + retail + ecommerce. TouchBistro raised $180M Series E 2022 reflecting restaurant-specific positioning. Clover is Fiserv-owned (parent payment processor) with heavy reseller channel distribution. Payment processing is category's critical TCO variable: Toast 2.49%+$0.15 (card-present) default, Square 2.6%+$0.10 (card-present) Plus tier, Lightspeed Payments competitive rates, TouchBistro Payments 'transparent cost-plus', Clover rates negotiated via reseller. For high-volume restaurants ($1M+ annual sales), processing rates can exceed subscription costs by 10-100x. Typical restaurant POS deployment includes: POS terminal + kitchen display system (KDS) + printer integration + card reader, menu management + modifiers + pricing, table management + floor plans, ordering + modifications + voids/comps, staff management + scheduling + payroll, inventory management + food cost tracking, reporting + analytics + tax management, integrations (accounting like QuickBooks, delivery like DoorDash/UberEats/Grubhub, loyalty + marketing). Target users: quick-service restaurants (QSR), fast casual, full-service restaurants (FSR), bars + breweries, cafes + coffee shops, food trucks, ghost kitchens + delivery-only, multi-location chains + franchises.
How to choose between restaurant pos software options
First: restaurant type + service model? Quick-service (QSR) + fast casual: Toast Starter Kit Free or Square for Restaurants Free (both free POS with processing revenue model). Full-service (FSR) + fine dining: Lightspeed Restaurant Starter $69/month or TouchBistro Core $69/month (mature FSR table management + tableside ordering). Bars + breweries: Lightspeed Starter pre-auth bar mode + Toast bar workflows. Cafes + coffee shops: Square for Restaurants Free or Toast Starter. Multi-location: Lightspeed Essential $189/month (multi-location management) or Toast Growth/Enterprise or Clover enterprise plans. Second: free vs paid software preference? Free software + processing revenue: Toast Starter Kit Free + Square Free — both $0/month software, revenue from processing. Paid software + transparent processing: Lightspeed + TouchBistro + Clover higher subscription, potentially lower processing rates. For new restaurants with variable volume: free models reduce fixed costs. For established high-volume restaurants: paid subscription + negotiated processing typically cheaper at scale. Third: hardware bundling? Toast offers free Starter Kit hardware with software. TouchBistro Essentials Bundle $119/month includes hardware + software + payments. Lightspeed hardware sold separately (integrates with third-party hardware). Square sells POS hardware separately (Square Terminal $299+ hardware). Clover distributes heavily via reseller channel with hardware bundles. For minimum upfront cost: Toast free hardware + Square free software combinations. Fourth: payment processing rates? Toast 2.49%+$0.15 (card-present default) or cost-plus negotiated. Square 2.6%+$0.10 (card-present) + 3.3%+$0.30 (online). Lightspeed Payments competitive rates (negotiate). TouchBistro Payments 'transparent cost-plus' (Interchange + fixed markup). Clover rates via reseller (verify specific processor). For high-volume restaurants, negotiate rates 2.0-2.4% typical below advertised retail rates. Processing rates deserve as much attention as subscription pricing. Fifth: integration needs? Toast + Lightspeed + Square have 100+ integrations (DoorDash, UberEats, Grubhub, QuickBooks, 7shifts, Homebase, Mailchimp, etc.). TouchBistro integrations growing. Clover App Market extensive (1000+ apps via reseller channel). For delivery-heavy restaurants: Toast + Square integrations mature. Sixth: kitchen display system (KDS) integration? Lightspeed KDS $30/screen/month add-on. Toast KDS included in packages. Square KDS via Square Kitchen add-on. TouchBistro KDS as add-on solution. Clover KDS via App Market. For multi-station kitchens: KDS cost across stations material. Seventh: online ordering + commission rates? TouchBistro 'no commission fees' on online ordering is distinctive — vendor-operated online ordering without per-order commission. Toast online ordering 'commission-free' direct but subject to subscription. Square online ordering integrated. Lightspeed online ordering included Starter+. Clover online ordering via App Market. For delivery-dependent restaurants: commission-free direct ordering critical — TouchBistro + Toast differentiated.
Building Your Business Stack?
Decision-makers comparing tools often need more than one category. Here are related comparisons:
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is Toast cheaper than TouchBistro?
- Toast is cheaper starting at $69/mo. Toast starts at $69/mo and TouchBistro at $69/mo.
- Does Toast or TouchBistro offer a free plan?
- Toast offers a free plan.
- Which is better, Toast or TouchBistro?
- Toast scores 9.3/10 compared to TouchBistro's 8.6/10 in our analysis. Toast ranks higher on features and value, but TouchBistro may suit specific use cases — see the feature comparison above.
- Is Toast cheaper than TouchBistro for a team of 5?
- For a team of 5, Toast costs $69/mo (flat rate) and TouchBistro costs $69/mo (flat rate). Toast is the cheaper option at this team size.
- Are there other restaurant pos software alternatives besides Toast and TouchBistro?
- Yes. Our [Restaurant POS Software pricing comparison](/pricing/restaurant-pos/) page covers all major providers with daily-verified prices. You can also see the [cheapest restaurant pos software](/pricing/restaurant-pos/cheapest/) for budget-focused options.