What a restaurant system really costs in 2026

What you pay for

Subscription. The monthly software fee, often per location and sometimes per terminal or station. It ranges from $0 (Square Free, Toast Starter Kit, SpotOn All-In) to several hundred dollars (Lightspeed Premium at 399 USD, Owner.com Flat Rate at $499).

Card processing. A percentage plus a few cents on every card payment. For most restaurants, this is the biggest line. Published US in-person rates go from 2.3% + 10¢ (Clover) to 2.79% + 20¢ (SpotOn All-In); in the UK, Square charges 1.75% in person, and in Australia 1.6%.

Per-order fees. Online ordering tools sometimes charge per order instead of, or on top of, a subscription. Owner.com's Flexible plan charges a 5% restaurant fee per order; Bopple charges a platform fee per order.

Hardware. Terminals, handhelds, kitchen screens, printers, cash drawers. Some vendors bundle it into the monthly price or a higher card rate; others sell it upfront.

Contract and setup. Minimum terms, installation, onboarding. A cheap month on a long contract can cost more than a pricier month you can cancel.

Why the total, not the headline, decides

• Card fees scale with sales. At $40,000 a month in card sales, 2.6% + 15¢ is about $1,040 plus the per-sale cents; 2.3% + 10¢ is about $920 plus cents. The difference is bigger than many subscriptions.
• "$0 a month" is often paid back elsewhere. SpotOn's All-In plan is $0 per station but charges 2.79% + 20¢ per card-present sale with a 2-year minimum term, versus 2.45% + 15¢ on its $55-a-month plan.
• Add-ons add up. A KDS is $30 per screen a month on Lightspeed and $30 per device on Square Plus (US). Three kitchen screens is $90 a month.
• Per-order fees grow with you. A 5% fee on $10,000 of online orders a month is $500, which is why Owner.com also offers a $499 flat plan with no restaurant fee.
• Tax rules set a minimum. In Québec, restaurants must use a certified sales recording system linked to Revenu Québec's WEB-SRM, so a free ordering tool alone isn't enough there. In the UK and the US, your POS needs to produce VAT or sales-tax receipts.

What each vendor charges

Published prices from each vendor's own page. "On request" means the vendor doesn't publish the number. Card rates are for in-person payments unless noted.

qmen.us

qmen.us costs $0: no monthly fee, no commission per order, no paid plan, no card. It runs in the browser on phones, tablets and TVs you already have; the only install is the optional printing agent for thermal kitchen tickets. Optionally, a Certified Partner can set your restaurant up for a fee you pay the partner directly; qmen.us takes no cut and the software stays free. What you don't get for that $0: card payments, a cash register, tax receipts, delivery-platform integrations, inventory, reservations and multi-location. So qmen.us doesn't replace the processing fee; it replaces the paid ordering, waiter and kitchen-display add-ons on top of it.

Toast

In the US, Toast's Starter Kit is from $0 a month with a hardware kit with no upfront cost, for new, single-location customers with 1 to 2 terminals. Point of Sale is from $69 a month with hardware you choose, and a POS plus payroll bundle is $69 a month plus $9 per employee. In the UK, Starter is from £80 a month and Essentials £150 a month, with a KDS and handheld in Essentials. Card rates are not published, and Toast's FAQ says upfront costs are hardware and implementation, with financing available.

Square

Square's Free plan is $0 a month in the US, £0 in the UK and A$0 in Australia; you pay per sale. US rates: 2.6% + 15¢ in person on Free, 2.5% + 15¢ on Plus, 2.4% + 15¢ on Premium. The US KDS app is $30 a month per device on Plus and $20 on Premium. In the UK, Plus is from £29 a month and the KDS from £15 per device; in Australia, Plus is from $40 a month and the KDS from $25 per device. The US Plus and Premium monthly prices didn't appear on the pricing page we read, so check them at signup.

Clover

Clover's full-service Starter is $179 a month for 36 months, or $1,799 upfront plus $89.95 a month for the Restaurant Growth software. That includes a Station Solo terminal, cash drawer and receipt printer. Card rates are 2.3% + 10¢ in person and 3.5% + 10¢ typed in. Clover's hardware promotion requires a 3-year contract.

SpotOn

SpotOn's All-In plan is $0 per station a month with hardware included, at 2.79% + 20¢ card present and 3.79% + 20¢ keyed, with processing minimums and a 2-year minimum term. POS Essentials is $55 per station a month at 2.45% + 15¢, plus hardware: Station 15 at $750, Station 10 at $415, handheld at $297, guest display at $200.

TouchBistro

TouchBistro lists Point of Sale from $69 a month and an Essentials Bundle from $119 a month, plus hardware, payment processing and additional fees. Online ordering, the kitchen display and reservations are quoted on request, as is a custom setup.

How to work out your own monthly cost

Ten minutes with last month's numbers is enough.

1. Get your card sales and order count

   From your current statement, note total card sales, number of card transactions, and online orders if you take them. These three numbers drive almost every fee.

2. Multiply by each card rate

   For each vendor, take card sales × the percentage, plus transactions × the cents. Use the published rate, or ask for a written quote where it's "on request."

3. Add the subscription and add-ons

   Add the monthly plan, per-station or per-terminal fees, and each add-on you'd really use, such as KDS screens or online ordering.

4. Spread the hardware over the contract

   Divide the upfront hardware by the months you expect to stay. If the hardware only works with that vendor, count it as lost if you switch early.

5. Add per-order fees for online orders

   If a tool charges per order, multiply by your monthly online orders. Compare that with a flat-rate plan from the same vendor.

6. Subtract what a free tool covers

   If you only need ordering, a waiter app and a kitchen screen, qmen.us covers those for $0, so you can skip paid ordering and KDS add-ons and keep a simpler POS plan for payments.

   Tip: Ask every vendor the same question in writing: "What will I pay in total in month 1 and month 13 for my volume?" It forces trial discounts and promotions into the open.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

Prices checked on 28 October 2026; confirm on each vendor's site before deciding.

• Toast — Restaurant POS pricing (US)
• Toast — Restaurant POS pricing (UK)
• Square — Restaurant POS pricing (US)
• Square — What are Square's fees (US help)
• Square — Pricing (UK)
• Square — Pricing (Australia)
• Clover — Full-service restaurant pricing
• SpotOn — Pricing
• TouchBistro — Pricing
• Lightspeed — Restaurant POS pricing
• Owner.com — Pricing
• Bopple — Pricing and fees
• Revenu Québec — Mandatory billing in the restaurant sector

Glossary

Menu

The screen that holds your items, categories, prices and photos. It's the source of the digital menu guests see through the table QR code.

Kitchen display

The wall screen that shows that prep station's queue live, protected by a password.

Waiter app

The ordering page each waiter opens through the restaurant's own link, right in the phone's browser.

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