The short answer
Start with why you want to leave. Each alternative solves a different problem.
- You want to choose your own card processor: TouchBistro. It says it “is compatible with a wide range of payment processing solutions.” It doesn’t publish its own rates.
- You want every rate published and no contract: Square. Its Free plan is $0 a month, with cards at 2.6% + 15¢ in person, and Square says there are no “locked-in contracts.”
- You want restaurant software, month to month: SpotOn POS Essentials, at $55 per station a month and 2.45% + 15¢ in person.
- You want a lower card rate with hardware bundled in: Clover, at 2.3% + 10¢ in person on restaurant bundles from $179 a month for 36 months.
- You run a bigger room with lots of screens: Lightspeed Restaurant, from $69 a month. Its restaurant card rate isn’t published.
We list these by the reason you’d switch and by what each provider publishes, never by who might pay us. See how we make money.
One fair warning first. On small checks, Toast’s pay-as-you-go rate holds up well against these options. Put your last Toast statement into the fee calculator before you decide that leaving will save money.
Why restaurants leave Toast
Everything below comes from Toast’s own pages. None of it is hidden, but it is easy to miss when you sign up.
You must use Toast’s processing. Toast’s billing FAQ asks, “Can I use a different credit card processor with Toast?” Its answer: “No. You must use Toast’s processing services.” So you can’t shop for a lower card rate and keep the POS.
Toast hardware only. Toast says its services “may only be used on approved Toast hardware.” Toast doesn’t publish its hardware prices.
Contract terms aren’t published for restaurants. Toast’s hardware offer terms say retail customers sign up for “a minimum twelve (12) month term.” Toast doesn’t publish a restaurant contract length or an early termination fee.
Some numbers aren’t published. Toast lists 3.09% per card sale on its pay-as-you-go Starter Kit, or 2.49% on traditional pricing. It doesn’t publish a per-payment cents fee, its online rate or its keyed-in rate.
Payout holds. Toast’s processing terms say it “may require a Reserve for any reason, in order to protect Toast from potential losses.”
Easy Pay is a lease. On its quick-service page, Toast says “Toast Easy Pay is a 180-day lease with an option to purchase. Toast will hold back 1.75% of your sales and any unpaid amount will be due at 180 days via ACH.”
The alternatives side by side
- ToastVisit Toast
Flat or custom
- In person
- 2.49%
- Online
- By quote
- Monthly
- From $0 · Free plan available
- Contract
- Not published for restaurants; retail requires 12 months
- SquareVisit Square
Flat rate
- In person
- 2.6% + 15¢
- Online
- 3.3% + 30¢
- Monthly
- $0 · Free plan
- Contract
- No contract
- SpotOnVisit SpotOn
Flat or custom
- In person
- 2.45% + 15¢
- Online
- By quote
- Monthly
- From $0 · Free plan available
- Contract
- All-In plan: 2-year minimum. Essentials: month to month
- CloverVisit Clover
Flat or custom
- In person
- 2.3% + 10¢
- Online
- By quote
- Monthly
- From $16 · POS plan
- Contract
- 36-month hardware subscription option; terms vary by reseller
- LightspeedVisit Lightspeed
Flat or custom
- In person
- 2.6% + 10¢
- Online
- By quote
- Monthly
- $109 · Retail Basic, billed monthly ($89 if billed yearly)
- Contract
- Not published
- TouchBistroVisit TouchBistro
Quote
- In person
- By quote
- Online
- By quote
- Monthly
- From $69 · POS plan
- Contract
- Not published
Prices checked Oct 19, 2026 on each provider's own pricing page (how we check).
What the rate table doesn’t show is how each one ties you in. From each provider’s own pages:
| POS | Card processing | Contract and leaving | Hardware |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toast | Must use Toast’s | Not published for restaurants. Retail: 12-month minimum. No exit fee published. | Approved Toast hardware only |
| Square | Square’s, rates published | “No hidden fees or locked-in contracts” | Square lists its Stand at $149, Handheld at $399 and Register at $899 |
| SpotOn | SpotOn’s, rates published | Essentials: month to month. All-In: 2-year minimum. Leave early and you owe the monthly fees left in the term. | “Can I use my own POS hardware or tablets? No.” |
| Clover | Clover’s | 36-month bundles. 30 days’ notice. Termination fees “can vary based on your service provider.” | Devices “cannot be used with other payment processors” |
| Lightspeed Restaurant | Restaurant rate not published | Early exit fee includes the recurring fees left in your term | Terminals you already own can’t be reused |
| TouchBistro | Works with “a wide range” of processors | Not published | Not published. Financing only “for venues with two or more terminals.” |
Each alternative, for a restaurant leaving Toast
TouchBistro: keep a processor you choose
TouchBistro calls its product “easy-to-use POS software built just for restaurants.” Its Point of Sale plan starts at $69 a month for software, with “Hardware, payment processing, and additional fees” extra. Its Essentials Bundle starts at $119 a month with hardware and integrated payments, and processing fees on top.
It’s the only restaurant POS we compare that says it works with other processors. That’s the direct answer to Toast’s processing lock-in.
The catch: TouchBistro doesn’t publish its own processing rates or a contract term, and add-ons like online ordering and reservations are “Get a Quote.” Ask whether the software price changes if you use another processor. More on our TouchBistro page.
Square: every rate published, no contract
Square says you “get food and beverage features included in any Square plan.” Plans are per location: Free at $0 a month (2.6% + 15¢ in person), Plus at $49 (2.5% + 15¢) and Premium at $149 (2.4% + 15¢). Online payments are 3.3% + 30¢ on Free. Square’s kitchen display app is $30 a month per device on Plus, or $20 on Premium.
The catch: the 15¢ per payment adds up on small checks. And Square’s live chat runs Monday to Friday, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific, which matters if you’re open late. More on our Square fees page.
SpotOn: restaurant software, month to month
SpotOn calls POS Essentials “Ideal for most restaurants, with month-to-month flexibility.” It costs $55 per station a month, with cards at 2.45% + 15¢ in person, 3.45% + 15¢ keyed in and 3.19% + 15¢ for Amex. Hardware is bought separately, “plus implementation costs.”
The catch: SpotOn’s $0 All-In plan includes hardware, but charges 2.79% + 20¢, has “Processing minimums” and a “2yr minimum term.” If you end a term early, SpotOn’s terms say you owe the monthly fees for the rest of it, must return or buy any rented hardware, and may owe back the hardware discount. More on our SpotOn page.
Clover: a lower rate, with hardware in a long term
Clover’s restaurant bundles cost $179, $239 or $354 a month for 36 months, hardware included. Or buy the hardware for $1,799, $2,548 or $4,447 and pay $89.95, $109.90 or $129.85 a month for software. In-person cards are 2.3% + 10¢. Its retail and quick-service pages list typed-in cards at 3.5% + 10¢.
The catch: you’d be trading one lock-in for another. Clover says its devices “cannot be used with other payment processors.” If you don’t buy or return the equipment at the end of a subscription, it is “extended at the same monthly charge.” And Clover’s web prices “are only available on Clover.com,” so a bank’s offer can differ. More on our Clover page and in Toast vs Clover.
Lightspeed Restaurant: for bigger rooms
Lightspeed lists Restaurant Starter at $69, Essential at $189 and Premium at $399, without labeling the billing period. Kitchen screens cost $30 per screen per month. It doesn’t publish a restaurant card rate. Its retail payments page lists 2.6% + 10¢.
The catch: Lightspeed’s service agreement says leaving early triggers an early termination fee that includes “any recurring Fees under the Agreement that would have otherwise become due during the remainder of the Current Term.” On terms longer than 90 days, plans renew unless you give notice 90 days before the term ends. More on our Lightspeed page.
What switching saves: one restaurant month
Here’s one restaurant, priced at each provider’s published rates and plan fees. These are our estimates. They assume $30,000 a month in card sales across 1,200 payments (a $25 average check), one location, one station and every card used in person. They leave out hardware unless the plan includes it, plus Amex, chargebacks and setup.
| Setup | Card fees | Plan fee | Estimated month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toast traditional (today) | 2.49% × $30,000 = $747 | Not listed for this option | $747, plus software, hardware and any cents fee |
| Toast pay-as-you-go (today) | 3.09% × $30,000 = $927 | $0 | $927, hardware included |
| Square Free | $780 + 1,200 × 15¢ = $960 | $0 | $960, plus hardware |
| SpotOn Essentials | $735 + 1,200 × 15¢ = $915 | $55 | $970, plus hardware and setup |
| Clover Restaurant Starter, rented | $690 + 1,200 × 10¢ = $810 | $179 | $989, hardware included |
TouchBistro and Lightspeed don’t publish restaurant rates, so we can only show what a quote has to beat. To match Toast pay-as-you-go’s $927, processing on TouchBistro’s $119 Essentials Bundle would need to cost $808 or less, about 2.69% of sales, all fees included. On TouchBistro’s $69 plan or Lightspeed’s $69 Starter, it’s $858, about 2.86%, before hardware and Lightspeed’s screen fees.
So at this size, switching doesn’t save money on the published in-person rates alone. Leaving tends to pay off for other reasons:
- You want to pick your processor and get a rate quoted on your own volume.
- You take a lot of online or keyed-in orders, which Toast doesn’t publish a rate for. Ask Toast for those rates and compare.
- Your checks are bigger. Toast’s percentage-only pay-as-you-go rate costs more as the average check grows.
Your own numbers decide it. The fee calculator takes your current fees and shows what the same month would cost elsewhere.
Before you leave Toast: a checklist
- Get your real rate. Divide last month’s total fees by your card sales. Do it for three months if your sales move with the seasons.
- Ask Toast, in writing, for your term end date, any early termination fee, any Easy Pay balance, and whether any reserve will be held after you leave.
- Price new hardware. Your Toast devices won’t come with you.
- Get the new contract and exit terms in writing before you sign, so you don’t swap one lock-in for another. Our lower your fees page lists what leaving costs at each provider.
- Time the switch around your term end, and keep the old system running until the new one has taken a full service.
Keep reading
- Restaurant POS systems compared: every option at three restaurant sizes.
- Square vs Toast and Toast vs Clover: head to head.
- Toast pricing: what Toast costs if you stay.
- How to lower your card fees: what you can cut without switching.
Common questions
What are the main alternatives to Toast for a restaurant?
The restaurant POS systems we compare are Square, SpotOn, Clover, Lightspeed Restaurant and TouchBistro. Which one fits depends on why you're leaving. TouchBistro says it works with a wide range of processors. Square's Free plan is $0 a month at 2.6% + 15¢. SpotOn Essentials is month to month at $55 per station.
Can I use my Toast hardware with another POS?
Don't plan on it. Toast says its services may only be used on approved Toast hardware, and none of the alternatives we compare say they run on Toast devices. SpotOn says you can't use your own POS hardware, Lightspeed says terminals you already own can't be reused, and Clover devices only work with Clover processing. Budget for new hardware.
Can I keep Toast and use a different card processor?
No. Toast's billing FAQ asks, "Can I use a different credit card processor with Toast?" and answers, "No. You must use Toast's processing services." So if you want another processor's rate, you have to leave Toast's POS too. TouchBistro is the one restaurant POS we compare that says it works with other processors.
Does Toast charge a fee to cancel?
Toast doesn't publish an early termination fee. Its hardware offer terms say retail customers sign up for a minimum 12-month term, and it doesn't publish a contract length for restaurants on the pages we checked. If you're on Toast Easy Pay, a 180-day lease, ask what you'd still owe. Get your end date and exit cost in writing.
Is it cheaper to switch from Toast?
Not always. In our estimate for a $30,000 month with 1,200 card payments, Toast's pay-as-you-go rate costs about $927. Square Free, SpotOn Essentials and a rented Clover Restaurant Starter bundle come to about $960 to $989. Leaving tends to pay when Toast's terms, not its rate, are the problem. Check your own month in the calculator.