How much does Toast charge per transaction?

Toast does not publish a rate; it is set in your merchant agreement and shown in the Rate column of your processing statement. Third-party reviewers such as Merchant Insiders report about 2.49% + 15 cents in person on a subscription plan and 3.50% + 15 cents keyed or online. Treat those as a sanity check, not Toast's price list.

Why is my Toast rate higher on Toast Pay and online orders?

Toast bills all Toast Pay transactions at the card-not-present rate in your merchant agreement, and its statements group online orders under keyed rates. Card-not-present rates are higher than tapped or dipped rates, so the same card costs more when paid by QR code or online.

Does Toast charge for chargebacks if I win?

Yes. Toast's Chargeback FAQ says the $15 fee is charged for every chargeback notification regardless of whether you dispute it or win. It is waived only if the chargeback came from a known Toast outage or other Toast issue.

Is Toast a payment processor?

Toast says it is not a card processor but a payment facilitator that partners with processors. Its services only run on Toast-approved hardware, so your processing, POS and devices come as one package.

Can I get money back for a Toast processing error?

Only if you report it quickly. Toast's Payment Processing Terms say failing to notify Toast of a processing error within 30 days of when it first appears is a waiver of any right to those amounts. Review statements monthly.

Restaurant POS

Toast fees in 2026: what you actually pay

Updated September 24, 2026 · Checked against primary sources

The short answer

Toast does not publish its card processing rates; your rate is set in your Toast agreement. Its pricing page lists a Starter Kit from $0 a month, Point of Sale from $69 a month and custom Build Your Own plans, all on flat-rate processing. Toast Pay and online orders bill at the higher card-not-present rate, and every chargeback costs $15.

US restaurants, bars and cafes that run Toast's POS, where card payments go through Toast as the payment facilitator.

Toast rates

Payment type	Published rate
In person (tap, dip, swipe)	Not published
Online or invoice link	Not published

Toast quotes most rates privately, so what you pay depends on your agreement. Check your statement against the effective-rate math below.

What Toast costs on your volume

Fee calculator

Monthly card volume ($)Average card ticket ($)Monthly ACH volume ($)Average ACH payment ($)

Toast does not publish enough rates to calculate this.

Same volume on	Monthly	Yearly
SpotOn	$993	$11,920
Lightspeed Restaurant	$1,049	$12,587

Uses each provider's published headline card rate and ACH terms only. Monthly software, hardware and per-feature fees are listed separately below and are not included.

Monthly and other fees

Fee	Amount
Starter Kit (1 location, up to 2 terminals)	From $0/month, hardware kit with no upfront cost
Point of Sale (restaurant)	From $69/month, includes first terminal subscription
POS + Payroll bundle (new restaurants)	From $69/month + $9 per employee/month
Point of Sale (retail)	From $90/month
Build Your Own	Custom quote
Chargeback	$15 per chargeback notification

Toast fee traps to check

Every Toast Pay (QR pay-at-table) transaction is billed at your card-not-present rate, as Toast's own support page states, so moving tables onto Toast Pay can raise your effective rate on the same cards.
Toast's statement guide says keyed rates cover any order where the card was not present, such as online orders and Toast Pay, not just hand-keyed cards.
Toast charges $15 per chargeback notification whether you dispute it, win or lose, and you have 15 calendar days from the report date to respond.
Toast's Payment Processing Terms treat a processing error not reported within 30 days of first appearing in your transaction history as a waiver of any money owed to you.
Toast publishes no percentages. Merchant Insiders (a third party, not Toast) reports about 2.49% + 15 cents in person on the $69 plan, 3.09% + 15 cents on pay-as-you-go and 3.50% + 15 cents keyed or online.
The Pay-as-You-Go Starter option lowers upfront hardware cost "through an all-in-one platform rate", meaning the hardware is paid for through your processing rate.

How to lower your Toast fees

Download each statement from Toast Web (Reports > Payments > Processing statements) and check the Rate column against your agreement within 30 days, before errors are deemed waived.
Run dine-in payments on the card-present terminal rather than Toast Pay when the gap between your card-present and card-not-present rates is large.
Surcharge credit cards only where legal: Visa requires 30 days' notice to your acquirer, caps the surcharge at the lower of your merchant discount rate or 3%, bans it on debit and prepaid cards, and as of Feb 15, 2024 lists Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Oklahoma and Puerto Rico as prohibiting it.
Once your card volume is substantial, ask Toast to price your last statement on interchange-plus and on a lower flat rate, and compare both in writing before renewing.

Can you pass the fee to customers?

Supported. Toast's plan comparison lists "Integrated PCI-compliant payments and surcharging". Card network rules and state law still apply.

Contract and cancellation

Not published on the pricing page. Terms sit in the Toast Merchant Agreement and Payment Processing Terms; published pricing applies to new customers and single locations only, and additional devices cost extra.

Toast vs other restaurant pos options

Provider	In person	Online	ACH
Toast	Not published	Not published	Not published
SpotOn	2.45% + 15¢	Not published	Not published
Lightspeed Restaurant	2.6% + 10¢	Not published	Not published

Compare fees

Frequently asked questions

How much does Toast charge per transaction?: Toast does not publish a rate; it is set in your merchant agreement and shown in the Rate column of your processing statement. Third-party reviewers such as Merchant Insiders report about 2.49% + 15 cents in person on a subscription plan and 3.50% + 15 cents keyed or online. Treat those as a sanity check, not Toast's price list.
Why is my Toast rate higher on Toast Pay and online orders?: Toast bills all Toast Pay transactions at the card-not-present rate in your merchant agreement, and its statements group online orders under keyed rates. Card-not-present rates are higher than tapped or dipped rates, so the same card costs more when paid by QR code or online.
Does Toast charge for chargebacks if I win?: Yes. Toast's Chargeback FAQ says the $15 fee is charged for every chargeback notification regardless of whether you dispute it or win. It is waived only if the chargeback came from a known Toast outage or other Toast issue.
Is Toast a payment processor?: Toast says it is not a card processor but a payment facilitator that partners with processors. Its services only run on Toast-approved hardware, so your processing, POS and devices come as one package.
Can I get money back for a Toast processing error?: Only if you report it quickly. Toast's Payment Processing Terms say failing to notify Toast of a processing error within 30 days of when it first appears is a waiver of any right to those amounts. Review statements monthly.

Send processor statements, not logins. We check what you are paying against published rates, flag the fees that should not be there and the deadlines still open, and return it in writing.

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Sources

Cite this page

Pavado, “Toast Fees 2026: Rates and Hidden Costs”, https://www.pavadotech.com/fees/toast, updated 2026-09-24.