Card processing fees
How much does Toast charge per transaction?
Updated · Checked against primary sources
The short answer
Toast does not publish a rate card; rates are set in each merchant's agreement. Third-party reviews and owner contracts commonly show about 2.49% + 15 cents for in-person cards on a subscription plan, around 3.09% + 15 cents on pay-as-you-go, and 3.50% + 15 cents for keyed and online payments. Toast Pay (pay-at-table and QR) is billed at the card-not-present rate.
Key takeaways
- Your actual rates are in your signed Toast agreement, not on Toast's website.
- Keyed, online and Toast Pay payments are all billed at the card-not-present rate (Toast).
- Visa's own restaurant interchange differs by only 0.10 points between card-present and card-not-present credit, while typical Toast rates differ by about 1 point.
- Chargebacks cost $15 per notification, win or lose.
Typical Toast rates, labelled by source
Treat these as a sanity check against your own agreement, not as Toast's price list.
| Payment type | Typical reported rate | Source type |
|---|---|---|
| In person, subscription plan | 2.49% + $0.15 | Third-party review, owner contracts |
| In person, pay-as-you-go | 3.09% + $0.15 | Third-party review |
| Keyed, online, Toast Pay | 3.50% + $0.15 | Third-party review, owner contracts |
| Chargeback | $15 per notification | Toast Support |
What the card networks charge underneath
Visa's interchange for restaurants, effective April 18, 2026, is 2.10% for traditional and basic credit cards and 2.60% for Signature and Infinite cards when the card is present, and 2.20% and 2.70% when it is not (Visa). Regulated debit is 0.05% + $0.21. The gap between that cost and your rate is the processor's margin plus network fees.
Frequently asked questions
- Why is my Toast rate higher on pay-at-table?
- Toast states that all Toast Pay transactions are billed at the card-not-present rate in your merchant agreement, which is typically higher than your in-person rate. Moving table payments to Toast Pay can raise your effective rate even though the card is the same.
- Does Toast offer interchange-plus pricing?
- Toast's billing FAQ refers to a cost breakdown for Interchange Plus customers, so some accounts are on it. Most small restaurants are on flat rates.
Run your own numbers
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Request a free leak scanRelated questions
- Processing feesDid Toast raise its processing fees?
- Processing feesWhy are card-not-present rates higher for restaurants?
- Processing feesWhat is a good effective rate for restaurant card processing?
- Processing feesCan you get a refund for Toast processing errors?
- Processing feesIs interchange-plus or flat-rate pricing better for a restaurant?
Go deeper
- GuideToast Processing Fees: 2026 Rates and IncreasesToast processing fees in 2026: typical in-person and keyed rates, the verified 2024 and March 2026 increases, Toast Pay's keyed rate, and your exit rights.
- GuideHow to Audit a Toast Processing StatementRead a Toast processing statement line by line, calculate your true effective rate, and catch keyed misrates and increases inside Toast's 30-day window.
- GuideHow to Negotiate Toast Processing RatesNegotiate lower Toast processing rates using your contract's leverage points: rate notices, renewal and new locations. Plus flat vs interchange-plus math.
Terms on this page
- Card-not-present (CNP)
- A payment where the card is not physically read by a terminal, such as online orders and keyed-in cards. CNP payments carry higher interchange and, on many processors, a higher contracted rate than card-present payments.
- Interchange
- The fee the card-issuing bank receives on each card payment, set by the card networks (Visa, Mastercard) and varying by card type and how the card was taken. It is the largest part of processing cost and the part no processor can discount.
- Effective rate
- Total processing fees divided by total card volume for the same period, expressed as a percentage. It is the single number that shows what you actually pay, regardless of how the statement splits the fees.
Sources
- Toast Support: Get started with Toast Pay
- Toast Support: Credit card processing rate
- Toast Support: Billing FAQ
- Visa USA interchange reimbursement fees (eff. Apr 18, 2026)
- Merchant Insiders: Toast fees (third-party)
- Toast Support: Chargeback FAQ
Cite this page
Pavado, “How much does Toast charge per transaction?”, https://www.pavadotech.com/restaurants/questions/how-much-does-toast-charge-per-transaction, updated 2026-09-23.