Toast

Also called Toast POS, TOST, Toast Payments, Toast Capital

The restaurant POS everyone knows. Excellent software, mandatory proprietary processing, and the industry's sharpest pricing complaints.

What it is

Toast is a restaurant technology company that builds POS, online ordering, loyalty, payroll, capital lending and, increasingly, AI tooling — and requires merchants to use Toast Payments. As of Q2 2026 it reported roughly 180,000 locations (up 22% year over year) with a record 9,500 net adds in the quarter, $60.7 billion in GPV (up 22%), $1.908 billion in revenue (up 23%) and $2.4 billion in ARR (up 25%). That 180,000 figure is an all-verticals number that now includes retail and convenience. On restaurant locations specifically, analyst work cited by Payments Dive puts Toast at approximately 145,000 and about 17% share of sub-top-250 restaurants, behind Clover at roughly 175,000 and 20%. Toast is enormously successful and is not, on that measure, the location leader. Pricing is custom-quoted rather than published. Reported figures put software from $0 pay-as-you-go to $69 base with most single locations landing $150–$500 all-in, card-present processing in the mid two percents on its standard plan and higher on pay-as-you-go, hardware at $799–$999 for the Flex, and contracts of two years standard with some at three, auto-renewing. Toast launched Toast IQ Grow at $499/month in 2026 — an AI marketing, analytics and invoice-scanning agent that management called its fastest-growing product launch. In August 2026 Adyen became a US processing partner, adding processing redundancy Toast previously lacked domestically.

Why it matters to your business

If you run a restaurant, Toast is probably the best-known software you'll be pitched, and the software genuinely is good. The problem is that the payments are bundled and non-negotiable, so you're buying software at a price set by processing margin you can't see or shop. The practical move isn't necessarily to leave. It's to know your all-in number. Most Toast merchants cannot state their total monthly cost because it's spread across software tiers, per-module add-ons, processing, hardware financing and commissions. Building that one-page total is the highest-value hour you'll spend on your tech stack this year — and it's also what you need before any renewal conversation.

Where it gets contested

Toast has the most documented pricing complaints in restaurant technology, and they cluster around four themes: mandatory proprietary processing with no negotiation, proprietary hardware at $799–$2,500+ that has no resale value on exit, two-to-three-year auto-renewing contracts with 30–60 day cancellation notice windows, and add-on creep — reported at roughly $75/month online ordering, $50–$75 loyalty, $50 gift cards, $69/month payroll plus $9 per employee, plus online ordering commissions of 2.5–3.5% stacked on top of processing. Reported early termination exposure runs $1,000–$5,000+. Hardware financing reportedly survives software cancellation. The quantified version, from a competitor-published analysis: a $50,000/month restaurant pays roughly $1,700/month all-in on Toast versus about $1,050 on interchange-plus — a difference near $650/month or $7,800/year. Treat the exact figure with appropriate skepticism given the source, but the direction is well supported by Toast's own disclosed 59 basis point fintech net take rate. The honest counterweight matters here. A restaurateur survey cited by Payments Dive found no widespread desire to leave incumbent vendors; most operators reported satisfaction and expansion plans. Toast does not disclose churn and no third party has measured it. "Toast merchants overpay relative to interchange-plus" is well supported. "Toast merchants are unhappy and leaving" is not.

How to check it yourself

Build a one-page total cost of ownership: software base, every add-on module, processing fees, hardware financing payments, online ordering commissions, and payroll fees. Divide by monthly card volume for a true all-in effective rate. Then find your contract's auto-renewal date and the notice window, and put both in your calendar with a 90-day warning.

Receipts

Claims above that are checkable, with where to check them. Published so you do not have to take anyone's word for it.

Toast Q2 2026: ~180,000 locations (+22%), record 9,500 net adds, $60.7B GPV (+22%), $1.908B revenue (+23%), $2.4B ARR (+25%)
stocktitan.net ↗
Analyst work puts Clover at ~175,000 locations and ~20% share of sub-top-250 restaurants versus Toast at ~145,000 and ~17%; and a restaurateur survey found no widespread desire to leave incumbent vendors
paymentsdive.com ↗
Toast's fintech net take rate fell to 59 bps from 61 bps in Q2 2026
merchantcostconsulting.com ↗
Toast's referral program pays a one-time bounty of up to $2,000 per referral that goes live, with no residual to the partner
support.toasttab.com ↗
Documented Toast merchant grievances include mandatory proprietary processing, $799–$2,500+ proprietary hardware, 2–3 year auto-renewing contracts with 30–60 day notice windows, and add-on module pricing
sleftpayments.com ↗