Toast vs SpotOn: pros, cons and who each one fits
Toast and SpotOn are the two restaurant POS systems most independents end up demoing against each other. Both run on their own Android-style hardware, both require their own payment processing, and both will send a rep to your door. The differences are in the contract, the fees you only see later, the depth of the add-on products, and how support answers the phone at 11 p.m. on a Friday.
Side by side
| What | Toast | SpotOn |
|---|---|---|
| Software price | $0/mo Quick Start (higher processing rate), $69/mo Core, custom above that | $0/station/mo All-In (higher processing rate, 2-year minimum), $55/station/mo Essentials, custom above that |
| Card-present rate | Quoted per restaurant. Independents commonly report about 2.49% + $0.15 on Core and about 2.99% + $0.15 on the $0 plan | Published: 2.79% + $0.20 on All-In, 2.45% + $0.15 on Essentials (Amex 3.19% + $0.15) |
| Keyed or online rate | 3.5% + $0.15 (Amex 3.89% + $0.15) | 3.79% + $0.20 on All-In, 3.45% + $0.15 on Essentials |
| Contract | Usually 2 years, up to 3, auto-renews for a year. Early exit means paying the remaining software fees | All-In: 2-year minimum with monthly processing minimums. Essentials: month-to-month, hardware bought up front, implementation fees apply |
| Hardware | Proprietary Android terminals and handhelds. $0 up front on Quick Start, otherwise purchased or financed | Station 15 $995 (on sale $750), Station 10 $550 ($415), handheld $495 ($297), guest display $200, router $300. Included on All-In |
| Offline mode | Yes | Yes, switches on automatically and syncs card payments later |
| Online ordering | Native, with a branded app option and Toast Delivery Services | Commission-free ordering page, GoTo Place marketplace app, flat-rate delivery via DoorDash Drive |
| Labor and payroll | Toast Payroll and scheduling, first party | Teamwork scheduling and tip rules included; payroll through Gusto, ADP, Paylocity or Paychex integrations |
| Reservations | Toast Tables, first party | SpotOn Reserve and waitlist (host app on iOS) |
| Kiosks | Native | Third-party integration |
| Support | 24/7 phone, chat and email, on-site install | 24/7 for POS, payments and hardware; billing and implementation on limited hours |
| Multi-location | Strong: shared menus, location pricing, corporate controls, peer benchmarking | Shared menus, loyalty and comparative reporting across locations |
| Who else they serve | Restaurants only | Restaurants, plus retail and service businesses |
Pricing: what the numbers actually mean
The headline software prices are the least important line. For a restaurant doing real volume, processing is 90% of the bill, and the two companies handle it differently. SpotOn prints its rates on its pricing page. Toast quotes each restaurant, says it will try to match your current processor, and reserves the right to raise the rate during your contract with 30 days' written notice. Merchant Maverick's Toast review notes customers reporting that it has used that right.
Take a restaurant doing $1.2 million a year in card sales at a $30 average ticket, which is 40,000 card transactions. Rates are the published or commonly quoted ones above; your quote will differ, so rerun it with your own numbers.
| Plan | Processing | Software | Hardware | Year-one total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toast Quick Start ($0, ~2.99% + $0.15) | $41,880 | $0 | $0 up front | about $41,900 |
| Toast Core ($69, ~2.49% + $0.15) | $35,880 | $828 | quoted | about $36,700 plus hardware |
| SpotOn All-In ($0, 2.79% + $0.20) | $41,480 | $0 | included | about $41,500 |
| SpotOn Essentials ($55 × 3, 2.45% + $0.15) | $35,400 | $1,980 | $2,250 to $2,985 for three Station 15s | about $39,600 to $40,400 |
Three things to take from that table. First, the two "free" plans cost almost the same as each other, and both cost more than the paid plans at this volume: about $5,000 a year more for Toast, and for SpotOn about $1,500 more in year one and about $4,000 a year after that, once the hardware is paid off. Second, the paid plans are close enough that the contract terms, not the price, should decide it. Third, none of these numbers include the add-ons, and that is where the two diverge.
SpotOn's Core Bundle (its marketing, online ordering, Profit Assist and integrations package) is $50 a month plus 0.20% of card volume, capped at $200 a month. On the example above that is $3,000 a year ($50 a month plus the $200 cap, which $100,000 a month in card sales hits exactly). It is a small number, but it scales with your sales until the cap. Toast sells its add-ons (Toast Tables, Payroll, Marketing, kiosks, the branded app) as separate line items, each with its own monthly fee, and the total can climb past SpotOn's bundle quickly once you take three or four of them. Ask each rep for the all-in monthly figure with every product you intend to use, in writing.
Also ask about the small fees. Toast's comparison page accuses SpotOn of a $25 a month connectivity charge and a 2.5% gift card load fee; SpotOn's reviews mention implementation fees that are not listed on the pricing page. Toast has its own history with surprise fees. Take both lists as questions to settle in the contract.
Contracts and the exit
This is the biggest practical difference. Toast's standard agreement is two years, sometimes three, and renews for another year unless you cancel in the window. Leave early and you owe the remaining software fees for the term plus any hardware financing. The hardware has no resale value, because nothing else runs on it.
SpotOn's $0 All-In plan has the same shape: a two-year minimum, monthly processing minimums, and the "free" hardware becomes a bill if you cancel early. The complaints filed with the Better Business Bureau against SpotOn over the past year cluster around exactly that: equipment and implementation fees charged after cancellation, and monthly fees that kept billing. SpotOn's usual response is to cite the contract and then offer a partial refund if the hardware comes back in good condition.
The difference is SpotOn Essentials. It is genuinely month-to-month. You buy the hardware up front, pay the implementation fee, and can walk away. If the ability to leave without a lawyer matters to you, that plan is the reason to pick SpotOn, and it is worth the $55 a station.
Whichever you choose, get three things in writing before you sign: the early termination amount in dollars, what happens to the hardware if you cancel, and whether the processing rate can change during the term.
Hardware and offline
Both companies sell their own spill-resistant stations and handhelds, and neither will let you bring Aloha or Square gear. Toast's current handheld, the Toast Go 3, claims more than 24 hours of battery; SpotOn's handheld claims "an entire shift," which Toast's comparison page pins at about 8 hours. For a patio-heavy restaurant that runs doubles, that gap is real. Test it.
Both have offline modes that keep taking orders and storing card payments when the internet drops. Ask both reps to pull the network cable during the demo and watch what the kitchen screen and the handhelds do.
On price, SpotOn lists its hardware; Toast quotes it. SpotOn's list prices (a $995 station, a $495 handheld, often discounted) are a reasonable benchmark to hold Toast's quote against.
Where Toast is stronger
- Product depth. Payroll, reservations, kiosks, a branded ordering app, delivery drivers, marketing and peer benchmarking are all first-party and run on one system. If you want one vendor for everything, Toast is the only one of the two that can honestly offer it.
- Multi-location. Shared menus with location-level pricing, corporate void and discount rules, and reporting built for groups. Our multi-unit comparison goes deeper.
- Scale. More than 180,000 locations as of mid-2026, which means more integrations (100+), more installers, and a bigger pool of staff who already know the system.
- Handheld battery and hardware polish. On paper the Go 3 is the more capable handheld of the two.
Watch out for: the quoted rate that can rise mid-term, a sales team that Merchant Maverick's reader reviews describe as pushy, support that some long-time customers in those reviews say has slipped, and add-on fees that stack. Everything is proprietary, so the day you leave, the hardware is scrap.
Where SpotOn is stronger
- Published rates and a month-to-month plan. You can read the price before you talk to a rep, and Essentials lets you leave.
- Support. POS USA and Merchant Maverick both rate SpotOn's support well for quick access to a real person (Merchant Maverick scores it 4.8 of 5), while POS USA notes operators reporting slow resolutions and upsell calls from Toast. The 24/7 line covers the POS, payments and hardware only; billing and implementation keep office hours.
- Commission-free online ordering with flat-rate delivery. SpotOn Order is part of the Core Bundle ($50 a month plus the 0.20% fee), takes no per-order commission, and uses DoorDash Drive for drivers at a flat rate.
- Labor tools included. Teamwork scheduling, tip-out rules and early wage access come with the POS; payroll runs through the provider you already use.
- Mixed businesses. If you also run a retail shop, a bowling alley or an event venue, SpotOn covers it. Toast does not.
Watch out for: the 0.20% Core Bundle fee, kiosks and some other products that come from third parties, a reservations host app that only runs on iOS, fewer integrations, and the same cancellation-fee complaints on the $0 plan that Toast gets on its contracts.
Which one should you pick?
Pick Toast if you run or plan to run more than one location, you want payroll and reservations from the same vendor, you lean on handhelds all shift, or you already run Toast at another site and want one system to train on.
Pick SpotOn if you are a single independent that wants to see the price up front, you cannot sign a two-year deal, you have been burned by support elsewhere, you want commission-free online ordering with flat-rate delivery, or your business is not purely a restaurant.
Either way, skip the $0 plan unless you are opening with no cash. At any real volume the higher rate costs more than the hardware would have, and the "free" hardware is what the cancellation fight is about.
How to compare the quotes properly
- Pull twelve months of card volume and transaction count from your current processor statement. Give both reps the same numbers.
- Ask for the effective rate, including card network and assessment fees, not just the headline rate. Ask whether it can change during the term.
- Ask for the all-in monthly figure with every add-on you will use, and the price of each add-on on its own.
- Ask for the early termination amount in dollars and what happens to the hardware.
- Call each company's support line at 11 p.m. on a Friday before you sign. Time how long it takes to reach a person.
If you are moving off an older system, our POS migration checklist covers the forty things to do between signing and go-live, and the Aloha to Toast guide covers the Toast install in detail.
Sources
- SpotOn: Restaurant pricing (All-In, POS Essentials, hardware, Core Bundle)
- SpotOn: Restaurant POS features (offline mode, handheld, Teamwork, online ordering)
- Toast: Pricing (Quick Start, Core, Build Your Own)
- Toast: Toast vs SpotOn (Toast's own comparison page, April 2026)
- Merchant Maverick: Toast POS review (Jan 2026)
- Merchant Maverick: SpotOn POS review (Jul 2026)
- POS USA: Toast vs SpotOn (Jun 2026)
- BBB: SpotOn Transact complaints (Nov 2025 to Aug 2026)