Square POS vs Toast

Two point of sale tools side by side. Prices are the starting plan a small business would pick, in USD.

Compare	Square POSBlock	ToastToast Inc
In one line	Free POS with pay-as-you-go processing	Restaurant POS with kitchen displays and online ordering
Starting price	Free	Free
Six-person team	$0/mo	$0/mo
On $10,000 of card sales	$320/mo	Rates by quote
Plans	Free $0/mo: 2.6% + 15¢ per tap, dip, or swipe; Plus $49/mo per location: 2.5% + 15¢; Premium $149/mo per location: 2.4% + 15¢	Starter kit $0/mo with higher processing (3.09% pay-as-you-go); Point of Sale plan from $69/mo with custom-built rates
Pricing model	Free tier	Free tier
Free trial	—	—
Users	Unlimited	Unlimited
Both connect to	QuickBooks Online
Also connects to	Xero, Zoho Books, Akaunting, Kashoo, ZipBooks, Bench	No others on record
Team size	Just me · 2–10 people · 11–50 people	2–10 people · 11–50 people · 51–200 people
Available in	US · UK · CA · AU	US · CA · UK
Phone support	Every plan (US)	Every plan
Live chat	Plans not stated	Every plan
Support hours	Phone: 6am–6pm PT M–F for the first 90 days (Square Free only), 6am–6pm PT M–F (Square Plus only), 24/7 (Square Premium only)	Phone: 24/7/365 · Live chat: 24/7/365
Incidents posted	14 incidents posted on Block's status page, which covers all Block products and regions, in the 90 days to Oct 27, 2026; 0 marked major or critical by Block. Status page	15 incidents posted on Toast Inc's status page, which covers all Toast Inc products and regions, in the 90 days to Oct 27, 2026; 9 marked major or critical by Toast Inc. Status page
Capterra score	4.6 / 5 from 3,039 reviews	4.1 / 5 from 554 reviews
Trustpilot score	Not listed	2.6 / 5 from 1,504 reviews
Fit: Retail shop	95	20
Fit: Restaurant or café	85	96
Fit: Service business	80	10
Fit: Agency or studio	20	5
Fit: Trades or contractor	60	5
Fit: Online store	55	10
Why people pick it	No monthly fee on the free plan Hardware and software from one vendor Deep accounting integrations	Built for full-service and quick-service restaurants Handhelds and KDS are first-party
Where it falls short	Processing fees add up at higher volume Account holds are a common complaint	Hardware contracts can be two years Not useful outside restaurants
	Visit Square POS ↗	Visit Toast ↗

Six-person prices are what a team of six would pay on the published plans; "Not listed" means those plans don't cover six. Card sales costs include the plan price and card fees at US rates, at a $25 average sale. How we calculate prices