Keep Toast's POS hardware. Audit Toast's processing rates separately. Save 0.4–0.7%.
Toast is excellent at being a restaurant operating system. Their processing is good but not exceptional. The good news: you don't have to switch the POS to get processing relief. Many Toast merchants can keep the terminals and software, and switch only the processing rails underneath.
What Toast actually charges restaurants
Toast bundles software, hardware, and processing — which makes it hard to see what each costs. Here's the breakdown for a typical full-service restaurant:
- Software: $69 – $165/month per location depending on tier (Starter, Standard, Essentials, Custom)
- Hardware: $850 – $4,000 upfront, or 36–60 month financing at $30 – $120/month per device
- Processing: 2.49% + 15¢ (Pay-As-You-Go) up to 2.99% + 15¢ on lower-volume plans — varies by negotiated terms
- Add-on fees: Online ordering, gift cards, payroll, loyalty — each priced separately, $0 – $399/month
Where the savings come from
Toast's processing rate is a "blended" or "qualified-tier" pricing model. On a typical $50,000/month full-service restaurant with average ticket $42 and a normal card mix, the effective rate often lands at 2.65–2.85%.
Interchange Plus pricing for the same restaurant typically lands at 2.10–2.30% effective. That's 0.4–0.7 percentage points of savings, every transaction, every month.
| Monthly card volume | Toast at 2.75% effective | NMS Interchange Plus at 2.25% | Annual savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| $30,000 | $9,900/yr | $8,100/yr | ~$1,800 |
| $60,000 | $19,800/yr | $16,200/yr | ~$3,600 |
| $120,000 | $39,600/yr | $32,400/yr | ~$7,200 |
| $250,000 | $82,500/yr | $67,500/yr | ~$15,000 |
Rates illustrative; your actual Toast and Interchange Plus rates depend on your contract, tier, and card mix. The audit calculates yours exactly.
Side by side
Toast
- Best-in-class restaurant POS — table management, modifiers, online ordering, kitchen display
- Full ecosystem: payroll, loyalty, gift cards, marketing
- Tightly integrated reporting
- 24/7 support included on most plans
- Processing locked to Toast — limited ability to use third-party processor
- Processing rate often higher than independent alternatives
- Hardware financing terms can be costly
- Contract terms vary — some merchants have multi-year lock-ins
National Merchant Solutions
- Independent processing at Interchange Plus rates
- Works with most restaurant POS systems — Toast (where possible), Aldelo, Aloha, TouchBistro, Clover, Square (where unlocked)
- Month-to-month, no contracts, next-day funding
- Direct phone line to David and Ohad, no call center
- $500 best-rate guarantee
- We are not a POS company — you need your own (we'll recommend one or use yours)
- Switching from Toast processing may require POS changes depending on your contract
The hard truth about leaving Toast
Toast doesn't make leaving easy. Depending on when you signed and what contract you accepted, you may have any of these in play:
- Multi-year hardware finance agreement — terminals you're paying off. You can sometimes buy out the remainder for a flat fee.
- Processing tied to POS — on many Toast plans, you can't use a different processor while keeping the POS. On some, you can.
- Termination fees — vary by plan. Standard plans are typically month-to-month, but custom plans can have early-termination fees of $1,000+.
The audit reads your Toast statement and Toast contract together. We'll tell you: what your true effective rate is, what your termination math looks like, and whether switching makes sense given your specific lock-in.
When you should stay with Toast
- You love the POS and your contract has more than 18 months left with serious termination fees — the savings won't outpace the breakup cost.
- You depend on Toast's integrated payroll, loyalty, or online ordering and would have to rebuild those if you switched.
- You're a multi-location group where Toast's enterprise reporting saves operational time worth more than the rate difference.
When you should switch (or split the difference)
- You're past your Toast contract minimum and on month-to-month renewal — easy switch.
- Your effective rate is over 2.7% and your monthly volume is over $40k — savings dwarf any switching friction.
- You're opening a new location and considering Toast vs alternatives — start with the POS you want and the processor you want, separately.
- You're already considering moving off Toast for other reasons (cost, support, feature gaps) — we can layer in processing savings.
FAQ — NMS vs Toast
Can I keep my Toast hardware and just switch processing?
Sometimes. It depends on which Toast plan you're on and your contract terms. The audit tells you. About half of Toast merchants we look at can keep the hardware; the other half need a hardware change.
What POS do you recommend if I leave Toast?
Depends on your concept. Quick-service: Clover or independent Aldelo. Full-service: TouchBistro, Aloha, or independent Aldelo. Multi-location: Revel or Lightspeed. We're not POS-locked, so we recommend based on your operation, not our commission.
Will leaving Toast hurt my reporting or analytics?
Toast's reporting is genuinely good. If you depend on it, you'll feel the loss. Most alternatives have caught up over the last few years, but be honest about what you actually use.
How long does the migration take?
If you're keeping the same hardware: 5–10 business days. If you need new POS hardware: 2–4 weeks including training. We coordinate the swap to happen on a slow night so service isn't disrupted.