Full-service restaurant POS cost 2026
A 4-terminal FSR running KDS, online ordering, and reservations lands between $2,490 and $3,037/mo all-in. The winner depends on monthly card volume, table-management depth, and whether you want a 3-year contract.
A 4-terminal FSR with $80,000 monthly card volume (78% card-present, $42 average ticket), KDS, native online ordering and reservations costs $2,490 to $3,037/mo all-in in 2026. Square for Restaurants $2,490/mo (cheapest, accepts the FSR functional ceiling). SpotOn $2,647/mo. Clover $2,818/mo. Toast $3,037/mo (most expensive, highest functionality). Numbers emitted live by the calculator.
Vendor winners by sub-segment
Independent single-unit
Toast or SpotOn. Toast wins on hardware + roadmap. SpotOn wins on processing math at higher volume. Toast pricing · 2026-06-20 SpotOn pricing · 2026-06-20
Multi-unit FSR chain
Toast Enterprise or Lightspeed Pro. Both have multi-location reporting and per-location SaaS discounts. Below 10 units stay SMB-vendor; above 10 the enterprise vendors (Oracle MICROS, NCR Voyix Aloha) enter the picture.
Tableside-ordering FSR
Toast handhelds or SpotOn Serve. Each handheld is a license seat; budget $25-$45/mo per handheld on top of fixed terminals.
Fine-dining with reservations
Toast (with Resy/Tock partnership) or Lightspeed (with built-in reservations). TouchBistro Reservations add-on works but it is an extra line.
Coursing, table management, tableside
Coursing increases ticket-line count, which loads the KDS. Table management adds a license seat per handheld. Tableside ordering with EMV-grade handhelds adds $499-$899 hardware per handheld plus license. For an 8-table fine-dining room with 4 servers, plan 4 handhelds + 4 stations + 2 KDS.
Processing markup on $80K monthly card volume
78% card-present at 2.49% + 15c, 22% card-not-present at 3.5% + 15c, on an average ticket of $42 (~1,900 transactions): approximately $2,455/mo Toast negotiated interchange-plus, $2,450/mo Square flat-rate, $2,188/mo SpotOn interchange-plus, $2,387/mo Clover. Toast adds 10bps Volume Subscription Fee = $80/mo Toast VSF · 2026-06-20.