Operations
Restaurant Online Ordering Systems Compared for US Independents
Restaurant online ordering systems compared: Toast, Square and SpotOn on pricing, sales tax and direct-order commissions for US independents.
What to take away
- Toast fits operators already on Toast hardware who want online tickets in the same queue as dine-in orders.
- Square fits low-volume counters that want a free plan and few fixed monthly costs.
- SpotOn fits full-service rooms that will trade a longer contract for a flat card rate.
- All three leave sales tax remittance, refunds and guest data with the restaurant.
Direct online ordering has grown from a side channel into a primary one for many US independents. Marketplace apps still take a commission on each order, and that cut is why operators shop for their own system. This comparison sets Toast, Square and SpotOn against the criteria that decide if a switch still looks right after the first month.
For the marketing side, read notes on signal versus noise.
The systems on the table
Four paths exist. Toast, Square and SpotOn each sell a point-of-sale with a first-party ordering page. A fourth path is a white-label builder that plugs into a POS you already own.
Treat every figure here as an illustrative range. Online food ordering covers the wider category, and DoorDash shows what a marketplace charges for the traffic it brings.
Criteria that decide the choice
Volume, average ticket and data ownership matter more than the monthly fee. A cheap plan can cost more once card processing is priced per order.
Toast vs Square vs SpotOn
Toast
- Monthly cost
- $0-$165
- Card processing
- Quoted
- Direct commission
- None
- Sales tax
- State rate
- Best fit
- Toast hardware
Square
- Monthly cost
- Free-$79
- Card processing
- 2.6%+10c
- Direct commission
- None
- Sales tax
- Address
- Best fit
- Low volume
SpotOn
- Monthly cost
- Quoted
- Card processing
- 1.99%+20c
- Direct commission
- None
- Sales tax
- Per location
- Best fit
- Full service
In most states, the restaurant is the seller on a direct order and must remit tax, while a marketplace facilitator handles tax on its own sales.
Guest records stay with the restaurant on all three systems. Your guest loyalty program design decides how much of that data you need to hold. The FTC's data security guidance covers how those records should be handled.
Toast
- Monthly platform cost
- Per-module, often $0 to $165 (illustrative)
- Card processing
- Quoted per account
- Commission on direct orders
- None
- Sales tax
- Rate set per state, restaurant maintains
- Best fit
- Existing Toast hardware
Square
- Monthly platform cost
- Free tier; paid tiers $29 to $79
- Card processing
- 2.6% + 10 cents in person; 2.9% + 30 cents online
- Commission on direct orders
- None
- Sales tax
- Computed from the order address
- Best fit
- Low-volume counter
SpotOn
- Monthly platform cost
- Quoted per location, often bundled
- Card processing
- Flat rate near 1.99% + 20 cents
- Commission on direct orders
- None
- Sales tax
- Computed per location and item
- Best fit
- Full service, signed term
Ask for the rate in writing before you compare totals, and test how each handles a refunded order.
Toast in practice
Toast sells hardware, payments and ordering as one stack. A restaurant already running Toast gets online orders inside the same kitchen display, which removes a tablet and a second printer from the counter. The ordering module carries its own monthly price, and card processing is quoted rather than posted.
Square in practice
Square competes on entry price. A small counter can publish an ordering page on the free tier and pay only card fees. Tax is computed from the customer address, which suits pickup and delivery inside one state. Limits appear at volume, where reporting is thin and complex menu logic needs workarounds.
SpotOn in practice
SpotOn courts full-service rooms with a hybrid contract: a lower card rate in exchange for a longer commitment. Setup includes a representative who configures menus and tax tables. That help matters in states where local sales tax on prepared food differs by city. Read the term length and the termination clause before comparing rates.
Where each option wins
- Toast fits a multi-location group that wants one ticket queue and already owns the hardware.
- Square fits a cafe or slice shop under roughly $10,000 in monthly card volume that wants the lowest fixed cost.
- SpotOn fits a table-service restaurant with high card volume where a flat rate beats interchange-plus.
These are fit cases, not a ranking. Check the arithmetic against your own volume in hospitality marketing analytics terms: orders, repeat rate and average ticket. A direct channel still has to earn its own traffic, and the SBA's marketing and sales guide treats that as the owner's job.
Example: commission against card fees
An illustrative month: $38,000 in card volume across 1,900 orders. A marketplace at 22% commission takes about $8,360. Direct ordering at 2.9% plus 30 cents, with a $79 platform fee, comes to roughly $1,751. The gap is real, but the marketplace fee also buys demand. Your own page does not.
Commission vs card fees
- $38,000monthly card volume
- 1,900orders
- $8,360marketplace commission
- $1,751direct ordering cost
What none of them solve
None of these systems bring customers; a direct ordering page converts diners who already know the restaurant. It does not create the demand a marketplace listing creates, and closing that gap is marketing, not software.
restaurant advertising is where the cost sits, and every vendor still leaves sales tax remittance, refund disputes, chargebacks, and guest data with the operator.
