Clover vs Toast, and the hardware ownership question
These two fail differently. Toast hides the rate. Clover has no single rate to hide, because whoever sold it to you set it.
Clover and Toast, on the numbers
| System | Software | Card present rate | Contract | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clover | $89.95 to $129.85plus $849 to $4,447 hardware, reported | Set by the reseller | 36 months | Your rate depends entirely on who sold it to you, and identical hardware carries very different pricing from different sellers. Read who owns the equipment before signing. |
| Toast | $0 to $69per terminal, reported | 2.49% to 3.69%+ 15c, reported | 1 to 3 years | The rate climbs with add-ons. Online ordering and delivery move Starter Kit from 3.09% to 3.39%, and gift cards and loyalty take it to 3.69%. That higher rate then applies to every order, not just the online ones. Processing is mandatory and hardware is locked to Toast. |
Square, Genius and Shift4 figures are published by those vendors and were read on their own pages on 8 August 2026. Toast and Clover figures are reported by Merchant Maverick, Expert Market, POSUSA, business.com and KORONA POS, cross checked against at least two independent sources each, because neither vendor publishes them. Software units differ: Square prices per location, Toast and Shift4 per terminal, Clover per device. Rates change without notice. General guidance, not legal, tax or accounting advice.
Where each one wins
Toast is one company with one policy
Which makes it predictable, even if the rate is not published. What you are quoted is what Toast decided to quote you.
Clover depends entirely on your reseller
A good reseller quoting interchange plus can beat Toast comfortably. A bad one can cost you far more, on identical hardware. The platform is not the variable, the seller is.
Hardware ownership is the Clover question
Ask who owns the device and whether it is locked to the processor. Frequently the answer is that you do not own it and it is locked. Toast is explicit that its software runs only on Toast approved hardware.
Both commonly run long contracts
36 months is commonly reported on Clover, one to three years on Toast. Ask about the hardware lease separately, because it is often a different agreement with a different end date.
Questions owners ask
Which is cheaper?
Unanswerable in the abstract, because Clover has no single rate. Get both quotes as effective rate in writing and compare those.
Do you sell Clover?
Yes, through Equip, quoted interchange plus so the markup is visible.
Have your own numbers checked
Send last month's statement. We read it with you, free, and tell you straight whether we are the ones to fix it.
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It reaches Judd Alsup and the Equip team. If we have a crew near you, that is who calls. If we do not, Judd handles it himself. We never ask for card or bank details on this site.