Estimate the true cost of a restaurant POS: software per terminal, payment-processing fees on card sales, and hardware — as a monthly and annual total. Free, no sign-up.
Restaurant POS Cost Calculator
Software per terminal is only part of the bill. This adds payment-processing fees on your card sales and hardware to show the real monthly and annual cost.
A planning estimate. Processing is usually the biggest line — some restaurant POS lock you to their processor, others let you shop it. Compare on the POS software page.
Why POS "from $X/month" understates the cost
The advertised per-terminal price is the smallest part of what a restaurant POS actually costs. The two lines that dwarf it are payment processing — a percentage of every card sale plus a flat per-swipe fee — and hardware.
- Processing at 2.6% on $60k/month is about $1,560 a month — many times the software fee.
- Hardware (terminals, printers, KDS screens, cash drawers) is a one-time hit, but real.
- Contracts and early-termination fees don't show here — check them per vendor.
Shopping the processor
If a POS is processor-agnostic you can negotiate the card rate; if it's locked (payments bundled with the software), the rate is the rate. That difference can outweigh any monthly-fee savings.