The honest comparison

They rent you
your own business.

Square, Toast, and Clover are not software companies. They are subscription companies. Every feature they give you is a hook to keep you paying — forever. The moment you stop, your data, your menu, your customer history — all of it is held hostage behind a login that stops working. Kasa is different. You buy it. You own it. You run it on your own machine. Your data is yours, permanently, no matter what.

What Toast actually costs

$7,140

over 5 years at $99/month
and you still don't own it

What Square actually costs

$8,940

over 5 years at $149/month
and your data stays on their servers

What Kasa costs

$799

once. year one. year five.
forever.

* Based on Square Restaurant Plus at $149/mo and Toast Point of Sale at $99/mo. Processing fees not included — those are extra on top.

Feature by feature

Where every
dollar goes.

Feature	Square	Toast	Clover	Kasa
Monthly software fee	$60–$149/mo	$69–$165/mo	$60–$85/mo	$0/mo forever
Processing rate	2.6% + $0.15	2.49%–3.09% + $0.15	2.3% + $0.10	2.8% + $0.05
Hardware required	Square hardware only	Toast hardware only	Clover hardware $799–$1,799	Any Windows PC you own
Contracts	Month-to-month	2-year contract	Month-to-month	No contract. Ever.
Data ownership	Square owns it	Toast owns it	Clover owns it	You own it. Always.
Offline mode	Limited	Limited	Limited	Full offline. Always on.
Recipe costing	✕ Not included	Add-on cost	✕ Not included	✓ Built in
AI menu suggestions	✕	✕	✕	✓ Built in
Franchise / multi-location	Limited	Enterprise plan required	Separate system	✓ Full tools built in
Kitchen display (KDS)	Add-on	✓	Add-on	✓ Built in
Loyalty program	Add-on	Add-on	Add-on	✓ Built in
Can raise your rate?	Yes — 30-day notice	Yes — 30-day notice	Yes — contract terms	No. You bought it.

What they don't advertise

The fine print
that kills you.

🍞

Toast: the 2-year trap

Toast requires a 2-year contract on most plans. Try to leave early and you owe the remainder. Their hardware is proprietary — you can't take it with you. Their starter plan processes at 3.09%, not 2.49%. And they can raise your rate with 30 days notice. At $99/month for 5 years, you've paid $5,940 in software fees alone — and own nothing.

■

Square: the hardware lock

Square's free plan processes at 2.6% + $0.15. That $0.15 flat fee destroys you on small tickets — a $10 coffee costs you $0.41 in fees. On the paid plan at $149/month, that's $1,788/year before you process a single card. And the moment you stop paying, your data is locked in their cloud. You don't own your own customer list.

🍀

Clover: the hardware ransom

Clover's 2.3% rate looks great — until you add the $60–$85/month software fee and $799–$1,799 for their proprietary hardware. Total cost of entry: $1,600–$2,800 before year one ends. Their app marketplace charges extra for features Kasa includes free. And that hardware? Worthless if you switch processors.

✦

Kasa: what you actually get

$799. One time. Runs on any Windows PC — the one you already own, a $300 tablet, or a $39 card reader from Amazon. Your data lives on your machine. No one can take it from you. No rate hikes. No contracts. No surprise bills. In year two, every dollar you save vs Square or Toast is pure profit. Most operators break even in under 6 months.

The math is simple

A restaurant doing $30K/month
saves this much switching to Kasa.

vs Square Plus

$2,989

saved in year 2
$149/mo fee eliminated
lower per-swipe on avg tickets

vs Toast Point of Sale

$1,388

saved in year 2
$99/mo fee eliminated
no hardware replacement

vs Clover Restaurant

$1,780

saved in year 2
$85/mo fee + hardware amortized
vs Kasa on hardware you own

Calculations based on $30K/month processing volume, average $25 ticket size. Kasa is $799 one-time, amortized over 2 years.

🔐

Your data is yours.
Forever. No exceptions.

Square, Toast, and Clover keep your sales history, your customer list, and your menu on their servers. Stop paying and it's gone — or held hostage until you export it, if they even let you. Kasa stores everything on your machine. In a file you own. That you can back up, move, or keep forever. No vendor has access to your business data. Not us. Not anyone.

Try Free for 3 Days → See pricing →

Everything included

40+ features.
Zero add-ons.

Every feature is built in and included. No app store to browse. No integrations to buy. No surprise fees when you need something new.

💳

Kasa Pay — Built-in Processing

Accept cards at 2.8% + $0.05 — lowest of any major POS. Works with a $39 USB reader, PAX terminals, or your existing hardware. No monthly gateway fee. Funds hit your bank in 1–2 days.

Explore Kasa Pay →

📊

Live Dashboard

Real-time sales, labor %, top items, server leaderboard. Auto-refreshes every 30 seconds. See your business breathing in real time.

🤖

AI Menu Suggestions

Weather + time of day + your sales history = staff knows exactly what to push. No other POS at this price does this.

AI-powered

🍽

Table Management

Drag-and-drop floor map. Color-coded by time seated. Heatmap, reservations, waitlist, party notes, course timing — all built in.

🖥

Kitchen Display System

Built-in kitchen display system. Multi-station routing, course firing, and ticket management. Run on any spare monitor connected to your PC.

📦

Inventory & Recipe Costing

Auto-deduct on fire. AI extracts costs from vendor invoices. Predictive ordering. Smart 86 alerts before you run out — not after.

AI food cost

⭐

Loyalty & SMS Marketing

Points, tiers, birthday rewards. Auto-SMS on 1st visit, 5th visit, 30-day lapse. Full CRM with customer segments and blast campaigns.

📈

Menu Engineering

BCG matrix — Stars, Plowhorses, Puzzles, Dogs. Rank every menu item by profit × volume. Know what to cut, what to price up, what to push.

Complete feature list

Nothing
hidden.

Every single feature included in the $799 price. No asterisks.

🍽

Table & floor plan management

Drag-and-drop, sections, heatmap, timer colors

📋

Reservations & waitlist

Built-in — no OpenTable needed

🔥

Course timing & fire control

Fire by course, hold, auto-fire timers

🖥

Browser KDS — any tablet

No proprietary hardware required

🖨

Multi-printer routing

Bar, cold, expo, receipt — fully configurable

📺

Customer-facing display

Order summary + promotional slideshow

💳

Kasa Pay 2.8% processing

Lowest rate — beats Square, Toast, Clover

📶

Offline card queue

Take payments when internet is down

🍺

Bar tabs & pre-authorization

Open tabs, hold card, auto close

📊

Live analytics dashboard

Auto-refresh, labor %, revenue trends

📈

Menu engineering (BCG matrix)

Stars, Plowhorses, Puzzles, Dogs

🗓

Day-part analytics

Lunch vs dinner, busiest hours, trends

📦

Inventory management

Stock levels, par levels, auto-deduct on fire

🧾

Recipe costing

Ingredient cost vs sell price, food cost %

🤖

AI food cost from invoice

Paste vendor invoice — AI extracts it all

🏭

Vendor & PO management

Price history, comparison, order tracking

🔮

Predictive ordering

AI suggests reorder quantities by day-part

⚠

Smart 86 predictions

Alerts before you run out — not after

👤

Customer CRM

Profiles, visit history, spend, segments

⭐

Loyalty program

Points, tiers, birthday, welcome bonus

📱

SMS marketing

Blast campaigns + auto-triggers

🧑‍💼

Staff management

Users, roles, permissions

⏰

Time clock & payroll export

Clock in/out, shift reports

🏆

Staff leaderboard

Sales rankings, tips, upsells, medals

↑

Upsell prompts

Configurable per item — drives ticket size

🌤

AI weather suggestions

Rainy day? Push comfort food automatically.

🍕

Pizza builder

Half-and-half, sizes, toppings, price by size

🧾

Invoice billing (Net-30)

PDF invoices, payment tracking

🚗

Delivery dispatch

Driver assignment, zones, status tracking

📧

Scheduled email reports

Nightly Z report, sales, low stock alerts

🔁

Void & refund

Card refund, comp, void with audit trail

🎁

Gift cards

Issue, redeem, balance check

☁

Cloud backup

S3, Backblaze, SFTP — hourly automatic

🏢

Franchise & multi-location

White-label, menu push, central reporting

🛵

Third-party delivery sync

UberEats, DoorDash, Grubhub orders in Kasa

📶

Offline-first architecture

Works without internet — syncs when back

Real answers

Every question
answered.

Why is Kasa only $799 when Toast charges $100/month?

Because Toast's entire business model is keeping you subscribed forever. They don't want you to buy software — they want to rent it to you indefinitely. Kasa is software you actually own. We make our money when you buy it, not by taxing your business every single month until you close or switch. At $99/month, Toast costs you $1,188 in year one and you own absolutely nothing. Kasa is $799 once and it's yours permanently.

What if I already have a Square or Clover reader?

Keep it and use it. Kasa works with your existing hardware — run the card on your current terminal, confirm payment in Kasa, and all your reporting, analytics, ticket history, and customer data live in Kasa from day one. When you're ready to save more on processing, switch to Kasa Pay's 2.8% + $0.05 with one click. No hardware purchase required to get started.

Does Kasa work if my internet goes down?

Completely. Kasa is installed on your Windows machine — not a cloud app. No internet required to take orders, fire tickets to the kitchen, or run your reports. If you're using Kasa Pay, card payments queue locally and process automatically the moment you reconnect. Your POS has never gone down because your WiFi did. That's not something Square or Toast can say.

What happens to my data if I stop using Kasa?

It's on your machine. You keep it forever. With Square or Toast, your data lives on their servers — stop paying and you lose access, or get a limited export window before it's gone. Kasa stores everything in a local database file you own. Back it up, export it, keep it for 10 years. No vendor has access to your sales history, your customer list, or your menu. Not us. Not anyone.

Can I use Kasa for multiple locations?

Yes — built for it. Full multi-location and franchise tools are included: push menu updates to all terminals at once, see consolidated sales across every location from one screen, white-label with your own brand, and manage staff roles across your entire operation. Each terminal needs its own license at $799 (or $299 for additional terminals at the same location). No enterprise plan, no sales call, no custom quote.

Clover's rate is 2.3%. Why is Kasa 2.8%?

Clover's rate is real and we'll be straight with you. But here's what that rate costs you: $60–$85/month in software fees plus $799–$1,799 for Clover's proprietary hardware that you're forced to buy upfront. Kasa runs on any Windows PC you already own — a $300 laptop, a tablet, the PC behind your counter. Add a $39 USB card reader from Amazon and you're processing cards today. Zero monthly fee. No contract. No hardware purchase. Most operators running $20K+/month come out ahead on total cost with Kasa within 60–90 days compared to Clover's full cost of ownership.

What's the catch? Why so cheap?

There's no catch. We built Kasa as a one-time-purchase product because we believe subscription pricing for POS software is exploitative. Restaurant operators work incredibly hard for tight margins — we're not going to take $100–$200 every single month for software that costs us nothing to run on your machine. We make money once when you buy. That's the whole model. If you love it and refer others, great. If not, you still have software that works forever and data you own.

What hardware do I need?

Any Windows 10 or 11 PC or tablet with 4GB RAM. That's it. For card payments: a $39 USB card reader from Amazon works on day one, or connect your existing PAX terminal, Square reader, or Clover device in passthrough mode. For kitchen display: any spare monitor or TV connected to your PC. For receipt printing: any ESC/POS network or USB receipt printer. You do not need to buy a single piece of new hardware to get started.

For new businesses

Start strong.
From day one.

Kasa isn't just for established restaurants. It's the smartest first POS a new business can buy — because you'll never outgrow it and never pay monthly fees while you're trying to survive year one.

💸

No monthly bill to survive

When you're building a new business, every dollar matters. Square charges $60–$149/month before you process a single card. Kasa is $799 once. In year one that's $720–$1,788 you keep in your pocket.

📈

Grows with you to 100 locations

Start with one tablet and a $39 USB card reader. Add terminals, kitchen displays, and locations as you grow. The same Kasa license scales from a food truck to a franchise without a forced upgrade.

🔌

Run on hardware you already own

Kasa runs on any Windows PC or tablet. No proprietary hardware purchase required to get started. Add a $39 USB card reader and you're processing cards the same day.

📶

Offline-first — works anywhere

Food truck with spotty cell service? Pop-up event with no WiFi? Kasa runs entirely offline. Cards queue and process when you reconnect. Your POS never goes down because your internet does.

🤖

Enterprise tools from day one

Inventory costing, loyalty programs, SMS marketing, staff management, live analytics — features that used to cost thousands per year are all included. You start with the same toolbox as a $10M operation.

💳

Save on every swipe from day one

Kasa Pay at 2.8% beats Square on every single transaction. A new café doing $15K/month saves $50+/month vs Square — that's $600/year. Nearly the entire cost of Kasa back in year one.

Pricing

Pay once.
Own it forever.

No monthly fees. No seat limits. No "call for enterprise pricing." Every tier is a one-time purchase — yours forever.

Starter

^$499

one-time · single terminal

Orders, tables & payments
Menu management
Staff PINs & basic roles
Daily sales reports
Cash drawer & receipt printer
Kasa Pay ready (2.8% + $0.05)
No monthly fee. Ever.

Try Free 3 Days →

Trial converts at $499

✓ 30-day money-back guarantee

The last POSyou'll everbuy.

The last POS
you'll ever
buy.