Pricing
Free. Then 2.49% on cards.
There’s one plan and it costs nothing. No subscription, no fee per device, no add-ons, no contract. We earn from card payments, at a rate you can read right here.
Software
$0
a month, for every device, every feature.
- Unlimited iPads, handhelds and printers
- Floor plans, seats, coursing and table timers
- Splits by seat, item or evenly; partial payments
- Menus, modifiers, specials and 86s
- Kitchen tickets by station
- Tip-outs and tip pools
- Time clock and labour hours
- Z reports, settlement matching and CSV exports
- Several venues in one organization
- Roles, PINs, audit log and two-factor sign-in
Card payments
2.49%
one blended rate on credit and debit, with no per-payment fee.
- Cash
- Free, rounded to the nickel
- Contract
- None. Leave whenever you like
- Setup
- Import your menu, pair iPads with a code
- Hardware
- Buy iPads and printers wherever you like
Savings calculator
See what you’d keep in a year.
Set your card sales, card mix and devices. We add up a year of software fees and card processing at each company’s Canadian prices. If you know what you pay now, put it in.
A year on North instead of Toast
You save$8,159
saved a year, before hardware.
| A year | Toast | North |
|---|---|---|
| Card processing2.80% effective vs 2.49% | $33,599 | $29,880 |
| Software and devicesEssentials $220/mo, then about $50 per extra device (estimate) | $4,440 | $0 |
| Total | $38,039 | $29,880 |
North is free software with one blended card rate of 2.49% on every card. Other companies’ figures are their Canadian list prices where published, and marked estimates where not, checked October 2026; your quote may differ. Hardware and taxes aren’t included. Sources and assumptions.
Sources and assumptions
How the calculator works it out.
Each company is priced for one full-service location: the plan that includes table service, plus the devices you choose. Where a company publishes a price, we use it; where it doesn’t, we use the lowest figure reported for Canada and mark it as an estimate. Payments are counted from your card sales and average payment; Interac is priced separately where a company does.
| Company | Software a month | Devices | Card processing |
|---|---|---|---|
| North | $0 | None | 2.49% on every card |
| Toast | Essentials $220/mo, then about $50 per extra device (estimate) | Essentials includes a terminal, a kitchen screen and a handheld. Each extra terminal or handheld about $50 a month (estimate; Toast doesn’t publish it). | 2.60% + 15¢ on every cardToast doesn’t publish Canadian card rates. We use the low end of the range reported for Canada, 2.60% + 15¢, on every card. |
| TouchBistro | POS $89/mo and one kitchen screen $28/mo | One kitchen screen at $28 a month. Extra iPad licences are quoted, so they aren’t counted. | 2.10% on every cardTouchBistro quotes card rates (interchange plus a markup). We use 2.10% on every card, an estimate; put in your own rate if you have it. |
| Square | Plus $60/mo with one device, $40/mo each extra | $40 a month for each countertop device after the first; kitchen screens included. Handhelds aren’t counted. | 2.50% credit; 0.75% + 7¢ InteracSquare’s published Canadian rates: 2.5% on credit in person and 0.75% + 7¢ on Interac. |
Not counted: hardware, taxes, add-ons such as online ordering, loyalty or reservations, and cards issued outside Canada. Your own quote from any of these companies may differ; put your rates into the calculator to use them.
Toast
- Toast Canada pricing
- Toast Canada merchant agreement
- Toast support: additional device subscriptions
- Toast pricing (hardware terms)
- NerdWallet Toast review, Aug 2026
- Trudy’s Table: POS systems for Canadian restaurants, Jul 2026
- KORONA POS: Toast overview, Aug 2025
- Toast support: offline payments in Canada
- Nation’s Restaurant News: the AWS outage, Oct 2025
TouchBistro
Questions
Straight answers.
How can North be free?
We earn from card payments, at one published rate of 2.49%. There’s no subscription, so we only make money on nights you’re serving.
Is there a contract or a cancellation fee?
No. North is month to month with nothing to sign for the software. If you leave, take your data with you: every report exports to CSV.
What does 2.49% cover?
Card payments, credit and debit, at one blended rate with no per-payment fee. Cash costs nothing. The calculator shows how that compares with the rates other companies publish.
What happens when the internet goes down?
The iPads keep working. Orders, kitchen tickets, splits and cash payments are saved on the device and sync to the cloud when it’s back. There’s no server on site to restart.
What hardware do I need?
iPads for the floor and bar, receipt and kitchen printers from Epson or Star, and Adyen handhelds for paying at the table. Use iPads you already have; no proprietary hardware.
Where is my data stored?
In Canada. North’s servers and database run in Montréal.
Do you support venues in Québec?
Not yet. Restaurants in Québec need a sales recording system certified by Revenu Québec, and North isn’t certified yet. Every other province and territory is supported, with its taxes set up for you.
How do I switch?
Create an account, import your menu from a spreadsheet (CSV), draw your floor plan and pair each iPad with an eight-character code from the back office. Staff sign in with a PIN.
Free to start. Free to stay.
Create your account, import your menu, draw your floor and pair your iPads with a code. No contract to sign and nothing to pay for the software, ever.