The specs
Toast CapitalSquare Capital
Product typeMCAMCA
Amount range$5K – $300K$300 – $250K
Cost (factor / APR)Factor 1.13 – 1.36 (single fixed fee, no compounding)Single fixed fee (10 – 16% of loan amount); no APR / no compounding
Speed to fund1 – 3 business days after approvalAs soon as next business day
Min time in business6 months12 months
Min monthly revenueToast POS volume drives offers — typically $10,000+/mo processed$10,000+ in Square card sales typical floor
Min credit scoreNo FICO floor — underwrites against Toast POS historyNo FICO pull — underwrites entirely against Square sales history
Products
- Embedded restaurant working capital (Toast POS only)
- Embedded seller working capital (Square sellers only)
Verdicts by use case
- You already run Toast POS in a restaurant — Winner: Toast Capital. Toast Capital is embedded directly in your Toast dashboard with pre-qualified offers. No alternative gets you funded faster against your Toast deposit history.
- You're a Square seller (retail/services/food truck) — Winner: Square Capital. Square Capital is the only product that underwrites entirely off Square sales history. One-click access from your Square dashboard.
- Cheapest single fee on small loans — Winner: Square Capital. Square's 10–16% single fee on smaller advances ($5K–$25K) is often cheaper than Toast's 1.13–1.36 factor when annualized over typical payback windows.
- Larger advance ($100K+) — Winner: Toast Capital. Toast Capital caps at $300K vs Square's $250K. For high-volume restaurants, Toast often surfaces materially larger offers because Toast restaurants tend to have higher avg ticket and volume.
- No POS lock-in — you want optionality — Winner: Tie. Both lock you to the underlying processor for the life of the advance. Switching processors triggers payoff. If you want flexibility, look at generalist MCA (Credibly, OnDeck) instead.
- Transparency on total cost — Winner: Square Capital. Square's single fixed fee is the most transparent structure in the category. Toast's factor format is industry-standard but slightly harder to compare apples-to-apples.
The honest takeaway
Toast Capital and Square Capital solve overlapping but distinct problems. The right choice depends on three things you already know about your business: how fast you need the money, how long you've been operating, and whether the capital need is one-time or recurring.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I have both Toast Capital and Square Capital at the same time?
- No — both require you to be actively processing on their respective POS systems, and each looks for any existing advance on your books during underwriting. You can only meaningfully use one at a time.
- How does the APR-equivalent compare?
- Both work out to roughly 30–60% APR-equivalent on a 9-month payback. Square's 10–16% fixed fee is often slightly cheaper on small advances; Toast's factor structure can be slightly cheaper on larger advances. Run both numbers if you process on both platforms (rare).
- What happens if I want to switch from Toast to Square (or vice versa)?
- Both contracts include payoff acceleration clauses if you discontinue processing on the underlying platform. Plan for this — switching mid-advance forces immediate payoff of the remaining balance.
- Are these MCAs or term loans?
- Structurally both are sales-based financing (legally MCAs), but the merchant experience feels closer to a term loan with revenue-share repayment. The single fixed fee instead of daily compounding factor is the key difference from traditional broker-placed MCAs.
- Which one is better if my POS volume varies seasonally?
- Both adjust daily repayment to your platform sales, so cash flow stays proportional during slow seasons. The difference: Toast's percentage of daily deposits is fixed at signing; Square's percentage of daily card sales is also fixed but recalculated against just card volume (not total deposits). For restaurants taking a lot of cash, Toast's percentage applies to a larger denominator.