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
- Full-service dine-in restaurant on Toast POS doing $40K+/mo card sales — Winner: Toast Capital. Toast for Restaurants is the dominant FSR POS in the U.S. as of 2026-06-28 — its workflow (course management, coursing, table-side ordering, tip distribution, KDS integration) is purpose-built for dine-in. Toast Capital surfaces pre-qualified offers directly in the Toast dashboard with a single fixed factor (1.13 – 1.36), no FICO pull, no application, and auto-deducted repayment as a fixed % of daily Toast deposits. For dine-in restaurants already on Toast the embedded path is decisively simpler and more cash-flow-aligned than any non-Toast alternative.
- Quick-service / counter-service restaurant or cafe on Square for Restaurants POS — Winner: Square Capital. Square for Restaurants is meaningful share in QSR, cafes, counter-service, and food trucks — Square Capital surfaces in the Square dashboard with a single fixed fee (10 – 16% of advance, no APR, no compounding) and no FICO pull. For Square-native QSR / cafe operators the embedded path beats Toast Capital structurally because Toast Capital is Toast-customers-only and the operator isn't on Toast.
- Lowest published headline cost on a $50K advance — Winner: Square Capital. Square Capital's single-fee structure caps at 16% of advance — on $50K that's $8,000 total cost. Toast Capital's 1.13 – 1.36 factor band on $50K lands at $6,500 – $18,000 total cost; A-paper Toast restaurants land toward the low end ($6,500 – $10,000) while B/C-paper Toast files land toward the high end. For A-paper Toast files Toast is cheaper; for mid-paper or worst-case Toast pricing Square's 16% ceiling is materially more predictable. Square wins on worst-case published cost transparency.
- Restaurant planning to switch POS processor in the next 12 – 24 months — Winner: Tie. Both products structurally penalize processor migration during an active advance — Toast Capital triggers immediate payoff of the remaining balance if you leave Toast; Square Capital converts to fixed daily debits (no longer % of sales) if you stop processing on Square. Either way, taking embedded capital from a processor you might leave is structurally risky. Refinancing the payoff into Greenbox, Credibly, or Accord typically costs 8 – 15 points of factor on the remaining balance. If processor migration is on the 6 – 12 month horizon, neither embedded option is the right structural choice — use Credibly or Greenbox MCA, which are processor-agnostic.
- Fastest funding into operating account — Winner: Square Capital. Square Capital funds as soon as next business day after acceptance into the linked Square business bank account — the offer is already pre-qualified in the dashboard, no document submission required. Toast Capital takes 1 – 3 business days after approval. For Square-active restaurants with an existing Square Capital offer the funding timeline is decisively faster. Neither beats PayPal Working Capital (minutes to PayPal balance), but PayPal isn't typically a restaurant operating account.
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
- Which POS embedded capital wins for a $50K/mo dine-in restaurant in 2026?
- Pick on which POS you're already running, not on headline cost. For dine-in restaurants on Toast — Toast Capital wins decisively because Toast is the dominant FSR POS and the embedded experience (no application, no FICO pull, pre-qualified offers in dashboard, auto-deducted from Toast deposits) is the simplest cash-flow-aligned capital available. For QSR / cafe / counter-service restaurants on Square for Restaurants — Square Capital wins on the same logic plus the single-fee structure (10 – 16% of advance, no APR) is genuinely the most merchant-transparent pricing in the industry. Switching POS just to access embedded capital almost never makes sense — POS migration costs $2K – $10K in hardware + $1K – $5K in setup + 2 – 4 weeks of operational disruption, which exceeds the typical 1 – 4 point factor differential between Toast and Square embedded offers on the same dollar amount. The 2026-06-28 dine-in embedded capital playbook: stay on your POS, use embedded capital from that POS, and only consider Credibly / Greenbox / Accord MCA if your POS doesn't offer embedded capital or you've been declined.
- Restaurant is on Square POS but wants larger advance than Square Capital offers — what next?
- Square Capital caps at roughly 1.4× monthly Square sales, so a $40K/mo Square restaurant typically caps at $55K – $60K Square Capital advance. For larger capital needs the structural alternatives ranked by 2026-06-28 pricing: (1) Credibly MCA — $5K – $600K, factor 1.11+ for A-paper, funds in 4 hours, accepts 6+ months TIB / $15K+/mo / 550+ FICO. (2) Greenbox Capital MCA — $5K – $250K, factor varies by paper, accepts down to 500 FICO on some programs, 24 – 48 hour funding. (3) Forward Financing MCA — $5K – $300K, factor 1.18 – 1.45, same-day to 24-hour funding, transparent B-paper pricing. (4) Fora Financial MCA — $5K – $1.5M (largest cap), factor 1.15 – 1.40+, 72-hour funding, 6-month TIB / 500+ FICO. For restaurants needing $200K+ Fora Financial's larger cap is the structural fit. Don't stack Square Capital + a second MCA on the same restaurant — the dual repayment streams (Square-sales-tied % deduction plus daily Credibly / Greenbox ACH) commonly break cash flow at 30 – 40% combined daily deduction rates. Take one larger MCA from Credibly / Greenbox / Fora instead.
- Does either Toast or Square Capital report to commercial credit bureaus or build business credit?
- Neither reports to commercial credit bureaus as a standard practice as of 2026-06-28 — both are structured as receivables purchases tied to POS processing, not as commercial loans, so neither builds business credit history that future bank or SBA lenders would consider. This is a meaningful long-term consideration for restaurants planning to migrate toward bank financing (SBA 7(a) via Live Oak Bank, conventional term loans, business lines of credit) in the 12 – 36 month horizon. The 2026-06-28 restaurant credit-building playbook: (1) Use Toast Capital or Square Capital for immediate working capital needs without expecting credit-building benefit. (2) Open a Bluevine business LOC alongside if qualified (12+ months TIB, $10K+/mo, 625+ FICO) — Bluevine reports to commercial bureaus and builds business credit over 6 – 12 months. (3) Layer in an OnDeck term loan or business credit card on top once business credit is established to broaden the credit footprint. (4) After 18 – 24 months of business-credit history apply for SBA 7(a) via Live Oak Bank or Newtek Bank for the cheapest cost of restaurant capital available. Embedded POS capital is structurally the right tool for cash-flow-aligned immediate working capital, not for credit-building.