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AUANI vs. Square Online: The Fees Compared Honestly

by | Jan 6, 2026 | Fees & Switching

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Square Online's free plan is a genuinely commission-free direct ordering setup: no monthly fee, no setup charge, no percentage taken on direct orders, only standard payment processing. That's a real, honest offer worth comparing fairly, tier by tier, against what a restaurant actually needs as it grows.

What Square Online Actually Offers

Square Online lets a restaurant launch a branded direct ordering page at no monthly cost, with no commission on those direct orders, payment processing applies per transaction the same way it would on any card sale.

  • Free plan: $0/mo, branded online ordering page, processing fees only
  • Plus: $49/mo per location, added customization and features
  • Premium: $149/mo per location, lowest processing rates and most features
  • Pro: custom pricing based on volume and needs

What Square Online Actually Costs

Processing rates vary by tier. The Free plan's online rate runs 3.3% plus 30 cents, Plus subscribers get a discounted 2.9% plus 30 cents, and Premium carries the lowest published rates. There's no separate marketplace-style commission on top of processing on any tier, which is a genuinely different structure from a percentage-commission marketplace.

Plan Monthly Fee Online Processing Rate
Free $0/mo 3.3% + 30 cents
Plus $49/mo per location 2.9% + 30 cents
Premium $149/mo per location Lowest published rate

What AUANI Offers Instead

AUANI's Free tier also costs $0 a month with no setup fee, but includes a marketplace, discovery orders from guests who don't already know the restaurant, at a 10% fee, plus pickup, dine-in, real courier delivery, loyalty, and POS sync.

The Monthly plan is $300 a month, drops the marketplace fee to 5%, and adds a fully hosted website, a 0% direct ordering widget, the full Google visibility suite, and menu analytics.

Side by Side

Feature Square Online AUANI
Cheapest monthly price $0/mo (Free) $0/mo (Free)
Commission on direct orders None, processing only None on Monthly's 0% widget
Marketplace or discovery channel Not included Included, 10% Free, 5% Monthly
Google visibility suite Not included Included on Monthly
Loyalty program Not included on base plans Included on every tier

A Worked Example

A restaurant on Square Online's Free plan doing $15,000 a month in direct online orders pays roughly 3.3% plus 30 cents per order in processing, which works out to about $495 a month plus the fixed per-order charges, all of it processing, none of it a separate commission. That same restaurant, if it also wants marketplace discovery orders from guests who don't already know the restaurant, has no built-in channel for that on Square Online at all, since Square Online is a direct ordering page, not a marketplace.

On AUANI's Free tier, the same $15,000 in marketplace order volume carries a 10% fee, or $1,500, notably higher than Square's processing-only cost. But that volume is discovery volume, guests AUANI's Google visibility tools and marketplace listing brought in, not volume the restaurant already had another way to reach. A restaurant running both, its own direct orders through a 0% widget on AUANI's Monthly tier, plus new discovery orders through the marketplace at 5%, is comparing two different revenue sources rather than paying twice for the same customer.

An Honest Case for Choosing Square Online Anyway

A restaurant already running Square's POS system has a real integration advantage using Square Online alongside it, and its processing-only fee structure is genuinely simple to understand at a glance. For a restaurant that doesn't need marketplace discovery orders and already has its own way of reaching new guests, that simplicity is a legitimate reason to stay.

A restaurant with a strong existing following, an active social media presence, a loyal regular base, and little need for new-guest discovery, gets less value out of any marketplace commission structure than a newer restaurant still building its name in the area, since a marketplace's core value is the introduction to guests who wouldn't otherwise have found the restaurant at all.

Best For

Square Online suits a restaurant already on Square's POS that mainly wants a simple, direct ordering page with no commission layered on top. AUANI suits a restaurant that also wants marketplace discovery orders, loyalty, and Google visibility tools bundled into the same account rather than assembled separately.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Square Online really charge no commission on direct orders?

Correct, on every tier, only standard payment processing applies to direct orders, with no separate marketplace-style commission.

Does Square Online include a marketplace or discovery channel?

No, Square Online is a direct ordering page rather than a marketplace that brings new, previously unfamiliar guests to a restaurant.

Is AUANI's Free tier also commission-free on direct orders?

AUANI's 0% direct ordering widget is a Monthly tier feature; the Free tier's marketplace carries a 10% fee on discovery orders.

Does AUANI require Square's POS specifically?

No, AUANI syncs with a restaurant's existing POS rather than requiring any specific brand.

What is the cheapest way to start on AUANI?

The Free tier, at $0 a month with a 10% marketplace fee and no setup fee.

Can a restaurant use Square's POS and AUANI's marketplace at the same time?

Yes, AUANI syncs with existing POS systems rather than replacing them, so a Square POS setup can run alongside AUANI's marketplace and ordering tools.

For the full picture against every platform in this series, see the master fee comparison table. For the full picture beyond fees, see the Restaurant & Bar online ordering guide.

AUANI vs. Toast: The Real All-In Monthly Cost

by | Jan 1, 2026 | Fees & Switching

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Toast is a combined point-of-sale and online ordering system, and its $0 starter software plan is a real, genuine offer. What that headline number leaves out is hardware, payment processing, and the software tiers most full-service restaurants actually need once a single terminal stops being enough.

What Toast Actually Offers

Toast is built around POS hardware and software first, with online ordering layered on top, aimed at restaurants that want one system running both the front counter and the website.

  • Point-of-sale hardware and software, sold and supported directly by Toast
  • Online ordering integrated with the same menu and reporting as in-store sales
  • Software tiers: Starter at $0/mo, Essentials at $69+/mo, Growth at $165+/mo
  • Reporting, staff management, and kitchen display options depending on tier

What Toast Actually Costs

The $0 Starter software plan is real, but it isn't the number most restaurants end up paying. Online orders process at 3.50% plus 15 cents, noticeably higher than standard card-present rates, and real operators report all-in monthly costs, hardware, software tier, and processing combined, landing between roughly $300 and $700 a month for a small cafe, and $1,000 to $2,000 or more for a full-service restaurant.

Toast frames direct online orders as commission-free, and in the sense that there's no separate marketplace percentage on top of processing, that's accurate. It's a different claim from the setup being free, since hardware and a software tier are still real recurring costs for most restaurants.

Cost Line Rate or Price
Starter software $0/mo
Essentials software $69+/mo
Growth software $165+/mo
Online order processing 3.50% + 15 cents per order
Reported all-in monthly cost $300 to $2,000+/mo depending on size

What AUANI Offers Instead

AUANI starts at $0 a month with no setup fee and no hardware requirement. The Free tier carries a 10% marketplace fee and includes:

  • Pickup, dine-in, and real courier delivery through Uber
  • A punch-card loyalty program and an exportable guest list
  • POS sync, rather than requiring a full POS replacement
  • Reviews tied only to verified completed orders

The Monthly plan is $300 a month, drops the marketplace fee to 5%, and adds a fully hosted website, a 0% direct ordering widget, the full Google visibility suite, and menu analytics. Add a second location and the whole account's marketplace fee drops to 3%.

Side by Side

Feature Toast AUANI
Starter software cost $0/mo (hardware and processing extra) $0/mo (no hardware required)
Online order processing rate 3.50% + 15 cents Standard processing, no added markup
Marketplace or discovery fee None built in 10% Free, 5% Monthly, 3% at 2+ locations
Reported real-world monthly cost $300 to $2,000+/mo $0/mo Free, $300/mo Monthly
Requires new POS hardware Yes, typically No, syncs with existing POS

A Worked Example

A full-service restaurant on Toast's Growth plan at $165 a month, with two terminals and a kitchen display purchased as hardware, plus the 3.50% and 15 cent online processing rate on $10,000 a month in digital orders, lands around $165 in software, roughly $365 in online processing, and a hardware cost amortized over its useful life, before in-person processing on the rest of the day's sales is even added. Reported real-world totals in that range, $300 to $2,000 or more depending on size, reflect exactly this stacking of separate cost lines.

The same restaurant on AUANI's Free tier pays $0 a month in software with no hardware purchase required, since AUANI syncs with the POS already in place rather than replacing it. A 10% marketplace fee applies only to discovery orders coming through AUANI's own channel, and moving to the Monthly tier at $300 a month adds a hosted website and the 0% direct ordering widget without introducing a new online processing markup on top of standard rates.

An Honest Case for Choosing Toast Anyway

A restaurant that wants a single, deeply integrated system running its POS, kitchen display, staff scheduling, and online ordering all under one roof has real reasons to consider Toast, since that level of hardware integration is genuinely Toast's strength. AUANI doesn't replace a restaurant's POS; it syncs with one already in place.

A restaurant opening a brand-new location with no existing POS to work around has less reason to weigh the cost of switching systems, since there's nothing to migrate away from, which is exactly the scenario where an all-in-one hardware and software vendor like Toast tends to make the most operational sense.

Best For

Toast suits a restaurant ready to replace its POS hardware entirely and wants one vendor handling the whole stack. AUANI suits a restaurant that wants to keep its existing POS, test online ordering for free first, and pay a flat, published monthly cost once it moves to a paid tier, rather than an all-in bill assembled from several separate cost lines.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Toast's $0 plan actually free to run?

The software tier can be $0, but hardware and payment processing are separate real costs, and most operators report a meaningfully higher all-in monthly total.

Does AUANI require new POS hardware?

No, AUANI syncs with an existing POS rather than requiring a hardware replacement.

Why is Toast's online processing rate higher than standard?

Toast's 3.50% plus 15 cent online rate is higher than many standard processors, reportedly to cover the integrated software and support around it.

Does AUANI charge a separate online processing markup?

No, AUANI does not add a markup on top of standard payment processing for online orders.

What is the cheapest way to start on AUANI?

The Free tier, at $0 a month with a 10% marketplace fee and no setup fee.

Is Toast hardware required to use its online ordering?

Toast's online ordering is built to run on its own POS system, so most restaurants adopting it also take on Toast hardware rather than keeping an existing setup.

For the full picture against every platform in this series, see the master fee comparison table. For the full picture beyond fees, see the Restaurant & Bar online ordering guide.

Why Off-Premise Ordering Keeps Outgrowing Dine-In Sales

by | Dec 30, 2025 | Industry Trends & Data

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Off-premise ordering, pickup and delivery combined, has been growing faster than dine-in for over a decade, and the gap has only widened since 2020. Industry tracking puts online ordering's growth at roughly three times the pace of dine-in since the mid-2010s, with off-premise now representing a large and growing share of total restaurant sales.

The Scale of the Shift

  • Online ordering has grown roughly three times faster than dine-in since 2014, industry tracking shows.
  • A majority of limited-service operators report off-premise now makes up a larger share of sales than it did in 2019.
  • Digital order volume at full-service restaurants has climbed sharply since 2020.
  • Guests placing digital orders tend to spend more per order than guests ordering in person.

Taken individually, none of these figures would necessarily signal a lasting shift rather than a temporary blip. Taken together, spanning limited-service and full-service formats alike and holding steady across multiple years of tracking, they describe a genuine, structural change in how guests prefer to order rather than a short-term trend likely to reverse.

Why This Trend Isn't Slowing Down

Once a guest builds the habit of ordering online, whether through a delivery app or a vendor's own website, that habit tends to persist rather than revert, which is part of why the gap between off-premise and dine-in keeps widening rather than leveling off.

Newer guests entering the market also skew even further toward digital ordering as a default expectation rather than an alternative to calling in an order, which means the underlying pressure behind this trend isn't just existing guests shifting habits, it's an entire newer segment of guests who never developed a dine-in-first habit in the first place.

What This Means for a Vendor in Practice

A vendor whose online ordering experience is an afterthought is competing for a shrinking share of a shifting market. The practical response isn't necessarily abandoning dine-in, it's making sure the online ordering side, hosted website, direct widget, and marketplace presence, gets the same attention dine-in traditionally has.

A vendor that hasn't reviewed its online ordering setup in a while, checkout flow, menu photos, pickup timing accuracy, is a reasonable candidate to audit against this exact trend, since a channel carrying a growing share of total revenue deserves proportional attention rather than whatever was left over from setting up dine-in.

The Higher Order Value Worth Understanding

The gap in average order value between digital and in-person orders isn't a minor footnote to this trend, it compounds directly with the volume shift. A vendor moving a larger share of its business off-premise isn't just capturing more orders, it's capturing orders that tend to run larger individually, since a guest browsing a digital menu at their own pace tends to add more to a cart than one placing a rushed order at a counter or over the phone. That combination, more orders and a higher average value per order, is a large part of why the revenue impact of this shift has been larger than the order-count numbers alone suggest.

How AUANI Handles This

AUANI's tiers are built around this exact shift, combining marketplace listing, a hosted website, a direct ordering widget, and Google visibility into one account rather than treating off-premise ordering as a secondary channel.

Treating all four pieces as one connected system, rather than bolting an online ordering afterthought onto an operation still built primarily around dine-in, tends to match where guest demand has actually been heading for the past decade rather than where it used to sit.

A vendor deciding where to focus limited attention this quarter can use this trend as a genuine tiebreaker, since a channel that's been consistently growing its share of total revenue for over a decade deserves proportional attention going forward.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this trend apply equally to every restaurant category?

The general direction holds broadly, though the exact pace varies between limited-service and full-service formats.

Is dine-in becoming irrelevant?

No, dine-in remains a significant revenue source for many vendors; the trend describes off-premise growing faster, not dine-in disappearing.

Why do digital orders tend to have a higher average value?

Digital menus can present add-ons and combinations more consistently than a rushed in-person order, among other factors.

Does this trend predate third-party delivery apps?

The shift toward off-premise growth has been underway since well before delivery apps became widespread, though the apps accelerated it further.

What is the wider guide this fits into?

The Industry trends & data guide covers this alongside repeat guest value.

For more on building a strong direct ordering presence, see the Restaurant websites & direct ordering guide, and for the wider trend picture, see the Industry trends & data guide.

Why a Repeat Guest Is Worth Far More Than a New One

by | Dec 25, 2025 | Industry Trends & Data

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The vast majority of first-time restaurant guests, industry research puts the figure above three-quarters, never place a second order with that same vendor. The guests who do come back, though, are worth a strikingly larger share of total lifetime value than their small share of total guests would suggest.

The Scale of the Gap

Recent restaurant industry research puts the value of a repeat guest at roughly 26 times that of a one-time guest across their relationship with a vendor, driven by both a higher average number of visits and a higher average spend per visit among repeat guests specifically.

Acquiring a new guest also tends to cost several times more than retaining an existing one, with some industry estimates placing new guest acquisition at 5 to 7 times the cost of retention, and acquisition costs have been climbing faster than retention costs in recent years.

Put together, these two figures describe a genuinely lopsided economic picture: the guests worth the most are also, on a per-dollar basis, the cheapest to keep engaged, while the guests costing the most to acquire are, by definition, the ones least likely to ever return a second time.

Why This Matters for Marketing Spend

  • A marketing budget aimed entirely at new guest acquisition ignores the segment worth the most per guest.
  • A modest investment in retention, loyalty, guest list capture, can outperform a larger acquisition budget on a per-dollar basis.
  • The economics favor converting more first-time guests into repeat ones over simply finding more first-time guests.

This doesn't mean acquisition spend should stop, since a vendor obviously needs new guests entering the funnel in the first place. It means the marginal dollar, the next dollar available to spend, tends to go further improving the new-to-repeat conversion rate than it does chasing additional first-time traffic alone.

In practice that often means the highest-leverage marketing work isn't a new campaign at all, it's a small, low-cost nudge, a loyalty punch card offered at checkout, a simple thank-you message after a first order, aimed at guests who have already shown up once.

Putting the Multiple in Perspective

A 26x lifetime value multiple sounds abstract until it's tied to an actual order size. A guest placing a single $30 order and never returning is worth $30 to a vendor. A guest who becomes a genuine repeat customer, ordering regularly over months or years, can be worth several hundred to over a thousand dollars across that same relationship, depending on frequency and category. Multiplied across even a modest base of guests who convert from first-timer to regular, that gap is where a disproportionate share of a vendor's real revenue tends to concentrate.

Seen this way, the real question worth asking isn't how to find more first-time guests, it's what specifically determines whether a given first-time guest becomes one of these high-value repeat customers rather than a single $30 order that never happens again.

How AUANI Handles This

AUANI's punch-card loyalty and exportable guest list, included on every tier, are built specifically to help a vendor act on this gap, capturing and reaching repeat guests directly rather than relying on acquisition alone.

Because both tools come at no added cost on the Free tier, a brand-new vendor can start building toward that repeat-guest value from the very first order, rather than waiting until there's a marketing budget large enough to justify a dedicated retention tool.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this 26x figure apply the same way to every vendor type?

The exact multiple varies by category and market, but the broader pattern, repeat guests being worth substantially more, holds fairly consistently across the industry.

Does this mean new guest acquisition isn't worth the investment?

No, acquisition still matters, since every repeat guest was a new guest once; the point is that retention deserves a proportional share of attention and budget.

What's the fastest way to start capturing repeat guest data?

AUANI's exportable guest list captures this automatically from real completed orders on every tier, including Free.

Does a loyalty program alone create repeat guests?

It helps, but retention also depends on the product itself and the ease of ordering again, not the loyalty mechanic alone.

What is the wider guide this fits into?

The Industry trends & data guide covers this alongside off-premise ordering growth.

What does this multiple actually look like in dollar terms for a typical order?

A single non-returning guest is only worth that one order, while a guest who becomes a genuine repeat customer can be worth several hundred dollars or more across the relationship, depending on order frequency and category.

For more on turning a first order into a repeat one, see the marketing & repeat orders guide, and for the wider trend picture, see the Industry trends & data guide.

Industry Trends & Data: What’s Actually Changing for Vendors

by | Dec 23, 2025 | Industry Trends & Data

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It's easy to run a food and drink business on instinct and word of mouth alone, but the underlying numbers on where sales are actually moving tell a clearer story than instinct usually does. This guide rounds up two of the more consequential trends for any vendor deciding where to focus: how much a repeat guest is really worth, and how far off-premise ordering has already outgrown dine-in.

What a Repeat Guest Is Actually Worth

Most first-time guests never come back, but the ones who do are worth far more over time than a single new customer, a gap large enough to change how a vendor should weigh retention against acquisition.

The full breakdown is in Why a Repeat Guest Is Worth Far More Than a New One.

How Far Off-Premise Ordering Has Actually Grown

Off-premise ordering hasn't just grown alongside dine-in, it's consistently outpaced it for over a decade, and the gap keeps widening across most restaurant categories tracked.

The full breakdown is in Why Off-Premise Ordering Keeps Outgrowing Dine-In Sales.

What This Means for a Vendor Deciding Where to Focus

Together, these two trends point in the same direction: a vendor's online ordering experience and its ability to turn a first order into a repeat one matter more to long-term revenue than either trend alone would suggest.

A vendor weighing where to spend limited time and attention this quarter can use these two data points as a genuine tiebreaker: between a project aimed at pure new-guest acquisition and one aimed at strengthening the online ordering and repeat-guest experience, the data leans toward the latter more often than instinct alone would suggest.

None of this argues against acquisition entirely, since a vendor still needs a steady stream of first-time guests to eventually turn into repeat ones. It's a case for balance rather than an either-or choice, weighted a bit more toward retention than instinct alone tends to favor.

These aren't isolated statistics, they reinforce one another directly. As off-premise ordering keeps growing relative to dine-in, more of a vendor's total relationship with a guest happens through a digital order rather than an in-person visit, which makes the repeat-guest value gap even more consequential, since digital ordering is exactly the channel where a guest list, loyalty program, and direct ordering setup can capture and reward that repeat behavior. A vendor investing in the online side of its business isn't chasing two separate trends, it's addressing the same underlying shift from two different angles at once.

The remaining guides in this series break each supporting data point out individually, from loyalty program performance to review-driven revenue, so a vendor can look at whichever specific number matters most to its own current decision rather than reading through every trend at once.

Every Guide in This Series

Frequently Asked Questions

Where does this kind of industry data come from?

Published restaurant industry research and point-of-sale/ordering platform reports, cited directly in each linked breakdown.

Does this data apply to every vendor category equally?

The overall direction applies broadly, though the exact scale can vary by category, format, and market.

Does off-premise growth mean dine-in is disappearing?

No, dine-in remains a major revenue channel for many vendors, but its share relative to off-premise has been shrinking for years.

How does AUANI help a vendor act on these trends?

AUANI's loyalty, guest list, and direct ordering features are built around the same retention and off-premise dynamics these trends describe.

What is the wider guide this connects to?

The marketing & repeat orders guide covers the practical side of acting on these trends.

Are the repeat-guest and off-premise trends actually related to each other?

Yes, as more of a guest relationship happens through digital ordering rather than in person, capturing and rewarding repeat behavior through that same digital channel becomes more valuable, not less.

Start with Why a Repeat Guest Is Worth Far More Than a New One, Why Off-Premise Ordering Keeps Outgrowing Dine-In Sales, Why Thin Margins Make Every Commission Point Matter, Why One Extra Star Rating Can Change Real Revenue, loyalty program failure, loyalty member spending, ghost kitchen growth, or digital ordering adoption.