Fees: what each one charges each month
Square lists three restaurant plans in Canadian dollars. Free is $0 a month with unlimited countertop devices and weekday support. Plus is $60 a month per location and adds course management, seat management, floor plan customization and 24/7 support. Premium is custom pricing for restaurants processing more than $250,000 a year in credit card sales. These figures were read on Square's Canadian pricing page on October 30, 2026.
Moneris sells one restaurant bundle. When we read moneris.com on September 19, 2026, Moneris Go Restaurant was listed from $64.94 a month plus tax, which covers the POS software and a Moneris Go Terminal. If you already rent a Go Terminal, the software alone was $29.99 a month. moneris.com blocks automated reads, and it did so again on October 30, 2026, so those are the most recent Moneris figures we could read ourselves. Moneris was also advertising 50% off annual rental fees for a limited time, without the terms printed on the page.
Card processing
This is where the two differ most. Moneris listed a flat 2.35% + $0.10 per credit card transaction and $0.12 per Interac debit transaction on the Go Restaurant bundle. Its standard flat rate for other card-present merchants was 2.65% + $0.10 on credit. Moneris also offers interchange-plus pricing, quoted by business type and volume, and its pricing page lists incidental fees such as a $25 chargeback fee and a $5.00 Moneris Go software fee.
Square charges 2.5% in person on all major credit cards and 0.75% + 7¢ on debit by chip and PIN or tap. The arithmetic is simple. On credit, Square's 2.5% costs less than Moneris's 2.35% + $0.10 on tickets under about $66.67 and more above that. On debit, Moneris's flat $0.12 beats Square's 0.75% + 7¢ on any ticket over about $6.67. Run your own average cheque and card mix through both before deciding.
Hardware approach
Moneris pairs an iPad with its own payment terminal. The iPad runs the POS and the kitchen display app; you can use your own if it is a 9th generation model or later, or buy one from Moneris for $499.99. The Go Terminal rents for $34.95 a month and is already inside the $64.94 bundle. Two optional bundles were listed: Starter at $499 one-time for a cash drawer and receipt printer, and Core at $999 one-time, which adds an iPad stand and a kitchen printer.
Square sells its hardware outright at prices printed on its Canadian page: Square Stand for an iPad at $249 (iPad not included), Square Terminal at $399, Square Handheld at $449, Square Register at $999 and a 21.5-inch kitchen display screen at $899. There is no monthly rental line.
Contracts and support
Square's restaurant pricing page says no long-term contract is required and that you can change plans at any time. Moneris did not print a contract length, a setup fee or cancellation terms on the Go Restaurant page. It does publish strong support credentials: 24/7 bilingual support and an in-house national field-services team, and it is a Canadian joint venture created by RBC and BMO.
Restaurant features
Moneris lists order management, payments, menu management, employee permissions, kitchen printing and real-time reporting for Go Restaurant. Paying at the table works by carrying the portable terminal to the guest, with tips and bill splitting supported. Moneris's own launch release says its partnership with TouchBistro is how it supports full-service restaurants. Online ordering is available through UEAT, commission-free and priced by quote.
Every Square for Restaurants plan includes table management, open bills, auto-gratuity, multi-location management and offline payments for up to 24 hours. Plus adds course management, seat management and splitting a bill by item or by seat. On language, Moneris's footnote says Go Restaurant is not available in Quebec or in French, and Square's page says it does not currently work with Quebec's mandatory online sales-recording module.
Who each one suits
Moneris Go Restaurant suits a single-location café, bakery or counter-service spot outside Quebec that wants its POS and processing from a Canadian, bank-owned processor, values next-day deposits through RBC or BMO, and likes having a field technician available.
Square suits an owner who wants to start on a $0 plan, see every rate up front, and grow into table service, coursing or a second location without changing systems. It is the more flexible of the two for full-service rooms outside Quebec.
Where Waitery fits
Moneris and Square both began as payment businesses and added restaurant software later. Waitery is built only for restaurants. It is a QR-first restaurant POS from Mississauga, Ontario: guests scan a table QR code and order with no app, servers take orders and payments on handhelds, and tickets go to a kitchen display with station routing and no per-screen fee. It covers table service as well as the counter, and the guest menu, kitchen and receipts work in English and French.
Waitery is one plan at $14 CAD per location per month, published on our pricing page, with free setup and no iPad to buy. It runs its own integrated payments on its own hardware, which you can buy or lease over 48 months, and processing is quoted per restaurant during the demo. For the detail, read Waitery vs Moneris and Waitery vs Square, take the restaurant POS tour, or see every POS comparison. The Moneris numbers are broken down further in our Moneris pricing guide.
This comparison uses the vendors' own public pages on the dates shown. Moneris contract length, setup fees and the terms of its rental promotion were not published on its product page. Prices and plans change, so confirm them with Moneris and Square before you decide. Moneris and Square are trademarks of their owners; Waitery is not affiliated with or endorsed by either company.