Comparisons
How Kessel compares
Honest comparisons, which means two things. We do not publish anybody else’s rates, because rate cards move and a stale number on this page would be a lie told at your expense. And every page says plainly where the other product is the better buy, because you find out in week one either way.
Kessel vs Square
The switch Kessel was built for.
Read the comparison →Kessel vs Toast
Restaurant depth, on a term you cannot leave.
Read the comparison →Kessel vs Clover
The same terminal, a different rate every time.
Read the comparison →Kessel vs Lightspeed
Retail depth, annual terms, priced by module.
Read the comparison →Kessel vs Shopify POS
Excellent, if the store is the business.
Read the comparison →How we compare
The method, stated up front
Models, not digits
We compare how a price is built: blended versus interchange-plus, published versus quoted, per-location versus per-seat, term versus monthly. Those are structural, checkable, and they do not go stale on a Tuesday.
Our own numbers, in full
$49 per location per month. Interchange plus 0.60% + 30¢. Hardware at Stripe’s price, buyable, leasable or financeable. No setup fee, no PCI fee, no statement fee, no termination fee. That is the entire list.
Where they win
Every comparison page has a section saying when to buy the other one. If that section is empty, the comparison is marketing rather than information.
The structural difference
Where the same $40 goes
This is the whole argument in one picture. On a blended rate the network cost and the processor’s margin arrive as one figure. On interchange-plus they arrive as two, and only one of them is ours.
Or skip the reading.
$49 a month, interchange + 0.60% + 30¢, 30 days free and nothing to pay for hardware on day one.