Toast vs. Square: Which POS is right for you?
Toast and Square both offer restaurants and retailers a cloud-based alternative to costly legacy POS systems, but their approaches to supporting businesses differ. Explore the key differences and see Toast in action with a live demo.
3 reasons restaurants should choose Toast
And that's not luck—it's the right tools, the right support, and a platform built to grow with you. When choosing a POS, here's what makes Toast stand out:
Deep restaurant features
Toast was built from the ground up with restaurants in mind. That means everything from intuitive menus and guest insights to check splitting and course management.
Support that has your back
Toast offers phone support and 24/7 chat on every plan, offline backup that keeps you running when the internet doesn't, and hardware built for the restaurant floor.
Geared for growth
Whether you're just opening your doors or expanding to new ones, Toast grows with you.
A closer look at the Toast difference
Let’s dig deeper into the primary advantages Toast offers businesses over Square.
![[US - Compare] Deep Restaurant Features Image](http://images.ctfassets.net/tgv5pu8pgmos/1goFTlwHsLO1ocf9YHJIRY/c50a68ea2282c0f552e2033458680f0e/Frame_1430106372.png?fm=avif&w=640&fit=scale)
Deep restaurant features
Restaurant-first roots.
Toast was founded for restaurants and spent over a decade exclusively focused on food service. That’s why when you demo the POS, that level of focus shines through. No matter your style of service, it was designed with you in mind.
Built for the real work of great service.
From intuitive menus to detailed guest insights, Toast focuses on the little things that make a big difference for the guest experience.
The features restaurants actually need. On every plan.
Even if you’re starting small, Toast makes sure you’re covered with features like splitting checks, preauthorizing cards, and course management (these are only available on Square’s Plus and Premium plans).
Assistance that runs on your schedule.
From day one, Toast is set up to support you at every stage. You'll get tailored onboarding with a dedicated consultant, training, and expert resources to get started, and when questions come up down the road, we're there.
Our phone support team is available seven days a week from 7am to 12am ET, and live chat is available 24/7 with a real agent.
With Square, that level of access costs extra: you'll need their Premium plan for 7-day support, and phone support beyond your first 90 days requires their Plus plan.
Wi-Fi goes down. Toast doesn't.
Toast's offline mode activates automatically and covers your entire operation, including Kitchen Display Systems, so the back of house stays on digital tickets even when Wi-Fi goes down. Square’s offline mode doesn’t extend to their KDS.
Restaurant-grade hardware.
Toast hardware is built specifically for the rigors of the kitchen. From spill-resistant terminals to drop-tested handhelds, it’s built with the intensity of food service in mind.
Everything you need, now and in the future.
Whether you’re looking for your first POS or your next POS, Toast keeps you from repeating the search as your business grows. You’ll have a complete ecosystem of integrated tools that minimizes the need to add more vendors (and complexity) to your business.
Predictable pricing that simplifies growth.
With flat-rate pricing, no hidden fees, and options that allow for zero or minimal upfront costs, Toast can fit a wide range of budgets. Whether you’re starting small or operating multiple locations, there’s a flexible plan you can tailor to your needs.
Data built for decisions, not spreadsheets.
Toast automatically translates rich reporting data from your POS, payment, and management tools to surface trends, identify menu items driving repeat visits, highlight top spenders, and more.
Toast IQ uncovers insights and takes action directly within the chat, helping reduce the number of steps needed.
Which restaurant types fit best with Toast vs. Square?
You'll currently find Toast in over 164,000² locations of all sizes and styles of service. Quick service, full service, multilocation — Toast runs them all. Here's how.
Quick service restaurants
POS gear that keeps the line moving
Toast Flex for Guest gives customers real-time visibility into their order to help ensure accuracy and speed up the process. Need to get through a rush? The Toast Go® 3 handheld offers a fast way to bust the line and send orders directly to the kitchen.
Convenient self-ordering options
From QR code ordering with Toast Mobile Order & Pay® to kiosks, Toast offers multiple ways to drive orders without the need for additional staff.
Simple, commission-free online ordering
With Toast’s online ordering integrations, you can send orders from DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, and more directly to your POS, eliminating the need for extra tablets. Plus, you can use Toast Delivery Services to help drive revenue with commission-free, flat-fee online ordering and delivery.
Your app, how you want it
Toast does both: launch a fully branded online ordering app under your restaurant's name in the app store, and reach new guests through Toast Local's shared marketplace.
Burger 25 drove more than 2x repeat guests with their Branded Mobile App3 — that's what owning your app can do. Square only offers a shared marketplace through Neighborhoods on CashApp. To build your own app, you will need to use additional third party solutions.
Coursing that keeps service in sync
All Toast plans offer highly customizable course management, so you can properly pace meals and fire courses, or even modifiers, at exactly the right times. You have to be on Square’s Premium plan to access basic course management features.
Reservations built for restaurants, not salons
Toast Tables, available as an added feature with POS, brings restaurant waitlist, reservations, and table management together with zero cover fees. Toast customers with Toast Tables saw a 57% lift in Toast Loyalty signups.4
Meanwhile, Square Appointments is designed for booking client services. Accessing restaurant-specific waitlist and reservations on Square would require integration with third-party reservation platforms, which is only available on Square's Premium plan and can increase vendor complexity.
Tools to elevate your hospitality
Toast displays guest details through guest profiles as well as digital chits, complimentary with the Toast Tables add-on. Digital chits appear at the moment of service, so staff can personalize every interaction; no printed notes or verbal handoffs necessary.
One place for easy menu management
Whether you want to tailor menus to specific locations or keep them consistent, Toast lets you control it all from one dashboard. Add or remove dishes from multiple menus, update prices, schedule changes ahead of time, and more, without repeating the same actions over and over.
See what's working. Fix what's not.
Toast allows you to view sales and product mix reports at the individual or group level so you can quickly spot high and low performers and make the right adjustments.
Everything you need to maintain consistency
From prep station configurations to void and discount rules, Toast multi-location management lets you centralize operational standards so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel with every new location. Easily copy and paste settings across locations in one workflow to make standardization easy and efficient.
Retail business? Toast has you covered.
Grocery & Markets
Unify your store with a POS that can manage thousands of SKUs, support fresh departments, deli, and bakery items, and handle daily deliveries — with real-time inventory, scale support, and EBT without switching systems and guessing your margins.
Learn More
Convenience Stores
You make your store convenient for customers — Toast makes it convenient for you. Fast checkout, mobile inventory, purchasing, and receiving, and a reliable system, all in one place.
Learn More
Bottle Shops & Liquor Stores
Get real-time stock counts, manage distributor price updates, handle case-breaking across beer, wine, and spirits, and even run a tasting room — all in one place. So you always know what's in stock and what it's costing you.
Learn More
Butcher & Seafood
Track cuts, manage by-weight items, run loyalty, and sell prepared foods — all from one system that handles the complexity of what you sell without slowing down your counter.
Learn moreWhy choose Toast over Square?
Restaurant-first design that’s built for food service
Real support, every plan. 7am–12am ET phone access, 24/7/365 coverage.
Integrated solutions that minimize vendors (and complexity)
Deep reporting insights to help you simplify growth
![[US - Compare] See How Toast Stacks Up Image](https://images.ctfassets.net/tgv5pu8pgmos/2XYR3POrhtzHB2zilmXLIJ/a4483bd6164d8db020573093a5f09597/Frame_1430106277__1_.png?fm=avif&w=2048&fit=scale)
See how Toast stacks up
Get a demo personalized to your needs so you can make the right call for your business.
How does Toast pricing compare to Square?
Both Toast and Square offer plans that cover a wide range of budgets. You can get started on either platform for as little as $0 per month in software costs, with options available for no or limited upfront hardware costs as well. Compare Toast pricing plans below to find the best fit for your restaurant.
Frequently asked questions
The upfront costs for Toast are hardware and implementation*, which vary depending on your specific hardware packages and installation needs. Toast has flexible payment options available, including payment as a percentage of your sales** or a fixed monthly payment using a third-party financing partner. These solutions are not just for businesses with great credit; they have no interest or fees, and the Easy Pay option has a 100% approval rate and no credit check***.
Within the Starter Kit, Toast also offers the Pay-as-You-Go plan**** that reduces your upfront hardware and installation costs through an all-in-one platform rate.
Get a personalized look at Toast
Schedule a free demo with a Toast restaurant expert to explore how it fits your restaurant.
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