Toast is an industry-leading point-of-sale (POS) system that scored the highest on our ranking of restaurant POS systems with 4.27 out of 5. With a free baseline POS subscription and pay-as-you-go hardware options, Toast is an excellent fit for all restaurant types.
Toast is a very easy-to-use system that I have personally worked with in various restaurant settings. It offers robust software, premium hardware, excellent customer service, and a strong overall focus on the guest experience. However, some drawbacks include a two-year standard contract and being locked into Toast payment processing.
Toast Overview
Pros
- Free starter POS
- Pay-as-you-go hardware options
- Designed and built specifically for restaurants
- Insightful, restaurant-specific payroll, HR, online ordering and invoicing tools
Cons
- 2-year standard contract
- Locked into Toast payment processing
- Required hardware purchases and constant software updates
Deciding Factors
Supported Business Types | Restaurants, cafes, bars, food trucks, coffee shops, ghost kitchens, and other foodservice businesses |
|---|---|
Standout Features |
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Monthly Fees |
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Contract Length | 2 years |
Free Trial | None, but it offers a free-to-use plan (Quick Start Bundle) with pay-as-you-go hardware. |
Customer Support |
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Payment Processing Fees | From 2.49% + 15 cents to 2.99% + 15 cents for in-person payments Custom rate quotes available on request |
Standout New Features |
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Why You Can Trust Our Recommendation: I have spent 10 years in the food industry, from fast food to fine dining, and have extensive experience using POS systems for in-house and online customers and training staff on using them efficiently. This knowledge helps me evaluate the pros and cons of each system reviewed. Specifically, I have used Toast in high-volume restaurant settings. 
Is Toast Right for You?
We ranked Toast best overall in our evaluation of the restaurant POS systems because of how functional, accessible, and efficient the system is. You would be hard-pressed to find a restaurant type that could not use the many great tools Toast provides.
When to Use Toast
- If you want industry-leading software with pay-as-you-go options on hardware
- If you need industry-grade hardware in harsher kitchen environments
- If online ordering, customer loyalty, and in-depth dining room management are your focus
- If you want more in-depth features such as inventory management, third-party delivery management, and other niche food POS functions
When to Use an Alternative
- If you prefer to shop around for lower processing rates
- If you prefer to use hardware you already own—Lightspeed, TouchBistro, or Square for Restaurants are options for an iPad POS system
- If you want shorter-term commitment—consider Square for Restaurants
- If you operate a smaller restaurant or coffee shop, Toast’s robust library of tools may be more than you need
Toast POS Alternatives
Best for | Monthly Fee From | |
|---|---|---|
 | Short-term contracts and those with existing hardware | $0 to $153 |
 | A user-friendly iPad POS that supports multiple payment processors | $69 to $399-plus |
 | iPad POS with a user-friendly back office | $69-plus |
Toast Video Review
Our Comparisons of Toast vs Other Software
Toast User Reviews
| Users Like | Users Dislike |
|---|---|
| Easy daily use and modifier options | Unable to shop processing fee prices |
| Accessible business reports | Long response times from customer support |
| Feature-rich POS system | Consistent updates that leave users feeling frustrated and lost on how to use the system |
| Robust user interface controls | Difficult to sign up for beta modules before they launch |
| Efficiency improvement for all corners of the operation | Locked into Toast Payments |
| Hybrid setup with excellent offline functionality | |
| Digital ordering and delivery tools that reduce staffing needs | |
Toast’s easy-to-use interface and overall restaurant-focused functionality shine through for most users. I agree that its restaurant niche tools are top-of-the-line and make for better customer and staff experiences when used as intended. One customer noted the following in a review: “We love Toast and its modern, easy-to-use setup. It is very easy for both our employees and customers to utilize.”
However, price comparisons on payment processing, poor customer service, two-year contracts, and consistent update confusion are common complaints in Toast POS reviews. While Toast’s service is 24/7, getting issues resolved takes a good amount of time. Additionally, the many software updates Toast implements can be confusing and overwhelming.
A user shared the following: “We are always left disappointed with the processing fees for credit cards. We wish we could price compare. This makes the system more expensive than it initially seems.”
On third-party sources, Toast got the following ratings:
- Finances Online1: Awarded the Best Restaurant Management Software of 2023 and an overall rating of 9.50 out of 10; earns a 98% user satisfaction rating and an average of 4.6 out of 5 from user reviews
- G22: Rated 4.2 out of 5 based on more than 295 user reviews
- Capterra3: Listed as a Top Performer for 2023 and rated 4.2 out of 5 based on over 450 user reviews
Toast delivers a pay-as-you-go pricing model, with key add-ons available for a monthly cost. Some major drawbacks are the two-year commitment Toast requires and the lack of a true free trial period for users. Lastly, being locked into Toast Payments takes away the ability to shop for lower rates.
Quick Start Bundle | Core | Build Your Own | |
|---|---|---|---|
Monthly Software Fee | $0 | $69 | Custom-quoted |
Best For | Small restaurants that only need two terminals. | Small to midsize independent restaurants wanting lower processing fees or needing more than two terminals. | High-volume or multilocation restaurants. |
In-person processing fees | 2.99% + 15 cents | 2.49% + 15 cents | Custom-quoted |
New Restaurant Basics | Inclusions: Lite versions of Toast Payroll and Scheduling, business insurance, Vestwell 401(k), and Toast Pay Card and PayOut Cost: $69 (as of now), $9 per employee monthly | ||
Digital Ordering | $75 per month | ||
Gift Cards | $50 per month | ||
Email Marketing | $75 per month | ||
Loyalty | $50 per month | ||
Pay-as-You-Go Digital Marketing Suite | Inclusions: Online ordering, gift cards, email marketing, and loyalty Cost: +0.40% processing fees | ||
Plan Overview
Quick Start Bundle | Core | Build Your Own | |
|---|---|---|---|
Reporting and Analytics | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Menu Management | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Digital Ordering | Optional add-on | Optional add-on | Optional add-on |
Delivery Services | Optional add-on | Optional add-on | Optional add-on |
Loyalty | Optional add-on | Optional add-on | Optional add-on |
Marketing | Optional add-on | Optional add-on | Optional add-on |
Payroll and Scheduling | Optional add-on | Optional add-on | ✓ |
New Toast Features
One of the benefits of using Toast as your POS provider is that it frequently updates with more tools and better design. Below are some new features you can expect from Toast:
- Restaurant Management Suite: In April 2024, Toast added its new Restaurant Management Suite. This tool is for enterprise or multilocation brands, and it delivers various tools including mass analytics and benchmarking, online training, and menu management. Check out the full list of what the Restaurant Suite offers.
- Toast Now Mobile App: The Toast Now mobile app features many highly functional tools that make managing through the POS much easier. The app allows for communication with staff on the go and features Manager Logs to review sales and other relevant data through the app. It also provides real-time reporting and allows for toggling on and off of first- and third-party online ordering and delivery channels.
- Catering & Events Platform: Catering and other events are key revenue channels for many restaurants. Toast now provides a platform that lets you manage specific events, customize menus and services for each event, and show a transparent pricing option to your customers. This platform is a huge win for any food business owner who offers a high volume of catering-style options throughout the year.
- Dark Viewing Mode & Different Hardware Colors: Toast has added a “Dark Viewing” mode for users, a popular function that iPhone users will be familiar with. They have also expanded the color options for their hardware, offering white or charcoal bodies for more user customization.
With top-of-the-line features, Toast has considered every need you could have, no matter your restaurant type. It could have scored higher in this category if some features were built-in rather than requiring an extra subscription.
Industry-grade Hardware
Source: Toast
Toast’s proprietary hardware is extremely well-made and meant to last in a restaurant’s often harsh and demanding environment. For example, its handheld terminals offer shock absorption and are waterproof. Toast’s kitchen display system (KDS) is designed to function in areas that often collect grease and get hit with higher temperatures. It is this emphasis on useful and functional hardware that is durable in food service environments that has made Toast such a mainstay in the food industry.
All-in-One Baseline POS
Source: Toast
Toast users have a single point of contact for their POS and payment operations. The Toast POS system includes detailed reporting, table, menu, course and seat management, and an intuitive user interface (UI).
xtraCHEF by Toast
Source: Toast
Toast has discontinued its built-in inventory management system and replaced it with xtraCHEF by Toast, a tool that it purchased in 2021. xtraCHEF integrates with QuickBooks and includes real-time ingredient tracking, vendor and purchase order (PO) management, accounts payable (A/P) automation, a digital cookbook, drag-and-drop recipe builder, and forecasting tools. Users will need to contact Toast’s sales team for pricing.
AI-powered Marketing Suite
Toast’s AI writing assistant instantly crafts email marketing messages from your POS dashboard.
On May 1st, 2024, Toast announced new email marketing tools with AI-driven messaging and campaign automation. Input a few prompts about your messaging goals, and Toast’s AI generator will craft custom messaging to draw customers. In addition, Toast debuted a drag-and-drop website builder to help new users speedily build restaurant websites.
Toast delivers on a rich catalog of niche POS features for restaurants, enabling functions such as self-ordering. We docked a few points for some of these features requiring an extra fee.
Kitchen Display System (KDS)
Source: Toast
Toast has one of the most user-friendly KDS screens available. Its color-coded tickets display order status and order type, such as for here, takeout, or delivery. The hardware is more robust than a standard iPad and is built to withstand hot and frequently steamy kitchen environments.
Contactless Ordering
Source: Toast
Toast provides self-ordering kiosks, a game changer for restaurants that lack staff or need a more consolidated method of customer orders. The kiosks allow customers to customize their orders with add-ons and also deliver the Toast Tap method, a contactless payment process for even speedier results. The orders are sent directly to kitchen KDS screens in real-time, and you can edit up to 86 menu items instantly during a service.
You can also rely on QR code ordering, leveraging customer smartphones for a completely contactless ordering and payment experience.
Highly Customizable Interface
Source: Toast
One of the main themes in Toast’s positive user reviews is the ability to customize and tailor the POS software to your restaurant. Offering cloud-based connectivity, Toast can store credit card information and other relevant customer data and deliver it in the most efficient way for your business to process. This becomes even more useful across multiple locations. Furthermore, its flexible hardware options all tout this extremely useful functionality, making Toast easy to use in ways that best suit your restaurant.
Toast is one of the most intuitive and user-friendly restaurant POS systems available today. Offering a bevy of training materials for new operators to learn from, there is no stone unturned when it comes to how useful its resources are. Just to share a few of the topics Toast helps with, here are some articles and videos it offers for restaurateurs on its site:
- Restaurant Cost Control Guide
- New Hire Onboarding Checklist
- How to Create a Restaurant Training Manual
- Restaurant Scheduling Template
- How to Create Restaurant Template Cards
As you can see, this is all beneficial information that integrates directly into Toast’s software, allowing users to fully capitalize on the investment they pay each month for their service. Other POS software companies cannot match this rich user library.
Beyond this, Toast user reviews often focus on Toast’s reporting capabilities, especially now with the mobile app feature. Toast is known as a company that listens to its community, and the phone app is one of many additions stemming from this. Other examples, such as built-in email campaign templates, real-time edits to your menus, and the ability to set this system up on your own, make Toast an efficient and easy POS system.
The one major drawback is Toast POS customer service. Many negative user reviews focus on the lack of a response, inability to get problems accurately resolved, and lack of care on Toast’s part. While I have experienced this with many larger companies like Toast, it is on the provider to offer efficient customer support that meets their customers’ needs. Luckily, a giant resource site and online forums exist to help with any delays Toast may have in getting back to you.
Methodology: How We Evaluated Toast
We score restaurant POS systems on more than 20 criteria critical to restaurant success. First, we consider price and ease of use, and then look at general and niche POS functions. Finally, we consider how actual users respond to the system, alongside our restaurant expert’s personal experience using the software.
Click through the slides below for a detailed explanation of our criteria:
10% of Overall Score
We first considered whether each POS system offers a free plan or free trial, and entry-level software subscription under $75 per month. We gave high marks to POS systems that support multiple payment processing options. Finally, we considered hardware costs and subscription length. Systems that allow restaurants to bring their own hardware or avoid long-term service contracts earned the highest marks.
30% of Overall Score
Every restaurant needs to track employee hours, process contactless payments and gift cards, and quickly access sales and labor reports. Because many restaurants process tips for employees, we looked for systems that have robust tip-tracking functions. We also considered advanced workforce management features like built-in employee scheduling and enforced clock-ins to keep costs in line.
30% of Overall Score
We compared the number of restaurant-specific functions that are relevant to various restaurant types. We looked for functions like cash management and credit card preauthorization. We also rewarded POS systems with customizable reports, ingredient-level inventory tracking with physical counting tools, integrated online ordering, and dynamic loyalty and marketing tools.
15% of Overall Score
We prioritized restaurant POS systems that offer 24/7 customer support. We also awarded points to POS systems with hybrid installation or an offline mode, so it is still operational if your internet goes out. We also considered how much installation support each system offers and whether it is cloud-based, enabling mobile access to management and reporting dashboards.
15% of Overall Score
Lastly, we evaluated any standout features that individual systems may have. We also considered whether the system offers good overall value for its price and judged each system’s popularity among restaurant businesses. Then, we awarded points based on our personal experience interacting with the software and the company’s customer support representatives.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
These are some common questions I encounter about Toast POS.
One of Toast’s benefits is that it offers a free base plan that lets you pay as you go. Beyond that, Toast has a $69/month plan for restaurants for more functionality and a broader use case. It is worth knowing that Toast’s contract time is two years. You are also locked into Toast’s payment processing rate.
Toast provides its own POS terminals and tablets that are fully programmed with its software. Toast does not support iPad use, so it won’t be the best fit if your restaurant has a fleet of iPads to use. Toast’s hardware is very durable, made to withstand the many different environments of a restaurant—from hot, steamy kitchens to dusty server stations and wet bar tops—and is focused exclusively on food service businesses.
In our expert opinion, yes, Toast is worth it for most restaurants. Toast is an excellent restaurant POS system. It is user-friendly, with hardware designed to withstand hot kitchens and busy dining rooms. Its four subscription tiers also enable small restaurants to access top-of-the-line tools without paying enterprise-level prices.
Small restaurants that need only a couple of POS stations can start with Toast by purchasing hardware from the Toast website for $0 upfront. If you need more guidance, installation support, or a custom quote, schedule a call with a Toast sales representative. Once you accept Toast’s terms, the representative will create a custom price quote based on your specific needs and start the onboarding process.
The main drawbacks to the Toast POS system are the two-year contract and the fact that you’re locked into Toast Payments for payment processing. High-volume and established restaurants can likely get lower processing rates by shopping among the major merchant service providers. This is a good strategy even if you plan to sign up with Toast. If you can show a lower processing rate offered by a Toast competitor, you may be able to negotiate lower rates with Toast.
Bottom Line
Toast POS has a laser focus on restaurant businesses and consistently drives innovation in restaurant software. This POS is an excellent fit for restaurants of any style. It is intuitive, easy to use, and provides robust reporting functions in its baseline system. Our Toast POS review finds it an excellent tool for restaurants that want to expand into digital ordering and delivery and want more control over their operation. With a dedicated mobile app, a catering platform, and more user-friendly options, Toast POS has defined itself as the quintessential restaurant POS.
User review references:
1FinancesOnline
2G2
3Capterra