Toast vs. Square: A Head-to-Head Comparison

Many owners compare Toast vs. Square when choosing a POS system for their restaurant. From my work with restaurant owners on tech solutions, I’ve seen that this choice goes beyond just payment processing—it’s about improving operations and saving time. 

Both systems are popular, but they serve different types of businesses. Understanding their differences is key to choosing the right one for your restaurant, ensuring you get the best value and most efficient functionality tailored to your specific needs.

In this post, I'll guide you through comparing Toast and Square by exploring pricing, features, payment processing and customer support to help you choose the best system for your business.

Toast: Best for simplifying back-office operations

Toast is a powerful POS system that simplifies back-office tasks, making it ideal for full-service restaurants and businesses with multiple locations. Its wide range of tools helps improve everything from menu creation to reporting and employee scheduling, while tracking food waste, inventory and sales in real time.

Toast's commission-free online ordering system and delivery help restaurants increase online sales without third-party platforms or extra fees.

The system offers features like multi-location management, centralized reporting, food waste tracking and customizable tools that can adapt as your restaurant expands. 

Toast also works well with other tools, like accounting software and loyalty programs. This makes it more versatile than Square.

Key features:

• Checkout and tableside ordering for faster, more efficient service
• Customizable menus that can handle complex offerings for dine-in, takeout and delivery
• Flexible website tools designed to increase dine-in reservations and customer engagement
• Seamless integrations with third-party apps, accounting software and loyalty programs
• Streamlined hardware tailored for restaurant needs

Toast offers 24/7 support for all plans, though customer feedback is mixed, and it may not always meet expectations. Its hardware is more tailored to restaurants compared to Square, making it an ideal choice for complex, scalable restaurant operations. 

The system's strong integrations help optimize all aspects of the business, making it a highly customizable POS system for restaurants.

Toast POS reviews

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Customers like:

“Toast is the best. It is constantly improving. Very user friendly. Very flexible to suit your way your business works. Excellent customer support. But comes with a price.”

“Toast provides a wonderful technology and great incentives to help other restaurants get the same advantages with their software. Great folks!”

Customers don’t like:

“The system works well; if your processes are setup how toast wants you to operate. The reporting tools are trash. Huge improvements needed in analytics and reporting.”

“Customer Service is amazing. They always try to help with any issue. Unfortunately, on boarding was very painful for us.”

Square: Best for new restaurants

Square is an excellent option for new restaurants looking for an affordable and flexible POS system. It's great for beginners or anyone on a tight budget. 

It offers a free plan with basic features, which helps you manage cash flow before you commit. Square has no long-term contracts and flat processing rates are 2.6% plus 10 cents for each transaction. This makes it easy to predict your costs.

For small, single-location restaurants, Square provides everything needed to run daily operations efficiently. It’s a budget-friendly choice that also offers a mobile app for on-the-go management. Toast has launched branded mobile apps for its Premium plan. 

However, Square’s app is open to all users, making it more accessible. Plus, its menu, inventory and tableside management tools help you simplify operations. 

Key features:

• Inventory and tableside management to streamline operations and improve service
• Menu management tools to easily update and customize offerings for dine-in, takeout and delivery
• Payment processing with transparent flat-rate fees and no hidden costs
• Seamless integrations with third-party apps, accounting software and loyalty programs
• Affordable mobile app available for easy management on the go

Square offers strong integrations with a variety of third-party apps, allowing you to customize your system with different tools. However, Toast is an integrated solution, meaning it comes with a broader set of built-in features and doesn’t rely on third-party apps for its core functionality. 

This can simplify things for restaurants that prefer an all-in-one system without the need for additional integrations. Square offers 24/7 support, but its customer service may lack the depth of Toast’s restaurant-focused help. 

Square offers simple back-office features, making it easy to use. However, it lacks the food waste tracking that Toast provides. Square's low prices and easy-to-use tools make it a great choice for new, single-location restaurants.

Square POS Reviews

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Customers like:

“The ability to track sales along with maintaining inventory counts makes for a perfect combination. The system is extremely easy to use set up and maintain.”

“It is a super simple way to collect payments on the spot. I have never had an issue collecting payment in any way, be it chip, swipe, press pass, or pay with cell devices.”

Customers don’t like:

“We process on average of 30k + a month and every payment gets put on hold and held for more than a week.”

“Refunded an order and now I'm being hit with a 7% fee on next sale. Never again.”

Features and functionality 

In this section, we’ll compare the main features of Toast and Square. This will help you see which system has the tools your restaurant needs.

Toast features  

Toast offers a robust set of features aimed at full-service and multi-location restaurants. Its strength lies in its smart inventory system, flexible menu choices and clear reporting tools. 

The system includes features like managing food waste, tracking sales in real-time and gaining insights into staff performance, all of which help streamline operations and improve efficiency. Its customizable and scalable POS system grows with your business, adapting as your needs evolve. 

Additionally, integrations with accounting software and loyalty programs enhance its value, making it a versatile choice for restaurants aiming to optimize every aspect of their operations.

Square features  

Square is an easy-to-use and cost-effective POS system. It suits smaller, quick-service restaurants perfectly. It’s easy to set up and offers the basic tools needed to track sales, manage inventory and process payments. 

The online ordering and mobile features make it ideal for businesses with small menus or those just starting out. However, it doesn’t offer the same depth of reporting or complex customization options that Toast does.

Winner: Toast

Toast wins due to its powerful feature set, flexibility and scalability. It helps bigger operations and offers advanced tools. You can manage things like inventory and customer engagement easily. 

Square is a great choice for small businesses that want simplicity and low POS costs. However, Toast's stronger features, including advanced reporting, detailed inventory management, customizable employee scheduling, and robust analytics. This makes it the better option for restaurants needing detailed back-office tools and space to expand.

Pricing and fees  

When comparing Toast and Square, understanding their pricing structures is essential to determining which system fits your budget. Below, we break down the costs associated with each platform.

Toast costs  

Toast's pricing varies depending on the size of your business and the features you choose. It offers a basic plan with no monthly fees, but more advanced plans with additional tools like marketing, loyalty programs and reporting can cost more. Hardware prices can also add up, depending on the setup you need.

Square costs  

Square’s pricing is highly transparent and starts with no monthly fees for its basic plan. It charges a standard transaction fee, with lower fees for in-person payments and higher rates for online orders. Hardware costs are also reasonable, with options for budget-friendly devices for small businesses. 

In contrast, Toast’s pricing isn’t as clear upfront, as businesses must go through a consultation or request a personalized quote to understand the exact costs, making the process more complicated.

Winner: Square

Square takes the win in pricing due to its no-monthly-fee model and lower hardware costs, making it an affordable choice for smaller businesses or those just starting. While Toast offers robust features for larger restaurants, its higher costs can add up quickly for smaller operations.

Hardware options and coverage  

Both Toast and Square offer a range of hardware options, but the types and prices vary depending on the needs of your business. Below is a comparison of the hardware available with each system.

Toast hardware

Toast provides different hardware choices for restaurants, like POS terminals, card readers, receipt printers and cash drawers. 

Its hardware suits full-service and large-scale operations, easily integrating with their POS system. Toast offers self-ordering kiosks for quick-service setups. This makes things easier and boosts efficiency.

Square hardware  

Square offers flexible hardware options that are mobile-friendly, perfect for small businesses and mobile operations. It starts with simple card readers and goes up to advanced POS systems. 

The system lets businesses accept payments from anywhere with hardware that's affordable and easy to use. However, it lacks options for larger operations and self-ordering kiosks.

Winner: Toast

Though Square's hardware is mobile and affordable, Toast wins this category due to its wide range of restaurant-specific hardware options. . 

Toast provides more complete hardware solutions that pair nicely with the strong POS system. They're perfect for full-service restaurants and those with multiple locations.

Customer service and ease of use   

When it comes to running a restaurant, reliable customer service and a user-friendly interface are essential. In this section, we compare the customer support and ease of use of both Toast and Square.

Toast customer service

Toast offers round-the-clock support through phone, email and chat. The system also provides personalized training and onboarding sessions which are especially helpful for new users. 

Toast’s platform has advanced features, so it may take time to learn, but their support team is quick to help with any issues. Plus, larger businesses get a dedicated account manager.

Square customer service 

Square also provides 24/7 support through phone, email and live chat, with a comprehensive online help center. The system is designed to be easy to use, even for those with little tech experience. 

Square’s support response time is generally fast, though it may take longer to reach someone during peak hours due to the large volume of customers.

Winner: Toast

Toast stands out for its personalized customer service. This includes account managers who focus on you and a detailed onboarding process. Square is easy to use and provides quick support, but Toast offers tailored customer service and training. This makes Toast a better choice for businesses that need more support and guidance.

Overall winner: Toast

Toast is the top choice for full-service restaurants and big operations. We looked at pricing, features, hardware, customer service and ease of use. 

Businesses can operate more smoothly using key features, like:  

• Advanced reporting  
• Inventory management  
• Customizable hardware options

Toast provides custom support and training for its customers. These resources are valuable for restaurant owners.

However, Toast’s higher cost and complexity may not be the best fit for smaller businesses or those just starting. If you're a smaller or mobile operation, or you need a more affordable solution, Square is an excellent alternative. 

Square is easy to set up, cost-effective and works well for food trucks, cafés and quick-service restaurants. There are no monthly fees for basic use and easy hardware options make it a great choice for businesses that want flexibility without breaking the bank.

Ultimately, the right choice depends on what you need most: advanced features, affordability or ease of use.

Toast vs. Square: Which is right for you?

Choosing between Toast and Square depends on your restaurant’s needs. While Toast’s competitors, like Square and Clover, offer solid POS systems, Toast stands out with its restaurant-specific features. Ultimately, the best choice comes down to your budget, restaurant type and long-term goals. For advanced features tailored to restaurants, Toast is the clear winner. For a more affordable, easy-to-use option, Square is a great alternative.

Ready to decide? Start by identifying your main challenges and work backward to find the POS system that best fits those needs. It’s not just about comparing features—it’s about finding the tool that solves your unique problems. 

And remember, pairing your POS with a custom-built restaurant website from Owner.com can help boost online orders and streamline your operations.

Frequently asked questions

Selecting the right POS system for your restaurant can bring up many questions. To help you choose between Toast and Square, we answered some common questions below. 

Are Toast and Square the same?

No, Toast and Square are different POS systems designed for different types of businesses. Toast works best for full-service restaurants. Square is a better fit for smaller, quick-service places or cafés.

Is Toast a competitor to Square?

Yes, Toast and Square compete in the restaurant POS space. While Toast targets advanced features for larger operations, Square's simplicity and affordability make it a great choice for smaller businesses.

Who is Toast’s biggest competitor?

Toast's biggest competitor is Lightspeed, which offers similar features for full-service restaurants and multi-location operations, with strong reporting and inventory tools.

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