Toast POS review: built for restaurants and bars
Toast is a restaurant system, and a good one. If you serve food and drinks at tables or a bar, put it on your list first. If you run a shop, you want something else.
We make VoVi, so we say plainly where the other system wins.
What Toast does well
Floor plans, open tabs, handhelds for servers and kitchen screens are the core of the product. It was designed around how a dining room runs, which retail systems were not.
What it costs
The Starter Kit is $0 a month for new restaurants that qualify, and Point of Sale is $69. Toast Payments is required, and Toast does not publish its card rate, so ask for it in writing. Online ordering, loyalty, gift cards and kitchen screens are paid add-ons.
Counter-service cafés and carts
A coffee cart or a café where people order at the counter does not need table service. Toast works for that, and so do Square for Restaurants and VoVi. Choose by price and by whether you want to keep your own processor.
Where Toast wins
You run a full restaurant, a bar with tabs or any kitchen that needs orders routed to screens. Toast is sold in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland and Australia. VoVi is not positioned for full-service restaurants or bars with open tabs, so for these businesses we point you to Toast or Square for Restaurants.
Is Toast free?
The Starter Kit is $0 a month for new restaurants that qualify. Point of Sale is $69. Toast Payments is required either way.
Does Toast publish its card rate?
No. Ask for the rate in writing before you sign.
Can a coffee shop use Toast?
Yes. Toast works for counter service too. Square for Restaurants and VoVi are also worth pricing for a counter-service café.
Official pages
Prices checked October 11, 2026.