Toast alternatives: 11 point of sale tools compared
Restaurants look past Toast when they want a till that is not tied to one processor and one set of devices, when they run in a country Toast does not serve, or when the business is closer to a shop or market stall than a dining room. Options range from small card-reader vendors to restaurant systems from other makers and payment platforms.
Short answer: storekit, Epos Now and myPOS head the list of Toast alternatives drawn from our point of sale ranking. The first three places are kept for challengers when the category has enough of them; the best-known brands come after that, in ranked order. storekit is the one to try if you want to keep your till but stop paying marketplace commission on online orders. The 11 entries that follow are all ranked in Best POS System in 2026; each one explains what sets it apart from Toast.
Vendors can pay for more visibility on this website, for example a higher place in a ranking or more room on a page. Commercial relationships can also affect which products we feature and how prominently. Every vendor link is marked the same, whatever the arrangement behind it. How that works.
Pricing: Starter Kit from $0/month; Point of Sale from $69/month, published; processing extra, rate not listed
Established in: United States
Built for: A restaurant that wants everything built for restaurants
Not for: A general retailer, or anyone outside the five countries Toast serves
01
Why buyers look past Toast
01
The software and the processing come as one purchase
Our category record says Toast requires its own payment processing and runs only on approved Toast hardware, with the processing rate not listed on the pricing page. That makes the monthly software fee only part of the cost, and it means a restaurant cannot move its card acquiring elsewhere without leaving the till as well.
02
Coverage stops at five countries
Toast serves restaurants in the US, Canada, Ireland, the UK and Australia, according to our category record. A group with venues in Germany, the Netherlands or Spain cannot run one system across them, and a European operator who wants a supplier based in its own region has to look elsewhere.
03
Built around restaurants, with retail added later
Coursing, tips and the kitchen display all assume table service. A Toast Retail option now exists, but a shop, a market stall or a mixed business gets a better fit from tills designed around stock and mobile payments. Toast's pricing and product pages blocked our automated checks, so plan details here come from our own records.
you are a larger operator that wants one acquirer across venues, web and app and will choose the till separately
#12
03
What each one does differently
1
storekit
United Kingdom · Published
storekit is a UK company that adds direct ordering and payments on top of the till a restaurant already owns, Toast included. The Starter plan is free for pickup and delivery with a branded site and kitchen display. QR order-and-pay, pay-at-table and tabs begin on Pro at £199 per location a month, rolling monthly, with a flat per-order fee instead of commission.
Switch from Toast if you want to keep your till but stop paying marketplace commission on online orders.
Epos Now, a UK vendor, advertises its Complete Solution from £299 against a list price of £849, tied to a 12-month payments and support subscription from £25 a month on the UK page we read. The same headline offer covers retail and hospitality. Check the subscription term and cancellation wording before you sign.
Switch from Toast if you want the lowest upfront outlay on a full UK till and accept a 12-month subscription.
myPOS sells a card terminal that you buy or rent, with card fees from 1.10% + 7p and no monthly fee on a free account under £10,000 turnover. Funds reach the account within seconds. It gives a trader a payment device and an account but little restaurant logic such as coursing or a kitchen display.
Switch from Toast if you run a small cafe or kiosk and want money in the account the same minute.
SumUp operates in 38 countries, and its POS Pro page lists table management, orders sent to the kitchen, delivery app integrations and Xero or QuickBooks links. The page gives no tier prices and points to a quotation form that asks for your yearly card volume. Retail catalogue and stock features sit in the same system.
Switch from Toast if you operate across several European countries and want one supplier for card readers and tills.
PayPal Point of Sale, still branded Zettle on its site, charges 1.75% on card payments with no recurring fees, and sells a reader from £29 for new users, a terminal from £149 and store kits from £169, excluding VAT. The free app handles products, gift cards, sales reports and staff tracking. It is a retail-style till without table service.
Switch from Toast if you run a small trading counter and want a published single card rate with owned hardware.
Square lists Square for Restaurants Free with no subscription, and Plus at £69 per location per month after a 30-day trial on its UK page. Table management and coursing sit on Plus. Hardware is bought separately, and iPads, printers and cash drawers you already own may be reusable. Square accepts cards in eight countries only.
Switch from Toast if you want to start on a free plan and reuse iPads you already own, in a country Square supports.
TouchBistro is a Canadian restaurant till with floor plans, tableside ordering and staff management. Point of Sale starts at 69 US dollars a month, and the Essentials Bundle at 119 dollars adds integrated payments and restaurant hardware. Kitchen display, inventory and online ordering are quoted add-ons, and the page says no feature is locked behind a plan.
Switch from Toast if you want a restaurant-only till and are happy to price kitchen display and reservations as add-ons.
Shopify POS comes with a Shopify plan, from 28 euros a month on Basic to 2,100 euros on Plus (three-year term), and POS Pro adds 79 euros per location for unlimited staff, inventory reports and role permissions. The pages we read list only retail industries and no restaurant features. One catalogue serves shop and website.
Switch from Toast if you sell goods rather than meals and already run a Shopify web shop.
Lightspeed Retail lists Basic at $89, Core at $149 and Plus at $289 a month in our records, with one register included and payments extra. Its sister product Lightspeed Restaurant is priced separately, from $69 for Starter to $399 for Premium, with a kitchen display at $30 per screen. Here we judge the retail line, built around stock and suppliers.
Switch from Toast if your business is a shop with deep stock and purchasing needs rather than a dining room.
Clover usually arrives through an acquiring bank. Our records list restaurant plans published on clover.com from $179 a month over 36 months, with table mapping, tabs and bill splitting, and card payments from 2.3% + 10 cents. The clover.com pricing page returned no readable detail for us, and a bank or reseller quote can differ.
Switch from Toast if your bank already offers it and you will compare the quote line by line against clover.com.
Adyen POS is a payments platform from the Netherlands: Tap to Pay, mobile, countertop and unattended terminals, with offline payments and PCI PTS 6 certified devices. Pricing was not described on the page we read. It does not include menu, table or kitchen software, so the till itself comes from a partner.
Switch from Toast if you are a larger operator that wants one acquirer across venues, web and app and will choose the till separately.
You want to keep your till and cut commission on online orders
storekit: The Starter plan is free for pickup and delivery, and Pro at £199 per location adds QR order-and-pay on a rolling monthly term.
02
You want the cheapest full UK till to start with
Epos Now: The Complete Solution is advertised from £299 on the UK page, tied to a 12-month subscription from £25 a month.
03
You run a small counter and want a single published card rate
PayPal Point of Sale: PayPal Point of Sale charges 1.75% with no recurring fees, and a reader starts at £29 for new users.
04
You want a free restaurant plan and already own iPads
Square: Square for Restaurants Free has no subscription, and Plus at £69 adds table management after a 30-day trial.
05
You want one acquirer across venues and will pick the till separately
Adyen POS: It offers countertop, mobile and unattended terminals with offline payments, and leaves menu and kitchen software to partners.
04
When Toast is still the right choice
Toast remains a sound choice for a US, Canadian, Irish, UK or Australian restaurant that wants menus, kitchen display, online ordering and reporting from one vendor. Its developer documentation describes standard, custom, partner and analytics API access, so integrations are a defined process rather than a favour. If one supplier for hardware, software and processing is a feature to you, the bundle is the point, not a flaw.
05
What moving off Toast involves
01
Plan for the card terminals and the menu together
Toast software runs only on its approved hardware, so the tablets and handhelds do not come with you. Budget for new devices, export the menu with modifiers and tax settings, and rebuild coursing rules in the new system before the first service.
02
Processing changes on the same day
Because Toast uses its own processing, switching tills means a new merchant arrangement as well. Ask the new supplier about settlement timing, and keep the old account open until the last refunds and chargebacks have cleared. Check any contract term on your current Toast agreement first.
06
Questions about replacing Toast
6 answers
What does Toast cost?
Our category record lists a Starter Kit from $0 a month and Point of Sale from $69 a month, with processing charged on top at a rate that is not listed. Toast's own pricing pages blocked our automated checks, so confirm current figures with Toast.
Which countries does Toast serve?
According to our category record, it serves restaurants in the US, Canada, Ireland, the UK and Australia. Nothing in that record suggests availability elsewhere in Europe.
Can I use my own payment processor with Toast?
Our category record says you must use Toast's own processing. If you want to keep an existing acquirer, the alternatives here that separate payments from the till, such as Adyen POS, make that easier.
Which alternative has a free plan for restaurants?
storekit has a free Starter plan for pickup and delivery, and Square lists a free restaurant plan with processing fees only. Neither replaces every Toast feature, so compare table service needs first.
Is there a restaurant till without monthly fees?
Square Free and PayPal Point of Sale have no subscription for the basics, while myPOS has no monthly fee under £10,000 turnover. Table management and coursing sit on Square's paid Plus plan at £69 on its UK page.
Which options suit retail rather than a restaurant?
Lightspeed Retail, Shopify POS and PayPal Point of Sale are built around products and stock. Epos Now and SumUp cover both retail and hospitality.
storekit pricing: Starter free, Grow £99, Pro £199, Enterprise from £995, flat per-order fee, rolling monthly, QR and pay-at-table on Pro.
SumUp POS Pro: Table management, kitchen orders, retail catalogue, Xero and QuickBooks, quote form by card volume.
PayPal Point of Sale (Zettle) pricing: 1.75% card rate, reader from £29, terminal from £149, store kits from £169, no recurring fees, free app features.
Square for Restaurants: Free plan, Plus £69 per location, 30-day trial, table management on Plus, hardware bought separately.
Epos Now pricing: Complete Solution from £299 (was £849), 12-month subscription from £25 a month, retail and hospitality offers.
TouchBistro pricing: Point of Sale from $69, Essentials Bundle $119, quoted add-ons, no locked features.
Shopify POS pricing: Basic 28 euros, Plus 2,100 euros on 3-year term, POS Pro 79 euros per location, retail industries named.
Adyen in-person payments: Tap to Pay, mobile, countertop and unattended terminals, offline payments, PCI PTS 6, no pricing stated.
TKE category record: pos-systems: Toast pricing, countries and processing and hardware requirement; myPOS, Clover, Lightspeed Retail records (vendor pages blocked or unreadable).
Founder of The Knowledge Engineers and of 2 Steps Ahead, an AI search visibility agency. Editorially responsible for every page on this site; research and drafting are AI-assisted.
Written, edited and fact-checked by Sebastiaan Smits. Last reviewed 3 November 2026. How we review.
