SumPOS vs Toast
Toast is a genuinely strong restaurant platform with deep hospitality features and a large support organisation. It is also a closed commercial model: their hardware, their payment processing, their contract. Here is the honest comparison, including the cases where you should pick Toast.
The scoreboard
The decision usually comes down to two questions. Do you want your point of sale and your payment processing bundled with a multi-year commitment, or kept separate and cancellable? And do you need restaurant depth alone, or a full back office with real accounting and local tax compliance behind it?
13
We win
5
They win
1
Even
Who Toast are, fairly stated
- Toast is a restaurant-only platform, and that focus is a real strength - the hospitality feature set is mature and thoroughly tested at scale.
- It operates primarily in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland. It does not serve continental Europe, so Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland and the Nordics are outside its footprint.
- The commercial model bundles software, proprietary hardware and Toast's own payment processing, typically on a multi-year agreement.
- Published plans start from a free Starter Kit for very small operations, with the main point of sale plan from around $69 per month and higher tiers from roughly $110, before add-ons and processing.
SumPOS compared with Toast
Each row states our position, theirs, and who we think comes out ahead - including the rows where that is not us.
Contract length
Payment processing
Hardware
Per-user cost
Add-on modules
Published pricing
Restaurant depth
Offline capability
Retail and non-restaurant
Accounting
Platform coverage
Ecosystem and integrations
EU e-invoicing mandates
Continental Europe
US market depth
Languages
Support organisation
Track record
Data export
Comparison last reviewed in September 2026 using publicly available pricing pages, published reviews and vendor documentation. Competitors change their pricing, packaging and contract terms regularly, and terms are often negotiated per customer. Confirm current details with the vendor before making a decision - we would rather you checked than took our word for it.
When Toast is the better choice
We would rather lose the sale than lose your trust in month three.
You run a restaurant in the US, Canada, the UK or Ireland
Toast is built for those markets, with local payroll, payments and delivery integrations we simply do not have. If that is where you trade, they are the safer choice today.
You want one vendor accountable for everything
Software, hardware, payments and support from a single company has genuine operational value. If a terminal fails at 8pm, there is one number to call and no argument about whose fault it is.
You need a very large integration ecosystem
If your operation depends on specific reservation, delivery, accounting or workforce tools already integrated with Toast, the switching cost of losing those is real.
You are a large enterprise chain wanting a proven vendor
We are early. If procurement requires audited financials, a decade of references and formal certifications today, we will not clear that bar yet - and we would rather say so.
When SumPOS is the better choice
Where the structural differences work in your favour.
You want to keep your own payment processing
If you have negotiated a good rate with your bank, or you operate in a market where card processing is not the dominant tender, bundled processing is a cost rather than a convenience.
You do not want a multi-year commitment
We are month to month with no termination fee. The only thing keeping you is whether the product is good, which we think is a healthier arrangement for both sides.
You need real accounting, not just reports
SumPOS runs an actual double-entry ledger with statements, receivables, payables and bank reconciliation, so month end does not involve exporting to a second system.
You trade in continental Europe
If you have sites in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland or the Nordics - or an e-invoicing mandate arriving in 2026 - Toast is not an option regardless of how good it is.
You sell things other than food
Retail, grocery, pharmacy, distribution and services are first-class in SumPOS rather than a secondary product line.
Your connectivity is unreliable
If outages are a weekly event rather than an emergency, a local-first architecture is not a nice-to-have.
Moving from Toast, realistically
Including the parts that are genuinely annoying, because pretending otherwise helps nobody.
- 1Export your menu, modifiers, customers and historical sales from your current system - we will tell you exactly which reports to pull.
- 2We map the data with you, including modifier groups and combos, which are usually the fiddly part.
- 3Confirm which of your existing peripherals we can drive. In most cases scanners, drawers and network printers carry over even if the terminals do not.
- 4Run both systems in parallel for one to two weeks. We strongly recommend this and will not push you to cut over early.
- 5Check your existing contract's notice period and any early termination or hardware financing obligation before you cancel anything.
SumPOS and Toast - the questions we get
Still unsure about something? Ask us directly - a person answers, usually the same day.
Usually, but the honest answer is that it depends on your card volume. Our subscription is often lower and we take nothing from your sales, so the gap widens as your revenue grows. If you process a lot of cards, the processing rate matters far more than the software fee - which is exactly why we think the two should be priced separately and negotiated separately.
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