Calisto Pro vs Toast & Square for Restaurants
Toast and Square are POS systems. Calisto is a complete restaurant operating system: POS, delivery aggregation, reservations, kitchen displays, menu boards, VoIP, marketing, events, and 15 native products. Just 2% of revenue, all products included from day one.
POS terminals vs. a complete restaurant OS
Feature by feature
Feature-by-feature comparison with leading alternatives
| Feature | Calisto Pro | Toast | Square |
|---|---|---|---|
| POS (Dine-In, Takeout, Bar) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| POS Runs on Any Device (No Proprietary Hardware) | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| No Hardware Lock-in | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| QR Code Table Ordering | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Self-Service Kiosk | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Tab Management (Open, Split, Transfer) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Kitchen Display System | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Auto-Fire Course Timing | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Multi-Station KDS Routing | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Online Ordering (Zero Commission) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Menu Change Sets (Staged Publishing) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Delivery Aggregation (11 Platforms) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Native Reservation System (No Per-Cover Fees) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Digital Menu Boards (Apple TV, Android TV) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Wait Time Display Board | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Visual Floor Plan & Table Designer | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 56 Payment Gateways (Your Choice) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Room Charges (Hotel F&B Posting) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Private Dining & BEO Management | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Catering Pipeline (Kanban) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Food Cost Tracking & Analysis | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Smart Business Insights | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Server Performance Dashboard | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Daily Closeout & Reconciliation | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Guest Lookup & Order History | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Native VoIP Calling | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Omnichannel Messaging (WhatsApp, SMS, Email) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Marketing Automation & Campaigns (Studio) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Referral & Loyalty Program (Circle) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Event Ticketing & Seat Designer | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Staff Training LMS (University) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| E-Signatures & Contracts (Sign) | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Accounting Sync (QuickBooks, Xero) | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CRM & Guest Profiles | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Staff Scheduling Included | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Gift Cards Included | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Month-to-Month Contract | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Guest Allergen Profiles | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| House Accounts & Guest Invoicing | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Built-in Video Conferencing | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
Choose your processor. Not theirs.
Toast locks you into Toast Payments with their rates and their hardware. Square forces Square Payments with 2.6% + 10¢ on every transaction. Calisto connects to 55+ payment gateways across 9 global regions. Your merchant account. Your rates. Zero lock-in.
Everything included. No surprises.
POS platforms nickel-and-dime you with per-terminal fees, online ordering commissions, and hardware lock-in. Calisto includes it all.
Delivery Aggregation: 11 Platforms, One Dashboard
Toast has limited delivery partnerships. Square has none. Calisto aggregates orders from UberEats, DoorDash, Rappi, PedidosYa, iFood, Glovo, Deliveroo, Just Eat, Bolt Food, Mr D Food, and Jumia Food into a single dashboard. Menu sync, order normalization, and revenue mapping are all automatic.
- ✓11 delivery platforms unified in one dashboard
- ✓Automatic menu sync across all platforms
- ✓Order normalization with real-time kitchen routing
- ✓Revenue mapping and commission tracking per platform
Reservations: No Per-Cover Fees
OpenTable charges $1-2.50 per cover. Resy charges $249-899/month. Toast and Square have no reservation system at all. Calisto includes a native reservation engine with online booking, waitlist management, and table assignment. Zero per-cover fees, zero monthly add-on.
- ✓Online booking widget for your website
- ✓Waitlist management with SMS notifications
- ✓Table assignment tied to floor plan designer
- ✓$0 per cover, included in every subscription
Digital Menu Boards & Kitchen Displays: Included
Toast charges $25-50/month per kitchen display. Square has no display system. Calisto Display powers menu boards, kitchen order boards, and wait time boards on Apple TV, Android TV, or Fire TV. Content updates in real-time from your POS menu. Offline caching means displays keep working even if your internet drops.
- ✓Menu boards, kitchen order boards, and wait time boards
- ✓Apple TV, Android TV, and Fire TV native apps
- ✓Real-time sync with POS menu changes
- ✓$0/screen, included in every subscription
2% of revenue. Everything included.
Toast charges per terminal plus payment processing lock-in. Square charges 2.6% + 10¢ on every swipe with no processor choice. Calisto charges 2% of revenue with all 15 products included from day one. No per-terminal fees, no hardware lock-in. You pay when you earn.
Switching questions
Yes. Calisto runs on any modern tablet, desktop, or touch screen. No proprietary hardware required. Your existing iPads, Android tablets, or desktop terminals work out of the box. Kitchen displays run on Apple TV, Android TV, or Fire TV.
Absolutely. Calisto connects to 55+ payment gateways. Keep your existing merchant account, your negotiated rates, and your existing card terminals. We never force you onto a proprietary gateway.
Calisto aggregates orders from 11 delivery platforms (UberEats, DoorDash, Rappi, iFood, Glovo, Deliveroo, and more) into a single kitchen queue. Menu sync is automatic across all platforms. Revenue mapping tracks commissions per platform. No more juggling multiple tablets behind the counter.
Yes. Start for free with full access to all 15 products. No credit card required, no time limit, and no feature restrictions. You only pay the 2% revenue share once you begin processing transactions.
Because it makes us partners, not just a vendor. A fixed subscription means your software company gets paid whether you have a record month or an empty lobby. A revenue share means we are financially invested in building tools that actually grow your business. If you have a slow month or a seasonal closure, your bill scales down with you.