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 56 native products. Core carries no additional cost. Every other suite is priced per app in the Marketplace.
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 | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| 75 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 75 payment gateways across 11 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 with real-time kitchen routing, and revenue and commission mapping per platform are all automatic.
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 an online booking widget for your website, waitlist management with SMS notifications, and table assignment tied to the floor plan designer. Zero per-cover fees, zero monthly add-on.
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 through native Apple TV, Android TV, and Fire TV apps. Content updates in real-time from your POS menu. Offline caching means displays keep working even if your internet drops. $0 per screen, included in every subscription.
No setup cost. Pay when you use it.
Toast charges per terminal plus payment processing lock-in. Square charges 2.6% + 10¢ on every swipe with no processor choice. Calisto is free to set up. Core carries no additional cost. Every other suite is priced per app in the Marketplace. 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 75 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.
Setting up costs nothing and no card is required. You get full access to all 56 products with no feature restrictions. Core carries no additional cost. Every other suite is priced per app in the Marketplace.
Because it makes us partners, not a vendor. A flat subscription means your software company collects the same fee in your best month and your worst. A revenue share means we only grow when you grow. Slow month or off-season? Your bill scales down with you.
Bring your Toast data with you.
Upload your current contract and we will read the cancellation terms and credit your wallet for the exit fee. Bring your records across with a CSV import. Setup costs nothing.