HOW WE COMPARE

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 71 native products. Core carries no additional cost. Commerce is a 1% revenue share. Every other suite is priced per app in the Marketplace.

Restaurants

Feature by feature

Calisto Pro beside Square

29 Only in Calisto Pro
11 In both

Calisto Pro beside Square, feature by feature
40 features	Calisto Pro	Square
POS (Dine-In, Takeout, Bar)	Yes	Yes
POS Runs on Any Device (No Proprietary Hardware)	Yes	Yes
No Hardware Lock-in	Yes	Yes
QR Code Table Ordering	Yes	Yes
Self-Service Kiosk	Yes	No
Tab Management (Open, Split, Transfer)	Yes	Yes
Kitchen Display System	Yes	No
Auto-Fire Course Timing	Yes	No
Multi-Station KDS Routing	Yes	No
Online Ordering (Zero Commission)	Yes	No
Menu Change Sets (Staged Publishing)	Yes	No
Delivery Aggregation (11 Platforms)	Yes	No
Native Reservation System (No Per-Cover Fees)	Yes	No
Digital Menu Boards (Apple TV, Android TV)	Yes	No
Wait Time Display Board	Yes	No
Visual Floor Plan & Table Designer	Yes	No
75 Payment Gateways (Your Choice)	Yes	No
Room Charges (Hotel F&B Posting)	Yes	No
Private Dining & BEO Management	Yes	No
Catering Pipeline (Kanban)	Yes	No
Food Cost Tracking & Analysis	Yes	No
Smart Business Insights	Yes	No
Server Performance Dashboard	Yes	No
Daily Closeout & Reconciliation	Yes	Yes
Guest Lookup & Order History	Yes	Yes
Native VoIP Calling	Yes	No
Omnichannel Messaging (WhatsApp, SMS, Email)	Yes	No
Marketing Automation & Campaigns (Studio)	Yes	No
Referral & Loyalty Program (Circle)	Yes	No
Event Ticketing & Seat Designer	Yes	No
Staff Training LMS (University)	Yes	No
E-Signatures & Contracts (Sign)	Yes	No
Accounting Sync (QuickBooks, Xero)	Yes	Yes
CRM & Guest Profiles	Yes	Yes
Staff Scheduling Included	Yes	No
Gift Cards Included	Yes	Yes
Month-to-Month Contract	Yes	Yes
Guest Allergen Profiles	Yes	No
House Accounts & Guest Invoicing	Yes	No
Built-in Video Conferencing	Yes	No

What replaces it

What runs restaurants on Calisto

The apps that take over from Square, each in the words restaurants businesses use.

POS terminals vs. a complete restaurant OS

	The Old Way	The Calisto Way
Point of sale	Core feature	Full POS, dine-in + takeout
Online ordering	Built-in (Toast) / Add-on (Square)	Native, zero commission
Delivery aggregation	Toast only (limited)	11 platforms unified
Reservation system	Not available	Native, no per-cover fees
Kitchen display system	Extra hardware required	Included, any screen
Digital menu boards	Not available	Display, Apple TV + Android TV
VoIP & phone system	Not available	Calisto Voice, included
Marketing automation	Basic email only	Studio, full omnichannel
Staff training LMS	Not available	University, included
Event ticketing	Not available	Events + Seat Designer, included

What moves

Bringing your data from Square

Your data is read in your own browser and sent to your Calisto account. Calisto never sees your login for the old system.

From an export file

Export your data from Square and drop the file in. It is read in your browser and mapped onto Calisto.

Customers
Customer profiles and accounts
Transactions
Point of sale transactions and payments
Products
Product catalog and inventory items

The Square migration guide Move my data

PRICING TRANSPARENCY

1% of revenue on Commerce. Core is included.

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. Commerce is a 1% revenue share. Every other suite is priced per app in the Marketplace. No per-terminal fees, no hardware lock-in. You pay when you earn.

Calisto Pro

1%of revenue

Revenue share on Commerce

Toast

$0–$69/mo Per Terminal

Per-terminal pricing · Locked to Toast Payments · Hardware required · Online ordering commission

Square

2.6% + 10¢ Per Swipe

Per-transaction fee · Locked to Square Payments · Limited integrations · No reservations

WHAT THEY CHARGE EXTRA FOR

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.

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.

See every payment gateway

Honest answers

Switching questions

Does Calisto work with my existing POS hardware?

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.

Can I keep my current payment processor?

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.

How does Calisto handle delivery platform integration?

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.

How does pricing work?

Setting up costs nothing and no card is required. You get full access to all 71 products with no feature restrictions. Core carries no additional cost. Commerce is a 1% revenue share. Every other suite is priced per app in the Marketplace.

Why do you charge a percentage of revenue?

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.

Learn more

Everything Calisto does here

The pages behind this comparison: the sector, the apps and the guides.