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 98 native products. Core and Enterprise carry 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 Toast
- 24 Only in Calisto Pro
- 15 In both
| 39 features | Calisto Pro | Toast |
|---|---|---|
| POS (Dine-In, Takeout, Bar) | Yes | Yes |
| POS Runs on Any Device (No Proprietary Hardware) | Yes | No |
| No Hardware Lock-in | Yes | No |
| QR Code Table Ordering | Yes | Yes |
| Self-Service Kiosk | Yes | Yes |
| Tab Management (Open, Split, Transfer) | Yes | Yes |
| Kitchen Display System | Yes | Yes |
| Auto-Fire Course Timing | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-Station KDS Routing | Yes | Yes |
| Online Ordering | Yes | No |
| Menu Change Sets (Staged Publishing) | Yes | No |
| Delivery Aggregation (11 Platforms) | Yes | No |
| Native Reservation System | Yes | No |
| Digital Menu Boards (Apple TV, Android TV) | Yes | No |
| Wait Time Display Board | Yes | No |
| Visual Floor Plan & Table Designer | Yes | No |
| 73 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 | Yes |
| Smart Business Insights | Yes | Yes |
| Server Performance Dashboard | Yes | Yes |
| 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 | No |
| Guest Allergen Profiles | Yes | No |
| House Accounts & Guest Invoicing | Yes | Yes |
| Built-in Video Conferencing | Yes | No |
What replaces it
What runs restaurants on Calisto
The apps that take over from Toast, each in the words restaurants businesses use.
- ReservationsCalisto Dine
- Stock & purchasingCalisto Inventory
- Event ticketingCalisto Tickets
- Business setupCalisto Purview
- Multi-location standardsCalisto Blueprint
- Menu pricing & analyticsCalisto Pulse
- PaymentsCalisto Payments
- ProposalsCalisto Proposals
- Contracts & signaturesCalisto Sign
- Online & delivery ordersCalisto Orderflow
- Delivery dispatchCalisto Dispatch
- AccountingCalisto Ledger
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 |
| Delivery aggregation | Toast only (limited) | 11 platforms unified |
| Reservation system | Not available | Native |
| 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 Toast
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 Toast and drop the file in. It is read in your browser and mapped onto Calisto.
Menu Items
Restaurant menu items and products
Orders
Historical orders and transactions
Staff
Staff members and employees
Locations
Restaurant locations
WHAT THEY LEAVE TO ADD-ONS
Everything in one platform.
POS platforms leave reservations, kitchen displays and online ordering to add-ons, and lock you into their hardware. 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: Built In
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.
Digital Menu Boards & Kitchen Displays: Included
Toast sells kitchen displays as an add-on. 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.
Choose your processor. Not theirs.
Toast locks you into Toast Payments and its hardware. Square forces Square Payments. Calisto connects to 73 payment gateways across 11 global regions. Your merchant account. Your rates. Zero lock-in.
See every payment gatewayHonest 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 73 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 98 products with no feature restrictions. Core and Enterprise carry 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.
- Food & BeverageCalisto for Restaurants
Calisto Pro eliminates service friction by keeping front-of-house pacing, kitchen timing, and inventory in total sync, so all your guests experience is flawless dining.
Open - PricingPricing for RestaurantsOpen
- AppCalisto Dine
Restaurants, fine dining, catering and bars: reservations on shifts with deposits and no-show fees, the host stand and waitlist, the guest book, menus and modifiers, sold out, the kitchen display, recipes, food cost and prep lists.
Open