Toast vs. Lightspeed: Which POS is right for you?
Lightspeed is shifting away from the U.S. restaurant market. Toast is investing in it. There's a reason more than half of Michelin-starred restaurants in the U.S. run on Toast and why retailers are increasingly making the switch. We're fully committed to building for both, for the long term. See how we stack up.
3 reasons businesses choose Toast
Built for the rush
From built-in offline backup and durable hardware to phone support, Toast is there when you need it most.
Industry-specific features
Toast was built from the ground up with busy businesses in mind and remains fully committed to serving both restaurant and retail businesses for the long term.
Geared for growth
Whether you're just opening your doors or expanding to new ones, Toast grows with you.
A closer look at the Toast difference
Let’s dig deeper into the primary advantages Toast offers. Please note: Lightspeed has historically offered both a K-Series and an L-Series for restaurants. Except as noted, this comparison covers both.
Built for the rush
Offline backup
When the Wi-Fi drops, Toast's offline mode automatically activates and covers your entire operation, including Kitchen Display Systems.
Toast Router also provides built-in cellular service5 through an optional add-on subscription, with automated backup so you can process payments even if your Wi-Fi goes down.
Lightspeed has no cellular backup option with its router, and their offline solution requires manual setup to enable.
Durable hardware
Toast hardware is built specifically for the rigors of daily operations. From spill-resistant terminals to drop-tested handhelds, it’s built with the intensity of your busiest days in mind.
Lightspeed often relies on consumer-grade iPads and iPhones, hardware not specifically designed for the wear and tear of a busy environment.
Assistance across all plans
Toast phone support team is available seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 12 a.m. ET, and live chat is available 24/7 with a real agent.
Lightspeed offers self-led training and remote support only, with no in-person onboarding option. Toast offers a variety of flexible onboarding options to meet your needs, including in-person support.
Restaurant features, backed by a decade of focus
Toast was founded for restaurants and spent over a decade exclusively focused on food service. From advanced benchmarking to menu item–level insights, every feature is built for how restaurants actually operate.
Lightspeed takes a more generalist approach, offering high-level reporting (e.g., gross sales, food & beverage split, certain KPIs) without the depth many operators need. They have recently shifted focus away from U.S. restaurants, including the divestment of its Upserve (U-Series) hospitality product. Toast continues to invest in the U.S. restaurant market.
Retail features, all in one platform
With Toast, loyalty, marketing, online ordering, gift cards, payroll, and POS all live on a connected platform.
And for hybrid concepts like c-stores with delis, Toast goes even further. Your retail and foodservice operations run on the same POS and share the same inventory system, customer records, and reporting — so you get a unified view of your entire business.
Lightspeed covers some of this natively, but relies on third-party integrations for key features like payroll. And for hybrid operators, running both Lightspeed Retail and Lightspeed Restaurant means managing two separate products.
Everything you need, now and in the future.
Add-ons like Loyalty and Marketing are available across all Toast US restaurant POS plans, whereas Lightspeed Loyalty and marketing tools are being phased out of L-Series plans. On K-Series plans, Lightspeed Loyalty is limited to Loyalty cards and does not have first party marketing tools.
For third-party delivery, Toast offers seamless integrations with major platforms like Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub.
Predictable payment options & surcharging
With flat-rate pricing, no hidden fees, and options that allow for zero or minimal upfront costs,6 Toast can fit a wide range of budgets.
Toast also natively supports credit card surcharging across a variety of channels, easing compliance without burdening your staff.
Lightspeed’s L-Series surcharging requires manually creating a service charge item, leaving room for human error. K-Series offers more automated surcharging through Lightspeed Payments, but surcharging is not supported on card-not-present transactions, including online ordering. Toast supports surcharging on online ordering across most US states.8
Data built for decisions, not spreadsheets.
Toast IQ helps you not only find the opportunities hidden in your data, but also take action without leaving the chat.
Toast Benchmarking also provides robust, menu item-level insights and table turn times.*
Which restaurant types are best suited for Toast vs. Lightspeed?
Toast currently powers over 171,000¹ locations, and in 2024, operators liked it enough to refer it to colleagues over 16,000 times. That’s an average of 45 referrals every single day. Quick service, full service, multilocation — Toast runs them all. Here's how.
Quick service restaurants
Order accuracy your guests can see in real time
Toast Flex for Guest gives customers live visibility into their order as it's being prepared. Restaurants can also set prep times at the menu item level, so every order gets the time it actually needs.
Lightspeed only allows a single average preparation time across all orders, regardless of what's in them.
Simple, commission-free online ordering
Toast Online Ordering is an add-on that’s included in the starter kit for no additional software cost. Plus, with Toast’s online ordering integrations, you can send orders from DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, and more directly to your POS, eliminating the need for extra tablets. You can also leverage Toast Delivery Services for commission-free, flat-fee online ordering and delivery.*
Lightspeed K-series only directly integrates with Uber Eats; connections to other delivery apps typically require additional middleware partners such as Deliverect. Neither Lightspeed L-series nor the K-series integrates directly with DoorDash.
Your app, how you want it
Toast does both: launch a fully branded online ordering app under your restaurant's name in the app store and reach new guests through Toast Local's shared marketplace.Burger 25 drove more than 2x repeat guests with their Branded Mobile App (as compared to web).² That's what owning your app can do.
With Lightspeed, the K-Series does not offer a branded mobile app option, while the L-Series may require a third-party integration partner to provide one.
Built for the rhythm of full service dining
Toast's customizable course management lets you pace meals and fire courses, even individual modifiers, at the right moment. And unlike Lightspeed, which is focusing on US retail and European hospitality, Toast is doubling down on US restaurants for the long haul.
Advanced reservations and event-planning capabilities
Toast Tables, available as an added feature with POS, brings restaurant waitlist, reservations, and table management together with zero cover fees. Toast customers with Toast Tables saw a 57% lift in Toast Loyalty signups.3
Lightspeed Reservations lacks more advanced features like experiences and events,7 pre-payment options, and cancellation fees. To access them, operators must rely on third-party vendors.
Tools to elevate your hospitality
Toast can display certain guest details through guest profiles as well as digital chits, included with the Toast Tables add-on. Digital chits appear at the moment of service, so staff can personalize interactions; no printed notes or verbal handoffs necessary.*
Lightspeed no longer offers loyalty marketing on all plans. Lightspeed K-series is limited to loyalty cards and does not have first party marketing tools. Lightspeed L-series is phasing out loyalty and marketing tools.
Toast includes enterprise-grade tools to help restaurant groups operate at scale, including:
One place for easy menu management
Whether you want to tailor menus to specific locations or keep them consistent, Toast lets you control it all from one dashboard. Add or remove dishes from multiple menus, update prices, schedule changes ahead of time, and more, without repeating the same actions over and over.*
See what's working and automatically fix what's not
Toast allows you to view sales and product mix reports at the individual or group level so you can quickly spot high and low performers and make the right adjustments.*
Everything you need to maintain consistency
From prep station configurations to void and discount rules, Toast multi-location management lets you centralize operational standards, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel with every new location. Easily copy and paste settings across locations in one workflow to make standardization easy and efficient.*
Retail business? Toast has you covered.
Grocery & Markets
Unify your store with a POS that can manage thousands of SKUs, support fresh departments, deli, and bakery items, and handle daily deliveries — with real-time inventory, scale support, and EBT without switching systems and guessing your margins. *
Learn More
Convenience Stores
You make your store convenient for customers — Toast makes it convenient for you. Fast checkout, mobile inventory, purchasing, and receiving, and a reliable system, all in one place. *
Learn More
Bottle Shops & Liquor Stores
Get real-time stock counts, manage distributor price updates, handle case-breaking across beer, wine, and spirits, and even run a tasting room — all in one place. So you always know what's in stock and what it's costing you. *
Learn More
Butcher & Seafood
Track cuts, manage by-weight items, run loyalty, and sell prepared foods — all from one system that handles the complexity of what you sell without slowing down your counter. *
Learn moreToast also supports SNAP EBT payments through a Forage integration with built-in USDA certification support, opening your store to more customers. Lightspeed cannot process SNAP EBT directly.
Why choose Toast over Lightspeed?
All-in-one platform. Built to power your entire operation.
Deep reporting insights. Built to simplify growth.
Real support, every plan. 7am–12am ET phone access. 24/7/365 coverage.
Continued investment in U.S. restaurants and retailers.
How does Toast pricing compare to Lightspeed?
Both Toast and Lightspeed offer plans that cover a wide range of budgets. You can get started on either platform for as little as $0 per month in software costs, with options available for no or limited upfront hardware costs as well. Compare Toast pricing plans below to find the best fit for your restaurant.
Frequently asked questions
Toast offers plans for a wide range of budgets, including options with no6 or limited upfront hardware costs. Total costs vary depending on your software plan, hardware package, implementation needs, and payment option.**
To help restaurants manage upfront expenses, Toast offers flexible payment options, including payment as a percentage of your sales*** or a fixed monthly payment through a third-party financing partner. These solutions aren't limited to businesses with excellent credit; there are no interest charges or fees, and Easy Pay offers a 100% approval rate with no credit check.****
Within the Starter Kit, Toast also offers the Pay-as-You-Go plan,***** which reduces upfront hardware and installation costs through an all-in-one platform rate.
Get a personalized look at Toast
Schedule a free demo with a Toast restaurant expert to explore how it fits your restaurant.
Disclaimer: Competitive information and data on this page compiled as of June 2026 and is based on publicly available information. This information is subject to change or update without notice. Toast does not make any representations as to the completeness or accuracy of the information on this page.
1As of Q1 2026
2Based on Toast internal data comparing Branded Mobile App and Toast Online Ordering from May 12 - July 13, 2025. Individual results will vary.
3Based on Toast internal data comparing loyalty signups in Q2 2025 vs Q2 2024. Individual results will vary.
4Toast IQ Grow is a suite of growth tools. Select features are AI-integrated; others may be part of the Toast IQ foundational platform
5If Cellular for Router Monthly Subscription is purchased.
6$0 applies to first device hardware only. Software and processing fees apply. Additional terms at pos.toasttab.com/terms-of-service
7Toast's Experience offering is available to Toast Tables Plus customers at support.toasttab.com/en/article/Toast-Tables-Experiences
8Toast supports surcharging on online ordering across all US states except New York.
*This statement is specific to Toast's product offering - and makes no comparative implication regarding any Lightspeed product
**Includes installation, shipping, handling, and taxes.
*** Pricing applies to new customers and single locations only.
**** Toast Easy Pay is a 180-day lease with an option to purchase.
***** Pay-as-you-Go pricing applies to new customers and single locations only. Plan is subject to a Platform Fee which is applied to each transaction and begins when customers start transacting. Plan is subject to a 2 year agreement.