Toast vs Clover - POS Feature & Pricing Comparison Guide 2024

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If you’re stuck between Toast vs Clover for your point-of-sale (POS) system needs, our research shows that Clover is better than Toast. While both offer an excellent restaurant toolkit and business management features, Clover offers a more complete and professional range of hardware and accessories for an intuitive experience on both the front and back end.

Toast is a top POS system too though, especially for businesses with complex inventories. The POS offers a great free plan, along with the best inventory management tools of any system we’ve reviewed, thanks to its stock alerts and cost management features. On top of that, it’s incredibly easy to get started, with an intuitive step-by-step tutorial to guide you through the process.

We’ve poured hundreds of hours into researching and user-testing these leading POS systems, to make it easier for you to choose between the two. Read on to learn about how Clover and Toast match up against each other on features, value offerings, ease of use, and pricing. Or, if it’s quick quotes you’re after, answer a couple of simple questions using our free POS comparison tool and receive tailored pricing estimates based on the unique needs of your business.

In this guide:

Clover POS

Toast

Professional hardware

Complex restaurant operations

$0 + $14.95 (virtual terminal)

Free (but transaction fees apply)

2.3% +10 cents

2.49% + 15¢

The Tech.co team pours hundreds of hours into researching the best POS systems because it’s the only way to ensure we’re providing our readers with the most accurate, up-to-date information possible.

We’ve spoken to daily POS users working in restaurants, retail and more, and have tested out more than 20 point-of-sale platforms ourselves, paying close attention to everything from the quality and feel of the hardware to how easy the software is to use, to help you make a clear decision for your business needs.

Head over to our methodology section to learn more about our product review process, which is one of the reasons more than one million users consult our articles every month.

There are some notable similarities between Toast and Clover, as well as some important differences that will help you make your decision. Here are some key facts about Toast and Clover before we get started:

Here’s a quick look at what Toast offers, including screenshots, pros, cons, and pricing information:

Pros

Cons

For more information about this provider, check our Toast POS review here.

Here’s a quick look at what Clover offers, including screenshots, pros, cons, and pricing information:

Pros

Cons

To learn more about this POS system and its different pricing tiers, read our Clover pricing review.

If you’re looking for a good value POS system, we’d recommend checking out Toast. With a generous free starter package and affordably priced plans, Toast is a comfortable option for those on a budget. Comparatively, Clover is quite intimidating, with high-priced monthly plans and expensive hardware options to boot.

Clover offers six different plans for restaurants, with prices ranging from $105 to $325 per month. In contrast, Toast offers two paid restaurant plans and its prices start at $69 per month with custom enterprise options are available, too.

Clover only offers combined hardware and software packages, which somewhat justifies its higher price tag. What’s more, Clover’s transaction rates are slightly more affordable. Its card-present transactions cost between 2.6% 10¢ to 2.3% + 10¢, compared with Toast’s pricier rates that range from 2.99% + 15¢ to 3.5% + $0.15.

However, unlike Clover, Toast’s Pay-as-you-go Starter Kit lets businesses get started for free, making it one of the most cost-effective POS systems we’ve reviewed.

Unlike Clover, which lacks a free version, Toast offers a generous free plan, letting businesses get started on the POS without shelling out monthly fees. Toast’s free Starter Kit offers every feature vendors need to get off the ground as well, from order and table management and reporting to round-the-clock customer support. Alternatively, if you’re intent on trying out Clover’s software before you buy, you can trial the POS for 30 days with its free demo.

As surging inflation rates continue to squeeze food and drink businesses across the US, free POS plans have never been more attractive. However, it’s important to point out that free options do tend to lack advanced capabilities that you may require as your business grows. Free plans typically charge steeper transaction rates than paid packages, often making them a pricier alternative in the long run.

Check out the table below to see all the available Clover pricing options for restaurants.

Quick Service Starter

Quick Service Standard

Quick Service Advanced

Full Service Starter

Full Service Standard

Full Service Advanced

$105 per month

$145 per month

$200 per month

$165 per month

$220 per month

$325 per month

Food trucks and pop-ups

Small counter service food businesses

Counter service restaurants

Small full-service restaurants

Tableside service restaurants

Mid-size to large full service restaurants

Check out the table below to see all the available Toast pricing options for restaurants.

Starter Kit

Point of Sale

Build Your Own

Free

$69 per month

Bespoke

Small, single location food vendors, and mobile sellers

Established food and beverage businesses

Large or complex food and beverage establishments

2.99% + $0.15

3.5% + $0.15

3.5% + $0.15

Now that you know the basics about Toast vs Clover, including how they match up on pricing, let’s get a bit more granular to find out which POS is right for your business. Below, we’ll compare the two on features, hardware, and help and support, so you can make the right decision for your team.

Clover and Toast both offer an excellent selection of restaurant facings features. In fact, we found that Toast has the best restaurant features in our research, with advanced reservation tools to control flow and view reports.

Clover is quite respectable for restaurants too, though. Perhaps the biggest boon for Clover is that its POS can perform backend operations directly on the device, rather than having to go to a back office, which is the case with Toast.

Toast makes it easy to add employees, but you’ll have to do it in the back office, rather than on the terminal itself. Source: Tech.co testing

For inventory management, we found that both Clover and Toast offer respectable systems, with built-in functionality, bulk loading features, and profit management tools. Still, Clover takes the edge, because it offers low and no stock alerts, while Toast is missing that feature.

We found that another big plus for Clover is that it works with all operating systems, namely iOS and Android. Toast, on the other hand, only offers an Android app, so if you’re more of an Apple fan, Clover is a no-brainer on this one.

It’s also worth noting that Clover also offers a range of retail features, whereas Toast is exclusive for restaurants, so diversification is a bit easier when it came to run multiple businesses.

I could edit the shape and size of tables using Clover’s table floor plan features. I was impressed with how easy it was to customize the floor plan. Source: Tech.co user testing

Toast definitely has an edge on Clover when it comes to tip management, though. Most notably, the POS allows users to automatically share tips between employees, and it provides tipping/gratuity reports, so you can keep track of all the income of the business. Toast’s menu management capabilities are advanced too, with its new menu builder offering users a streamlined way to create and edit menus in a couple of taps.

Toast Takeout & Delivery features let me manage online orders and edit my menu in real-time. Source: Tech.co user testing

Toast is also a lot better when it comes to reservations and waitlists. Clover doesn’t offer any built-in functionality, requiring third-party integrations to take them. Even then, Toast still offers far more functionality, allowing you to post on Google, Yelp, OpenTable, and Resy, some of the biggest names in the industry.

As you can see, there is a lot of give and take when it comes to Clover vs Toast, which is why understanding exactly what you need in a POS system is vital to making the right decision.

Clover reporting tools helped us track everything from sales to average ticket size. Source: Tech.co testing

We did find that Clover is the best POS between these two options, but our research found that Toast actually has the edge when it comes to help and support. It’s close, though, as both offer the standard means of getting in touch, like phone and live chat, as well as a knowledge center and video tutorials.

However, Toast doesn’t offer email support, and Clover doesn’t offer forum functionality, so we’ll call it a draw. We found that neither could be reached via social media.

Toast’ POS’s resource center has a wide range of help articles to help you resolve queries. Source: Tech.co

The spot where Toast was able to establish itself as the winner for help and support is that it offers a comprehensive training mode on its devices. It allows you to simulate workflows and payment processing, so you can get a feel for the system before you’re in the thick of a rush.

If your business requires a dedicated training mode, it might also be worth considering Epos Now, as the POS offers one of the best capabilities of the kind on the market.

Depends on if you like integrated payment processing and no joining fees.

Clover and Toast are two of our highest-rated POS providers when it comes to hardware, offering a range of devices that are equipped for different tasks. Still, Clover was able to jump ahead thanks to the advanced features built in to its terminals.

More specifically, Clover POS hardware offers built-in fingerprint-scanning technology that can substantially speed up the login process for your staff. On top of that, POS terminals from Clover offer haptic feedback, so you can be sure that every tap has registered to avoid mistakes.

Those worried about their internet connection are in luck as well. Toast and Clover both offer an offline mode that can process transactions. Clover’s is a bit better, though, as it will automatically process card payments when back online and allows you to limit transaction size in offline mode.

While Clover and Toast both are pretty easy to get started on, when we tested out both of the systems we found Clover’s software to be more intuitive and easy to navigate. Specifically, our testers were really impressed with how easy it was to assign items to different orders, and separate orders by guests. One tester praised its software for being “so easy and so simple”, even though the initial set-up process took a little bit longer than expected.

Clover POS let me track business performance in real-time easily with its advanced reports. Source: Tech.co’s user testing

Our testing team was a fan of Toast’s clean, modern design, and one member in particular appreciated how “intuitive” the search bar was, and how much it improved the functionality of the system. Conversely, some testers found they had to rely on the tool, as the POS software wasn’t as well signposted as systems like Clover.

“The search tool was phenomenal. It really was so intuitive, it really picked up things.” – A member of Tech.co’s testing team

All in all, it’s a pretty close call when it comes to Clover and Toast’s user experience, but Clover narrowly wins this round because it provides a slightly lower learning curve for people getting started with POS systems for the first time.

Clover and Toast both secured top spots during our extensive research into POS systems for restaurants. The only options we found that offer more complete solutions are Square, Lightspeed, and Epos Now, providing better help and support and competitive pricing.

To learn more about how Toast and Clover stack up against their competition, read our guide to the best restaurant POS systems, or take a look at their top alternatives below:

Lavu POS

Square POS

Lightspeed

Epos Now

Clover POS

Toast

Best help and support center

Growing businesses

Retaining loyal customers

Managing complex inventory

Professional hardware

Complex restaurant operations

$99/month

Free (but transaction fees apply)

$89/user/month

$349 (one-time)

$90 per month

Free (but transaction fees apply)

Sells $899 starter kit that includes iPad, cash drawer, printer, portable card reader.

Options include: Contactless reader ($49), Portable terminal ($299), Square terminal and stand ($799)

Offers kits for iPads, MacOS devices, Windows PCs but all are $POA.

Offers a wide selection of hardware from handheld tablets to industry-specific terminals

Sells a range of proprietary hardware devices from handheld tableside tablets to full POS terminals.

Offers a full hardware suite for $799 but custom pricing is available on more expensive software tiers

We take our impartial research and analysis seriously, so you can have complete confidence that we're giving you the clearest, most useful recommendations.

After identifying the most relevant, popular POS platforms on the market, we put them through their paces with hands-on testing to better understand their strengths and weaknesses.

In this case, we put 16 POS systems to the test, using a research and testing methodology that focuses on six categories of investigation, including criteria like software features and help and support centers. These categories were broken down into 52 subcategories, so we were able to drill down further into certain topics, to make our insights as granular and useful as possible.

Here’s an overview of our main testing categories for POS systems:

When it comes to calculating a product's final score, not all testing areas are weighted evenly, as we know some aspects matter more to our readers than others, For example, we’ll prioritize certain industry-specific features for specific reviews, like an offline mode when reviewing POS systems for food trucks.

At Tech.co, we have a number of full-time in-house researchers who re-run this testing process regularly to ensure our results remain reflective of the present day.

Learn more about our research.

If you’re in the market for a new point-of-sale system, our research suggests Clover is the better option. The POS system is suitable for hospitality and retail businesses and also offers the best hardware options we’ve researched. However, with an entry price of $105 per month for restaurants — and no free plan in sight — Clover is slightly less ideal for smaller vendors with tighter budgets.

On the other hand, Toast has an excellent suite of restaurant features, and its generous free plan makes it a great option for plenty of restaurants, cafes, and bistros. Plus, the paid plans are ideal for established restaurants with complex inventory needs, thanks to stock alerts and cost management tools. Its incompatibility with iOS software will exclude it from many customers though, so it’s worth noting this before moving forward with the system.

However, Toast and Clover aren’t the only promising restaurant point-of-sale systems on the market. If you’re looking to narrow down your search, use our free comparison tool to receive tailored quotes from the biggest names in the POS business. It only takes a couple of minutes, and it helps you take the guesswork out of POS pricing.

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