Toast POS system alternatives outside the US: what to compare

The Toast POS system is sold in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia. Outside those countries, look for a POS that lets you use your own bank's card machine and your own tablets, and that sends orders to riders on WhatsApp. GetMenu does all three, with a flat plan in your own currency.

This guide is for owners who read about the Toast POS system for restaurant use and found that it is not sold in their country. It explains where Toast sells, how it is put together, what it costs, and what to compare in a system you can actually buy.

Where the Toast POS system is sold, and where it is not

Toast sells in five countries: the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia. Toast says Canada was its first market outside the United States. Its April 2026 launch of the Toast Go 3 handheld lists the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada and Australia as the countries it ships to.

Most of its customers are still at home. Toast started in Boston, and one market-share tracker estimates that 96.42% of Toast's customers are in the United States, with Canada at 1.92% and the United Kingdom at 0.80%.

You cannot buy Toast POS for a restaurant in Dubai, Karachi, Kuala Lumpur or Istanbul. Even inside its five countries, some parts are United States only. Toast's own help centre says the Toast Local consumer app cannot be used outside the United States. A restaurant in Dublin or Toronto takes takeout orders on the terminal instead.

Can you use Toast outside its countries? Payments, hardware and delivery

Not outside its five countries. Toast sells its software, its card payments and its hardware together, so all three have to be set up in a country before a restaurant there can buy it.

Toast's card payments come first. Toast's payment processing terms make Toast the only provider of card payments for a restaurant on its system. You cannot bring the card machine from your own bank. Toast takes cards through its own bank partners, and it sells only where it has set that up.

Toast's hardware is the second part. The Toast POS terminal, the Toast handheld POS and the kitchen screens are Toast's own devices. The Toast POS software and the Toast POS hardware are sold together, so a restaurant buys both from one supplier. If you hope to run the Toast POS app on a tablet you already own, ask Toast first.

Toast's delivery tool is the third part. Toast Delivery Services sends drivers from Uber Direct or DoorDash Drive to collect orders placed on Toast Online Ordering. Many restaurants elsewhere work another way: their own riders, a WhatsApp group, and buildings with names instead of street numbers. So ask any system how a rider gets the order. On GetMenu the riders' group gets a WhatsApp message with the building, the unit and the customer's phone.

Toast POS system cost, and what an alternative should cost instead

Toast charges a monthly plan, a fee on every card payment, and hardware you buy or finance. Toast restaurant software has a $0 plan, but one third-party review says that plan charges about 3.09% to 3.69% plus $0.15 on each card payment. In other words, the $0 plan costs more each time a customer pays by card. These figures come from a third-party page, so check Toast for today's price.

For a restaurant outside Toast's countries, those figures do not apply. The useful part is the questions. Ask any alternative four things:

• What is the monthly fee?
• What is taken on each order?
• What is taken on each card payment?
• What hardware must I buy from you?

GetMenu's answers are on the pricing page. You choose a flat monthly plan in your currency with nothing taken per order. If a monthly plan does not suit you, you can pay a small amount per order instead. Neither one takes a commission. Nothing is taken on card payments either, because the card machine is your own bank's and GetMenu takes no online payment. And there is no hardware to buy from us. The POS app runs on an iPad, an iPhone or an Android tablet you already have.

What to compare in a Toast alternative outside the US

Compare five things, in the order a customer meets them.

Payments first. You should be free to use the card machine your bank already gave you and to take cash. On GetMenu the customer chooses cash or card machine at checkout, and the rider is told which to bring. At the counter, the POS records whether the sale was cash or card. There is no processing rate, because no card is taken online.

Hardware second. The counter should run on what you own. The GetMenu POS app runs on iPad, iPhone and Android, and pairs with a six-character code from your dashboard. It prints to ordinary receipt and kitchen printers (ESC/POS) over USB (on the LAN), network, Bluetooth and built-in. The cash drawer opens through the receipt printer, and the kitchen screen is any spare tablet on the wall.

Orders third. Ask what happens the moment an order is placed. On GetMenu the customer gets a WhatsApp confirmation from your own number, and your managers' group gets a ticket. Your riders' group gets a dispatch with the building and unit number picked at checkout, the phone, and the map pin when the customer shared one. Online and WhatsApp orders show on the POS screen beside counter sales, on one POS with online ordering built in. A phone order is typed in at the POS and sent to the riders on WhatsApp in the same way. The rider taps one link to mark the order delivered.

Every order on one kitchen ticket: counter, web and WhatsApp. Each station's printer gets its own dishes. The customer's choices are printed in bold on the kitchen ticket, and the customer's note prints on it too. An allergy note prints in bold red above the dishes.

The menu fourth. Upload the whole menu from a spreadsheet instead of typing it, with options at their own prices and required choices. Customers can choose their spice level. Stock counts fall as orders come in from the page, the tables and the counter. A dish at zero shows as sold out at the counter and on the online menu. One stock list for the counter and the online menu: mark a dish None left on the POS and it also leaves the other POS devices and the online menu.

On the Growth and Pro plans, a guest at a table scans a QR code and orders without typing an address. The table number tells the staff where to bring it.

The paperwork fifth. On every monthly plan, invoices come in your own currency with your tax number on them once you add it. The customer can download the PDF without logging in. Prices show in your currency, not in dollars, and the plan is billed in your currency too.

The Toast POS system and GetMenu side by side

The table shows fit. Toast is a complete system for a restaurant inside its five countries. GetMenu is built for a kitchen whose customers order from a link and whose riders use WhatsApp.

Who should still choose Toast

Choose Toast if you are in one of its five countries and you want one supplier for software, hardware and card payments, with payroll and marketing tools in the same account. Restaurant reviewers recommend it for full-service and high-volume restaurants. Our full comparison of Toast restaurant POS goes through its strengths in detail. A busy dining room or a chain in Texas or Toronto has good reason to look at Toast first.

Choose something else if you are outside those countries, because you have to. Even inside them, choose a system that lets you keep your own bank for card payments, your own devices and your own riders, if those matter to you. Our page of Toast alternatives compared lists other options side by side.

Anzul Aqeel, the founder of GetMenu, puts it plainly: "Look at how your riders get the order today. Then choose the system that fits that, not the one with the most famous name."

How to test an alternative in two weeks

The 15-day trial covers the ordering page, the WhatsApp messages and the menu. Every POS screen in the dashboard is open during the 15 free days too, so you can set up devices, staff and printers. Selling at the counter needs the yearly POS add-on, which has no trial of its own.

1. Day one: upload the menu from a spreadsheet and check your prices and options.
2. Day two: link your WhatsApp number and pick the managers' and riders' groups.
3. Day three: place three orders from your own phone and watch the three messages arrive.
4. The rest of the first week: send real customers the ordering page and watch the riders' group.
5. In the dashboard, add your staff, their PINs and your printers.
6. When you are ready to sell at the counter, save a card, switch on the POS add-on and pair a tablet you already own. Print receipts and kitchen tickets, and let every staff member ring up ten sales on their own PIN.

If the riders left with the building and the unit, and the kitchen saw every order, you have your answer.

Frequently asked questions

What countries is Toast POS available in?

The United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia, according to Toast's own announcements. Its consumer app, Toast Local, works in the United States only. A restaurant outside those five countries cannot buy Toast. It should compare systems that are sold where it is, that work with its own bank's card machine, and that bill in its own currency.

Can I use my own payment processor with Toast?

No. Toast's payment processing terms make Toast the only provider of card payments on its system, and reviewers list "Requires Toast Payments" as a drawback. If keeping your own bank's card machine matters, you need a different system. GetMenu takes no card payments at all: customers pay cash or by your own bank's card machine at the counter or on delivery.

Is Toast POS worth it?

Inside its five countries, reviewers recommend Toast for full-service and high-volume restaurants that want one supplier for software, hardware and card payments. You give up the choice of card provider and devices in return. Outside those countries the question does not arise, because Toast is not sold there. Compare the systems you can actually buy and run in your own currency.

How much does the Toast POS system cost?

A third-party review puts the Starter Kit at $0 a month with about 3.09% to 3.69% plus $0.15 on each card payment. It puts the Point of Sale plan at $69 a month with about 2.49% plus $0.15 in person. Hardware is extra: the Toast Go 2 handheld at $409 to $699 and a kitchen display system at $599 to $1,199. Check Toast for today's price.

Does Toast work outside the US?

Only in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia, and even there its Toast Local app is not available. Everywhere else, a restaurant that wants a POS with online ordering and rider dispatch needs a system sold in its own country. GetMenu runs in any country, bills in the restaurant's own currency, and sends orders to riders on WhatsApp.

What is the best Toast alternative outside the US?

For a small restaurant outside Toast's five countries, GetMenu is built for this. It works with your own bank's card machine and cash, runs on an iPad or Android tablet you already have, and sends orders to riders on WhatsApp. You pay a flat plan with no commission, after 15 free days with no card. The POS is a yearly add-on to the plan.

Can GetMenu run on Toast hardware?

No. Toast's terminals and handhelds are Toast's own devices, and GetMenu does not run on them. GetMenu runs on iPads and iPhones with iOS 16 or later, and on Android phones, tablets and POS terminals. You pair each one with a six-character code from your dashboard, and it prints to ordinary receipt and kitchen printers.