Every restaurant system on the market is a subscription. It is generic by design, because it has to fit everyone. The feature you need waits on their roadmap. The price changes when they say. RestaKit gives you the same breadth of features, as a copy you own.
is how long Toast's own SEC filings say a subscription term generally runs, priced per location.
is how much SaaS vendors raised prices in a year, against IT budgets growing 2.8%, per Gartner's Jo Liversidge.
was the mandatory fee Toast added to every online order in July 2023, with no opt-out, withdrawn nine days later. The CEO: "We made the wrong decision."
of developers use or plan to use AI coding tools. 46% distrust the output. That is why the core is sealed and every change is gated.
Sources are public filings, named analysts and trade press. No vendor blog statistics. Full list in our research notes on request.
| A SUBSCRIPTION SYSTEM | YOUR RESTAKIT COPY | |
|---|---|---|
| You pay | Every month, per location, for as long as you trade | Once. Then only your hosting |
| The contract | Typically 12 to 36 months | A licence. No term, no renewal |
| A feature you need | Wait for the vendor's roadmap, or pay for custom work if they offer it | A plugin, your developer, your AI tool, or we build it into your copy |
| The look | Their brand, their screens | Your identity on guest, kitchen and owner screens |
| Your data | In their cloud, exported on their terms | In your database, in your account |
| Integrations | Their partner list, sometimes with a fee | Anything with an API. Plugin SDK included |
| If the vendor changes the deal | You absorb it or you migrate | Nothing changes. Your copy is yours |
| If the vendor stops | You migrate | You keep running. Source escrow included |
139 features across 14 areas, against the ten systems restaurants ask us about. If your current system has it, we have it or it is labelled coming soon. And with us, it is yours.
| AREA | RESTAKIT | TOAST | SQUARE | TOUCHBISTRO | LIGHTSPEED | ALOHA | SIMPHONY | EPOSNOW | POSTER | SYRVE | ZONAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10/15 | 11 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 7 | 11 | 8 | |
| 6/11 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 7 | |
| 7/8 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | |
| 7/9 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | |
| 2/8 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 4 | |
| 6/11 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 5 | |
| 10/13 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 10 | 8 | |
| 3/11 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 2 | |
| 1/12 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 6 | |
| 7/11 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 7 | |
| 2/8 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | |
| 5/8 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 3 | |
| 4/9 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 4 | |
| 1/5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
Vendor columns are counts of features each vendor lists publicly, from our market feature table, September 2026. Click an area for the feature-by-feature view. The RestaKit column is our own status: Included today or Coming soon. If we have a vendor wrong, tell us and we fix it.
Tell us what you pay and what you are waiting for. We show you the same features as a copy you own, set up on your menu.