What Sicada Actually Looks Like
The point of sale itself — the part that runs in your browser, no install.
Sicada's checkout screen — this is the actual product, not a mockup.
Toast is a full restaurant platform — hardware, payments, a kitchen display and more. For a full-service restaurant, it's usually the stronger fit. Sicada is a lightweight browser POS a small café or counter-service shop can start free. This is an honest look at when each one makes sense.
Free forever · No credit card · No hardware to buy
Toast is built for restaurants, and it's built deep: its own terminals, handhelds and kitchen displays, its own card processing, coursing and seat management, floor plans, first-party and third-party online ordering, delivery dispatch, payroll and scheduling. More than 170,000 restaurant locations run on it. If you need a kitchen display or full-service dining tools, Toast is the right category of product and Sicada is not.
Sicada is a point of sale, not a restaurant platform. There is no kitchen display, no coursing, no proprietary hardware, and an account covers one location. It records a card payment taken on your own terminal rather than processing the card itself. For a full-service restaurant, this page will point you to Toast more than once.
Where Sicada fits: a new or very small counter-service café, bakery or takeaway that wants to open on a free plan, using a laptop or tablet it already owns, without a hardware lease or a payment-processor tie-in. Dine-in tabs are in the core POS; per-table QR ordering and delivery management are on the Pro plan.
The point of sale itself — the part that runs in your browser, no install.
Sicada's checkout screen — this is the actual product, not a mockup.
Toast wins most of the restaurant-depth rows. The question is whether your operation needs that depth yet.
| Feature | Sicada | Toast |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A point of sale for small shops, cafés and counter service | A full restaurant platform — POS, payments, hardware, kitchen, payroll and marketing in one |
| The point of sale runs on | Any web browser, on a device you already own | Toast's own restaurant hardware — terminals, the Toast Go handheld, kitchen displays |
| Proprietary hardware | None required; a receipt printer, scanner or drawer are optional | Toast hardware is required; starter kits have no upfront cost with a per-transaction platform fee, or can be bought or financed |
| Card payments | Your own terminal processes the card; Sicada records the sale. Sicada does not process card payments | Toast Payments is built in and required — you can't bring your own processor |
| Free / low-cost entry | Free plan, no card | A "Starter Kit" with no monthly software fee, tied to Toast payment processing and a single location; paid plans above it |
| Kitchen display (KDS) | Not available — orders are worked from the POS | Yes — ticket routing and timing across prep, expo and runner screens |
| Coursing and seat management | Not available | Yes, built for full-service dining |
| Dine-in tables | A tab per table — 5 on Free, 20 on Pro, plus floor-plan sections on Pro | Full floor plans, sections, server sections and table transfers |
| QR / self-order | Per-table QR ordering on Pro, lands on the table's tab | QR ordering, self-service kiosks and mobile order-and-pay |
| Online ordering | A shareable delivery menu link on Pro; the customer pays on arrival | First-party Toast Online Ordering with card payment, plus DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub feeding the POS |
| Delivery | On Pro: address, map pin, zones, fees, a driver roster, manual assignment and a status board — no GPS tracking or automatic dispatch | Toast Delivery Services and dispatch integrations, with driver tracking |
| Multiple locations | One shop per account | Multi-location menus, reporting and management |
| Offline | Checkout keeps working and syncs on reconnect; card payments need your terminal | Orders, tickets and card payments all continue offline; a cellular backup router is available |
| Payroll and scheduling | Records payroll payments on the Pro plan | Toast Payroll & Team Management — full payroll, scheduling and tips |
| App languages | 13, including a right-to-left layout for Arabic | Focused on the US restaurant market |
Toast's plans, hardware and features were checked against Toast's official pages in September 2026 and can change — see Toast pricing for current details. Sicada is POS software, not a payment processor: your own terminal takes the card and Sicada records the sale, so your processor's usual rates still apply. Sicada's own plans are the Free, Pro and Business plans.
For a restaurant that needs any of these, Toast is the right tool.
Toast is designed around how a restaurant actually runs: floor plans and sections, coursing, seat numbers, table transfers, and tickets that route to the right kitchen station. Sicada has dine-in tabs, but none of this deeper service tooling.
Toast's KDS routes and times tickets across prep, expo and runner screens, with coursing and assembly-line prep. Sicada has no kitchen display — orders are worked from the POS.
Toast builds its own spill-resistant terminals, handhelds and kitchen screens, with card processing, disputes and payouts handled by Toast. It's one company for the whole stack. Sicada is software only; you bring the devices and the card terminal.
Multi-location menus and reporting, first-party and third-party online ordering, delivery dispatch, payroll, scheduling, loyalty and gift cards are all part of the platform. Sicada covers one shop and a narrower feature set.
For a small counter-service business, these can matter more than restaurant depth.
Sicada runs in a browser on a laptop, tablet or phone you already own. There's no hardware to buy or finance, and no multi-year agreement — you can stop any time.
The Free plan runs the counter, a product catalogue and full sales history at no cost, with no card required, and dine-in tabs are included. Toast's no-fee Starter Kit is tied to Toast card processing and one location.
Sicada records a card payment taken on whatever terminal and processor you already use, and takes no cut of the sale. Toast requires Toast Payments — the POS and the processing come together.
Sicada's interface is translated into 13 languages with a right-to-left layout for Arabic, and it's a web app you can sign up for anywhere. Toast is focused on the US restaurant market.
For a full-service restaurant, Toast is likely the stronger fit. But if you're a small counter-service business deciding whether you need a full platform yet, Sicada's Free plan takes no card and is easy to try.
Sicada has no Toast import tool. You'd rebuild your menu by hand, and past sales, staff and customer history don't transfer. Your card processing would move from Toast Payments to your own terminal, and any Toast hardware would be replaced by devices you own.
A switch makes sense mainly for a small operation that finds it's paying for a full restaurant platform it doesn't use — or one that hasn't opened yet and wants to start simple. If you rely on a kitchen display, coursing, or Toast's online-ordering and delivery network, moving to Sicada means giving those up.
For most restaurants, no. Toast is a full restaurant platform with a kitchen display, coursing, restaurant hardware and its own payment processing. Sicada is a lightweight browser POS with dine-in tabs, QR ordering and delivery management. It can suit a small counter-service café or food shop, but it doesn't replace Toast's kitchen and service tooling.
Often, for a small operation, because Sicada has a free plan ($0 forever, no card, no trial), needs no hardware and doesn't require its own payment processing. Toast's costs depend on the plan, the hardware and the processing rate. Check Toast's current pricing at pos.toasttab.com/pricing and Sicada's Free, Pro and Business plans, and compare against what you would actually use.
Yes — an open tab for each table, on every plan, with up to 5 tables on Free and 20 on Pro, plus floor-plan sections and table categories on Pro. It does not have coursing, seat numbers or table transfers; Toast does.
No. Orders are worked from the POS itself. If your kitchen needs tickets routed and timed across prep, expo and runner screens, Toast has a kitchen display system and Sicada does not.
Yes, on the Pro plan: a structured delivery address with a map pin, named delivery zones with their own fees, a driver roster with manual assignment, and a status board from new to delivered. It does not do GPS driver tracking, automatic dispatch, or third-party couriers — Toast integrates with those.
A new or very small counter-service business — a café, a bakery, a takeaway — that wants to start free on its own devices, keep its own card terminal, and doesn't need a kitchen display or full-service dining tools. A restaurant that needs those, or plans to grow into multiple locations, should choose Toast.