Heartland Retail vs Toast POS
POS integration head-to-head for ERP teams: evidenced capabilities, published pricing, and which ERPs each actually integrates with.
| Starting price | Subscription (per POS station) plus separately priced payment processing | Tiered software subscription plus hardware and payment-processing fees, with a Pay-As-You-Go option |
| Deployment | Cloud | Cloud |
| Company size | Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise | SMB, Mid-market, Enterprise |
| Stated ERP integrations | QuickBooks | QuickBooks |
| Vendor | Heartland (a Global Payments company) | Toast, Inc. |
Our take
Where Heartland Retail leads
- Stronger evidenced coverage on 15 of the 29 capabilities where they differ (led by unified catalog & pricing and digital wallet support).
Where Toast POS leads
- Stronger evidenced coverage on 14 of the 29 capabilities where they differ (led by offline-resilient checkout and native ecommerce platform).
Where they differ
The 29 capabilities (of 54 in the POS integration taxonomy) where the evidence separates them, biggest gaps first. “Not evidenced” means our research found no public documentation of this capability — the vendor may still offer it. Confirm on a demo.
| Capability | ||
|---|---|---|
| Offline-resilient checkoutCheckout & Transactions | Not evidenced | Core strength Offline mode keeps orders, tickets and card payments running without internet |
| Native eCommerce platformOmnichannel & eCommerce Fulfillment | Not evidenced | Core strength Commission-free branded online ordering pages and mobile app |
| Unified catalog & pricingOmnichannel & eCommerce Fulfillment | Core strength Published integrations with BigCommerce, Shopify, Magento and WooCommerce with real-time sync | Not evidenced |
| AI-assisted insightsReporting & Analytics | Not evidenced | Core strength Toast IQ: sales forecasting, menu insights, labor-hours optimization, guest win-back |
| Commission & tip trackingStaff & Workforce Management | Not evidenced | Core strength Tips management and pooling with an approval workflow; Toast Pay Card & PayOut |
| Payroll integrationStaff & Workforce Management | Not evidenced | Core strength Payroll with hours and tips flowing directly from terminal closeouts |
| Kitchen Display SystemHospitality & Vertical Operations | Not evidenced | Core strength Kitchen Display System |
| Menu managementHospitality & Vertical Operations | Not evidenced | Core strength Menu management with real-time updates across locations |
| Delivery order routingHospitality & Vertical Operations | Not evidenced | Core strength Third-party delivery orders (Grubhub, Uber Eats, DoorDash) routed to a single kitchen screen |
| Customizable checkout UICheckout & Transactions | Not evidenced | Supported Configurable display modes and order views, including dark/light mode |
| Digital wallet supportPayments & Payment Processing | Supported Apple Pay and Google Pay | Not evidenced |
| Purchase order automationInventory & Stock Management | Supported Create and receive purchase orders, including from a tablet on the show floor | Not evidenced |
| Inter-location stock transfersInventory & Stock Management | Supported Transfer merchandise between locations | Not evidenced |
| Barcode & label managementInventory & Stock Management | Not evidenced | Supported Barcode scanner and scale support, plus phone-based SmartScan |
| Low-stock alertsInventory & Stock Management | Supported Stock alerts to reduce overselling and shrinkage | Not evidenced |
| Promotions & discount engineCustomer Engagement & Loyalty | Supported Coupon and promotion management with fraud safeguards | Not evidenced |
| Inventory performance reportsReporting & Analytics | Supported Item margin and sell-through trend reporting | Not evidenced |
| Staff performance reportsReporting & Analytics | Supported Employee performance tracking with custom permissions | Not evidenced |
| Role-based permissionsStaff & Workforce Management | Supported Employee performance tracking with custom permissions | Not evidenced |
| Shift scheduling & timeclockStaff & Workforce Management | Not evidenced | Supported Employee scheduling |
| Public APIPlatform, Accounting & Integrations | Supported Developer-friendly open API for custom integrations | Not evidenced |
| App marketplacePlatform, Accounting & Integrations | Supported Published marketplace of 75+ point-of-sale integrations | Not evidenced |
| Integrated card paymentsPayments & Payment Processing | Supported PCI-compliant payment processing; credit, debit and gift cards | Core strength Integrated, PCI-compliant payment processing built into every terminal |
| Integrated payment processingPayments & Payment Processing | Supported Published in-person processing rate of 2.6% + 10 cents per transaction | Core strength Toast is a payment facilitator, not a pass-through gateway |
| Real-time multi-location inventoryInventory & Stock Management | Core strength Real-time inventory updates across all locations | Supported xtraCHEF inventory management with actual-vs-theoretical variance analysis |
| Customer profiles & CRMCustomer Engagement & Loyalty | Core strength 360-degree customer profiles covering spend, purchase history and visit frequency | Supported Guest CRM with unified customer profiles |
| Marketing campaignsCustomer Engagement & Loyalty | Partial Email marketing via Mailchimp and Klaviyo integrations, not native | Supported SMS and email marketing; advertising campaigns on Google and Meta |
| GL journal syncPlatform, Accounting & Integrations | Core strength Posts POS financial events as GL journal entries across eight categories | Supported Daily sales journal entries created in QuickBooks Online via xtraCHEF Sync |
| Certified ERP connectorPlatform, Accounting & Integrations | Supported Prebuilt QuickBooks Online connector posting journal entries | Partial xtraCHEF Sync for QuickBooks Online requires a premium xtraCHEF subscription |
Both grade identically on the other 25 capabilities — see each product's full profile: Heartland Retail, Toast POS.
Heartland Retail vs Toast POS — FAQs
Is Heartland Retail or Toast POS better for ERP integration?
Both state integrations with QuickBooks. Always verify the connector against your ERP version with a reference customer.
Which is cheaper, Heartland Retail or Toast POS?
Neither publishes a list price — both quote. Ask each for the all-in first-year cost at your seat count, as one number, and compare those.
Get pricing for both
Tell us your ERP, seat count and must-haves and we'll come back with an independent view of what Heartland Retail and Toast POS should each cost you — and whether a third option belongs on your shortlist.