CompareRestaurant EPOS and payments

Hangar vs Toast

Toast is a big, polished restaurant system, and in the UK it's a closed one. You use Toast's hardware, Toast's card processing through Adyen, and a fixed term that renews itself every year, and leaving early costs every month left. Its UK contract says you own your "Merchant Data", then defines that to exclude your guests. The API is read-only and sold as a separate subscription outside the US. Hangar has no term, lets you choose your card provider, and puts every guest on a record that's yours.

Toast
Hangar
Your guests
ToastThey say "Merchant owns all Merchant Data", then define Merchant Data as "excluding Customer Data", and list Customer Data as Toast's confidential information
HangarWe say the operator owns its guests. We process them on your behalf and nobody else's
Leaving early
ToastThey charge "an early termination fee equal to… the remaining Software Subscription Fees" for the rest of the term
HangarWe have no minimum term and no exit fee
Renewal
ToastThey "automatically renew for successive one (1) year periods", with 30 days' notice
HangarWe have no term to renew
Card processing
ToastThey require Toast "as its exclusive provider of access to payment processing services", through Adyen
HangarKeep your own card provider and connect it at no extra cost
Card rates
ToastThey don't publish them: "Per transaction flat rate", "Tailored rates"
HangarKeep your own card provider and the rates you agreed with it, with no penalty
Rate changes
ToastThey can "change any other Fees and/or processing rates upon thirty (30) days' prior written notice"
HangarWe have no term, so you're never stuck with a price you didn't agree to. Leave any month
Hardware
ToastThey "advise against using your own hardware" and are "unable to support equipment not purchased through Toast"
HangarWe run on iPhones, Android phones and iPads you can buy anywhere
API
ToastThey give "read-only" standard access, "billed as its own standalone subscription" outside the US, with write access "arranged through your Toast account representative"
HangarWe give every account a full read and write API as part of the platform
Bulk data
ToastThey say "Data exports are not self-serviceable at this time"; the nightly file is "stored for seven days"
HangarWe let you export everything yourself, any time, or feed it to your warehouse
Leaving with your data
ToastThey may "irretrievably delete and destroy Merchant Data after thirty (30) days following the termination"
HangarWe let you take everything out whenever you like, not only on the way out
What you buy elsewhere
ToastThey sell no guest wifi or UK stock control, and the rota runs in Sling, a separate app
HangarWe have guest wifi, stock and staff and rota on the same database
AI
ToastThey build Toast IQ into the product. No MCP server found
HangarWe include an MCP server, so you choose the assistant
Plans
ToastThey charge from £80 or £150 a month, with tables, gift cards, integrations, extra devices and, on Starter, kitchen screens and handhelds as add-ons
HangarWe charge one price for the platform and a monthly price for each module you add. Integrations and the API come with the platform
What their customers say
Capterra UK
We lost over £20,000 in the first month of using the system
Aug 2025Read it
Capterra UK
Toast slipped the subscription for the 2 additional screens into our monthly bill
Aug 2025Read it
Capterra UK
Almost a year later, we are still waiting for the return of our funds.
Jun 2026Read it
Switching

We do the switch for you.

Export your guests, products, bookings and gift card balances, and our setup team brings them all into Hangar. It's done remotely, planned around the date your Toast contract ends, and ready before your team's first shift.

Sources, checked October 2026
Glass doors at night with a queue of people waiting outside, a shaft of light on the floor.

The wait is nearly over.

Hangar launches in Q1 2027.

T-minus / Launch window Q1 2027
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