SmartTab · SkyTab · Toast
Pick the system that pours faster, not the one with the best demo.
Brian installs and supports all three. He has watched each one on a Friday night and knows where each one stalls. This page is the comparison he gives owners across the bar. One of them is wrong for your place.
Fifteen minutes with Brian. He will name the one you should not buy.
What actually separates them
- How fast a tab opens, grows, and closes at the rail.
- Whether the guest list is yours or theirs when you leave.
- What the hardware really costs once the bundle is paid back.
- Who picks up the phone when a batch looks wrong at midnight.
Sound familiar?
Three demos, three reps, and nobody said a word about your bar.
“Every one of them says they are built for bars.”
They are all built for restaurants first. The question is how much of the bar workflow was bolted on afterward, and you can only see that behind the rail on a busy night.
“The hardware was free, and now I cannot leave.”
Free hardware is paid back somewhere. Usually through processing you cannot move. That is not a scam. It is a tradeoff, and you should know it going in.
“My rep vanished after install and support is a ticket number.”
The system matters less than the person who answers when it breaks on a Saturday. Ask who that is before you ask about features.
Side by side
The comparison, without the brochure language.
No prices here. They change, they depend on your volume, and anyone who quotes you a number before seeing your place is guessing. Where the answer depends on your room, the table says so, and Brian covers it on the call.
| SmartTab | SkyTab | Toast | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Bars, pubs, taprooms, and any room where most of the night lives on open tabs. | Full-service restaurants that want handhelds at the table and a few rooms to manage. | Restaurants where takeout and delivery are a big share of the night, and groups that want one national platform. |
| Bar tab speed and pre-auth | Built around the open tab. Pre-auth a card, keep pouring, close at the end of the night. Strong bar workflow. | Pre-auth tabs are supported. The workflow is table-first, so the bar side is worth testing on your busiest night. | Tabs and pre-auth exist. The system was designed for the dining room first. How fast it is at the rail is a tradeoff to walk through on the call. |
| Online ordering | Available. How much online ordering matters for a bar is a real question, and the answer is often less than you think. | Included through the Shift4 platform, with third-party delivery connections. | Built in and one of its strongest pieces. If online orders are a big part of your revenue, this matters. |
| Loyalty and who owns the guest list | Loyalty is included. Ask about exporting your guest list if you ever leave. We cover this on the call. | Loyalty and guest tools are part of the platform. Same question: can you take the list with you. | Loyalty, email, and guest data live inside the Toast ecosystem. Strong tools. Ask what leaves with you. |
| Hardware cost model | Standard terminals you can buy or lease. We walk through both on the call. | Shift4 hardware, often placed with little upfront cost as part of the processing agreement. | Proprietary Toast hardware, often bundled into the agreement. Read how the bundle is paid back over time. |
| Monthly software cost model | Monthly software fee that scales with the size of the system. | Software is typically bundled with the processing relationship rather than billed on its own. | Monthly subscription per location, with paid add-ons for many of the growth features. |
| Contract and processing lock-in | Processing is a separate conversation. Whether you can keep your current processor is a question we answer on the call. | SkyTab is a Shift4 product and runs on Shift4 processing. The system and the processing come together. | Toast requires Toast processing. You cannot bring your own processor. |
| Local support | Installed, built, trained, and supported by The Pass POS. You call Brian, not a queue. | Installed and supported by The Pass POS as a Shift4 dealer, with Shift4 behind us. | Toast runs its own national support. We help with setup, menus, and training where we can, and we are honest about where we cannot. |
He will tell you the one he would not install at your place, and why.
If you asked him straight
Which one Brian would pick for your kind of place.
These are starting points, not verdicts. Your volume, your staff, and your processing situation can move the answer. That is what the call is for.
Neighborhood bar, pub, or taproom
SmartTab
Most of your night is open tabs, regulars, and a bartender who needs the card out of their hand in two taps. SmartTab is built around that. Online ordering matters less than tab speed, and you want Brian answering the phone, not a queue.
Full-service restaurant with a patio
SkyTab
Servers taking orders and paying at the table, several rooms, a bar that is part of the night but not all of it. SkyTab's handhelds and the Shift4 bundle fit that shape well. You accept that processing comes with the system, and we make sure you understand that before you sign.
Restaurant living on takeout and delivery
Toast
If a big share of your revenue comes through online orders and third-party apps, Toast's online ordering and ecosystem earn their keep. You give up your choice of processor and lean on national support. For some places that is the right trade, and Brian will say so.
From the floor, not the brochure
Owners who have been through it
Real venues, real systems, the good and the bad. We do not publish quotes we cannot stand behind.
“We ditched Toast after seeing Brian’s comparison, and we could not be happier with SmartTab. Setup was fast, and support has been 100% better.”
“The only person I’ve seen actually explain the differences in plain English.”
How the call works
Three steps. You get an answer even if you never buy.
1
Tell him what you run and what you are leaning toward
The form below. Kind of place, what system is in there now, which way you are leaning. He reads it before he dials.
2
Fifteen minutes about your room
How your tabs run, how many terminals, who your regulars are, what breaks today. He asks about the bar, not the brochure.
3
A straight pick, in writing
Which one he would install at your place, which one he would not, and the contract line to read before you sign anything. Even if that means staying where you are.
Ask Brian which one fits your place
One minute now. He calls back within one business day with a straight pick and the fine print you should read first.
Before you decide
Why would you tell me the truth? You sell these.
Because we sell all three, and the owner who buys the wrong one calls us angry in six months. We would rather lose a sale to the right system than win one with the wrong system. The quotes on this page came from owners who were told no first.
How bad is the switch? I cannot close for a week.
You do not close. Menus get built before install day. Hardware goes in during a slow stretch. Staff train on the new system while the old one still runs. Most places switch between a close and an open. The honest cost is a few awkward shifts, not lost days.
What about contracts?
Each of the three handles it differently, and the hardware bundle is where the fine print usually lives. Before you sign anything, Brian will read you the term, the early exit, and what happens to the hardware if you leave. In plain words, not in the PDF.
Can I keep my current processor?
Not with Toast. Not with SkyTab, which runs on Shift4. With SmartTab it depends, and it is one of the first things Brian will check for you. If keeping your processor matters more than the system does, say so on the form and we will start there.
I am fine with what I have. Why compare?
Then stay. A lot of places should. The call is still worth fifteen minutes because the system you have probably has growth features turned off, and that costs you nothing to fix.
One of these is wrong for your place. Find out which in fifteen minutes.
Brian installs all three. Tell him how your nights run and he will tell you which one to buy, which to skip, and what to read before you sign.