CATEGORIES / POINT OF SALE

Point of sale software: how much control do you have?

Compare point-of-sale APIs, location entitlement and transaction exports.

2 category vendor reviewsPermute reference includedProvider documentation, not live tenant tests

Where the reviewed products stand

Compare documented control across the named products and routes. Open a review for its plan, region and agreement (this is a selected sample).

Point of sale: customer control map

0–10 on both axes · Higher and further right means more documented control

Data access and portability on the horizontal axis; build and act on the vertical axis. Exact scores and review links follow in the table. Dashed lines mark 5, not a grade threshold.BUILD WITH LIMITSMORE CUSTOMER CONTROLMORE DEPENDENCEPORTABLE, LESS EXTENSIBLE00551010Data access & portability →Build & act →Toast*: 6.2 / 5.3TOLightspeed Restaurant*: 5.6 / 4.1LRPermute*: 8.0 / 7.1P
Exact scores & review links (3)
Vendor positions
VendorData access & portabilityBuild & act
Toast ↗6.2*5.3*
Lightspeed Restaurant ↗5.6*4.1*
Permute ↗Publisher self-assessment8.0*7.1*

Axes average three dimensions each: access, third-party access and exit horizontally; action, continuity and business logic vertically. Fixed 0–10 scale, midlines at 5 (overall grades use separate weights). * Some evidence is unresolved. Marker colors identify companies, not score bands. How to read the map ↗

Permute is included as a reference (it owns this site and is a publisher self-assessment). Its score is excluded from sample averages. Read the Permute review ↗

Reviews retain the named POS product and version. Financial sales, item records and order creation can require different grants (a reporting credential does not authorize every live POS operation).

Compare the six dimensions

Comparing 2 of 3 vendors
Overall control
Data access
Third-party accessibility
External action
Continuity
Data exit
Business logic and customization
Product scopes, dates & reviews

Toast

Point of sale · Checked 2026-10-17

Toast restaurant POS: permission-scoped order, check and selection records at US restaurant locations. Standard customer API reads and separately approved partner/custom order writes are assessed as distinct routes; no whole-product, payroll or payment-processing export claim.

Read findings and sources ↗

Lightspeed Restaurant

Point of sale · Checked 2026-10-17

Lightspeed Restaurant K-Series custom integrations: Financial API sales records and Items API catalog reads/writes for one approved restaurant business and its locations. Excludes Retail, Restaurant L-Series, orders-api, reservations, property-management interfaces and partner-only real-time events.

Read findings and sources ↗
Customer controlToast ↗Lightspeed Restaurant ↗Permute ↗
CategoryPoint of salePoint of saleDatabases and data platforms
Overall control
Data access
Third-party accessibility
External action
Continuity
Data exit
Business logic and customization
Assessment scopeToast restaurant POS: permission-scoped order, check and selection records at US restaurant locations. Standard customer API reads and separately approved partner/custom order writes are assessed as distinct routes; no whole-product, payroll or payment-processing export claim.Lightspeed Restaurant K-Series custom integrations: Financial API sales records and Items API catalog reads/writes for one approved restaurant business and its locations. Excludes Retail, Restaurant L-Series, orders-api, reservations, property-management interfaces and partner-only real-time events.Permute hosted workspaces / scoped REST and TypeScript SDK access to connected query sources, file datasets, managed database records, operation code and custom apps. Signed enterprise contracts and upstream vendor rights remain separate; no live tenant migration or reliability test was performed.
Assessment checked2026-10-172026-10-172026-10-12
Read the findingsDetailed review ↗Detailed review ↗Detailed review ↗

Scores are out of 10. * Incomplete evidence discounts verified capabilities (unknown answers stay unknown). Planned migration drives data exit. Scoring method ↗

Who can connect?

Credentials and approval by connection method

Yes No- Unknown

A check means the column applies to that route (customer credentials can still require provider approval). Report exports use the customer account without separate API credentials. Open a connection method for its authentication, requirements and last review date.

What each review covers

Toast ↗

Toast documents paginated order reads, modification windows and customer-created read credentials. Standard access requires RMS Essentials or higher at each location and cannot write; partner order creation and check updates require a separate approval and certification path. Merchant-directed AI processing is allowed with merchant consent, while API-derived model training requires Toast approval.

Toast restaurant POS: permission-scoped order, check and selection records at US restaurant locations. Standard customer API reads and separately approved partner/custom order writes are assessed as distinct routes; no whole-product, payroll or payment-processing export claim.

Read the findings and sources ↗

Lightspeed Restaurant ↗

K-Series offers a paid custom API add-on for a restaurant business using its own team or a trusted developer. That route exposes financial and item interfaces, including item creation and updates, but excludes orders-api and webhooks. Paginated current-state retrieval supports scoped rebuilding; retained change replay and a complete product export remain unverified.

Lightspeed Restaurant K-Series custom integrations: Financial API sales records and Items API catalog reads/writes for one approved restaurant business and its locations. Excludes Retail, Restaurant L-Series, orders-api, reservations, property-management interfaces and partner-only real-time events.

Read the findings and sources ↗

Permute ↗

Scoped APIs expose SQL reads, managed records and customer-authored operation code. Customer-built apps are supported, while complete workspace recovery, outbound CDC and minimum-plan access terms remain unresolved.

Permute hosted workspaces / scoped REST and TypeScript SDK access to connected query sources, file datasets, managed database records, operation code and custom apps. Signed enterprise contracts and upstream vendor rights remain separate; no live tenant migration or reliability test was performed.

Read the findings and sources ↗

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