We compare results from the fully toroidal TORIC–SSFPQL package (Brambilla and Bilato 2006 Nucl. Fusion46 s387) and from the plane-stratified geometry solver FELICE (Brambilla 1989 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion31 723) to illustrate the advantages and the limitations of the two approaches for the simulations of Ion Cyclotron Radio Frequency heating of tokamak plasmas. We point out that some of the predictions of the plane-stratified models do not straightforwardly apply to the true toroidal configuration. This is the case, in particular, for the excitation of guided modes between the plasma surface and the vessel.