7 Best Tablet POS Systems For A Restaurant In 2023

We love that Lightspeed has shifted its pricing plans to offer features (including a very effective loyalty program builder) for quick-serve and full-service restaurants on all plan levels. We also like that Lightspeed has ordering options for all restaurant setups, whether you want self-serve kiosks for your fast-paced restaurant, tableside menus/ordering for your sit-down restaurant, or a solution for customers ordering in one or several hotel restaurants and bars (and ordering room service.)

Lightspeed also has great menu and inventory management features for restaurants of all sizes to optimize their offering and ordering cycle, an eCommerce integration to build your own restaurant website, and lots of software integrations. We’re especially impressed with the number of hospitality reservation software integrations for hotels and inns.

All Lightspeed plans come with one restaurant POS tablet software license. Additional tablet register software licenses cost $34/register/month.

Popular Lightspeed add-ons, such as kitchen display systems ($12+/month) and self-ordering kiosks ($39+/month) depend on the number of tablet software licenses you need.

Lightspeed integrations, such as liquid inventory management software, cost a separate monthly fee on behalf of the third-party software company.

Lightspeed works well for both quick-serve and full-service establishments, as well as niche establishments such as wine bars and hotels.

With a built-in loyalty program, uniquely available on all plans, restaurants can create different tiers and groups of loyalty members, creating either an exclusive experience for fine dining restaurants or something as simple as weekly brunch specials for groups like seniors.

Places like coffee shops and bakeries can create discounts or offer free items for certain items, or parts of items, such as a free croissant after five coffee orders. All restaurants can create text and email campaigns to get their most loyal and least active customers back to their location.

Lightspeed Restaurant loyalty program customer group discounts.

From a single iPad, restaurant owners and managers can make use of the software’s best inventory and menu management features, including:

• Assign ingredients to preferred vendors with automated purchase ordering capabilities
• Sync menu and inventory so that servers and managers get alerts about low-stock and disables that item/modifier on the tablet so servers can’t sell an out-of-stock product
• Assign single ingredients to multiple dishes to get accurate inventory reports, reordering points, and reduce sales of out-of-stock items
• Identify item spoilage, wastage, and theft so you can work to reduce lost profits
• Generate reports about the highest-performing menu items across locations and insights about how to capitalize on those opportunities

Lightspeed also allows you to create one master restaurant account to manage multiple locations. With one iPad, you can duplicate POS and KDS settings to make employee training easier (and send employees across locations), duplicate and change menu ingredients/items, apply your loyalty program across all locations, and sell/redeem gift cards from any of your locations. Chain restaurant owners can duplicate settings across all locations, and business owners who have different restaurants with different concepts can create custom restaurant settings but still get master reports to inform their business decisions.

While many restaurant tablet ordering systems offer standing self-serve kiosks, Lightspeed offers a unique self-ordering solution for sit-down restaurants. Using Lightspeed’s self-ordering table mode, customers can order multiple items over multiple courses at their own pace and pay for the entire meal at the end. You can have them pay using a contactless payment method, paying at a register, or paying a server who meets them at their table with a card reader. Customers can request help from servers, add modifiers and notes, and view the status of their order all from their tableside iPad kiosk.

Unfortunately for busy sit-down restaurants and fine-dining establishments, Lightspeed doesn’t have its own reservation/waitlist system. However, there are several affordable and well-designed integrations for sit-down establishments and hotels. In fact, many of these integrations are cheaper than built-in reservation systems that competitors offer.

Lightspeed Restaurant integration with hotel management software.

Lightspeed Restaurant iPad, iPad stand, kitchen printer, receipt printer, and cash drawer.

You can use iPads as tablet POS registers, customer-facing displays, kitchen display screens, self-serve kiosks, tableside ordering screens, and delivery managers.

You can contact Lightspeed about pricing for iPad bundles as well as individual iPad stands, card readers, cash drawers, and other POS accessories.

Alternatively, you may purchase your own Lightspeed-compatible hardware. Lightspeed has a support page listing all your hardware options, but you may want to check with a representative to double check that your hardware choices are all still compatible.

You are required to use Lightspeed Payments, Lightspeed’s payment processor (powered by Stripe), which charges the following per-transaction fees for those on the Starter and Essential plans:

• In-Person Payments: 2.6% + $0.10
• Online/QR Code Payments: 2.9% + $0.30

Note: With tableside QR code ordering and payments, you will get a higher fee than if you add a tableside self-ordering menu that allows customers to order from an iPad and pay with a physical card later. This is because a QR code order is essentially an online order.

While QR code ordering can be a great tool to take orders in places like pools or hotel rooms, consider using a tableside kiosk instead of an online ordering menu if your patrons are still physically sitting in your restaurant.

Lightspeed requires you to fill out a custom order form, which will detail your contract length. Lightspeed Restaurant’s pricing page lists only monthly fees, meaning that you can get a monthly contract to start with.

While longer contracts cost less in the long run, Lightspeed does charge an early termination fee, and hardware return windows are short (14 days for Apple products, 30 days for accessories). Consider starting out on that monthly plan until you’re sure Lightspeed is the tablet POS for your restaurant.

We appreciate that Revel’s tablet restaurant POS system offers restaurant, retail, and service management. This means that hybrid businesses and businesses with complex needs don’t have to compromise in terms of inventory management, types of product sales, and service listings. Revel also has a number of integrations that allow restaurant owners to do anything from adding a drive-through to their restaurant to starting a wine club at their high-end fine dining establishment.

If that level of customization isn’t enough, Revel offers an open API (Application Programming Interface), which allows restaurant owners to build custom connections between Revel software and third-party software to help their business run smoothly and seize opportunities that they couldn’t with a limited number of POS integrations.

Revel has many users that operate a number of franchises or brands under one account, and we love that Revel has the multilocation management features to help restaurant owners expand their reach.

Revel’s only advertised software plan applies to business owners that sign up for Revel’s standard three-year contract, agree to use Revel’s in-house payment processor, and use a minimum of two POS terminals.

Most businesses will need a custom quote since many add-ons, like online ordering or the system’s holistic driver delivery solution, cost an extra monthly fee.

Also, Revel’s onboarding fee starts at a one-time $674 fee, and includes software setup plus on-site installation. It’s a good investment for the less tech-savvy restaurant owners out there.

Revel’s iPad software customization and hardware integrations make this POS a great option for larger pizza shops, fast-paced bubble tea places, eateries that sell a decent amount of retail items, and other large restaurant businesses.

For fast-paced restaurants that take orders on multiple platforms and from custom ordering sources (such as drive-through lanes or curbside spots), Revel has one of the best KDS systems available. You can customize all your ordering sources by color and workflow, sending certain order types to different kitchen stations. You can also include an expo screen to make sure all orders are correct before passing them to a customer’s car window, handing them to takeout customers, and to third-party delivery drivers.

Revel POS kitchen display screen.

Revel’s online ordering and delivery management software makes Revel one of the best POS systems for pizza shops and other delivery-heavy restaurants. This is because you can create your own branded online ordering web-based app and a delivery experience that matches delivery platforms like DoorDash, without paying third-party fees. Customers get order status updates, real-time driver location, and accurate arrival estimates, while business owners can use cloud-based iPads to monitor drivers and order statuses on their end.

Revel tablet POS system delivery driver management.

Revel offers order-ready display screen software, which bubble tea shops and other made-to-order establishments with ticket number-based sales models can use to show waiting customers the status of their orders, and when orders are ready. Customers won’t have to walk up and ask about their orders, and servers will keep lines moving smoothly.

Revel customer-facing order status screen.

With Revel’s retail item sales capabilities, you can sell items by weight (excellent for buffets and large bakeries), sell merch, offer subscriptions for things like coffee, and sell event tickets as products. Using Revel’s appointment booking features, waitlist/reservation system, and fast floor planning modifications, you can easily serve large parties and charge service fees for doing so all from one tablet POS.

Many of Revel’s customers, including Cinnabon and Kung Fu Tea, appreciate the open platform that allows companies to create their own custom integrations with software providers that Revel doesn’t currently offer. Other Revel users make great use of Revel’s built-in integrations, including digital signage integrations (which help customers see and order faster), drive-through hardware integrations (which offer another avenue for customers to order), and numerous third-party security software options (which help you monitor for theft and wastage.)

Revel POS iPad POS register, iPad stand, and customer-facing display.

Most Revel restaurant tablet ordering system software runs on iPads. You can use iPads as cash registers, customer-facing displays, self-serve kiosks, tableside ordering screens, and kitchen display systems.

Revel kitchen display system software also works on Android tablets, while the company’s customer order-ready monitors only work with Android TVs.

A Revel representative can give you a custom hardware quote, or you may purchase your own Revel-compatible hardware with express written permission from the company. This is to ensure that you purchase the right hardware.

Revel has its own in-house payment processing system, Revel Advantage. All restaurant owners will get a custom payment processing fee quote.

If you want to work with a third-party payment processor such as Heartland, TSYS, Elavon, or Chase Paymentech, you will pay an additional monthly fee.

Revel’s standard contract lasts three years and comes with substantial early termination fees (up to $15,000.) Really test out the software, question your Revel representative about everything, and try to negotiate a merchant agreement that includes a monthly contract until you’re sure Revel is the right tablet POS system for your restaurant.

Do not feel pressured to sign right away; take the time to consider your options, read the fine print of your contract, ask about anything you don’t understand (in terms of the software and the contract), and make sure to get any “deals” or “waivers” in writing.

We love that Square’s tablet POS for restaurants is completely free and includes in-person POS software, an online ordering page that you can add other things like a contact form onto, and basic employee management. There is also low-cost Square kitchen display system (Square KDS) software available, plus add-ons like Square’s marketing and loyalty apps.

Square’s tablet POS stands, card readers, and accessories are all very affordable, and the company offers monthly plans with no early termination penalties, making Square a low-cost, low-risk investment in a restaurant POS system. This software is also easy to set up and use, so you and any staff can start fulfilling orders with minimal service delays.

On the Free plan, KDS licenses cost $20/license/month. On the Plus plan, extra tablet POS licenses cost $40/license/month.

Popular Square add-ons include Square Loyalty ($45+/month), Square Marketing ($15+/month), and Square Team Plus ($35/month/location.)

Square’s selling point isn’t necessarily its feature set, but the price of Square’s offering. For example, Square uniquely offers these features at a low cost (or even free):

• Free online ordering site builder for pickup or delivery; includes drag-and-drop website builder elements like subscription product offerings, a contact form, and custom order form (great for catering)
• Free Google business profile integration so that people looking for food near them can find and order directly from your establishments
• Square On-Demand Delivery with DoorDash so you can offer delivery without having to hire your own drivers
• Unlimited POS software licenses on free plan, which can be converted to self-serve kiosks and customer-facing displays

Square has also built an intuitive kitchen display system that allows you to take all order types, including third-party delivery platform orders, for a low cost. For a smaller restaurant relying a lot on third-party apps for exposure, the low-cost platform integrations are very useful. If you sync your menu and inventory, the system will automatically 86 any items/modifiers that use an ingredient you’ve run out of.

Square KDS screen self-serve order ticket.

Square’s Plus plan gives you access to order coursing, more employee management features such as user roles and permissions, and 24/7 support in case something goes wrong with your tablet POS system.

Square tablet POS iPad stand with built-in card reader.

You can run Square software on iPads and Androids. Most models are compatible with Square, so you can source any hardware you’d like. However, we’ve found that in general, this software and hardware is more geared towards Apple products.

To take payments using Square, you’ll need at least the $49 Square contactless card reader. You can also purchase a Square stand, which includes an iPad case and built-in card/mobile payment reader, for $149.

Payment processing is provided by Square Payments at the following rates:

• Card-present Transactions: 2.6% + $0.10
• Card-not-present Transactions: 2.9% + $0.30 (includes Square Online orders and QR code orders)

Square contracts are all month-to-month with no early termination fees.

Square hardware is sold upfront but also offers no-interest financing. The company also has a great hardware warranty that applies whether you purchase your POS hardware from Square or a third-party retailer.

While Toast doesn’t run on the kind of iPad or Android tablet you can pick up in stores, Toast offers excellent proprietary Android-based POS hardware built specifically for restaurants. The hardware is more expensive than if you sourced your own tablets, but it’s more spill-proof, heat-resistant, and durable than relatively flimsy tablets you can buy in stores.

We also love that the company takes a unique approach to restaurant management in that it works to provide software for every facet of running a restaurant business. That’s why Toast’s restaurant management product offering allows you to build your own restaurant ecosystem, with software like Toast Payroll and Toast Delivery working perfectly with your core POS system to create a painless restaurant management experience.

After some initial investment and setup, your Toast-powered tablet POS system will be easy for you and your team to use.

Toast offers a Quick Start Bundle plan, a pay-as-you-go plan that costs $0 upfront for proprietary Toast tablet POS systems, and you’ll pay no monthly fees. However, you are limited to 1-2 POS terminals, and the second optional terminal comes with a one-time fee and an extra monthly software license fee. You also get charged higher processing fees to “make up for” the lack of monthly fees. If you have a smaller budget but like Toast software and want to have it in the long run, consider starting with this plan and upgrading as soon as possible.

Toast’s Core plan comes with core restaurant tablet POS functions plus tableside QR code ordering. You may add things like online ordering and delivery management for an extra monthly fee.

The New Restaurants plan includes core POS functions plus the “lite” version of employee management software like scheduling and payroll. This plan costs $110/month + $4/employee/month.

The Growth plan includes online ordering and delivery.

Most of Toast’s best features, such as its loyalty program, kitchen displays, multilocation, and third-party delivery integrations, come as paid add-ons. You’ll get a custom quote for these add-ons and usually, a bulk discount if you sign up for several at once, but these are the base prices of some add-ons:

• Ordering & Delivery Platform Integrations: Get DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub integrations for $30/month each or bundle all three for $75/month
• Self-Ordering Kiosk: $799 (hardware purchase) plus $90/month for software license
• Loyalty: $50/month
• Digital Ordering: $75/month
• Email Marketing: $75/month

Toast’s best features are built into its loyalty program, online ordering platform, employee management, multilocation management, and accounting capabilities.

With the Toast loyalty program, you can set the system up to automatically:

• Prompt For Signup: Prompt your customers to sign up for your loyalty program on your online ordering platform, receipts (physical or digital), at self-serve kiosks, and on customer-facing display tablets before and after they finish ordering
• Collect Card Data: Collect customer card data and attach it to a loyalty account so customers can earn every time they use that specific card
• Create Loyalty Accounts: Customers will, upon signup, get a link to their customer loyalty account portal that they can use to add more payment methods to collect points, check on/redeem rewards, enter their birthday for a special birthday treat, and more
• Prompt For Use: Customers and servers are notified when a customer can redeem points, so they’ll never miss a chance to spend their points at your establishment
• Collect Anywhere: Customers can earn and redeem points at any of your locations, on all purchases or only certain ones, and earn extra points on designated items

Toast restaurant POS loyalty program signup prompt.

Toast’s online ordering platform is also unique, allowing you to sell eGift cards that customers can send to others as gifts, provide dynamic upselling suggestions to increase your average order size, and set order volume limits during peak hours to your staff won’t get overwhelmed. Like Revel, Toast allows you to provide a branded ordering and delivery experience, although some users argue that Toast’s web-based apps look more sleek.

Toast’s employee scheduling solution is great for restaurant owners with shift gaps and call-offs because there’s a formal submission request for shift shifts, as well as text notifications about shift updates and open shifts that anyone can easily pick up.

Toast tablet POS employee scheduling software.

Multilocation restaurants will find it easy to duplicate all settings across several locations, even for tiny details like your kitchen display workflow for different sections. You can create templates for everything that are easily duplicated and modified whenever you need. Restaurant owners can create locked-in rules as well as variable ones that can be changed with the right access levels.

When it comes to accounting, Toast offers several ways to collect data and funnel it into Toast-generated reports and partner integrations with software like QuickBooks Online. For example, xtraCHEF syncs your invoices, sales, payroll data, and more and automatically funnels all that information into your accounting software.

With xtraCHEF, you don’t have to record data by hand and you’ll get a better picture of your restaurant’s finances, sources of profit loss, and optimum inventory levels. You’ll also understand the difference between your expected and actual profits, and be able to see how your profits will change given fluctuating food prices.

Toast offers highly durable POS equipment, including tablet and mobile POS systems. The Toast Go 2 is one of the best handheld POS systems for restaurants we’ve encountered, but it doesn’t technically count as a tablet.

Tablet-based POS hardware includes the $799 countertop POS, $499 kitchen display system, and $799 self-ordering kiosk. Depending on your monthly plan and number of software licenses, you may get a bulk discount and pay less per tablet.

Midsize single-location and multilocation businesses will need to get a custom quote on a specialized POS hardware package.

Toast offers flat-rate payment processing for individuals on the Quick Start Bundle plan, and those on the Standard plan who opt into the starter kit. Payment processing ranges from 2.49% plus $0.15 to 3.49% plus $0.15 per order and depend on whether you pay for your tablet POS hardware upfront, and whether you add the digital ordering package to your starter kit for no monthly fee, but an increase of 0.4% in payment processing fees.

Any plan with a custom hardware quote will also have a custom payment processing fee.

We highly recommend that if you can pay a predictable monthly fee, you should do it. You’ll almost always save money in the long run. For example, while a 0.4% increase in payment processing fees to get an entire digital ordering suite with the loyalty program included doesn’t seem like much, it will add up over time.

Toast’s standard contracts last 1-3 years, come with a substantial early termination fee, and require you to use Toast payment processing.

As always, we recommend you make extensive use of demos, read through your contract, and consider a short-term plan before committing to any one tablet POS system in the long run.

We love TouchBistro’s unique hybrid online/offline mode that allows you to take orders and payments on your tablets whether you have a stable internet connection or not. This positions TouchBistro as a uniquely perfect solution for restaurants with a mobile sales component, such as food truck and catering ventures.

Like Toast, TouchBistro offers an all-in-one online ordering, loyalty, gift card, and marketing platform. Unlike Toast, TouchBistro also has built-in reservations and waitlist system, which makes TouchBistro an all-in-one solution for sit-down restaurants that take a substantial number of waitlist patrons and reservations.

We also like that you can bring your own tablets, choose your own hardware accessories, and choose your own payment processor. It’s a refreshing level of flexibility among restaurant tablet POS providers.

TouchBistro offers the following plans, but the company requires every business owner to get a custom quote, so your pricing may be different than listed below:

• Solo: $69/month for one software license; $105/month for one iPad and software license bundle
• Dual: $129/month for two software licenses; $209/month for software and hardware
• Team: $249/month for five software licenses; $359/month for software and hardware
• Unlimited: $399/month for unlimited licenses; custom pricing for software and hardware

The company also charges a nonrefundable setup fee that starts at $200 and includes your hardware setup plus software walkthrough.

TouchBistro add-ons include:

• Online Ordering: $50/month
• Loyalty: $99/month
• Marketing: $99/month
• Gift Cards: $25/month
• Reservations: $229/month

Note: TouchBistro is one of few restaurant tablet POS software providers that has created their own reservations and waitlist system. The company charges no per-cover fees and has no caps on reservations/waitlists, making TouchBistro a solid option for establishments that take a lot of reservations.

TouchBistro is one of the best food truck POS systems, specifically because of its offline mode that allows you to take orders and payments from within your truck. You can place a space-saving iPad Mini in your truck and get going fast.

The online ordering platform allows you to do many things, but one of the biggest benefits for food trucks is that you can post your locations on your own branded web-based app so people have an idea of where to find you. You can include restaurant and food truck locations.

With the web-based app, you can also:

• Customize your online presence by branding the app, adding your socials, and creating pages such as “FAQs” and “Contact Us”
• Accept orders for pickup and delivery with estimated wait times that can vary depending on how many orders are in your kitchen order queue
• Allow customers to sign up for, automatically collect, and redeem points from the online ordering platform
• Generate item pairings that show up as dynamic upselling suggestions on orders
• Accept customer feedback to assist you in making your restaurant better (and boosting the confidence of stellar employees)

The web-based app is also one of several places you can place your waitlist and reservations widgets. Customers can place themselves on a waitlist and get SMS status updates on your app, on Google, and at the host stand. They can make reservations on your app, on Google, on an existing website with a reservations widget, by phone, or by walking in and speaking to a host. Customers will get SMS updates about reservations and a request to confirm their reservation, which will help reduce no-shows.

TouchBistro reservations management on iPad POS, including table locking to accommodate reservations.

Finally, there’s TouchBistro’s excellent catering features, which includes the ability to take catering orders a preset number of days in advance, require deposits that vary depending on how far you have to drive, and the ability to take notes for orders. You can start a house account with a catering client and charge on a recurring basis, plus any service fees or gratuity owed. TouchBistro kitchen display software can be customized to receive and set aside resources for catering orders, and caterers can sell on-location with TouchBistro’s hybrid offline setup.

TouchBistro POS system delivery parameters for caterers to designate delivery fees.

TouchBistro countertop iPad POS, iPad stand, handheld iPad POS, cash drawer, card reader, and receipt printer.

You may purchase iPads on your own and use them as tablet POS registers, customer-facing displays, and kitchen displays. Alternatively, you can buy iPads from TouchBistro as part of a software bundle and pay for your hardware on a monthly basis, essentially leasing your tablets, but we don’t recommend this as you’ll spend more money in the long run and won’t even own your iPad.

TouchBistro also offers hardware bundles to get cash drawers, iPad stands, card readers, and other accessories, or you can shop compatible hardware on your own using information from the company’s support pages.

TouchBistro offers its own in-house payment processor, TouchBistro Payments, powered by Chase. You also have the option to work with other payment processors such as Worldpay, Square, Moneris, and TSYS.

TouchBistro requires all restaurant owners to get a custom quote and fill out an order form. This means that you’ll get a custom contract length, price, and terms. Start off with a short-term plan if you’re not sure whether TouchBistro is right for you, because you will have to pay an early termination fee in the form of paying all fees owed between the time you cancel and the amount of time your contract was supposed to last.

You also have to notify TouchBistro in writing at least 30 days before the end of your contract if you’d like to cancel. Otherwise, your contract will renew automatically.

We love that MYR (Master Your Rush) POS is built specifically for quick-serve establishments and offers so much at such an affordable price. The POS system offers single location and franchise management plans, with several add-ons designed to help quick-serve restaurants take drive-through orders, phone orders, orders from a mobile app, and with a handheld iPad tablet.

MYR POS is a newer POS system, so it doesn’t offer many integrations or documentation, but it’s definitely worth a try for fast food joints that want to speed up ordering times and even franchise locations.

MYR advertises two plans. The “leaner” Starter Kit costs $70/month (billed annually) and the “everything” plan costs $150/month. The company advertises that the everything plan includes multiple tablet POS registers and kitchen displays, but does not get specific about exactly how many you get and whether the price increases based on the number of software licenses you purchase.

The core POS costs $100, and the direct integrations with third-party platforms costs $50, so together, they make up all of MYR POS’s add-ons and integration offerings (a.k.a. everything.)

You’ll get a custom quote on franchise plans.

MYR POS’s most unique features for quick-serve restaurants include:

• Phone Ordering: Accept phone orders and have the system automatically populate fields such as name, callback number, and address
• Drive-Through: Send drive-through orders to your kitchen displays, include an extra dispatch monitor, and use a card reader at your drive-through windows to speed up payments
• Franchise Management Portal: Collect royalties and fees from different locations automatically by syncing MYR POS with your QuickBooks Online account; also allow franchise managers access to their own franchise settings
• Native Delivery App Integration: MYR POS offers built-in integrations with major third-party delivery platforms such as DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Skip The Dishes (other POS systems usually require you to pay for a third-party software such as Chowly or Otter to take delivery platform orders)
• Ordering App: Customers can place online orders through your own branded web-based app, Google business profile, and media profiles; send customers SMS order status updates

MYR POS automated royalty fee collection via QuickBooks Online integration.

MYR POS iPad plus iPad stand.

MYR POS runs on iPads, which you can use as countertop registers, handheld POS terminals, customer-facing displays, and kitchen displays.

The company allows you to use the Clover Flex or Clover Mini, as well as Ingenico card readers, as payment terminals.

MYR POS also sells hardware bundles at a custom price with financing options available (consider a small business loan rather than a financing plan with a high-interest rate if you don’t have the funds to invest in hardware right now).

Unfortunately, MYR POS does not currently integrate with any providers in the US except for First Data and Payroc. You’ll get a custom payment processing fee with each payment processing provider.

MYR POS provides monthly, yearly, and multiyear contracts according to the terms in your custom order form. You must inform MYR POS in writing that you’d like to cancel your plan at least 30 days before the end of your contract term or it will automatically renew.

If you purchase hardware from MYR POS, you must inform the company that you have received it within five business days of receiving it, or it won’t be covered under any hardware warranty.

We like that Clover allows you to purchase your tablet hardware, POS software, and payment processor from one place. Having the freedom to choose your own payment processor means that you can shop around for the lowest payment processing fees for your business.

You also get access to Clover’s extensive app market, with 400+ apps available for restaurants to operate efficiently. There are apps for kitchen display systems, marketing tools, and restaurant-specific inventory management, among many others.

The listed pricing is for businesses that purchase Clover hardware upfront.

If you decide to pay for your Clover hardware over time, you’ll be charged one monthly fee for your Clover hardware/software package. Monthly pricing for both your software and hardware is the following:

• Counter Service Restaurant: $90/month-$175/month
• Table Service Restaurant: $150/month-$290/month

If you choose to purchase Clover hardware from another merchant services provider, you may pay different monthly software fees.

Clover’s best built-in features include:

• Loyalty Program: As part of Clover’s guest engagement tools, offer a loyalty program that customers can use in-person and online. Choose how customers earn and redeem points, allow customers to check-in at your restaurant to earn points, and create loyalty campaigns.
• Online Ordering Page: Create your own online ordering page that syncs to your Google business profile to generate sales from people looking for dining near them. Allow customers to schedule orders for pickup or delivery.
• QR Code Ordering: Customers can scan to order or scan to pay using QR codes, uniquely available on all Clover plans.
• Third-Party Menu Integrations: Create menus for third-party apps like DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats. Funnel all order types to kitchen printers or kitchen display screen.

Clover POS loyalty program.

Most restaurant owners will need to install some apps from Clover’s app market to give their software all the features restaurants need to thrive. These include affordable kitchen display software, such as Fresh KDS, that can run on tablets, perishable inventory apps, and reservation management software. You can take advantage of revenue opportunities such as event hosting and food/drink subscriptions with Clover third-party software apps. There are also niche apps that help restaurant owners, such as a free ID scanner app that makes Clover one of the best POS systems for bars.

Clover countertop POS system, handheld POS system, barcode scanner, cash drawer, and card reader.

Clover’s restaurant hardware options include the following (pricing is for merchants who purchase their hardware upfront and in full through Clover.com):

• Clover Go: $49; Bluetooth card reader to accept swipe, chip, tap, and mobile wallet payments
• Clover Flex: $499; handheld POS terminal for servers to take orders, accept payments, and print receipts
• Clover Mini: $799; compact countertop POS device for restaurants with little space to take orders, payments, and print receipts
• Clover Station: $1,349 (Clover Station Solo) or $1,799 (Clover Station Duo); full-size countertop POS system and optional customer-facing display to take orders, payments, print receipts, fire orders, and more

Clover also offers a variety of hardware accessories, such as kitchen printers, barcode scanners, and cash drawers. Pricing for additional hardware may vary depending on your current Clover hardware setup.

If you purchase your Clover hardware, software, and merchant services from a Clover reseller, your hardware costs may vary dramatically from the pricing listed above.

If you use Clover’s parent company, Fiserv, for payment processing, you’ll get the following flat-rate payment processing:

• Card-Present Transactions: 2.3% + $0.10 per transaction
• Card-Not-Present Transactions: 3.5% + $0.10 per transaction

Card-not-present transactions include any phone order, third-party ordering platform order (e.g., Grubhub and Order With Google), invoice payment, online order on a Clover-hosted website, manually-keyed-in card payment, and any form of payment that is not a swipe/chip/tap card payment, cash, or check.

If a large amount of your revenue comes from online or phone orders, choose a different payment processor or POS provider for your restaurant.

Clover offers 36-month and 48-month contracts, with early termination fees if you cancel your Clover subscription early.

Also, you can’t use your Clover hardware with any other POS software, sell your Clover hardware, or transfer ownership of your hardware in any way, making your Clover devices useless if you want to stop using Clover POS software.

We recommend you really consider whether Clover is the right POS system for you before committing to getting any hardware and that you get a better merchant contract with one of these top Clover resellers if you decide that Clover is the best fit for your restaurant.