# Alternatives to Square for Restaurants

Square for Restaurants is Square's restaurant-specific point-of-sale package adding coursing, floor plans, and kitchen display on top of Square's payments and hardware.

Square for Restaurants ranks #7 of 9 in Restaurant POS & management, with an Alt Score of 85. It is proprietary, freemium from Free and available on iOS and Web. 12 of 12 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/square-restaurants/
Category: Restaurant POS & management

## Where Square for Restaurants stands out

- **Own hardware** — 4 of 9 apps with a verified answer have this

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Square for Restaurants is built for food-and-beverage businesses — quick-service and full-service restaurants, cafés, bakeries, bars, and breweries. It suits both single independent venues and multi-location operators, since the monthly plan fee applies per location. A free plan makes it accessible to small operators who want to pay only processing fees.
- **What you get**: You get a connected restaurant POS platform covering menu management, order and table/seat management with coursing, commission-free online ordering and delivery, and reporting. Plans are tiered: Square Free ($0/mo), Plus ($49/mo per location), and Premium ($149/mo per location). Related capabilities like Kitchen Display (KDS), Kiosk, Loyalty, Gift Cards, and Payroll are separate Square products or paid add-ons that plug into the same account.
- **How it works**: The POS runs on iPad/iOS and Square's own hardware (Register, Stand, Terminal, Handheld, Kiosk), with a cloud-based Dashboard for managing the business from anywhere across devices and locations. Payments are processed through Square itself (2.6% + 15¢ in person), so no third-party processor is needed. Offline payments can be accepted for up to 24 hours and are processed automatically when the device reconnects.

## Profile

- **License**: Proprietary (verified 2026-07-12)
- **Pricing model**: Freemium (verified 2026-07-12)
- **Starts at**: Free (verified 2026-07-12)
- **Platforms**: iOS, Web
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-12)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [Toast](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/toast.md) | 100 | Proprietary | iOS, Android, Web |
| 2 | [Clover](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/clover.md) | 96 | Proprietary / commercial (Clover Network, LLC, a Fiserv company) | iOS, Android, Web |
| 3 | [Lightspeed Restaurant](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/lightspeed-restaurant.md) | 96 | Proprietary (commercial SaaS) | iOS, Web |
| 4 | [SpotOn](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/spoton.md) | 96 | Proprietary (commercial SaaS) | iOS, Web |
| 5 | [Lavu](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/lavu.md) | 85 | Proprietary (commercial SaaS) | iOS, Web |
| 6 | [Revel Systems](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/revel.md) | 85 | Proprietary (commercial) | iOS |
| 7 | [TouchBistro](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/touchbistro.md) | 70 | Proprietary (commercial SaaS) | iOS, Web |
| 8 | [GloriaFood](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/gloriafood.md) | 55 | Proprietary SaaS (owned by Oracle) | Web, iOS, Android |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| Restaurant POS & management checklist | Square for Restaurants | Toast | Clover | Lightspeed Restaurant | SpotOn | Lavu |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Subscription | Subscription | Subscription | ? |
| Starts at | Free | Free | ? | US$69/month | $0/station per month (All-In plan) | ? |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary / commercial (Clover Network, LLC, a Fiserv company) | Proprietary (commercial SaaS) | Proprietary (commercial SaaS) | Proprietary (commercial SaaS) |
| Platforms | iOS, Web | iOS, Android, Web | iOS, Android, Web | iOS, Web | iOS, Web | iOS, Web |
| Tableside / handheld ordering | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Menu management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Online ordering & delivery | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Kitchen display system | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Inventory management | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes |
| Staff scheduling & payroll | Partial | Yes | Partial | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Loyalty & gift cards | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Reporting & analytics | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Offline mode | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Payment processing included | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Own hardware | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial | Yes | No |
| Multi-location | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |

## Sources

Sources for Square for Restaurants. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **License**: Proprietary — <https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Note: Commercial proprietary SaaS; no open-source license.
  - Quote: “With Square Free, there are no monthly subscription costs — you only pay processing fees when you take a payment.”
- **Pricing model**: Freemium — <https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “You can upgrade from the Square Free plan to the Square Plus plan by subscribing to it here”
- **Starts at**: Free — <https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Note: Free plan $0/mo; paid Plus $49/mo and Premium $149/mo per location.
  - Quote: “$0/mo. per location $49/mo. per location $149/mo. per location”
- **Platforms**: iOS, Web — <https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Note: Square for Restaurants POS runs on iPad/iOS and Square hardware; management via web Dashboard.
  - Quote: “Cloud access so you can manage your business from anywhere”
- **Status**: active — <https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “quick service, full service, cafés, bakeries, bars and breweries can run every workflow in one connected POS platform”
- **Tableside / handheld ordering**: Yes — <https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “add handheld devices to your POS to reduce your customers’ wait times and fulfill orders from anywhere in one plac”
- **Menu management**: Yes — <https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “Menu updates take seconds rather than hours or days, which keeps the front and back of house in sync.”
- **Online ordering & delivery**: Yes — <https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “Take commission-free delivery and pickup orders through a branded ordering profile that seamlessly syncs”
- **Kitchen display system**: Partial — <https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Note: KDS is a separate paid Square app ($20–$30/mo per device); not available in Square Free.
  - Quote: “With Square KDS, instantly send orders to the kitchen, customize tickets for faster fulfillment”
- **Inventory management**: Yes — <https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “Inventory tracking Track stock, costs, and product availability.”
- **Staff scheduling & payroll**: Partial — <https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Note: Scheduling/time tracking included; payroll is separate Square Payroll (from $35/mo + $6 per person).
  - Quote: “Team management for scheduling and time tracking”
- **Loyalty & gift cards**: Partial — <https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Note: Square Loyalty and Square Gift Cards are separate add-on Square products.
  - Quote: “Build a loyalty program with custom points and rewards.”
- **Reporting & analytics**: Yes — <https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “Kitchen performance reporting See completed ticket count and”
- **Offline mode**: Partial — <https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Note: Offline payments only, up to 24 hours; processed on reconnect.
  - Quote: “offline payments for up to 24 hours. Offline payments are processed automatically when you reconnect your device to the internet”
- **Payment processing included**: Yes — <https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Note: Integrated Square payments; in-person 2.6% + 15¢.
  - Quote: “you only pay processing fees when you take a payment”
- **Own hardware**: Yes — <https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Note: Square-branded hardware: Register, Stand, Terminal, Handheld, Kiosk.
  - Quote: “Add hardware that works how you do Explore Square Register”
- **Multi-location**: Yes — <https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing> (verified 2026-07-12)
  - Quote: “the monthly fee applies to each location you run”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/