Alternatives to Square for Restaurants
Restaurant POS from Square with tableside ordering and KDS
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Where Square for Restaurants stands out
Verified capabilities most alternatives don't have.
Why people leave Square for Restaurants
Dashed reasons are sourced facts; the rest are opinions. Vendors can dispute.
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Ranked alternatives
Ordered by Alt Score. Click any score to see the breakdown.
Toast is an all-in-one restaurant point-of-sale and management platform with Android-based hardware, online ordering, payroll, and payments for food-service businesses.
Clover is a POS platform with proprietary hardware and an app marketplace serving restaurants and retail, owned by Fiserv, with restaurant-specific dining plans.
Lightspeed Restaurant is a cloud-based restaurant POS covering tableside ordering, menu management, and reporting, part of Lightspeed's commerce platform.
SpotOn is a restaurant point-of-sale and management platform bundling handheld ordering, online ordering, loyalty, and marketing with integrated payments.
Lavu is an iPad-based restaurant POS covering tableside ordering, kitchen display, inventory, and online ordering, aimed at independent restaurants and bars.
Revel Systems is an iPad-based POS platform for restaurants and retail with tableside ordering, kitchen display, inventory, and enterprise multi-location management.
TouchBistro is an iPad-based restaurant POS with tableside ordering, menu management, and add-on reservations, loyalty, and online ordering modules.
GloriaFood is a free online ordering and table-reservation system for restaurants, monetized through optional paid add-ons like a branded app and card payments.
Feature comparison
Rows come from the Restaurant POS & management checklist (16 rows). Human-verified cells only. ? means the value has not been verified.
| Restaurant POS & management checklist | Square for Restaurants | Toast | Clover | Lightspeed Restaurant | SpotOn | Lavu |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | ||||||
| Starts at | ||||||
| License | ||||||
| Platforms | ||||||
| Tableside / handheld ordering | ||||||
| Menu management | ||||||
| Online ordering & delivery | ||||||
| Kitchen display system | ||||||
| Inventory management | ||||||
| Staff scheduling & payroll | ||||||
| Loyalty & gift cards | ||||||
| Reporting & analytics | ||||||
| Offline mode | ||||||
| Payment processing included | ||||||
| Own hardware | ||||||
| Multi-location |
Every fact and feature listed for Square for Restaurants is verified against its own pages. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.
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License Proprietary verified 2026-07-12
Commercial proprietary SaaS; no open-source license.
With Square Free, there are no monthly subscription costs — you only pay processing fees when you take a payment.
https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing -
Pricing model Freemium verified 2026-07-12
You can upgrade from the Square Free plan to the Square Plus plan by subscribing to it here
https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing -
Starts at Free verified 2026-07-12
Free plan $0/mo; paid Plus $49/mo and Premium $149/mo per location.
$0/mo. per location $49/mo. per location $149/mo. per location
https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing -
Platforms iOS, Web verified 2026-07-12
Square for Restaurants POS runs on iPad/iOS and Square hardware; management via web Dashboard.
Cloud access so you can manage your business from anywhere
https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants -
Status active verified 2026-07-12
quick service, full service, cafés, bakeries, bars and breweries can run every workflow in one connected POS platform
https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants -
Tableside / handheld ordering Yes verified 2026-07-12
add handheld devices to your POS to reduce your customers’ wait times and fulfill orders from anywhere in one plac
https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants -
Menu management Yes verified 2026-07-12
Menu updates take seconds rather than hours or days, which keeps the front and back of house in sync.
https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants -
Online ordering & delivery Yes verified 2026-07-12
Take commission-free delivery and pickup orders through a branded ordering profile that seamlessly syncs
https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing -
Kitchen display system Partial verified 2026-07-12
KDS is a separate paid Square app ($20–$30/mo per device); not available in Square Free.
With Square KDS, instantly send orders to the kitchen, customize tickets for faster fulfillment
https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants -
Inventory management Yes verified 2026-07-12
Inventory tracking Track stock, costs, and product availability.
https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing -
Staff scheduling & payroll Partial verified 2026-07-12
Scheduling/time tracking included; payroll is separate Square Payroll (from $35/mo + $6 per person).
Team management for scheduling and time tracking
https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing -
Loyalty & gift cards Partial verified 2026-07-12
Square Loyalty and Square Gift Cards are separate add-on Square products.
Build a loyalty program with custom points and rewards.
https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing -
Reporting & analytics Yes verified 2026-07-12
Kitchen performance reporting See completed ticket count and
https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing -
Offline mode Partial verified 2026-07-12
Offline payments only, up to 24 hours; processed on reconnect.
offline payments for up to 24 hours. Offline payments are processed automatically when you reconnect your device to the internet
https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants -
Payment processing included Yes verified 2026-07-12
Integrated Square payments; in-person 2.6% + 15¢.
you only pay processing fees when you take a payment
https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing -
Own hardware Yes verified 2026-07-12
Square-branded hardware: Register, Stand, Terminal, Handheld, Kiosk.
Add hardware that works how you do Explore Square Register
https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants -
Multi-location Yes verified 2026-07-12
the monthly fee applies to each location you run
https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing
FAQ
Yes. Toast and GloriaFood have a free tier or are fully free. Free-tier limits in the comparison table are verified and dated.
Clover, Lightspeed Restaurant and SpotOn — every license claim links its source.