Restaurant POS comparison grid
Six restaurant POS systems, feature by feature. Tick the features you can't live without and the grid counts which systems cover them.
Tick your must-haves in the grid below and the list re-ranks to fit you.
Our picks
Toast
Best all-round, and for 3 to 50 locations
- Payroll, reservations and kiosks from one vendor
- Toast Go 3 handheld, 24+ hour battery claimed
- Menu publishing and store pricing across locations
Watch: 24 or 36 month contract and a quoted, not published, rate
SpotOn
Best for published pricing and a month-to-month option
- Rates printed on its pricing page
- Essentials plan is month to month
- 24/7 support for POS, payments and hardware
Watch: The $0 All-In plan has a 2-year minimum
Square for Restaurants
Best for small spots that won't sign a contract
- No long-term contract
- Runs on iPads or Square hardware you own
- Pre-authorized bar tabs since December 2024
Watch: Shallower menu tools; support is mostly online
Lightspeed Restaurant
Best for hotel bars and venues with several revenue centers
- Runs on iPads
- Pre-authorized tabs with Lightspeed Payments
- Strong multi-location tools on top plans
Watch: Usually an annual contract
Clover
Best when a seller you trust offers good terms
- Software from $14.95 a month per device
- Clover Flex handheld
- Month to month when bought direct
Watch: Bank resellers can sign you to 36 months
Aloha (NCR Voyix)
Best if it already works and your contract isn't up
- Local server keeps running for days offline
- Mature tabs, transfers and splits
- Central menu with store exceptions
Watch: 36 months typical on-premise, and aging hardware
YesPartly or with conditionsNoNot confirmed, ask in the demo
| Feature Tick your must-haves | Toast | SpotOn | Square for Restaurants | Lightspeed Restaurant | Clover | Aloha (NCR Voyix) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Must-haves covered | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Cost and contract | ||||||
| Yes Starter Kit, paid for in a higher processing rate | Yes All-In, 2-year minimum | Yes Free plan, higher processing rate | No From $69/mo | No From $14.95/mo per device | No About $100-175/mo per terminal, operator reported | |
| No Quoted per restaurant; often about 2.49% + $0.15 | Yes 2.45% + $0.15 to 2.79% + $0.20 | Yes 2.4% + $0.15 to 2.6% + $0.15 | Partly About 2.6% + $0.10, confirm in your quote | Partly Direct rates published; resellers set their own | No Bundled and quoted, about 2.6% to 3.0% | |
| No 24 or 36 months, auto-renews | Yes Essentials plan; All-In is 2 years | Yes No long-term contract | Partly Usually annual | Partly Direct, yes; bank resellers up to 36 months | Partly Aloha Cloud advertises no long term; on-premise 36 months typical | |
| No Toast's own Android devices | No SpotOn's own stations and handhelds | Yes iPad or Square hardware, bought outright | Yes Runs on iPads | No Clover devices | No NCR terminals and a local server | |
| Bar and floor | ||||||
| Yes Minimum hold you set; 24-hour holds | Yes Incremental authorization available | Yes Since December 2024 | Yes With Lightspeed Payments | Partly Through third-party apps | Yes Mature, works offline on the local server | |
| Yes Toast Go 3, 24+ hour battery claimed | Yes Handheld, "an entire shift" battery claimed | Yes Square Handheld or iPhone | Yes iPhone or iPod | Yes Clover Flex | Ask Depends on your dealer's setup | |
| Yes Pre-auth needs a connection | Yes Switches on automatically | Partly Queued payments; declines are your risk | Ask Ask what stops working offline | Partly Offline payments; declines are your risk | Yes Local server runs for days | |
| Yes Native | Partly Third-party integration | Yes Square Kiosk | Ask Ask in the demo | Ask Ask your seller | Ask Ask your dealer | |
| Guests and orders | ||||||
| Yes Native, plus branded app and delivery | Yes Commission-free ordering page | Yes Square Online | Yes Native ordering | Yes Clover Online Ordering | Yes Aloha Online Ordering | |
| Yes Toast Tables | Yes SpotOn Reserve | Partly Through integrations | Partly Through integrations | Partly Through apps | Partly Through integrations | |
| Staff and back office | ||||||
| Yes Toast Payroll | Partly Gusto, ADP, Paylocity or Paychex integrations | Yes Square Payroll | Partly Through integrations | Partly Through apps | Partly Through integrations | |
| Yes Menu publishing and store pricing | Yes Shared menus and comparative reporting | Partly Premium plan only | Yes Strongest on Premium and Enterprise | Partly Basic; varies by app | Yes Central menu with store exceptions | |
| Yes Phone, chat and email | Yes For POS, payments and hardware | Partly Mostly online | Ask Ask what hours your plan covers | Partly Depends on who sold it to you | Partly Through your local dealer | |
| Next step | Get a free Toast quote | Get a free SpotOn quote | Read our notes | Read our notes | Read our notes | Read our notes |
How to use the grid
- Untick any system you have already ruled out.
- Tick the three to six features your restaurant can't run without. A bar might pick pre-authorized tabs, handhelds and offline cards. A group might pick multi-location menus and 24/7 support.
- Use "Show only must-haves" to shrink the grid, then print it or download the CSV and take it to each demo.
- Anything marked "Ask" or "Partly" is a demo question. Make the rep show it working on your menu, not tell you about it.
Where the grid comes from
Each cell comes from the vendor's own 2026 pricing and product pages, and from the sourced tables in our guides: Toast vs SpotOn, Aloha alternatives for multi-unit groups and the bar tabs guide. Where we could not confirm a feature, the cell says "Ask" instead of guessing. Vendors change plans often, so confirm anything that decides your choice in writing.
Common questions
Which restaurant POS has the most features?
Toast has the deepest first-party product line in this grid: payroll, reservations, kiosks, online ordering and multi-location tools all come from Toast itself. The cost of that is a 24 or 36 month contract and a quoted, not published, processing rate.
Which restaurant POS has no long-term contract?
Square for Restaurants is month to month, and SpotOn's Essentials plan is month to month with hardware bought up front. Clover is month to month when bought direct, but bank resellers can sign you to up to 36 months.
Which POS runs on iPads?
Square and Lightspeed run on iPads. Toast, SpotOn, Clover and Aloha use their own hardware, which usually has no resale value if you leave.
Next up
Read the full comparisons
Toast vs SpotOn
Prices, rates, contracts, hardware and support, with a worked cost example on real card volume.
Toast pricing, explained
Plans, processing rates, hardware, add-ons and the card volume where the $0 plan stops being cheap.
Switching from Aloha to Toast
Contracts, hardware, network, menu rebuild, gift cards and install day, in the order they bite.