The best POS for restaurants is the one that fits how you serve. A full-service room with coursing and handhelds needs something different from a counter-service cafe, and the way you pay for hardware and processing can matter as much as the feature list. Toast, Square, and Clover are the three systems most owners shortlist. Here's how they differ on hardware, payments, pricing models, and contracts, plus the questions to ask before you sign. Pricing and terms change often, so confirm current rates and plans with each vendor before you decide.
Toast, Square, and Clover at a glance
| Toast | Square for Restaurants | Clover | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | Restaurants only | Many business types, with a restaurant edition | Many business types, with restaurant plans |
| Hardware | Toast's own Android-based terminals, handhelds, kiosks, and kitchen displays | Square's own devices plus iPads | Clover's own countertop, compact, and handheld devices |
| Payments | Processed by Toast | Processed by Square | Processed by Clover's parent company, Fiserv, often sold through a bank or reseller |
| Pricing model | Software plans plus processing; hardware upfront or a low-upfront option with higher processing rates | Free plan plus paid plans per location; some devices carry monthly fees | Monthly plans by restaurant type; hardware bought outright or bundled into monthly payments |
| Contract | Multi-year agreements are common | Month to month on standard plans | Varies by who sells it to you |
| Strong fit | Full-service and high-volume restaurants that want restaurant depth in one system | Cafes, counter service, and smaller rooms that want a low commitment | Owners who want a wide app market, or who prefer to buy through their bank or a local reseller |
Toast
Toast is built only for restaurants, and it shows in the details: menu modifiers, coursing, table management, kitchen display screens, Toast Go handhelds for ordering and paying at the table, kiosks, and online ordering. Add-ons cover payroll, loyalty, gift cards, marketing, and delivery.
How it's priced: Toast combines a software subscription, payment processing through Toast, and hardware. You can pay for hardware upfront, or take a lower-upfront path that carries higher processing rates. Many add-ons are priced separately.
What owners like: restaurant-specific depth, hardware built to survive kitchens and bars, and an offline mode that keeps orders and card payments moving during an internet outage.
What to watch: Toast software runs only on Toast hardware, so your devices won't move to another system if you leave. Many agreements are multi-year, and add-ons can raise the monthly total quickly.
Square for Restaurants
Square for Restaurants is the restaurant edition of Square's wider point of sale. It runs on Square's own devices, including countertop registers, terminals, and handhelds, and on iPads. Square also offers a kitchen display app and self-order kiosks, and higher tiers add more full-service tools, such as coursing and seat management.
How it's priced: a free plan to start, plus paid plans per location that add features. Processing is a percentage plus a per-transaction fee, and rates can differ by plan. Some devices, like kitchen displays and kiosks, can carry their own monthly fees. Higher-volume sellers can ask about custom pricing.
What owners like: no long-term contract on standard plans, a fast setup, offline payments, and loyalty and marketing tools included in the paid plans as of this writing.
What to watch: the most useful full-service features sit on paid tiers, and per-device fees add up as you add screens and locations.
Clover
Clover is owned by Fiserv and sold directly and through banks, payment companies, and independent resellers. Its restaurant plans come in counter-service and table-service versions, with hardware that includes countertop stations, a compact terminal, a handheld with a built-in printer, and kitchen displays. An app market adds third-party tools, and basic loyalty comes built in.
How it's priced: monthly software plans by restaurant type, plus processing. You can buy hardware outright or roll it into a monthly payment.
What owners like: the option to buy through a bank or local reseller they already know, solid hardware, and a wide app market.
What to watch: because so many companies sell Clover, the same hardware can come with different processing rates, fees, and contract terms. Clover devices generally stay tied to Clover processing, and units bought through one reseller may not move to another. Read the term, auto-renewal, early termination fees, and any equipment lease before you sign.
How to compare the real cost
Monthly software fees get the attention, but for most restaurants, processing costs far more each month than the software does. Start with the effective rate.
Effective rate = total processing fees ÷ card sales
Worked example: a restaurant runs $80,000 a month in card sales at a $40 average ticket, which is 2,000 transactions. Compare two hypothetical offers. These rates are illustrations only, so plug in the real quotes you get from each vendor.
| Offer A | Offer B | |
|---|---|---|
| Rate | 2.5% + $0.15 | 3.0% + $0.15 |
| Percentage fees | $2,000 | $2,400 |
| Per-transaction fees | $300 | $300 |
| Monthly processing | $2,300 | $2,700 |
| Effective rate | 2.875% | 3.375% |
Offer B costs $400 more a month, or $4,800 a year. If Offer B is the no-hardware-upfront path and the hardware would have cost $3,000, you've paid for that hardware in about eight months, and the higher rate keeps going after that.
Then build the full picture for each finalist:
Annual cost = (monthly software + add-ons + device fees) × 12 + annual processing + hardware
Run it at your real card volume, with every add-on you'll actually use, for each system on your shortlist. If you're opening a new restaurant, the POS is one line among many in your startup budget, so see how much it costs to open a restaurant for the rest.
Which is the best POS for restaurants like yours?
- Full service with coursing, handhelds, and a busy kitchen: Toast is built for this, and Square and Clover both have table-service options worth testing.
- Counter service, cafe, or bakery: all three work. Square's free plan and month-to-month terms make it easy to start.
- You bank locally and want one relationship: Clover through your bank or a reseller can make sense. Compare that offer against buying direct.
- Multiple locations: look closely at menu management across locations, reporting, and what each extra location adds to the monthly bill.
Questions to ask every vendor
- What are the rates for in-person, keyed-in, and online payments?
- How long is the agreement, does it renew automatically, and what does it cost to leave early?
- Do I own the hardware, and will it work if I switch processors?
- What does each add-on cost per month, including online ordering, kitchen displays, handhelds, loyalty, payroll, and gift cards?
- What happens when the internet goes down?
- What support is included, and when is it available?
- Can I export my menu, sales history, and guest list if I leave?
- How do installation and staff training work?
Whatever you choose, plan time for training. A new POS changes how servers ring in, split checks, and close out, and a rough first week shows up in ticket times. If loyalty is part of your decision, our guide to restaurant loyalty programs covers each system's built-in option.
Where custom software fits
A POS is built for orders and payments. Many restaurants also need tools it doesn't cover well: a host stand with a live floor map, server briefs with guest allergies, a training academy, or scheduling built around their own rules. That's where restaurant app development comes in, with software that runs alongside the POS your team already knows.
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How Monarch helps
We help you choose a POS that fits your service, plan the rollout and staff training, and build custom restaurant software that works alongside it when you need more. We do the work. You guide the process.
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