Published prices, checked November 1, 2026
The best POS depends on how you serve food. This guide picks by restaurant type, shows what each company publishes, says what it leaves out, and is clear about where Orderitto fits and where it does not.
How we chose
We judged each system on five things its own website shows. We did not use review scores, and we did not run these systems in a live restaurant for this guide.
A company that hides a price is not ranked lower for that alone, but we say so. You cannot compare what you cannot see.
Quick picks
| Type | Start with | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Quick service | Clover or Square | Lowest published percentage, or no contract |
| Full service | Toast | Lists table-service kits from one vendor |
| Pizza | Slice or HungerRush | Built for pizza shops |
| Cafe | Square | $0 plan and low-cost hardware |
| Multi-location | Lightspeed or Toast | Published plans, or one vendor |
These are starting points for a shortlist, not a ranking of the whole market.
The ten systems
Every figure comes from the company's own website. Anything it does not show is marked that way.
A worked month
Take one made-up restaurant: one location, one terminal, 1,500 in-person card sales at $30, which is $45,000. Each total is software plus card fees.
| Plan | Month total |
|---|---|
| Clover quick-service Starter | $1,320.00 |
| SpotOn POS Essentials, one station | $1,382.50 |
| Toast Pay-as-you-Go* | $1,390.50 |
| Square Free | $1,395.00 |
| Square Plus | $1,399.00 |
| Toast Traditional, $69 software* | $1,414.50 |
| Square Premium | $1,454.00 |
| SpotOn All-In | $1,555.50 |
Our arithmetic from published rates. Hardware is included only for Clover's bundle, Toast Pay-as-you-Go and SpotOn All-In, so the others need a device budget added. *Toast Traditional uses 2.49% + 15¢ from Toast's own article, dated November 4, 2024 and last modified June 11, 2026, and $69 software is an assumption for this row. Pay-as-you-Go uses 3.09% as the starter kits page prints it, with no cents, and that page prints 2.49% with no cents too. Toast's fee page says rates are custom by quote. Lightspeed, TouchBistro and HungerRush publish no card rate, and Slice's total depends on how many orders carry its fee, so they are not in this table.
Quick service
Clover if you will commit for a lower card rate. Square if you would rather stay free to leave.
Choose Toast instead when you want a counter-service kit from one vendor, and you are comfortable with approved hardware.
Full service
Toast is our starting point, because it lists table-service kits. Its rate is custom by quote, so compare your written quote with the month above.
Choose Square Premium instead when avoiding a long-term contract matters more than the lowest rate. Choose Clover Standard when you want its 2.3% + 10¢ rate with a handheld included at $239 a month.
Pizza
Slice if you want month-to-month terms. HungerRush if you will sign for 36 months to get a flat price with driver dispatch.
The choice comes down to order volume. Slice charges $99 a month plus $2.00 per online or phone order, with no per-order fee on online orders under $10. Phone orders are not exempt. HungerRush charges a flat $149 before card fees. The two match at just 25 orders that carry Slice's fee. At 500 such orders, Slice's bill is $1,099 against HungerRush's $149. That is only the software price, because HungerRush does not publish its card rate number.
Choose Toast instead when you want one system across pizza and other menus. Ask NCR Voyix Aloha when you run many stores with complex pizza and wings modifiers.
Cafe
Square is the easy start: $0 a month, a $59 reader and no long-term contract.
Small tickets change the math, because fixed cents weigh more. On an $8 sale, Square Free costs $0.36. Toast Pay-as-you-Go costs $0.25 at the 3.09% its shop page prints. Toast's article gives no Pay-as-you-Go rate, so ask whether a fixed fee applies: 15¢ would make it $0.40.
Choose Toast instead when your written quote beats Square on small tickets and you want a cafe kit from one vendor. Ask Shift4 Dine when you want a quote, since its page lists coffee but no price.
Not entirely free. A $0 plan still charges on every card sale, and most systems need a reader or their own hardware. This is what each company's own pages say. We did not test any of them.
Need a barcode scanner for packaged goods? Square supports USB and Bluetooth scanners on certain devices, and the built-in camera on Android and iOS. Clover lists a camera scanner on all devices and USB scanners on Station and Mini. We did not confirm scanner support for the others.
Multi-location
Start with Lightspeed if you want to see prices first, or Toast if you want one vendor. Expect a quote either way.
Ask NCR Voyix Aloha when you are a larger group and need a sales-led rollout.
Connecting Orderitto
Orderitto is not a POS, and any of these does more in the room than it does. It adds a branded ordering site and app next to the POS you choose. Clover is the one POS connection listed on the pricing page today.
| POS | Status |
|---|---|
| Clover | Listed integration on Orderitto Pro. |
| Square | Setup guide. Connection is scoped per restaurant. |
| Toast | Setup guide. Connection is scoped per restaurant. |
| Shift4 | Setup guide. Connection is scoped per restaurant. |
| All others here | No POS guide. Orders can reach the kitchen by printer or display. Ask first. |
Confirm your exact POS on a demo before you buy anything. Stripe is a payment rail, not a POS: Orderitto restaurants handle Stripe directly, typically at 2.9% + 30¢.
Before you switch
If tickets print, modifiers work and staff know the system, a new POS may solve the wrong problem.
If ordering is the problem, read our guide to online ordering systems first. It covers the options beyond Orderitto.
For a small restaurant that wants no contract, Square is the simplest start, with a $0 plan and published rates. If you will sign for 36 months to get hardware and a lower card rate, compare Clover's Starter plans.
Square Free and Toast's Starter Kit both start at $0 a month, but the card rate does the rest. In our $45,000 example month, Clover's $135 plan with hardware cost less than either $0 option.
For table service, Toast's table-service kits are a strong case, but its rate is custom by quote, so get it in writing along with the term. Square is better if you want to start at $0 with a $59 reader, and it states it has no long-term contracts.
Published software starts at $0 and runs to $399 in this guide. Card fees are usually the larger bill. On $45,000 of card sales, our example totals run from about $1,320 to $1,556 a month.
Partly. Square Free costs $0 a month and its app runs on iPad and Android devices, but you pay on every card sale and need a reader, and its restaurant modes are not on Android tablets. SpotOn says you cannot use your own tablets, and Lightspeed and TouchBistro are iPad-based.
In this guide, Shift4 Dine and NCR Voyix Aloha publish no price. Lightspeed, TouchBistro and HungerRush show software prices but no numeric card rate, so a full comparison needs a quote.
No. Orderitto is a branded direct-ordering layer, so it does not run your tables, kitchen tickets or staff. That is why it is not ranked here. It sits next to a POS.
See how branded direct ordering runs next to the POS you pick, and confirm how orders reach your kitchen before you commit.