SpotOn sounds like a great deal until you sit down and tally the real numbers. The free Quick Start plan charges 2.89% + $0.25 on every card swipe. The hardware runs $500–$850 per terminal. Cancel within year one and you
Lightspeed Restaurant’s Essential plan starts at $189/month. That’s before hardware ($2,000–$3,000+ upfront), a processing surcharge of up to $400/month if you use any payment processor other than Lightspeed Payments, and add-ons for features like scheduling that competitors include by default. A
Over 77% of diners check a restaurant’s website before deciding where to eat — and more than half will skip your restaurant entirely if the site doesn’t have an updated menu or easy ordering options. That’s the reality for restaurant owners today.
TouchBistro starts at $69/month for its base POS — but once you add essential add-ons — online ordering ($50/mo), reservations ($229/mo), loyalty ($99/mo), and marketing ($99/mo) — many restaurant owners end up paying $300–$500+ per month. And that’s before payment processing fees
Clover’s restaurant plans cost between $79 and $189 per month for software alone — before hardware, payment processing fees, and the add-ons you actually need. For many small food businesses, that’s a lot of money for a POS system. If you’re exploring
UpMenu’s cheapest plan costs $49 per month and limits you to just 90 online orders. That works out to roughly $0.54 per order before processing fees even kick in. For a busy restaurant pushing 300+ orders a month, you’d need to jump
