5 Best iPad Restaurant POS Systems for 2023
With more than a decade of hospitality experience, Mary has worked in some of the most celebrated restaurants in the world. Her expertise is featured across Fit Small Business in restaurant, retail, and starting a business content.
Ray Delucci is a chef and restaurant manager with a degree from the Culinary Institute of America. His writing has appeared in Plate Magazine and he is the host of the restaurant industry podcast Line Cook Thoughts.
This article is part of a larger series on POS Systems.
A great point-of-sale (POS) system built for iPads is not only functional but affordable and mobile. The mobility enabled by iPad-based systems makes the buying process much smoother. In addition to standard POS terminals, iPad POS systems typically use iPads for everything from customer-facing displays to kitchen display systems (KDS) and self-ordering kiosks. With software that syncs to the cloud, an iPad POS also lets you access your restaurant data anywhere.
Based on our evaluations, the best iPad Restaurant POS systems are:
- Lightspeed Restaurant: Best overall iPad restaurant POS
- Square For Restaurants: Best free iPad restaurant POS
- Rezku: Best for small restaurants that need an affordable, all-in-one POS
- TouchBistro: Best for cafes, pubs, and breweries
- Lavu: Best for customer management tools
Top iPad Restaurant POS Systems Compared
Minimum Monthly Fee | Contract Length | Payment Processing | Card-present Processing Rates | Online Ordering | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | $69 | Month-to-month or yearly | Built-in and third-party | Varies based on processor; Lightspeed Payments is 2.6% + 10 cents | Built-in and third-party |
 | $0 | Month-to-month or yearly | Built-in only | From 2.6% + 10 cents | Built-in and third-party |
 | $0 | 2 years | Built-in only | From 1.99% + 15 cents | Built-in and third-party |
 | $69 | 1 year | Built-in and third-party | Varies based on processor; TouchBistro payments is custom-quoted | Built-in or third-party via aggregating apps |
 | $59 | 1–3 years | Built-in and third-party | Varies by processor, custom-quote for Lavu | Built-in and third-party |
Quiz: Which iPad POS Is Right for Your Restaurant?
Lightspeed Restaurant: Best Overall iPad Restaurant POS
Overview
Overall Score:
4.36 / 5
Pros
- Month-to-month subscription options supports seasonal restaurants
- Order Ahead capability for dine-in and take-out
- Can operate via Wi-Fi hotspot or completely offline
Cons
- Some features come with additional monthly fees
- Vendor management requires an integration
What We Like
Lightspeed Restaurant is a cloud-based, all-in-one iPad POS that regularly lands on our best restaurant POS systems list. With multiple options for integrated payment processing and a do-it-yourself installation, Lightspeed Restaurant is equipped to support restaurants of all types. All the features you need are present, from complex menu modifiers and ingredient-level inventory to check splitting, offline payments, and an integrated KDS. A few of these features come with additional monthly fees, however, which lowered Lightspeed’s score. It was also dinged for not having a free plan. Overall, Lightspeed received a 4.36 out of 5 in our review.
- Subscription plans*:
- Essentials – $69
- Plus – $189
- Pro – $399
- Enterprise – Custom quote
*Prices are lower for users who pay fees annually and enroll in Lightspeed Payments
- One-time Installation fees: None
- Payment processing: Choose from Lightspeed Payments, Vantiv, Cayan, iZettle. Lightspeed Payments starts at 2.6% + 10 cents for in-person payments
- Month-to-month subscription option: It offers a monthly subscription option for small restaurants that operate seasonally. You pay only for the months when your bar or restaurant is active, and your business information is vaulted for you until your next business season.
- Quick Service mode: For bars and counter-service restaurants, Lightspeed Restaurant includes a Quick Service ordering mode. This mode keeps ordering and payment buttons on a single screen and creates efficient ordering.
- Order Ahead: You design your Order Ahead online ordering site from the Lightspeed Restaurant back-office dashboard. The site fully integrates with your POS; online orders appear automatically in your order stream. You can accept orders for in-house pickup, curbside pickup, or delivery. For delivery, you can use a team of in-house drivers or rely on third-party drivers.
- Customer self-ordering tools: Lightspeed Restaurant users have several options for customer self-ordering. You can use QR codes to receive orders and payments from customer smartphones.
Square for Restaurants: Best Free iPad Restaurant POS
Overview
Overall Score:
4.10 / 5
Pros
- Free baseline POS
- 30-day free trial for higher subscription tiers
- No long-term contract
- Supports handheld payment terminal
Cons
- Cannot pre-authorize cards for bar tabs
- Free POS does not include multiple user permissions
- Inventory and employee scheduling require additional fees or integrations
What We Like
Square is a popular and easy-to-use POS system for retailers of all types and generally offers some of the best POS software for small businesses. Its free restaurant POS offers product-level inventory, online ordering, basic reporting, and unlimited terminals. The basic plan is free with just a simple charge for Square’s integrated payment processing, but Square also offers a more robust version with advanced features too. It is a great choice for budget-minded restaurants but lacks some front-of-house and back-of-house tools (pre-authorized tabs, vendor and purchase order management), which brought its score down to an overall 4.1 out of 5.
- Three subscription tiers:
- Free – $0 per month
- Plus – $60 per month
- Premium – Custom quote
- One-time Installation fees: $0; Square is self-installed, but you can request on-site installation assistance for $600
- Processing fees: 2.6% + 10 cents for in-person transactions, 2.9% + 30 cents for online or invoice transactions and 3.5% + 15 cents per transaction for manually keying in a customer’s credit card
- Free baseline POS: Unlike the other systems on this list, Square for Restaurants offers free software for its entry-level iPad POS. You can use iPads you already own and get started using Square for free. With no long-term contracts, you can use the POS for as long as you need it, then move to a higher subscription tier or a whole different system if your restaurant’s needs change.
- Free online ordering: All Square users can get an online ordering site for free. Setup is easy via Square’s site creation wizard. Most users can start accepting online sales in an hour or two. You don’t even need a web address; you can get a free Square URL to host a website where customers can self-order their food.
- Square small business suite: Square for Restaurants POS users also gain access to the full suite of Square’s small business tools. In addition to the Square Online store, you can get their easy-to-use marketing, payroll, and appointment booking.
- Kiosk stand/wall mount: Square recently launched a kiosk stand for iPad users that will allow them to use the tablet ergonomically like a POS stand. It can even be mounted to the wall for ease of access.
Rezku: Best for Small Restaurants Needing an Affordable, All-in-One POS
Overview
Overall Score:
3.95 / 5
Pros
- All functions included in baseline POS
- Gift cards included for no extra cost
- Free pricing tier for small restaurants
- Includes robust loyalty and customer management software
Cons
- Reporting has limitations
- Vendor management requires third-party integration
- Customer service not 24/7
What We Like
Rezku is an iPad POS that, like TouchBistro, is built specifically to support food and beverage businesses. However, unlike the other systems on this list, Rezku aims to include every function an independent restaurant needs in its baseline POS. And when I say everything, I mean it. It offers everything from gift cards to online ordering, delivery management, and marketing tools for $0 per terminal, monthly up to two terminals. This POS system earned a 3.93 out of 5 in our evaluation. Its almost-perfect mobility score was offset by a two-year contract, limited reporting, and lack of built-in kiosk mode.
- Three Subscription Tiers:
- Startup (2 terminals) – $0
- Growth (3-5 terminals) – $99
- Established (Unlimited Terminals) – $199
- Processing Fees: From 1.99% + 15 cents
- One-time Installation Fees: $0
- Free baseline POS: Rezku has moved to a free baseline POS tier. This gives you access to all its great features for free, furthering the quality and resources available to smaller restaurants.
- Comprehensive all-in-one POS: Rezku includes an exhaustive list of software tools in its baseline POS. You get ingredient-level inventory tracking with low-stock alerts, online ordering with delivery management, points or dollar-based loyalty and rewards, gift cards, and more.
- Cash discount setting: Rezku includes a setting that automatically calculates a discount for customers that pay in cash. The discount amount will be the same as your credit card processing fees. So, if customers pay with a credit or debit card, your processing fees are covered. This is a clever way to sidestep laws in 10 states prohibiting small businesses from passing card processing fees onto customers. If the prospect of credit card processing fees has kept you from getting a POS, Rezku might be your perfect fit.
- Employee management: Rezku’s employee management tools include an integrated timecard system, clock in/out, photo clock-in to prevent buddy punching, and more. The reports include labor cost analysis, payroll exports, and shift management applications. Payroll is even calculated for you based on employee position, pay rate, and hours.
TouchBistro: Best for Cafes, Pubs & Breweries
Overview
Overall Score:
3.93 / 5
Pros
- Tableside ordering mode is easy to use
- Integrated online ordering tool works as a self-ordering kiosk
- Speed order screens and pre-authorized bar tabs are excellent for pubs and bars
- Terminals include suggestive spelling
Cons
- Third-party online ordering and delivery integrations require middleman app
- No free plan or free trial
- Online ordering is an extra monthly cost
What We Like
TouchBistro is an iPad POS designed specifically for food and beverage businesses. It includes a food ordering system and other features for full-service restaurants, quick-service restaurants, food trucks, and breweries. However, its features for running and organizing tabs and quick order screens make it the best choice for bars, cafes, and breweries. It is also a great option for small restaurants that want affordable hardware peripherals from customer-facing display screens to KDS screens. Those qualities helped it earn a 3.93 out of 5 in our evaluation; its score was brought down by lack of a free plan, the discontinuation of its built-in kiosk mode, and limited vendor management and purchase order creation features.
- Software subscription fee: $69 per terminal monthly
- One-time Installation fees: $0; this system is self-installed
- Processing fees: Varies by processor; choose from TouchBistro Payments, TSYS, or Square
- Integrated online ordering: For an additional $50 per month, TouchBistro users can add integrated online ordering. You can accept online orders for pickup, curbside pickup, or delivery. Like Square for Restaurants, TouchBistro includes map-based delivery tools to help you manage a team of on-staff drivers. If you prefer to use third-party ordering and delivery apps, you can integrate them into your TouchBistro POS via middleman plug-ins Deliverect or Ordermark.
- Flexible hardware: TouchBistro includes customer-facing displays, KDS screens, and tableside ordering tablets. You can manage all of these peripherals from your TouchBistro management dashboard. TouchBistro offers software for these tools with transparent monthly pricing.
- Bar features: Like Lightspeed Restaurant, TouchBistro offers a condensed quick-order screen to help your bartenders speed through orders. With TouchBistro, you can also pre-authorize bar tabs with a card swipe, customize tab names, and quickly transfer bar tabs to tables.
- Ease of Use: TouchBistro’s user interface resembles an iPhone more than any other system on this list. This makes TouchBistro easy to learn for both you and your staff. Anyone who has used an iPhone can navigate TouchBistro in no time. Many user reviews mention how quickly new staff learn the system.
Lavu: Best for Customer Management Tools
Overview
Overall Score:
3.69 / 5
Pros
- Downloadable from the App Store and self-installable
- Options for built-in or third-party payment processing
- Niche features for all restaurant types
- Great FOH and customer experience tools
Cons
- Customer support is not well-reviewed
- Offline functionality is glitchy
- Customization and add-ons can get pricey
What We Like
With ingredient-level inventory management and online ordering, as well as a host of third-party integrations, Lavu is a strong option for an iPad POS software. It has great customer management features—including loyalty tools and customizable customer profiles that can show email, birthday, company name, and more—menu efficiencies, and even an integration with DoorDash for smooth and efficient delivery. Lavu’s extra features can be pricey, and some reviews of its offline features are negative, which brought down its overall score. Lavu earned a 3.69 out of 5 in our evaluation.
- Three subscription fee tiers:
- Starter – $59* per month ($129 without Lavu Pay)
- Growth – $129* per month ($199 without Lavu Pay)
- Optimize – $279* per month ($349 without Lavu Pay
* Baseline subscription fees are with a Lavu Pay processing subscription.
- One-time Installation fees: $0
- Processing fees: Custom-quoted through Lavu Pay, varies by other processors
- Customer management: Lavu creates detailed customer profiles that track contact information, birthdays, and how the customer learned about your restaurant. You can add custom fields to track additional information and set your Lavu POS to prompt servers to add a customer before beginning a check to ensure that you never miss the chance to track a transaction. Customer profiles also sync with Lavu’s built-in loyalty tools.
- Efficient customer-facing menus: You can create time-restricted menus, such as a Happy Hour menu, for your customers to experience at different times throughout service. For pizzerias, it has a pizza customization module, which extends to online delivery as well.
- MenuDrive integration: At the Growth tier ($129/mo), you have the option to work with the MenuDrive Software. This software allows you to create vivid, branded menus for online ordering and connect to third-party delivery drivers.
- No-Wi-Fi payment option: While some of its offline features may not be the best, Lavu does offer a PCI (Payment Card Industry) standard payment processor that will accept payments even if the Wi-Fi goes out.
Methodology: How We Evaluated iPad Restaurant POS Systems
We compared a dozen of the most popular iPad POS systems based on what’s important to independent restaurants. Each system was evaluated for the price, mobility and payment processing features, and front-of-house tools alongside back-of-house and back-office functionality. We also considered our retail and restaurant experts’ evaluations of each tool.
Based on the above criteria, Lightspeed Restaurant is the best iPad restaurant POS. The software received the highest overall score according to our grading system for iPad restaurant POS software (4.36 out of 5). From our personal experience testing different POS software and working in and with small businesses that use POS systems every day, Lightspeed Restaurant is one of the top software we would personally recommend.
Click through the tabs below for our full evaluation criteria:
20%
Pricing
20%
Mobility and Payment Processing
20%
Front-of-house Tools
20%
Back-of-house and Office Tools
20%
Expert Score
20% of Overall Score
We looked for inexpensive systems that didn’t limit the number of users on a terminal. Also, we gave favor to any with a free plan and month-to-month contracts. Square, with its free POS, earned a perfect score.
20% of Overall Score
POS systems with integrated payment processing earned extra points, but regardless, all the POS systems on our list process credit cards and contactless payments. Most had an offline mode to allow you to record payments to process when you were back on the internet. All scored 4.0 and up.
20% of Overall Score
We considered table mapping, order taking that allowed modifications, loyalty programs, and gift cards in addition to standard order-and-pay functions. Lavu had a near-perfect score with 4.81 out of 5.
20% of Overall Score
20% of Overall Score
We gave our own score based on the features and functionality vs price and looked at real-user reviews on reputable sites like Capterra and G2. Only Square earned a perfect score here.
*Percentages of overall score
 | Ray Delucci has 10 years of food industry experience and has managed full service restaurants, large events and has worked in food development as well. His experience in different sectors of the restaurant industry gives him insight into what a quality POS needs. |
 | Mary King has worked in every type of food service business from coffee shops and Pizzas to full-service fine dining restaurants. With over 14 years of industry experience, she has used many POS systems in real-world food service businesses. |
 | Meaghan Brophy has 10-plus years of retail experience, during which she has operated a variety of cash registers and POS systems in different settings and applications. Since working in retail, Meaghan has 7-plus years of experience writing for retailers and 4-plus years of experience evaluating POS systems. |
Bottom Line
When you’re looking for an iPad restaurant POS, Lightspeed Restaurant is the best combination of affordable price and robust functions. You can bring your compatible hardware and, for $69, get easy-to-use tools for managing orders and payments. It lets you add tools for loyalty, online ordering, delivery, and KDS for transparent, affordable prices. To see if Lightspeed Restaurant is a fit for you, contact Lightspeed for a demo.
