Best Kitchen Display Systems (KDS) 2023 [Expert Ranking]

• Highly customizable interface
  You can customize alert colors for ticket status, item modifiers, and allergens. Text size and colors are also customizable. You can also route dishes with complex components to multiple prep stations.
• All-day count view
  Toast’s All-Day count screen shows your all-day counts at a glance, so your kitchen team is never second-guessing what orders they have on deck.
• Auto-firing by prep time
  Your Toast KDS can organize newly ordered items by their cook time to ensure all dishes on a ticket are ready at the same time.
• Automated order-ready messages
  Your Toast KDS can send automated messages to customers or servers when you mark an order as complete on the KDS. These alerts help keep your kitchen flowing smoothly and keep cooked food from dying in the window.
• Rush button
  Toast recently added a Rush order button to the KDS that automatically shifts rush tickets to the front of the order queue, marked with a red RUSH label. As such, your expediters and cooks can quickly get on the same page when plans change.

Toast’s KDS software is currently offered at $25 per screen monthly. If you need multiple screens, however, Toast will likely work out a lower per-terminal price for you. To get the best pricing, reach out to the Toast sales team for a custom quote.

The underlying POS ranges from $0 to $165+ per month, with pay-as-you-go options for terminal hardware.

Fresh KDS operates on iPads running iOS 13 or later and Android 6.0 or later tablets. Simply download the KDS app from Google Play or the Apple App store onto tablets you already own. For industry-grade hardware, Fresh KDS supports projective capacitive (PCAP) touch-screen monitors and offers an optional bump bar.

• Customizable colors
  As with Toast, Fresh KDS lets you customize virtually every color on the screen. Choose which colors you want to label your ticket status, order type, and order modifications. You can even choose a light or dark mode for the entire KDS screen.
• Customizable screen views
  Choose to arrange your Fresh KDS tickets in neat, individual columns or squeeze tickets into all available screen space with the Tile view. Split View allows you to separate your screen into two order streams, helpful for separating eat-in orders from to-go or pickup orders from delivery orders.
• Custom text notifications
  Like Toast and Revel, Fresh KDS sends automated SMS text alerts when you mark orders as complete. With Fresh KDS, however, you have even more messaging options. You can set messages for when new orders are received and when your team begins preparing orders. You can also set custom messages for different order types—eat-in, curbside, pick-up, or delivery.
• Customer-facing order tracking screen
  Like Revel, Fresh KDS includes a customer-facing order tracking screen. This is ideal for counter-service restaurants with a high volume of takeout orders. When your kitchen marks a KDS ticket as complete, the order status on the tracking screen automatically updates to show customers their food is ready.

Fresh KDS offers three subscription tiers: Basic, Advanced, and Enterprise. Basic starts at $19 per month, Advanced comes in at $35 per month, and Enterprise requires a custom quote. Each subscription includes software for two KDS screens, though the system can support up to 10 screens at a single location.

At the Advanced subscription level, Fresh KDS includes standout features like automated customer SMS text messaging (like Toast and Revel) and a customer-facing order tracking screen (like Revel). You’ll also need the Advanced level if you simply want to print tickets from the KDS screen, Basic subscriptions do not include ticket printing functions.

• Voids on tickets
  Every other KDS on this list processes voided items as separate tickets. These tickets will typically be marked with the same ticket or table number as the original ticket, but this can still lead to over-prepped food on a busy night. Square displays voided items in red directly on the original ticket. So, if table 25 cancels their soup order, your cooks will see it in real time.
• Customizable views
  On each Square KDS, you can individually adjust the text size, the number of tickets displayed per page, and notification settings for new orders. This way, your cooks can view orders the way they prefer. Like others on this list, Square also has an all-day count view.
• Free online ordering
  All of the systems on this list display online orders in the KDS. But Square for Restaurants is the only POS that includes a free online ordering site. In addition to receiving online orders directly in your KDS order stream, Square users have the comfort of knowing they aren’t paying any extra fees for those orders.

If you’re using the Free version of Square for Restaurants, the KDS is just $20 per device. If you’re on Square for Restaurants Plus or Premium, KDS software for unlimited devices is included for free.

The underlying Square for Restaurants POS is available at three subscription levels; Free, Plus, and Premium. Free has no monthly software fees, Plus costs $60 per month for a single terminal (additional terminals are $40 each, monthly), and Premium requires a custom quote. There are no long-term contracts at any level.

• Multiple screen views
  Revel Systems’ KDS offers several viewing screens: Expedite, Expedite Tile, Kitchen Screen, Production View, and Order Display, so cooks and expeditors can choose their preferred view. Revel Systems has a customer-facing Order Ready screen that displays orders by customer name to identify which orders are ready for pickup. Orders on this screen can be further color-coded to separate to-go, drive-thru, and curbside pickups.
• SMS text integration
  Revel integrates with the third-party messaging app Twilio to support automated text messaging from the KDS screen. You can create custom messages for in-house, takeout, curbside, or delivery orders.
• Order Ready screen
  Revel’s built-in Order Ready screen is customer-facing and shows real-time order status. This is an excellent tool for communicating with delivery drivers or for keeping things organized in a high-volume, quick service environment. Orders can be flagged with order numbers and customer names and will be color-coded by order type.
• Drive-thru tools
  Revel’s Drive Thru XT module condenses order and payment screens to reduce button presses and logs vehicle information to ensure the correct orders are given to the correct customers. You can also track drive-thru orders separately from in-house orders on the Revel KDS.

Revel does not publicly list the cost of its KDS hardware and software. You’ll need to contact Revel for a full-price quote.

The underlying POS starts at $99 per terminal monthly, with an installation fee starting at $674.

• Strong offline functionality
  Epson’s KDS does not need the Cloud to operate; it uses ethernet connections. If you lose internet connectivity, your KDS will still function fully.
• Commercial-grade hardware
  Like Toast, Epson’s KDS operates on commercial-grade hardware. Epson monitors are rated IP-54, the same level of water and dust protection as Toast’s hardware.
• Label printing
  Epson’s KDS screens are driven by the printers they are attached to. You can print paper tickets on demand, or even linerless sticker labels—which are ideal for labeling takeout and delivery orders.
• Touch-screen and bump bar options
  Epson’s black-and-white, grid-based user interface is a little old-school. Plus, some cooks find bump bar navigation a bit dated. However, others prefer bump bars because they are easier to operate with gloved hands or damp fingertips. Epson includes options for both bump bar enabled and touch-screen monitors.
• Recipe lookup from KDS
  Like Lightspeed and Toast, Epson allows your staff to access recipe information directly from the KDS screen, so there are never any mistakes from the kitchen. You just need to be sure to attach a recipe to each dish.

You cannot purchase the Epson KDS directly from Epson; you’ll need to go through a third-party reseller. This might be one of the many POS brands that integrate with the Epson KDS, or it might be a standalone POS hardware seller like POS Guys. Pricing and terms will vary from seller to seller, but you can typically expect to pay between $1,400 and $2,500 upfront. There may be additional monthly service or software fees.

• Free trial
  Lightspeed offers a 14-day free trial of the underlying POS so you can test the POS before you commit to the system. Unfortunately, the KDS is not included in the free trial—you’ll need to contact Lightspeed for a KDS demo.
• Color-coded order status
  Tickets in different stages of the preparation pipeline appear with pre-configured colors: gray for New or Archived, orange for Preparing, green for Done, and red for Voided. Unlike Toast, Revel, and Epson, however, you cannot customize these colors; they are programmed into the KDS.
• Order tags
  Lightspeed labels online orders with the name of the referring platform. And—via a Deliverect integration—Lightspeed integrates with virtually every third-party platform you can imagine.
• Show and Tell function
  Lightspeed Kitchen’s KDS includes a Show and Tell function that shows a detailed image and item description on the KDS screen when a cook clicks on the menu item. This stops short of the recipe look-up function supported by Epson and Toast, but ensures your cooks are reminded how to plate a dish and review a list of its ingredients.

Lightspeed Kitchen is a paid add-on to the Lightspeed Restaurant POS. The add-on is offered at a custom-quoted price from Lightspeed. Previously, it was priced at $12 per screen monthly. Contact Lightspeed’s sales department for full, current KDS pricing.

The Lightspeed Restaurant POS varies in price from $69 to $399+ per month, depending on your subscription level.