Best POS for coffee shops: how to choose for drink modifiers, speed and loyalty

No POS is best for every coffee shop. Choose one that rings a drink with three modifiers in a few taps, includes loyalty on a plan you can afford, and sends mobile orders to the bar. Then price the card fees at your real average ticket. At $6 or $7 a drink, the fixed cents on each payment can be close to half the card bill.

Our guide to AI for coffee shops tests AI tools on hard drink orders. This page covers the POS underneath: which plan includes modifiers and loyalty, what card fees cost on small tickets, and a drill for the morning rush.

What does a coffee shop need from a POS?

Need	Why it matters behind the bar	How to test it
Drink modifiers in few taps	Most drinks carry a size, a milk, shots, syrup and hot or iced	Ring a large iced oat latte with an extra shot and half the vanilla, and count the taps
A screen facing the guest	Guests tip and choose a receipt while the next drink is rung	Turn the screen to the guest and time tip, signature and receipt
Loyalty on your plan	Regulars come in most days	Look up a regular by phone number and redeem a reward in the same sale
Mobile and online orders to the bar	Pickup orders land in the middle of the rush	Place a mobile order and check where it prints or shows
Sold-out items drop off online	Oat milk runs out before noon	Mark an item sold out and check the online menu
Card payments when Wi-Fi drops	The line does not wait for the router	Unplug the router, take three taps, reconnect and check each one

Which POS systems print coffee shop prices?

These details come from each vendor's own US pages. Hardware, tax and add-ons are extra unless a cell says so.

POS	Plan and card rate, as printed	Modifiers, loyalty and mobile orders	Start here if
Square	Square plans: Free $0/mo. at 2.6% + 15¢; Plus $49/mo. per location at 2.5% + 15¢; online cards 3.3% + 30¢ on Free, 2.9% + 30¢ on Plus	Advanced modifiers and the loyalty program on Plus and Premium, not Free; commission-free online ordering; Kiosk app $50/mo. per device on Plus	You want printed prices, no contract and a free plan to start on
Toast	Toast Starter Kit: from $0/month for 1 location with up to 2 terminals, on a 2 year agreement with a platform fee on each transaction; card rate by quote	Open View ordering for drinks with several changes; Mobile Order & Pay, kiosks and order-ready boards; loyalty through its Marketing Suite	You want kiosks, order-ready boards and Toast hardware from one seller
Clover	Clover quick-service bundles: Starter $135/mo (Mini) or Standard $185/mo (Station Duo) for 36 months; 2.3% + 10¢ in person, 3.5% + 10¢ typed in	Item modifiers and no-fee online ordering on every bundle; loyalty program on Standard and Advanced, not Starter	Most drinks are paid at the counter and you will commit to 36 months
SpotOn	SpotOn POS Essentials: $55/station per month, month-to-month, at 2.45% + $0.15	Loyalty, online ordering and a guest app in its Core Bundle at $50/month + 20bps of GPV (capped at $200)	You want a month-to-month plan priced per station

Sources: Square's restaurant pricing page; Toast's pricing page, cafe and bakery page and the plan footnotes on its pizza page; Clover's quick-service pricing; SpotOn's pricing page.

Two plan details matter most for a café. On Square, the free plan leaves out advanced modifiers, loyalty and marking items sold out across every channel. On Clover.com, the Starter bundle's table marks the customer database, promotions and loyalty program as not included. Clover's coffee shop page points to the Station Duo, with an 8-inch screen facing the guest, for speed at the counter.

What do card fees cost on small tickets? A worked example

This example is made up. A café takes 6,000 tapped card payments a month at an average of $6.50, or $39,000. It leaves out hardware, cash, tax, online orders and add-ons. Square Plus and Clover Standard include a loyalty program. The other rows leave it out and appear for reference.

Setup	Monthly fee	Card fees	Monthly total
Square Free (no loyalty)	Square Free fee: $0	Square Free cards: $1,014 + $900 = $1,914	Square Free total: $1,914
Square Plus	Square Plus fee: $49	Square Plus cards: $975 + $900 = $1,875	Square Plus total: $1,924
Clover quick-service Starter (no loyalty)	Clover Starter fee: $135	Clover Starter cards: $897 + $600 = $1,497	Clover Starter total: $1,632
Clover quick-service Standard	Clover Standard fee: $185	Clover Standard cards: $897 + $600 = $1,497	Clover Standard total: $1,682
SpotOn POS Essentials, one station (loyalty extra)	SpotOn station fee: $55	SpotOn cards: $955.50 + $900 = $1,855.50	SpotOn total: $1,910.50

In each card-fee cell, the first figure is the percentage and the second is the fixed fee on 6,000 payments. On Square Plus, the 15¢ adds $900 of the $1,875. Card fees come to 4.81% of sales on Square Plus and 3.84% on Clover.

At $6.50, one payment costs 31.25¢ on Square Plus and 24.95¢ on Clover, a gap of 6.3¢. That covers the $136 difference between Clover Standard and Square Plus at about 2,160 payments a month, or roughly $14,000 in card sales. Below that, Square Plus costs less each month. Clover's figure needs a 36-month subscription, which our Clover pricing guide explains.

Mobile orders cost more per drink. At $6.50, Square Plus charges 2.9% + 30¢ online, which is 48.85¢ or 7.5% of the order. Clover's pricing FAQ puts online sales at the typed-in rate, which comes to 32.75¢ or 5.0%. On a $20 group order, those shares fall to 4.4% and 4.0%.

How should you test a POS before the morning rush?

1. Load your full drink menu with every size, milk, shot and syrup, and each upcharge.
2. Take 20 real orders from last Saturday's receipts. Have your fastest barista ring them in a row, timed, and count the taps on the three hardest.
3. Turn the screen to the guest. Time a tip, a signature and a receipt choice.
4. Look up a regular by phone number, add points and redeem a reward in the same sale.
5. Place a mobile order and check it prints or shows at the bar with every modifier.
6. Mark oat milk sold out and check it drops off the online menu.
7. Unplug the router, take three taps, reconnect and check each one. Square's pricing page says offline payments are declined if the device does not reconnect within 24 hours of the first one.
8. Get a written monthly total at your payment count and average ticket, plus the cost to leave in month 12.

For more on first-year cost and exit terms, see our guide to the POS for a small restaurant and what a restaurant POS costs.

What about phone orders?

Some café calls are large orders, such as coffee boxes for an office meeting. Maple Pro takes phone orders into the POS systems on its integrations page, including Toast, Square and Clover. Check your POS is on that list before you pick a phone tool.

Published by Maple. This AI-assisted guide combines Square, Toast, Clover and SpotOn pricing, product and FAQ pages with an original needs table, a card-fee example using made-up sales, and a test plan. It does not include a quote from any vendor, report hands-on testing of any POS, or name a best system.