# How to choose a POS for a food truck

> Canonical: https://maple.inc/blog/best-pos-for-food-trucks

*By Maple Team · Published 2026-09-25*

What a food truck needs from a POS (offline cards, battery, cellular, small devices) and what Square, Clover, Toast and Shift4 Dine print on price.

A food truck needs a POS that keeps taking cards when the signal drops, runs a full shift on battery, gets online without building Wi-Fi, and fits on a narrow counter. Square, Clover, Toast and Shift4 Dine all sell setups that can work on a truck. They differ most in how long offline payments can wait, which devices carry their own cellular, and which prices they print.

No spec sheet tells you how a system copes with a festival lunch rush on one bar of signal. Use the needs table to narrow the list, compare the options, price a month, then run the test at the end on your own truck.

## What does a food truck need from a POS?

    Need Why it matters on a truck How to test it
  Offline card payments Parks, lots and festivals lose signal when crowds arrive Turn off data, take a card, reconnect, and check it cleared
  Its own connection There is no building Wi-Fi at most stops Run a mock service on cellular or your phone's hotspot only
  Battery for a whole shift You may not have a free outlet at the window Start at full charge and take orders for your longest shift
  Small devices The service window has room for one screen and a cash drawer at most Set the devices in your window and serve a practice line
  Low cost per payment Small tickets make the fixed fee per card a large share of what you pay Price one month with your real ticket count, as below
  Menu changes from a phone Menus change by stop and items sell out Mark an item sold out from your phone between two orders

## Which POS options fit a food truck?

These details come from each vendor's own US pages. Card rates are for a card tapped, dipped or swiped.

    POS Small devices and printed prices Connection Offline cards, as published Start here if
  Square Square: Free plan $0/mo. at 2.6% + 15¢; Reader $59; Terminal with printer $299; Handheld $399 The Reader connects through Wi-Fi, a hotspot or cellular data; the Handheld needs a Wi-Fi network Up to 24 hours from the first offline payment, then declined You want to start with no monthly fee and a phone you already own
  Clover Clover: Go reader $199 at 2.6% + 10¢, or $199 + $29.95/mo at 2.5% + 10¢; Flex $749; quick-service bundles from $135/mo for 36 months Go works over Wi-Fi or cellular; Flex lists Wi-Fi and LTE Up to 7 days, on by default for Mini and Flex, with limits you set You want a handheld with its own LTE and a printer built in
  Toast Toast: Starter Kit from $0/month; card rate and device prices by quote Toast Go 3 has 4G on applicable models; Toast Router has cellular backup with a monthly cellular plan Offline mode keeps taking cards; Toast warns some authorizations expire in as little as 24 hours You want Toast's handheld and will sign a term agreement
  Shift4 Dine (formerly SkyTab) Shift4 Dine: Handheld $29.99 per device per month; system and card rate by quote Every Handheld includes cellular and uses Wi-Fi when available On by default, with a cap per payment you can set Your restaurant already runs on Shift4 Dine and the truck should match

Sources: Square's [pricing page](https://squareup.com/us/en/pricing) and [Reader page](https://squareup.com/us/en/hardware/contactless-chip-reader); Clover's [Go pricing](https://www.clover.com/pricing/go), [Flex page](https://www.clover.com/flex) and [food truck page](https://www.clover.com/pos-solutions/food-truck); Toast's [Toast Go 3 page](https://pos.toasttab.com/hardware/toast-go) and [hardware page](https://pos.toasttab.com/hardware); Shift4's [Handheld FAQs](https://shift4.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/39289648380051-Handheld-FAQs).

## How long can offline card payments wait?

This is the biggest gap between the four. Square's hardware pages say offline payments are declined if the device does not reconnect within 24 hours of the first offline payment, and the seller carries the risk of any declined or disputed payment.

Clover's [offline payments article](https://www.clover.com/help/set-up-offline-payments) allows up to 7 days. You can cap each offline payment and the total per device, and you accept the risk of a decline once back online.

Toast's [offline mode guide](https://support.toasttab.com/en/article/Prepare-to-Operate-in-Offline-Mode-During-Service-Disruptions-or-Outages) makes you responsible for declined, expired or disputed offline payments. It warns that the card networks can expire an authorization in as little as 24 hours, and suggests a cellular backup. Shift4's [offline setup article](https://shift4.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/16079601177747-Configure-Shift4-Dine-for-Offline-Payments-Mode) says offline mode comes on by default with an optional per-payment limit.

On a truck, set a per-payment limit, and get back online before you leave each stop.

## How do the devices get online and stay charged?

- **Square:** the Reader needs an internet connection through Wi-Fi, a hotspot or cellular data, and its battery "lasts all day." The [Square Handheld](https://squareup.com/us/en/hardware/handheld) needs a Wi-Fi network and has a battery designed to last all day.
- **Clover:** Flex lists at least 8 hours of use for a typical small business. The Go reader lists about 160 dips, 160 swipes or 130 contactless payments per charge.
- **Toast:** the Toast Go 3 lists a 24+ hour battery, an IP65 rating and a 5-foot drop rating. Toast's [network requirements](https://support.toasttab.com/en/article/Supported-Network-Connections-by-Toast-Device) say a Toast Flex terminal needs a wired Ethernet connection, so plan a router in the truck.
- **Shift4 Dine:** the [Handheld specifications](https://shift4.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/41246927844883-Handheld-Specifications) list all-day battery, IP54, and a working range of 14°F to 122°F. The FAQs say the Handheld is designed to work with an existing Shift4 Dine system.

## What would a month of card fees cost? A worked example

The truck here is made up. It takes $20,000 a month in card sales across 1,600 payments, an average of $12.50. The table uses only rates the vendors print, so Toast and Shift4 Dine are left out. It excludes hardware, tax, cash and add-ons.

    Setup Monthly fee Card fees Monthly total
  Square Free, 2.6% + 15¢ Square Free fee: $0 Square fees: $520 + $240 = $760 Square Free total: $760.00
  Clover Go Starter, 2.6% + 10¢ Go Starter fee: $0 Go Starter fees: $520 + $160 = $680 Go Starter total: $680.00
  Clover Go Essentials, 2.5% + 10¢ Go Essentials fee: $29.95 Go Essentials fees: $500 + $160 = $660 Go Essentials total: $689.95
  Clover quick-service Starter bundle, 2.3% + 10¢ Bundle fee: $135 for 36 months, hardware included Bundle fees: $460 + $160 = $620 Bundle total: $755.00

With small tickets, the fixed fee per payment is a large share of the bill: Square's 15¢ adds $240 of the $760. Clover's Go pricing page also marks item and order tools as not included on Go Starter, so check how you would ring items on that plan. If your average ticket were $25 across 800 payments, Square's fixed fees would fall to $120.

## How should you test a truck POS before you buy?

1. Load your ten best sellers with their modifiers.
2. Park where you usually serve. Take a tapped card, a dipped card and a phone wallet on cellular only.
3. Turn off data. Take three card payments, one above your planned offline limit. Reconnect and check each one.
4. Serve from full battery for your longest shift and note the charge left.
5. Mark an item sold out from your phone and check it drops off any online menu.
6. Print a receipt and a kitchen ticket, or send a text receipt, whichever your window needs.
7. Pull the day's report and find every card fee.

For a wider look at restaurant systems, see our [POS buying guide](https://maple.inc/blog/best-pos-system-for-restaurants) and [Toast vs Square](https://maple.inc/blog/toast-vs-square). If you take call-ahead orders, Maple's [integrations page](https://maple.inc/integrations) lists the POS systems its phone ordering writes into, including Toast, Square, Clover and SkyTab (now Shift4 Dine).

*Published by Maple. This AI-assisted guide combines Square, Clover, Toast and Shift4 product, pricing and help pages with an original needs table, a worked fee example using made-up sales, and a test plan. It does not report hands-on testing of any POS or name a best system.*

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