Best POS for small restaurants: how to choose for one location

No POS is best for every small restaurant. For one location and a small team, judge each system on three things: what it costs in a slow month, the card rate, and what you owe if you close or switch in year one. Get those in writing from two or three systems built for how you serve, then run the same test order on each.

A small restaurant feels fixed fees and long terms more than a busy one. A $135 monthly fee is a bigger share of $15,000 in card sales than of $80,000, and a 36-month term is harder to leave if the business changes. The prices below come from each vendor's US site.

What does a small restaurant need from a POS?

Need	Why it matters with a small team	How to check it in a demo
You can change the menu yourself	Nobody else will do it on a Sunday night	Add an item with two modifiers and mark another sold out, without help
One device does most jobs	Less to buy, charge and fix	Take an order, a card and a tip on the same device
Printed card rates	Card fees outweigh the plan fee in the example below	Find the tapped, typed-in and online rate in writing
A short or no term	Your concept or lease may change	Ask what you owe if you leave in month 12
Staff logins and tips	A few people share every role	Clock someone in, add tips and pull the tip report
Online orders without commission	Delivery apps take a share of each order	Place a test online order and follow it to the kitchen
Support when you are open	You have no IT person	Ask for the support hours and channels in writing

Which POS systems print prices for one location?

Each row shows the lowest-cost way in for a single location, as printed. Hardware, processing and add-ons are extra unless the cell says so. Our guide to choosing a restaurant POS covers the fuller plan list and a demo script.

POS	Way in, as printed	In-person card rate	Term	Start here if
Square	Square Free: $0/mo. per location; Square Terminal $299	Square Free: 2.6% + 15¢	Cancel or switch plans anytime	Sales are small or uncertain and you want no monthly fee
Toast	Starter Kit: starting at $0/month, 1 location, up to 2 terminals	Visa, Mastercard and Discover rate quoted	Pay-as-You-Go: 2 year agreement and a platform fee on each transaction	You want Toast hardware with no upfront cost and can accept a term agreement
Clover	Quick-service Starter: $135/mo for 36 months, or $849 + $89.95/mo	Clover in person: 2.3% + 10¢	Subscription is non-cancelable	You run a counter and will commit to a fixed payment
SpotOn	All-In Plan: $0/station per month, hardware included	All-In: 2.79% + $0.20	2yr minimum term; processing minimums apply	You want no hardware bill and accept a higher rate
Lightspeed	Starter: 69 USD, billing term not shown	Not printed	Set in your order form	You want floor plans and bar tabs in the base plan
TouchBistro	Essentials Bundle: starting at $119/month with hardware	Not printed	Not on the pricing page	You run table service and want hardware in the monthly price
HungerRush	Base package: from $149/month, all-in, $0 down	Flat rate, not printed	36-month agreement	You run a pizza or delivery shop and want dispatch included

Sources: Square's restaurant pricing and hardware pages, Toast's pricing page and its comparison page footnotes, Clover's quick-service pricing and pricing FAQ, SpotOn's pricing, Lightspeed's restaurant pricing, TouchBistro's pricing and HungerRush's pricing.

What does a small restaurant pay in its first year?

This example is made up. A counter-service spot with one terminal takes $15,000 a month in card sales across 1,000 payments at $15, all tapped or dipped. It uses only the systems that print a card rate, and leaves out tax, cash, online orders, a cash drawer and add-ons.

Option	Up front	Each month	First year
Square Free with Square Terminal	Terminal for Square Free: $299	Square Free month: $540 in card fees	Square Free year: $6,779
Square Plus with Square Terminal	Terminal for Square Plus: $299	Square Plus month: $574 ($49 plan, $525 card fees)	Square Plus year: $7,187
Clover quick-service Starter, subscription (Mini included)	None	Clover subscription month: $580 ($135, $445 card fees)	Clover subscription year: $6,960
Clover quick-service Starter, bought	Clover hardware: $849	Clover purchase month: $534.95 ($89.95, $445 card fees)	Clover purchase year: $7,268.40
SpotOn POS Essentials, one Station 15	Station: $750, plus implementation not priced	SpotOn Essentials month: $572.50 ($55, $517.50 card fees)	SpotOn Essentials year: $7,620 plus implementation
SpotOn All-In Plan	None	SpotOn All-In month: $618.50 in card fees, before any processing minimum	SpotOn All-In year: $7,422

At this volume the gap between the lowest and highest first year is at least $841. Clover's lower rate saves 9.5¢ on each $15 payment against Square Free. That covers the $135 subscription at about 1,420 payments a month, or roughly $21,300 in card sales. Below that, Square Free costs less each month in this example. For busier examples and three-year totals, see what a restaurant POS costs.

What do you owe if you close or switch in year one?

• Square: Square's pricing FAQ says you can cancel or switch plans anytime. Square's hardware installment plans are separate credit sales issued by Block, Inc.
• Clover (Clover.com): subscriptions are "non-cancelable and ineligible for refunds," though you can pay one off. At month 12, 24 payments of $135 are left, or $3,240. Banks and resellers set their own terms.
• Toast: Toast's merchant agreement sets an early termination fee of $150 for each month left on Pay-as-you-go. At month 12 of a 2-year agreement, that is $1,800.
• SpotOn: the All-In Plan carries a 2yr minimum term. SpotOn's merchant terms say leased or rented hardware stays SpotOn's and must be returned within 15 business days. A client who ends the contract within two years may also be charged the gap between list and discounted hardware prices.
• Lightspeed: the Lightspeed Service Agreement charges the recurring fees left in the term plus the gap between list price and any discount you received.
• HungerRush: the base package is a 36-month agreement. The pricing page does not state an exit fee, so ask for it in writing.

How should a small team test a POS before signing?

1. Send your 20 best-selling items with their modifiers a week before the demo.
2. Have the person who runs the counter on your busiest shift drive the demo, alone.
3. Ring your most common order, take a tapped card and add a tip. Count the taps.
4. Change a price and mark an item sold out, then check the online menu.
5. Turn off the internet, take an order and a card, reconnect, and check both went through.
6. Ask for a written monthly total at your card sales and payment count, plus the cost of leaving in month 12.

If you take phone orders, check that your phone tool writes into the POS you pick. Maple Pro takes phone orders into the systems on its integrations page, including Toast, Square, Clover, Lightspeed, SpotOn and SkyTab (now Shift4 Dine).

Published by Maple. This AI-assisted guide combines each vendor's own US pricing, FAQ and agreement pages with an original needs table and a worked first-year example using made-up sales. It does not include a quote from any vendor or report hands-on testing, and it does not name a best system.