Clover Flex for restaurants

Clover Flex is Clover's handheld POS: a nearly 6-inch touchscreen with a built-in receipt printer, a barcode scanner, Wi-Fi and LTE. Clover.com sells it for $749, or $40 a month for 36 months. For a restaurant, price it inside one of Clover's restaurant bundles, since the $40 Starter plan on its own does not include creating menu items or itemized orders.

Our Clover POS review and Clover pricing guide cover the whole system and every bundle. This page is about the handheld: what it does at the table and in the line, what adding one costs, and what to check before you sign a 36-month subscription. Prices are for the United States and apply only on Clover.com.

What is Clover Flex, and how does it differ from Flex Pocket?

Feature	Clover Flex	Clover Flex Pocket
Price on Clover.com	Flex: $749, or $40/mo for 36 months on the Starter plan	Flex Pocket: $699, or $35/mo
Screen	Nearly 6-inch color touchscreen	5.99-inch color touchscreen
Receipts	Built-in thermal printer, plus email or text receipts	No printer; receipts by email, text or SMS
Cards	Chip, swipe and tap, including Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay	Swipe, chip and tap, including the same phone wallets
Scanner and camera	1D and 2D barcode scanner and camera	1D and 2D barcode scanner and camera
Connection	Wi-Fi and LTE	Wi-Fi and LTE
Battery	At least 8 hours of use for a typical small business, in Clover's words	At least 8 hours of use on average, charged by USB-C

Details come from Clover's Flex page and Flex Pocket page. The Flex FAQ says the box holds the device, a silicone sleeve, a charging cradle, a PIN entry aid, the power brick and cord, and one roll of receipt paper. Clover says both handhelds fire orders at the table, help with lines and pair with other Clover devices; the printer is the difference.

What does a Flex do in a restaurant?

• Tableside ordering and firing. Clover's full-service pricing page includes it on the Standard and Advanced bundles, the two that come with a Flex.
• Paying at the table. On the full-service Standard bundle, tap cards and phone wallets are marked "Flex only," so the Flex is the device that takes a tapped card there.
• Line busting. The quick-service pricing page lists line busting only on the Advanced bundle, which adds a Flex to the Station Duo.
• One check across devices. The Flex FAQ says a payment taken on the Flex shows on the other Clover devices in the same system in real time.
• Offline cards. Clover's offline payments article lists the Flex among devices with offline payments on by default, for up to 7 days, with caps you can set per payment and per device. EBT and gift cards do not work offline, and you carry the risk if a card declines once the device reconnects.

What does a Flex cost, alone or in a bundle?

How you buy it	Price as Clover prints it	What comes with it
Flex alone, Starter plan	Flex Starter: $40/mo for 36 months, or $749	2.6% + 10¢ per in-person card; basic sales reports; no item creation or itemized orders
Flex alone, Essentials plan	Flex Essentials: $70/mo for 36 months, or $749 + $29.95/mo	2.5% + 10¢ per in-person card; items, categories, variations and itemized orders
Full-service Standard bundle	Full-service Standard: $239/mo for 36 months, or $2,548 + $109.90/mo	Station Solo and Flex on the Restaurant Growth plan; 2.3% + 10¢ in person; tableside ordering and firing
Quick-service Advanced bundle	Quick-service Advanced: $245/mo for 36 months, or $2,648 + $109.90/mo	Station Duo and Flex on the Restaurant Growth plan; 2.3% + 10¢ in person; line busting

A card typed in costs 3.5% + 10¢ on every one of these plans, per the Flex pricing page and the two restaurant pricing pages. A third plan for the Flex alone, Services Growth, adds appointment booking and estimates; it prints $125/mo for 36 months, or $749 + $84.95/mo.

What does adding a Flex to a restaurant bundle cost?

Compare each bundle with the one below it, which has the same devices without the Flex. The sums below are our arithmetic on Clover's printed prices, before tax.

Step up	Subscription	Buy the hardware
Full-service Starter to Standard	Full-service subscription step: $179 to $239, so $60/mo more, or $2,160 over 36 months	Full-service purchase step: $1,799 + $89.95/mo to $2,548 + $109.90/mo, so $749 more up front and $19.95/mo more
Quick-service Standard to Advanced	Quick-service subscription step: $185 to $245, so $60/mo more, or $2,160 over 36 months	Quick-service purchase step: $1,899 + $89.95/mo to $2,648 + $109.90/mo, so $749 more up front and $19.95/mo more

Over 36 months, adding the Flex by purchase costs $749 plus 36 payments of $19.95, or $1,467.20. Adding it by subscription costs $2,160, which is $692.80 more. Clover's pricing FAQ says a subscription includes a warranty with its Equipment Protection Program (not offered in New York or Oregon, where an extended warranty applies) and needs no money down. The pricing pages do not say whether the purchase side's monthly fee continues after month 36, so ask.

What terms come with a Flex?

1. No cancellation. Clover's FAQ says subscriptions are "non-cancelable and ineligible for refunds." You can pay one off at any time, or break it to upgrade or buy out.
2. End of term. You buy or return the equipment. If you do neither, the subscription continues at the same monthly charge, and Clover asks for at least 30 days' notice before the term ends.
3. Who sells it. Banks such as Citi, PNC and Wells Fargo sell Clover, and the FAQ says contract terms and termination fees can vary by provider. Devices bought or leased from other sellers "cannot be used with other payment processors."
4. The current credit. The footnote on the Flex page offers new merchants who buy online a $450 statement credit. It needs a 3-year contract, credit approval by January 31, 2027, a first batch of $25 or more within 30 days of approval, and $10,000 or more in card transactions within the first four billing cycles. The offer ends December 31, 2026.

What should you test before you sign?

1. Walk the Flex to the farthest table and the patio on Wi-Fi. Then turn Wi-Fi off and check it carries on over LTE, and ask your seller whether the cellular data costs extra.
2. Ring a full table on the Flex, fire the first course, and watch where each item lands in the kitchen.
3. Split the check by seat, take a tapped card and a phone wallet at the table, and print both receipts.
4. Find the Flex payment on the Station at the counter straight away.
5. Set your offline caps, turn off the internet, and take a card under and over the cap. Reconnect and check both.
6. Run one full shift unplugged and note the battery level at close, then time a paper roll change.
7. Ask who your contract is with, and get the card rates and exit fee in writing.

If you take phone orders, Maple Pro lists Clover among the POS systems it writes phone orders into, and the Clover integration page lists what to test with your own menu.

Published by Maple. This AI-assisted guide combines Clover's own US product, pricing, FAQ and help pages with an original comparison of bundle prices. It does not report hands-on testing of Clover hardware or a quote from any bank or reseller.