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Coffee shops are busy places, and you need a POS that can keep up. These point of sale software options have all the features you need for your cafe or coffee shop.
Nicolette began writing on small business topics in 2020. After hundreds of hours researching, testing, and assisting small business owners with web building and point of sale software, she is now an expert on all things eCommerce and point of sale. She has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Pittsburgh and resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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Nicolette KierNicolette began writing on small business topics in 2020. After hundreds of hours researching, testing, and assisting small business owners with web building and point of sale software, she is now an expert on all things eCommerce and point of sale. She has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Pittsburgh and resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Expert Contributor
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Matt has been helping small businesses make decisions since 2017. He has written reviews and articles across many different channels but specializes in the point of sale, payroll, and small business insurance categories and has been quoted in articles for Fox Business, Forbes, and other publications. Prior to joining Merchant Maverick, Matt was a journalist and editor for 14 years for a pair of weekly newspapers. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon and currently resides in Gladstone, Oregon.
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Matt ShermanMatt has been helping small businesses make decisions since 2017. He has written reviews and articles across many different channels but specializes in the point of sale, payroll, and small business insurance categories and has been quoted in articles for Fox Business, Forbes, and other publications. Prior to joining Merchant Maverick, Matt was a journalist and editor for 14 years for a pair of weekly newspapers. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon and currently resides in Gladstone, Oregon.
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Our content reflects the editorial opinions of our experts. While our site makes money through referral partnerships, we only partner with companies that meet our standards for quality, as outlined in our independent rating and scoring system.
The best POS system for a coffee shop offers strong inventory and menu management, tipping features, online ordering, a loyalty program, and niche features like wholesale coffee ground sales and coffee ground subscriptions.
We evaluated several of the best restaurant POS systems based on pros and cons, pricing for software and hardware, cafe-specific features, and user reviews to help you find the best POS system for your business.
Build Your Monthly Budget: Decide how much you can spend each month on POS software and additional features.
Decide Your POS Hardware Needs: Choose between tablet POS and handheld POS hardware (or both). Decide whether you need KDS screens, self-serve kiosks, or other hardware. Consider your budget when you’re choosing your POS hardware.
Choose Your Must-Have Features: Consider your cafe size, online ordering options, customer marketing, and cafe management features when deciding your necessary features.
Narrow Down Your Options: With a budget, POS hardware needs, and must-have software features, narrow down your choices.
Get A Free Trial: If your options do not offer a free trial, make extensive use of a free demo.
Sign A Merchant Agreement: Read through and sign a merchant agreement. Make note of early termination fees, hardware warranties, and other contract requirements when signing your agreement.
The best POS systems for coffee shops and cafes should be competitively priced, easy to use, and have features like tipping options, online ordering, and loyalty programs. Start with these top picks:
Get a free card swiper from Square at no cost when you create a free account. Claim your card reader.
Pros
Free POS system
Free online ordering website
Affordable POS hardware
Easy to use
Cons
Occasional fund holds
No ingredient-level inventory management
Occasional outages
Why We Picked Square For Small Coffee Shops
We like that Square is one of the best free POS systems available. Free software plans include completely free in-person and online sales software and the hardware is very affordable. It's quick and easy to sign up with Square, order your card readers, and start selling. If you're not immediately sold on Square, the company offers a 30-day free trial on free and paid plans and has generous hardware return policies.
These top Square coffee shop features come with no monthly fee:
Payment Options: Accept all forms of payment, including digital wallets.
Ordering Interface: Create a custom, intuitive order flow so baristas can serve customers fast. Sell food and retail items.
Online Sales: Sell online for in-store pickup and local delivery. Square is also synced with your Google Business profile so customers can find and order from your business when they search for coffee shops near them.
Gift Card Sales: Square offers one of the best gift card systems with physical and eGift card sales.
Coupons & Discounts: Generate coupon codes and discounts for customer groups (or general codes for all customers) to use in-store or online.
Event Ticket Sales: Sell event tickets for book clubs, poetry nights, etc.
Who Should Use Square POS
Small coffee shops looking for free/low-cost POS software
Cafes looking for affordable POS hardware
Coffee shops that want to offer online ordering for free
We like TouchBistro for catering because it is an affordable POS system that supports delivery management, order quotes and invoices, standing house accounts, an online ordering platform, and works offline. TouchBistro works on most iPads and payment processors so you'll find the best hardware and payment processing deals on your cafe catering system.
Quote-based or source your own compatible iPads, iPad stands, cash drawers, and card readers
Popular Add-Ons:
$25/month gift card program
$50/month online ordering platform
$99/month loyalty program
$99/month marketing program
Expert Tip: Get quotes from several payment processors to find the best pricing for your business.
Best Features
Coffee shops that provide catering for offices or events will appreciate these top TouchBistro features:
Custom Menus: Create menus for different catering clients, online sales, and in-store sales.
Customer Accounts: Customers can consistently get their coffee and pay all at once or add credits to their account before your shop provides ingredients/services.
Catering Setup & Details: Your online ordering page can double as a catering quote system and order scheduler.
Delivery Management: Set different delivery zones and delivery service fees based on how far an area is from your cafe.
Partial Payments: Require a deposit before committing to one-time or repeat catering.
On-Location Sales: With TouchBistro’s hybrid online-offline capabilities, you can sell bags of coffee, pastries, and merch during events.
Who Should Use TouchBistro
Coffee shops looking for restaurant-specific features with minimal add-ons.
You are a coffee shop that needs niche integrations.
Can’t purchase hardware separate from merchant account
Hardware is expensive
Potential for scams from resellers
Why We Chose Clover For The Most Customizable Option
We appreciate that with Clover POS, you choose from an array of sleek POS hardware, select one of several payment processing providers to get the best payment processing rates, and choose apps from an entire app market to customize your software. The app market offers apps for everything from event ticket sales to third-party delivery platform ordering to a free loyalty program builder.
Learn More: Read our Clover POS pricing guide to learn how much you'll spend on your Clover hardware, software, and payment processing each month.
$199 – $1,799 ranging from the Clover Go to the Clover Station
Expert Tip: Clover’s built-in payment processing fees and software contracts are not the best. Choose one of our best Clover merchant services providers for the best payment processing fees and POS contract terms.
Best Features
Clover’s versatile POS features include:
Accept All Payment Types: Clover hardware has built-in tap, chip, and contactless card readers.
Durable POS Hardware: Clover offers a full line of handheld and countertop POS setups.
Online Ordering: Like Square, Clover offers a free online ordering platform and Google Business integration so customers can order online.
Loyalty Program: Clover includes a free basic loyalty program on Clover Restaurant plans.
App Market: Choose from free and paid Clover apps to add features such as accounting, retail inventory management, and marketing.
Payment Processing: Clover does not charge added fees for using a third-party payment processor. Competitors like Revel Systems charge added fees.
Who Should Use Clover POS
Cafes looking to invest in durable POS hardware
Coffee shops that want to use a third-party payment processor
Cafes looking for a free loyalty program
Coffee shops looking to customize their software setup and add-ons
Why We Picked Lightspeed Restaurant For Large Inventory Management
We love that Lightspeed Restaurant has the best POS inventory management capabilities, especially for perishable food. You can easily track inventory on an ingredient level rather than a completed item level, track inventory wastage, set up vendors and quick purchase ordering, and get in-depth reports on inventory performance. Plus, multi-location inventory, menu, and item performance report features are built into Lightspeed.
Larger restaurants & hotels looking for custom payment processing rates
Payment Processing:
2.6% + $0.10 for in-person payments
2.9% + $0.30 for online payments
Hardware Cost:
Ranges from $129 – $519
Best Features
Lightspeed’s most unique inventory management features include:
Ingredient-Level Tracking: Build products out of individual ingredients with ingredient-level inventory tracking and auto-86ing included.
Suppliers: Add suppliers and associate them with certain products. Add purchase order emails for suppliers that accept emails and links to supplier ordering websites if email purchase orders are not accepted.
Automated Purchase Orders: Set up and automate recurring purchase orders and automated single purchase orders when stock falls below a certain level. Update all stock automatically when you mark an order as received.
Stock Rules: Create stock rules that send low-stock notifications, generate purchase order emails, or link to supplier ordering pages.
Stock Movements: Monitor product expiration dates, damaged items, stock counts, stock transfers between locations, and more to get an idea of where you’re losing money and how to optimize your menu.
We have to point out that a loyalty program is available on all plans. Also, Lightspeed Restaurant includes third-party software integrations for features like liquid inventory management, third-party online ordering management, and employee scheduling.
Who Should Use Lightspeed Restaurant
Cafes looking for comprehensive software and a free loyalty program
Coffee shops that want strong perishable inventory management
Cafes that want third-party integrations like liquid inventory management
We believe that Toast is a great fit for coffee shops expanding to offer full restaurant services and even alcoholic caffeinated beverage menus because the system offers excellent table management and order coursing, kitchen display software to manage dine-in and takeout orders, menu customizations for various order types and locations, and great marketing features like a customizable loyalty and gift card program.
Ranges from $0 – $69/month with custom plans available
Starter Kit plan (includes one free POS terminal and higher payment processing fees)
Starter Kit plan if you pay for your POS hardware upfront
Point Of Sale plan
Custom Pricing for Build Your Own plan
Payment Processing:
2.49% + $0.15 if you pay for Starter Kit hardware upfront
3.5% + $0.15 for Visa, Mastercard, and Discover, and 3.89% + $0.15 for AMEX on $0/month plan
Custom rates on higher-level plans
Hardware Cost:
Ranges from $0+ if you agree to a higher processing rate and options include:
Toast Go 2 handheld POS system
Toast Flex countertop POS system
kitchen display screen
Toast self-serve kiosk
Popular Add-Ons:
$75/month loyalty program
$50/month gift card program
$75/month online ordering platform
$90/device/month self-serve kiosk software
$35/device/month kitchen display system software
Expert Tip: You can get your POS, online ordering, third-party delivery management, gift card, and loyalty program builder for free if you agree to a higher per-order payment processing fee and only need one or two POS terminals. However, the per-order fee may cost more than the monthly fees in the long run..
Best Features
Toast’s overall best feature for all cafes is its expansive POS loyalty program that customers can sign up for at a countertop POS, at their table, at self-serve kiosks, during online orders, and from print or email receipts.
Toast’s best features for full-service dining include:
Floor plans for each section of your expanding cafe
Split checks by item, seat, and dollar amount
Kitchen display systems with routing to different kitchen stations and a bar section
Tableside order hold, firing, and payments with Toast Go 2 handheld POS device
Customer order status screens so customers can estimate how long they’ll wait for their to-go coffee order
Custom menus for dine-in, carryout, online, private events, and catering orders
Vary menus and pricing across multiple locations
Who Should Use Toast POS
Cafes expanding into sit-down services
Cafes looking for an advanced loyalty program and gift card builder
Why We Picked Revel Systems For Wholesalers, Drive-Thrus, & Franchises
Revel Systems is a highly customizable POS software that includes wholesale and retail functions, drive-thru integrations, kitchen display settings for drive-thru expo screens, and franchise features like automated royalty payments. This niche iPad-based POS system that offers an array of software add-ons is an enterprise-level solution for large and multi-location coffee shops.
Pricing
Revel Systems is a completely custom solution so every business owner will get a custom quote on software, hardware, and payment processing costs.
You can source your own POS hardware with written permission from Revel. You can use your own payment processor, but you have pay an additional monthly fee.
Best Features
Revel’s most unique coffee shop POS software features include:
Wholesale Management: Create wholesale accounts and customer groups with wholesale discounts. Send wholesalers invoices with deposit and repayment terms. Show different pricing for retail and wholesale customers.
Drive-Thru Management: Integrate Revel with drive-thru hardware (drive-thru headsets, digital menus, etc.) Create drive-thru kitchen display and expo screen settings.
Franchise Management: View multi-location inventory, employee, and menu management from one master dashboard. Create franchisee permissions and automated royalty payments.
Customer Display Boards: Customers may order at the counter, a self-serve kiosk, and online. Carryout customers can view order status boards and get an accurate estimate of their wait time.
Merchant Maverick has been researching and reviewing POS providers since 2012. Our writers have tested over 100 different point of sale systems, evaluating pricing, features, ease of use, customer service, and user reviewers. Read more about how we rate POS providers.
Weighted Rating Breakdown
Pricing 40%
Features 30%
Ease Of Use 15%
Customer Service 10%
User Reviews 5%
When comparing different POS software systems, we consider many data points, including relative pricing, the depth of niche features offered, the price of hardware, and any associated payment processing fees. Our lists of the best providers include only apps we’ve deemed worthwhile from multiple vantage points. The POS vendors we pick share qualities such as widespread availability, accessibility, user-friendliness, and reasonable pricing. We also look carefully at niche features, such as check-splitting, inventory management, eCommerce, loyalty programs, gift cards, and more.
We spend an average of 10-15 hours researching and updating each one of our lists, making sure the providers included meet our internal standards for quality and reputation.
80+
Vendors evaluated
65+
Attributes assessed per vendor
20+
Features weighed
30+
Combined years of experience
What Is A Cafe POS System?
A cafe POS system is software paired with a credit card reader and other restaurant POS hardware that allows you to sell coffee, baked goods, and store merch. You can also manage a menu and inventory, sell gift cards, and try new ventures like coffee bean subscriptions with a good cafe POS system.
Final Verdict: What Coffeeshop POS Is Right For Me?
A good cafe POS system doesn’t need to be expensive to still provide you with valuable tools to run your business. Most small shops can get by with a system with decent inventory management and an interface that is simple to train employees on, while larger shops may need a system that has drive-thru features or table management.
We’ve given you a variety of options for cafes of all sizes and operating under various budgets. Prioritize what your cafe needs most and feel free to reach out with any additional questions!
Nicolette began writing on small business topics in 2020. After hundreds of hours researching, testing, and assisting small business owners with web building and point of sale software, she is now an expert on all things eCommerce and point of sale. She has a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Pittsburgh and resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
View Nicolette Kier's professional experience on LinkedIn.
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We Recommend Square POS For Your Business 🏆User-friendly & feature-rich point of sale system with affordable pricing.Square POS is an intuitive and simple point of sale platform. It offers customizable tools and a variety of add-ons to fit your business needs and reach your goals.Get StartedNo credit card required
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The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.
We Recommend Square POS For Your Business 🏆User-friendly & feature-rich point of sale system with affordable pricing.Square POS is an intuitive and simple point of sale platform. It offers customizable tools and a variety of add-ons to fit your business needs and reach your goals.Get StartedNo credit card required
Square POS is an intuitive and simple point of sale platform. It offers customizable tools and a variety of add-ons to fit your business needs and reach your goals.
Get Started
