Best Coffee Shop POS Systems

Payment Processing:

• 2.6% + $0.10 for in-person payments
• 2.9% + $0.30 for online orders

Hardware Cost:

Ranges from $0-$799 and options include:

• Square Card Reader
• Square iPad Stand (iPad not included)
• for Square Register

Popular Add-Ons:

• $49/month+ Square Loyalty program
• $15+/month Square Marketing

Learn More: Read our Square POS hardware guide.

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.

Monthly Pricing:

• $69/month

Payment Processing:

• Custom pricing from TouchBistro or a third-party payment processor

Hardware Cost:

• 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.

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.

Payment Processing:

• 2.3% – 2.6% + $0.10% per transaction for in-person orders (with Clover payment processor)
• 3.5% + $0.10 per transaction for online orders (with Clover payment processor)
• Custom payment processing with a different merchant services provider

Hardware Cost:

• $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.

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.

Payment Processing:

• 2.6% + $0.10 for in-person payments
• 2.9% + $0.30 for online payments

Hardware Cost:

Ranges from $129-$519

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.

Monthly Pricing:

Ranges from $0/mo – $69/mo; 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..

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

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.

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.

Learn More: Compare Revel with the rest of our best drive-thru POS systems.