Best restaurant POS software in 2026: 8 systems compared

Side-by-side comparison

Prices and features change often. We checked them on 1 November 2026 from each vendor's own website — please check the vendor's site before you buy. We make MC-POS, so we have tried to be fair and say where the other product is the better pick.

How we compared

We asked what a restaurant owner asks: What does it cost per year, all in? Does it take a cut of my sales? Will the till and the kitchen printer keep working when the internet drops? Do I pay extra for the kitchen screen, the waiter app and QR ordering? Do I need a separate accounting app? Does it do e-invoicing in my country? Every competitor fact comes from the vendor's own pricing page, listed under Sources. Foodics and Toast do not let automated readers open their pages, so their prices are the text of their own pricing pages as search engines show it on 1 November 2026. Where a page does not say, the table says "Not listed". We make MC-POS, so we also say where another system is the better pick.

MC-POS Cloud — all-in-one, offline on every device, one yearly price

Tables and floors, KOT printed at each kitchen or bar, a waiter app, QR menu ordering, your own commission-free online ordering, split bills, service charge and tips — plus the whole back office: menu stock, purchases, full accounting, HR, loyalty and AI insights. Native apps for Android, iOS, Windows and macOS keep billing with no internet. Saudi ZATCA Phase 2 and UAE e-invoicing are built in. MC-POS takes no cut of your sales and does not sell hardware — use any card machine and any thermal printer. The Restaurant Full Suite is $120 a year for 4 users; most of the systems below cost that in a month or two. Our POS apps have 380,000+ downloads and a 4.5-star average rating. See the restaurant POS · Pricing

Petpooja — the best known restaurant POS in India

Petpooja is the name most Indian restaurant owners know. Its Base plan covers cloud billing, unlimited users and terminals and food aggregator integrations (Zomato, Swiggy). The kitchen display, captain app, QR ordering and Tally integration sit in the paid "Operations Manager" tiers, and your own ordering website in "Marketing Manager". Its India pricing page lists the Base plan at ₹12,000* and the manager tiers at ₹10,000–30,000 each, marked indicative; outside India the price is given on a demo call. MC-POS vs Petpooja

Foodics — the best known restaurant POS in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf

Foodics is a Riyadh company and the most visible restaurant POS across the GCC, with its own payments (Foodics Pay) and a marketplace of add-ons. Its UAE price list shows Starter, Basic and Advanced bundles at AED 199, 375 and 556 a month per branch, billed yearly; Saudi pricing is on request. The waiter app and kitchen display are sold as add-ons. Choose it if you want one Gulf vendor for software, payments and hardware and a big local support team. MC-POS vs Foodics

Toast — one US vendor for hardware, software and payments

Toast runs on its own hardware and its own payment processing in the USA, Canada, the UK and Ireland. The Point of Sale plan starts at $69 a month; the Starter Kit is $0 a month pay-as-you-go on a two-year term with 2.99% + 15¢ processing. Kitchen display, handhelds, online ordering and payroll are add-ons. It is a strong full-service system if you are in those four countries and accept the processing fees and the contract. Outside them, it is not sold.

Square for Restaurants — free to start, pays through card fees

Square's Free plan has no monthly fee and includes a branded online ordering page; you pay 2.6% + 15¢ per card sale. Plus is $49 and Premium $149 per location per month with lower rates. The kitchen display app costs $30 (Plus) or $20 (Premium) per device per month on top. Square sells in 8 countries only. MC-POS vs Square

Loyverse — free POS for a small café

Free POS on a phone or tablet with a free kitchen display app, open tickets and loyalty. Paid add-ons are $25 per store for Advanced Inventory, $5 per employee for Employee Management and $9 per store for unlimited sales history, each per month. Offline, you can sell and keep open tickets, but refunds and new customers wait for the internet. No table map, waiter app or QR ordering on its pricing page. MC-POS vs Loyverse

Zoho POS — if your business already runs on Zoho

Zoho POS is built for retail; a restaurant edition with KOTs was announced in 2026 but is not on the pricing page yet. Plans are Free (1 register, 1 user, 50 sales), Standard $15, Professional $30 and Premium $60 per location per month billed yearly. Offline billing starts at Standard. Accounting is Zoho Books, a separate app. MC-POS vs Zoho POS

Restroworks (Posist) — enterprise platform for big chains

Restroworks, formerly Posist, sells to multi-outlet chains and gives no sticker price — you build a quote from modules, outlets and hardware. Kitchen display with station routing, handheld POS, QR ordering, website ordering and analytics are all on the platform. Right for a 50-outlet chain with an IT team; heavy for a single restaurant.

What a year really costs for one restaurant

Take one restaurant with one till, one kitchen printer, two waiters and a kitchen screen, paying by the vendor's own published list:

• MC-POS Cloud: $120 a year (Restaurant Full Suite, 4 users), no cut of sales, any hardware.
• Square Plus: $49 × 12 + $30 × 12 for the KDS device = $948 a year, plus 2.5% + 15¢ on every card sale.
• Toast Point of Sale: $69 × 12 = $828 a year before hardware and add-ons, plus processing.
• Foodics Basic (UAE list): AED 375 × 12 = AED 4,500 a year (about $1,225), add-ons extra.
• Petpooja (India list): Base plan ₹12,000* plus an Operations Manager tier from ₹20,000 for the kitchen screen and captain app.
• Loyverse: $0 if you need nothing else; $300 a year with Advanced Inventory.

Prices change; check each vendor before you buy.

Which one should you choose?

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