The 2026 restaurant software stack, step by step

A point of sale (POS) is the hub of a restaurant stack. It holds your menu, sends tickets to the kitchen, splits checks, takes card payments and produces the sales report every other tool reads. When you compare POS systems, ask for four things: table and course management, modifiers that the kitchen can read, a mode that keeps taking orders when the internet drops, and integrations with the scheduling, inventory and accounting tools you plan to use. Then ask what you pay per month, per terminal and per card swipe, because the software fee is rarely the biggest line.

Why it wins. Toast is built around restaurants, and it shows in the details: tableside handhelds, kitchen routing, online ordering and payroll come from one vendor. The Starter Kit starts at $0 a month for one location with 1 or 2 terminals, and the Point of Sale plan starts at $69 a month; both prices are for new customers with a single location. New restaurants can bundle the POS with payroll from $69 a month plus $9 per employee, payroll that already knows each server's hours and tips.

Where it falls short. The low entry price comes with Toast's own card processing and a fixed term: the merchant agreement sets the initial term in your order, renews it automatically for one-year periods, and charges the software fees left in the term if you leave early. The real cost sits in the processing rate and the hardware, so get every rate, the term and the exit cost in writing before you sign.

Field tip. Ask for two quotes: one with hardware paid upfront, one with hardware bundled into a higher processing rate. On $40,000 of monthly card sales, every 0.5 point of processing rate is $200 a month, which pays for a lot of hardware within a year.

TouchBistro is an iPad POS made for restaurants, with tableside ordering, floor plans and menu management. Its Point of Sale bundle starts at $69 a month and includes the full POS software. The Essentials Bundle starts at $119 a month and adds integrated payments and restaurant-grade hardware (reporting and staff management are already in the $69 plan).

Why pick it. Support is included around the clock at no extra cost, by phone and email, holidays included. For an owner who closes at midnight, that matters more than one more feature. Venues with two or more terminals can finance the hardware monthly instead of paying upfront.

Where it falls short. The $69 is a starting point: hardware, payment processing and add-ons such as the kitchen display or inventory cost extra. Price your full setup, not the headline.

Field tip. If you run one small room with a single terminal, the hardware financing won't apply to you, so compare the total upfront hardware cost against Toast's bundled kits.

Scheduling software builds the weekly schedule, lets staff swap shifts from their phone, tracks clock-ins and shows labor cost against sales. Labor is usually the largest cost you control, so require three things: a phone app your team will actually open, a time clock that feeds payroll, and labor cost per shift visible while you build the schedule.

Why it wins. Homebase Basic costs $0 for one location and up to 10 employees, which covers many cafes and food trucks. Essentials, at $30 per location per month with unlimited employees, adds advanced scheduling, time tracking and team messaging. Payroll is an add-on on every plan, at $49 a month plus $6 per employee paid, or $29 a month for a team of up to 5.

Where it falls short. Basic stops at 10 employees and one location. Plan for Essentials the day you hire your eleventh person or open a second site.

Field tip. Pay Essentials annually: it drops to $24 per location per month, which saves $72 a year per location. Plus costs $70 a month, so check that you need its extras before you take it.

Sling handles shift scheduling, time-off requests and team messaging. Shift scheduling is free for up to 30 users, three times the Homebase free cap. Premium costs $2 per user per month, or $1.70 billed annually, and Business costs $4, or $3.40 billed annually. Annual billing saves 15%.

Why pick it. Per-user pricing fits a small team spread over several places: eight staff across two food trucks cost $16 a month on Premium, where a $30 per-location plan would cost $60.

Where it falls short. Sling now belongs to Toast, and Toast customers get their own plans in the Toast Shop. If you don't run Toast, check how much of the roadmap still serves you.

Field tip. Count your seasonal staff: per-user plans grow with every summer hire, while a per-location plan doesn't.

A reservation system takes bookings from your website, Google and social profiles, holds the table plan, sends reminders and keeps guest notes (allergies, birthdays, regulars). Before you compare, find the unit: some tools charge per cover seated, others a flat monthly fee. The large networks such as OpenTable and SevenRooms bring discovery and guest marketing, but a neighborhood restaurant that fills from its own regulars rarely needs a marketplace.

Why it wins. Eat App has a free plan limited to 100 guests a month, enough to start taking online bookings. Lite costs $99 a month, or $69 a month billed yearly, and Core costs $199 a month for medium-sized venues.

Where it falls short. Connecting the POS is a $39 a month add-on, so a booking linked to its check costs more than the Lite price suggests.

Field tip. Take Lite on yearly billing once you are sure: the gap between $99 and $69 is $360 a year.

Tablein is a booking system priced per restaurant, with US, UK and euro prices. Starter costs $79 a month (£60 in the UK, €67) with 50 reservations included, then €0.67 per extra reservation. Growth costs $139 a month and Success, at €177, has unlimited reservations.

Why pick it. It fits a UK venue that wants its price in pounds, or a venue taking up to 50 online bookings a month.

Where it falls short. The included quota is small. At 200 bookings a month, Starter costs €167.50 (€67 plus 150 extra bookings at €0.67), almost the €177 of unlimited Success, while Growth (€117 with 150 bookings included, then €0.37 each on the price grid) comes to €135.50.

Field tip. Count last month's bookings before you choose a plan: the quota, not the headline price, decides which plan is cheapest.

Inventory software counts stock, costs each recipe from supplier prices, and compares what you should have used (theoretical) with what you actually used. The gap is waste, over-portioning or theft. Require recipe costing that updates when supplier prices change, invoice capture so nobody types prices by hand, and a POS link so sales drive theoretical usage.

Why it wins. MarketMan Starter, at $249 a month for independent operators, includes real-time recipe costing, actual versus theoretical reporting, waste tracking, one supplier EDI link and 50 AI invoice scans a month. Growth, at $299, scans unlimited invoices.

Where it falls short. $249 a month is a lot for a cafe with ten menu items. All-in-one platforms such as Restaurant365 bundle inventory with accounting and scheduling for larger groups.

Field tip. Count your monthly supplier invoices. If you receive more than 50, Starter's scan quota runs out; Growth costs $50 more a month and scans unlimited invoices.

MarginEdge reads every supplier invoice and turns it into product prices, recipe costs and food-cost reports. The full platform costs $350 per location per month, or 10% less billed annually, which saves $420 a year per location. Liquor inventory with its smart scale is $150 more per location per month.

Why pick it. One price per location buys the full platform, so a group adding a second site knows its cost before it signs.

Where it falls short. It costs $101 a month more than MarketMan Starter. On Toast, the integration adds two fees: Toast's Restaurant Management Suite at $50 per location per month, which unlocks its API integrations, and a pass-through fee equal to 10% of your MarginEdge subscription. A Toast restaurant on monthly billing pays $435 a month per location, not $350.

Field tip. Annual plans are paid upfront and are non-refundable if you cancel early, so run a few months on monthly billing before you lock in the 10%.

Direct online ordering puts a menu and checkout on your own website and app, so the customer and the margin stay with you instead of a delivery marketplace. Require pickup and delivery, a branded app or site that ranks on Google, and a clear answer to who pays the fees.

Why it wins. Owner.com includes an AI-built website, online ordering and a branded app on both plans. Flexible costs $249 a month plus a 5% restaurant fee per order; Flat Rate costs $499 a month with no restaurant fee.

Where it falls short. $249 a month is high if online orders are a small share of your sales.

Field tip. Do the break-even before you choose: Flat Rate costs $250 more a month, and 5% of $5,000 is $250. Under $5,000 of online sales a month, take Flexible; above, take Flat Rate. At $10,000 a month, the 5% fee alone is $500.

ChowNow runs online ordering on your website and in a branded mobile app, and lists you in its own marketplace app. Launch starts at $249 a month on monthly billing, or $229 a month billed annually; Grow starts at $349 ($319 billed annually) and Elevate at $449 ($409 billed annually).

Why pick it. Orders from your website and app are commission-free, and every extra fee is spelled out upfront: card processing at 2.95% + $0.29 per transaction, a setup fee of $119 to $499 and $7.98 per Flex Delivery order.

Where it falls short. The extras add up in year one: the setup fee, a printer at $250 to $420, and a $99 annual Apple developer fee for a branded app.

Field tip. Pay Launch annually once your volume is steady: $229 instead of $249 saves $240 a year.

Accounting software turns daily sales, supplier bills and payroll into a profit and loss statement, and it's what your accountant works in. For a restaurant, require bank feeds, bill capture, and an integration that posts each day's POS sales summary instead of every ticket. If your POS has no direct connector, you can connect Xero to Make and post the summary yourself.

Why it wins. Xero Early costs $27 a month and Growing $59, after a promotion of $5.40 and $11.80 a month for the first three months for new US customers. Plans renew monthly until you cancel, so there is no annual lock-in. Xero charges no per-user license fees, which is why we pick it over QuickBooks Online, the default of many US accountants: the owner, a manager and the bookkeeper can share Growing at $59, where QuickBooks Simple Start ($38) has one user and three users need Essentials at $85.

Where it falls short. Early allows only 20 invoices and 5 bills, a cap that weekly supplier deliveries soon pass, so plan on Growing at $59. The first-year cost is also higher than the promotion suggests: on Early, three months at $5.40 and nine at $27 make $259.20.

Field tip. If you'd rather run payroll in your POS, the Toast bundle can make the accounting add-on unnecessary; compare both before adding a second payroll tool. Leaving later? Our page on switching from Xero covers the exit.

QuickBooks Online is the accounting software many US accountants and bookkeepers work in every day. Simple Start costs $38 a month for 1 user, Essentials $85 for 3 users and Plus $140 for 5 users with inventory tracking; new customers get 50% off for the first 3 months.

Why pick it. If your accountant already runs your books in QuickBooks, moving to another tool costs you setup time and back-and-forth. There is no annual contract and you can cancel anytime.

Where it falls short. You pay for logins: Simple Start has one user, so an owner and a manager who both enter bills need Essentials at $85, more than Xero Growing at $59.

Field tip. Budget the price after the first 3 months: the 50% discount ends, and Simple Start goes from $19 to $38 a month.