Restaurant Software Buying Guides
Independent, research-based buying guides for restaurant POS, inventory, and food cost software, with comparisons of pricing, processing fees, features, and fit.
Guides & Research
Best Restaurant POS Systems in 2026: The Honest Guide for Restaurants
The best restaurant POS in 2026 is not the most famous one — it is the system that fits your service model, menu, number of locations, online ordering needs, and payment terms. We compared Toast, Square, Lightspeed, TouchBistro, Clover, SpotOn, GoTab, Revel, and the enterprise players to help you choose the right fit, not just the loudest brand.
How Much Does a Restaurant POS System Cost in 2026?
What a restaurant POS actually costs in 2026 — verified per-plan software prices, published hardware prices, card-present processing rates, break-even math between free and paid plans, and worked year-one totals for three restaurant archetypes. Every figure read from the vendor's own pricing page and dated.
Best Restaurant Inventory Software
Invoice automation, recipe costing, and variance tracking compared for restaurants.
Compare Restaurant Inventory Management Software
MarketMan vs MarginEdge vs Restaurant365 and more, compared side by side on features, fit, and price — with guidance on the best inventory software by restaurant type.
Free Restaurant Inventory Management Software
The genuinely free options for restaurant inventory in 2026 — free tiers, POS-included tools, and a free spreadsheet template — plus the limits and when to upgrade to paid.
Restaurant Inventory Software Pricing
How much restaurant inventory software really costs in 2026 — approximate per-location pricing for the major platforms, the pricing models explained, and the hidden add-ons to budget for.
Best Food Cost Software for Restaurants
Compare the best food cost software for restaurants — recipe costing, actual-vs-theoretical food cost, invoice automation, and profitability tools.
Toast vs Square
The honest head-to-head: Toast is the restaurant-first powerhouse for full service, Square is the lowest-risk free start for cafes and QSR. Here is how they compare on pricing, hardware, contracts, and fit — and how to choose.
Toast Credit Card Processing Fees in 2026: Does Toast Really Charge 4%?
Toast's pricing page hasn't printed a processing rate since late July — but operators keep asking whether Toast charges 4%. Here's what Toast's own pages said when they still showed numbers, why the 4% figure is real arithmetic rather than a published rate, the Pay-as-you-Go vs Traditional crossover math, and the claims about Toast fees that don't survive a read of Toast's actual pages.