How much does a restaurant POS cost?
The honest answer is that the advertised price is rarely the whole cost. Restaurant POS pricing is usually made of four separate things — a software subscription, a charge per terminal or per location, hardware, and payment processing — and products differ far more in which of those they charge for than in the headline number.
The four parts
The software subscription is the monthly or annual fee. It is the number in the advertisement, and it is usually the smallest part of the total.
A per-terminal or per-location charge multiplies that subscription. A price that looks reasonable for one till can double when you put a second one on the counter, and this is the most common source of surprise.
Hardware is either bought from the vendor or is a device you already own. A browser-based system runs on a laptop, a tablet or a touch monitor; a proprietary one is a purchase and a replacement cycle.
Payment processing is charged by whoever moves the money — typically a percentage of each card transaction plus a fixed amount. Some POS products bundle this and some let you bring your own provider; bundled is more convenient and usually more expensive.
The cost that grows with you
A per-order commission is the one worth thinking hardest about. A fee of a few per cent on every order is invisible in month one and is a meaningful share of margin once volume grows — and unlike a subscription, it grows precisely as you do.
The same is true of per-terminal pricing for a business planning a second location. It is worth working out the cost at the size you intend to be, not the size you are.
Questions that reveal the real number
What does it cost with two tills instead of one? What does it cost with a second branch? Is there a setup or onboarding fee? Is there a charge per staff account? Is online ordering included, or is it a separate product with its own price?
Is there a contract term, and what happens at renewal? A low first-year price with a sharp renewal is a common structure.
And a free tier is not always a trial
Some products offer a genuinely free plan with a real, permanent set of features; others use "free" for a time-limited trial. The difference matters if you want to run something small for a while before committing.
The prices for this platform are on the pricing page, at every billing period, including what the free plan covers.