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Restaurants · head to head

Craftable vs Square for Restaurants

Craftable logo

Craftable

Restaurants

Back of house inventory, invoice processing and costing built first for beverage led venues

From
On request
Rated
-
Square for Restaurants logo

Square for Restaurants

Restaurants

Restaurant POS system that works for you

From
Free
Rated
-

The short version

  • Only Square for Restaurants has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Craftable beverage and food are separately licensed modules, so a venue with a full bar and a full kitchen is quoted twice for the same address and the effective per venue cost is roughly double the headline.; Square for Restaurants the Square KDS and Square Kiosk apps are not available on the free plan
  • They diverge on capability: Craftable covers Weight based bottle counting, Square for Restaurants covers Table management.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Craftable and Square for Restaurants actually diverge.

Attributes where Craftable and Square for Restaurants differ
AttributeCraftableSquare for Restaurants
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotesubscription
Free tierNoYes
FoundedUnknown2018

Identical on both: platforms (Web, iOS, Android), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Restaurants).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Craftable

  • Weight based bottle counting
  • Invoice digitisation
  • Recipe and plate costing
  • Variance reporting
  • Purchasing and ordering
  • Accounts payable export

Only in Square for Restaurants

  • Table management
  • Menu customization
  • Split checks
  • Offline mode
  • Real-time reporting
  • Kitchen display
  • Caviar
  • DoorDash

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Craftable

  • A cocktail bar where liquor shrinkage is material and eyeballed bottle counts are not accurate enoughnot Square for Restaurants
  • A hotel food and beverage department running several outlets and one central storenot Square for Restaurants
  • A restaurant group that needs supplier invoices coded and exported to Sage Intacct without manual entrynot Square for Restaurants
  • An operator who wants pour cost variance reported by bartender rather than only by venuenot Square for Restaurants

Square for Restaurants

  • Point of Salenot Craftable
  • Order Managementnot Craftable
  • Inventory Controlnot Craftable
  • Staff Schedulingnot Craftable

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Craftable

  • Beverage and food are separately licensed modules, so a venue with a full bar and a full kitchen is quoted twice for the same address and the effective per venue cost is roughly double the headline.
  • Invoice digitisation only helps if your suppliers are covered and their documents are legible; a venue buying from small local producers with handwritten dockets will still key those in by hand.
  • Accurate variance depends on counting on a fixed cadence, and venues that slip from weekly to monthly counts get numbers too stale to act on, which is the most common reason implementations quietly fail.
  • Weight based counting needs connected scales at each venue, an unbudgeted hardware cost that grows with the number of bars in the building.
  • Implementation requires mapping every item to supplier catalogue codes and building recipes before the first useful report, typically several weeks of a manager time that nobody has allocated.

Square for Restaurants

  • The Square KDS and Square Kiosk apps are not available on the free plan
  • KDS and Kiosk are billed per device per month on top of the plan, so cost scales with terminals rather than locations
  • Restaurants processing over $250,000 a year are moved to custom pricing rather than the published rates

Pricing, plan by plan

Craftable

On request
  • Beverage module$undefined/year
    • Bar inventory, pour costing and variance by product
    • Priced per venue
    • Scale hardware quoted separately
  • Food module$undefined/year
    • Kitchen inventory, plate costing and purchasing
    • Priced per venue and quoted in addition to the beverage module
  • Invoice and accounts payable$undefined/year
    • Invoice digitisation with line item detail
    • Ledger coding and export to the accounting system
    • Volume of invoices affects the quote

Square for Restaurants

Free
  • FreeFree
    • POS
    • Menu management
    • Basic reporting
  • Plus$60/month
    • Advanced features
    • Live sales
    • Seat management
  • PremiumFree
    • Custom pricing
    • Dedicated support

Which should you pick?

Choose Craftable if

  • You need weight based bottle counting.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want invoice digitisation.

Choose Square for Restaurants if

  • You need table management.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want menu customization.

Questions people ask

Is Craftable or Square for Restaurants better?
Neither clearly leads. Craftable starts at On request and Square for Restaurants at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Craftable or Square for Restaurants?
Square for Restaurants has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Craftable and Free for Square for Restaurants.
Does Craftable or Square for Restaurants run on more platforms?
Craftable runs on Web, iOS, Android. Square for Restaurants runs on Web, Ios, Android.
Can I use Square for Restaurants for free?
Yes. Square for Restaurants has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Craftable starts at On request.
What is Craftable best used for?
Craftable is most often used for a cocktail bar where liquor shrinkage is material and eyeballed bottle counts are not accurate enough, a hotel food and beverage department running several outlets and one central store, a restaurant group that needs supplier invoices coded and exported to sage intacct without manual entry, an operator who wants pour cost variance reported by bartender rather than only by venue. Of those, a cocktail bar where liquor shrinkage is material and eyeballed bottle counts are not accurate enough and a hotel food and beverage department running several outlets and one central store are not what Square for Restaurants is typically brought in for.
What can Craftable do that Square for Restaurants cannot?
Craftable covers Weight based bottle counting, Invoice digitisation, Recipe and plate costing, Variance reporting. Square for Restaurants covers Table management, Menu customization, Split checks, Offline mode.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Craftable: Is Craftable the same product as Bevager and Foodager?

Yes. Those were the beverage and food product names before the platform was consolidated under the Craftable brand; they are now modules rather than separate products.

Square for Restaurants: What are Square's main pricing plans for restaurants?

Square offers a free tier and Square Plus. The Free plan has $0 cost with standard processing fees. Square Plus is described as the best value tier and includes lower card processing rates than the free plan.

Source
Craftable: Does it replace my accounting system?

No. It codes and exports invoices into an existing ledger such as QuickBooks or Sage Intacct rather than becoming the ledger.

Square for Restaurants: Does Square have locked-in contracts or can I cancel anytime?

Square explicitly states no hidden fees or locked-in contracts. Customers can cancel or switch anytime. The pay-as-you-go model means you only pay when you take a payment.

Source
Craftable: Do I need the scale hardware?

Only for beverage. Weighing partial bottles is what makes liquor variance reliable; without it you are back to tenth of a bottle estimates.

Square for Restaurants: Does Square Plus include a free trial period?

Yes, Square Plus offers a free trial, though the specific trial duration is not clearly displayed on the pricing page.

Source
Craftable: Can it handle multiple venues under one group?

Yes, with consolidated reporting across venues, but each venue is priced individually.

Square for Restaurants: What features does Square Plus add compared to the free plan?

Square Plus includes all free plan features plus advanced POS tools, a loyalty program, email and text marketing (500 free texts, then 3 cents per text), and staff management tools.

Source
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