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Restaurants · head to head

Lightspeed Restaurant vs PAR Brink POS

Lightspeed Restaurant logo

Lightspeed Restaurant

Restaurants

One restaurant POS to power it all

From
$69/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
PAR Brink POS logo

PAR Brink POS

Restaurants

Cloud point of sale for enterprise quick service chains and their franchisees

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Lightspeed Restaurant starts at $69 a month for Starter, rising to $189 for Essential and $399 for Premium; PAR Brink POS the suite was assembled by acquisition, so loyalty, ordering, back office and POS still carry separate data models and administration consoles rather than one unified system.
  • They diverge on capability: Lightspeed Restaurant covers Floor plan management, PAR Brink POS covers Enterprise menu and price control.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Lightspeed Restaurant and PAR Brink POS actually diverge.

Attributes where Lightspeed Restaurant and PAR Brink POS differ
AttributeLightspeed RestaurantPAR Brink POS
Starting price$69/monthOn request
Pricing modelsubscriptionquote
PlatformsWeb, Ios, AndroidWeb, Android, Windows
Founded2005Unknown

Identical on both: free tier (No), 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 Lightspeed Restaurant

  • Floor plan management
  • Tableside ordering
  • Menu management
  • Staff management
  • Delivery integration
  • Advanced reporting
  • Uber Eats
  • DoorDash

Only in PAR Brink POS

  • Enterprise menu and price control
  • Drive through and speed of service
  • Open integration interfaces
  • Loyalty through Punchh
  • Back office through Data Central
  • Hardware range

What people use each for

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

Lightspeed Restaurant

  • Point of Salenot PAR Brink POS
  • Order Managementnot PAR Brink POS
  • Inventory Controlnot PAR Brink POS
  • Staff Schedulingnot PAR Brink POS

PAR Brink POS

  • A franchisor standardising the point of sale across hundreds of franchised locationsnot Lightspeed Restaurant
  • A quick service brand where drive through timing and speed of service reporting drive operationsnot Lightspeed Restaurant
  • A chain that wants POS, loyalty and back office contracted through a single vendornot Lightspeed Restaurant
  • A brand needing documented interfaces so its own developers can build ordering and delivery integrationsnot Lightspeed Restaurant

Where each one falls short

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

Lightspeed Restaurant

  • Starts at $69 a month for Starter, rising to $189 for Essential and $399 for Premium
  • The kitchen display system is charged separately at $30 per screen per month
  • Lightspeed Reservations, reservation integrations and Lightspeed Tasks are add-ons on every tier below Enterprise rather than included features
  • Integrated payments are fixed to a default configuration on Starter, with custom configuration only from Essential upwards
  • Card processing rates and hardware costs are not published, and the vendor notes prices vary by business and industry

PAR Brink POS

  • The suite was assembled by acquisition, so loyalty, ordering, back office and POS still carry separate data models and administration consoles rather than one unified system.
  • Pricing and contracting assume estate scale, which leaves an individual franchisee paying enterprise rates without enterprise negotiating leverage.
  • Hardware and implementation are separate line items that typically exceed the first year of software subscription at a new site.
  • Roll outs are project managed over months, so a brand needing a system live at a site opening in a few weeks will struggle.
  • PAR is a listed company under margin pressure and has raised prices as it consolidates its acquisitions, which makes renewal costs harder to forecast across a long franchise agreement.

Pricing, plan by plan

Lightspeed Restaurant

$69/month
  • Starter$69/month
    • Customizable POS
    • Menu manager
    • Floor plans
  • Essential$189/month
    • All Starter features
    • Lightspeed AI
    • Tempo service pacing
  • Premium$399/month
    • All Essential features
    • Advanced inventory management
    • Raw API access

PAR Brink POS

On request
  • Brink POS$undefined/year
    • Priced per site per month under a franchisor or corporate agreement
    • Terminals, kitchen displays and drive through hardware quoted separately
    • Implementation and roll out delivered as a project

Which should you pick?

Choose Lightspeed Restaurant if

  • You need floor plan management.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want tableside ordering.
Lightspeed Restaurant review

Choose PAR Brink POS if

  • You need enterprise menu and price control.
  • You work on Web, Android, Windows.
  • You also want drive through and speed of service.
PAR Brink POS review

Questions people ask

Is Lightspeed Restaurant or PAR Brink POS better?
Neither clearly leads. Lightspeed Restaurant starts at $69/month and PAR Brink POS at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Lightspeed Restaurant or PAR Brink POS?
Lightspeed Restaurant starts at $69/month and PAR Brink POS at On request.
Does Lightspeed Restaurant or PAR Brink POS run on more platforms?
Lightspeed Restaurant runs on Web, Ios, Android. PAR Brink POS runs on Web, Android, Windows.
What is Lightspeed Restaurant best used for?
Lightspeed Restaurant is most often used for point of sale, order management, inventory control, staff scheduling. Of those, point of sale and order management are not what PAR Brink POS is typically brought in for.
What can Lightspeed Restaurant do that PAR Brink POS cannot?
Lightspeed Restaurant covers Floor plan management, Tableside ordering, Menu management, Staff management. PAR Brink POS covers Enterprise menu and price control, Drive through and speed of service, Open integration interfaces, Loyalty through Punchh.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Lightspeed Restaurant: How much does Lightspeed Restaurant POS cost?

Pricing starts at $69 per month for the Starter plan, $189 for Essential, and $399 for Premium. Enterprise plans require custom quotes.

Source
PAR Brink POS: Who chooses Brink, the franchisor or the franchisee?

Almost always the franchisor, as an estate standard. The franchisee implements and pays for it.

Lightspeed Restaurant: What does the Kitchen Display System cost?

Kitchen Display System screens cost $30 per month and are available to add on any plan.

Source
PAR Brink POS: Does PAR supply loyalty as well as POS?

Yes, through Punchh, which PAR acquired. It is licensed separately from the POS.

Lightspeed Restaurant: What's included in the Premium plan?

The Premium plan at $399 per month includes advanced inventory management, raw API access, full multi-location support, and revenue center customization for hotels.

Source
PAR Brink POS: Is it suitable for an independent restaurant?

Not really. The value is in central control across many sites, which an independent does not need and still pays for.

PAR Brink POS: Does it work offline?

Terminals continue to operate through network interruptions, which matters in drive through environments where a stall is measured in seconds.

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