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Food & Restaurant · head to head

Square for Restaurants vs Clover

Square for Restaurants logo

Square for Restaurants

Food & Restaurant

Restaurant POS system that works for you

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Clover logo

Clover

Food & Restaurant

Point of sale system that grows with your business

From
$29/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Square for Restaurants has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Square for Restaurants the Square KDS and Square Kiosk apps are not available on the free plan; Clover the App Store listing (Clover Network, Inc) requires an existing Clover merchant account to use the app at all; there is no self-serve signup or published subscription price inside the listing, confirming the product is sold only through merchant onboarding contracts
  • They diverge on capability: Square for Restaurants covers Table management, Clover covers POS system.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Square for Restaurants and Clover differ
AttributeSquare for RestaurantsClover
Starting priceFree$29/month
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsWeb, Ios, AndroidHardware, Ios, Android
Founded20182012

Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Food & Restaurant).

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 Square for Restaurants

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

Only in Clover

  • POS system
  • Payment processing
  • Inventory management
  • Employee management
  • Reporting
  • Yelp
  • Gusto
  • PCI DSS

Both cover

  • QuickBooks
  • Ios support
  • Android support

What people use each for

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

Square for Restaurants

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

Clover

  • Point of salenot Square for Restaurants
  • Payment processingnot Square for Restaurants
  • Business managementnot Square for Restaurants

Where each one falls short

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

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

Clover

  • The App Store listing (Clover Network, Inc) requires an existing Clover merchant account to use the app at all; there is no self-serve signup or published subscription price inside the listing, confirming the product is sold only through merchant onboarding contracts

Pricing, plan by plan

Square for Restaurants

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

Clover

$29/month
  • StarterFree
    • Mobile payments
    • Basic reporting
  • Standard$14.95/month
    • Full POS
    • Employee management
    • Inventory

Which should you pick?

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.
Square for Restaurants review

Choose Clover if

  • You need pos system.
  • You work on Hardware, Ios, Android.
  • You also want payment processing.
Clover review

Questions people ask

Is Square for Restaurants or Clover better?
Neither clearly leads. Square for Restaurants starts at Free and Clover at $29/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Square for Restaurants or Clover?
Square for Restaurants has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Square for Restaurants and $29/month for Clover.
Does Square for Restaurants or Clover run on more platforms?
Square for Restaurants runs on Web, Ios, Android. Clover runs on Hardware, 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. Clover starts at $29/month.
What is Square for Restaurants best used for?
Square for Restaurants 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 Clover is typically brought in for.
What can Square for Restaurants do that Clover cannot?
Square for Restaurants covers Table management, Menu customization, Split checks, Offline mode. Clover covers POS system, Payment processing, Inventory management, Employee management. Both handle QuickBooks, Ios support, Android support.
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Related pages

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