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Food & Restaurant · head to head

Square for Restaurants vs Jolt

Square for Restaurants logo

Square for Restaurants

Food & Restaurant

Restaurant POS system that works for you

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Jolt logo

Jolt

Food & Restaurant

Operations execution platform

From
$69/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; Jolt jolt.com/pricing returns a 301 redirect to smartsense.co/request-a-quote; Jolt is sold under SmartSense
  • They diverge on capability: Square for Restaurants covers Table management, Jolt covers Digital checklists.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Square for Restaurants and Jolt differ
AttributeSquare for RestaurantsJolt
Starting priceFree$69/month
Free tierYesNo
Founded20182012

Identical on both: pricing model (subscription), platforms (Web, Ios, Android), 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 Jolt

  • Digital checklists
  • Temperature logging
  • Food labeling
  • Employee accountability
  • Time clock
  • Training
  • POS systems
  • HR software

Both cover

  • Web support
  • 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 Jolt
  • Order Managementnot Jolt
  • Inventory Controlnot Jolt
  • Staff Schedulingnot Jolt

Jolt

  • Digital checklists and task management for restaurant and retail shift worknot Square for Restaurants
  • Food safety labelling and temperature loggingnot Square for Restaurants
  • Employee scheduling and shift accountability for hourly teamsnot 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

Jolt

  • jolt.com/pricing returns a 301 redirect to smartsense.co/request-a-quote; Jolt is sold under SmartSense
  • Pricing is by quote only, with no published rate, no minimum and no named cost driver on the vendor site

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

Jolt

$69/month
  • Basic$69/month
    • Checklists
    • Temperature logs
  • Standard$129/month
    • Food safety
    • Employee management
  • Premium$229/month
    • Full features
    • Analytics

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 Jolt if

  • You need digital checklists.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android.
  • You also want temperature logging.
Jolt review

Questions people ask

Is Square for Restaurants or Jolt better?
Neither clearly leads. Square for Restaurants starts at Free and Jolt at $69/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Square for Restaurants or Jolt?
Square for Restaurants has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Square for Restaurants and $69/month for Jolt.
Does Square for Restaurants or Jolt run on more platforms?
Both run on Web, Ios, Android, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Square for Restaurants for free?
Yes. Square for Restaurants has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Jolt starts at $69/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 Jolt is typically brought in for.
What can Square for Restaurants do that Jolt cannot?
Square for Restaurants covers Table management, Menu customization, Split checks, Offline mode. Jolt covers Digital checklists, Temperature logging, Food labeling, Employee accountability. Both handle Web support, Ios support, Android support.
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