Square POS for Restaurants, Set Up Around How You Serve.

How Much Does Square for Restaurants Cost?

Square’s core restaurant costs come three ways: a monthly plan fee per location, a rate on each payment, and per-device fees for the KDS and Kiosk apps; hardware and add-ons are extra. The table shows Square for Restaurants pricing as Square publishes it, checked October 2026. These are Square’s prices, not Lone Star Payments prices, and Square can change them — confirm current rates before you commit.

Plus and Premium include a free 30-day trial (Square moves you to Free if you don’t pick a plan), and there’s no long-term contract. Hardware options start at $59.

Square takes its fee from the full payment, tax and tip included; cards issued outside the U.S. add 1.5%, and cash costs nothing. Above $250,000 a year, Square invites you to ask about custom pricing. The full breakdown is in our Square fees guide.

Square Plus or Premium: Which Plan Is Cheaper for Your Restaurant?

Kitchen displays, QR ordering and preauthorized bar tabs aren’t on Free, so restaurants that want them choose between Plus and Premium. Premium costs $100 more per location per month and can earn it back two ways: 0.1 percentage point less on in-person card payments (about $100 per $100,000) and lower device fees — $10 less per KDS screen and $20 less per kiosk.

The table is transparent arithmetic on Square’s published rates for a café taking $30,000 a month across 1,500 card payments with one KDS screen, and a busy counter taking $80,000 across 3,200 payments with two KDS screens and two kiosks. Example: $30,000 × 2.5% + 1,500 × 15¢ = $975. Assumes U.S.-issued cards and totals including tax and tip; online orders, instant transfers and hardware are left out.

The café saves $60 a month on Plus; the busy counter saves $40 on Premium and gets 24/7 phone support. Choosing Plus over Free is mostly a features call: on rates alone, the $49 fee pays for itself at about $49,000 a month in in-person card sales (a 0.1-point gap) or about $12,250 a month in online orders (a 0.4-point gap).

How Does the Square KDS Kitchen Display System Work?

Square KDS is an Android app that replaces paper tickets and puts every order — from the POS, your online ordering page and delivery apps — on screens at each station. It requires Plus or Premium: $30 a month per device on Plus or $20 on Premium, on top of the plan fee (Square’s published pricing, checked October 2026).

Square Shop’s Android kitchen touchscreens include 15.6-inch and 21.5-inch models at $749 and $899, each with a three-year warranty; mounts aren’t included. Square recommends Premium if you’ll run multiple KDS stations.

• Ticket routing: each item goes to the right prep station, with customizable ticket layouts.
• Timers and alerts: flag tickets that are running long.
• Station setups: Expeditor Mode, plus setups for online orders, prep and expo.
• Order-ready texts and kitchen reports: customers get a text when an order is marked complete, and you see completed ticket counts and average ticket times (Plus and Premium).

How Do Square Online Ordering and QR Code Ordering Work?

Every plan, Free included, comes with a commission-free online ordering profile for pickup and delivery that syncs with your POS menu, with no added monthly fee. You still pay Square’s online rate on each order (3.3% + 30¢ on Free, 2.9% + 30¢ on Plus and Premium, per Square’s published pricing checked October 2026), and delivery-provider fees vary.

QR code ordering is a Plus and Premium feature. You build an ordering page and print a code for each table, walk-up window or parking spot; guests scan, order and pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay or Square Pay. Same-table orders combine into one ticket on your POS and kitchen printers. The website side is covered in Square Online.

• All plans: pickup and local delivery, ordering windows, Order with Google, and third-party order management that brings delivery-partner orders into one place. Square’s App Marketplace lists DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub integrations but publishes no price or plan requirement for them.
• Plus and Premium: QR ordering and QR payments, sold-out items updated on every channel, and AI voice ordering (beta).
• Delivery-app payouts: instant access to Uber Eats and DoorDash funds requires Square Checking, included on all plans — see Square banking.

Is Square Good for Your Type of Restaurant?

Same app, different plan needs. Our plan suggestions follow where Square’s pricing page puts each key feature.

Square for food trucks: Square’s food truck tools include offline payments, QR codes, handhelds, online ordering and free catering invoices (processing applies when they’re paid). Square Handheld and Square Terminal connect over Wi-Fi, so plan on a hotspot in the truck; Square Reader uses your phone’s connection. See our food truck guide.

Square POS for coffee shops: Square’s coffee shop tools center on order-ahead online ordering, Kiosk, offline mode, and loyalty and marketing, which need Plus or Premium — see Square loyalty. For bars: bar mode, plus preauthorized tabs and tip pooling on Plus; more in our bar guide.

What Hardware Does a Square POS System for a Restaurant Need?

Plan stations first: where you take orders, where you take payment and where the kitchen reads tickets. Prices below are Square’s published list prices, checked October 2026. We don’t sell Square hardware; we help you choose it, then pair and configure it.

Square’s financing is issued by Block, Inc. ($49 to $10,000 at 15% APR, subject to credit approval), and Square Shop offers 30-day risk-free returns. More on Square hardware.

When Is Square Not the Right Restaurant POS?

Square fits many restaurants, not all. Because Lone Star Payments also sells Clover, LINGA and other platforms, here’s where we’d slow down — then compare Square vs Toast and Square vs Clover.

• You course meals but don’t want Premium: coursing, seat management and OpenTable or SevenRooms integration are Premium-only, at Square’s published $149 a month per location.
• You need ingredient-level inventory: Square Restaurant Inventory by MarketMan is a separate $99 a month per location on Plus or Premium (Square’s published price for customers new to MarketMan), so add it to the monthly math.
• You want staff phones instead of Square hardware: Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android can’t take offline payments, and Square’s help center says that with Square for Restaurants, Tap to Pay on Android works only on the Samsung A32 5G and A13. Confirm your exact phones with Square before you plan around them.
• Your internet is unreliable: offline payments on Square hardware last up to 24 hours, and you carry the risk if they expire, decline or are disputed.
• You run high card volume: Square’s rates are flat, so price them against interchange-plus or our dual pricing program.

How Does Lone Star Payments Set Up Square for Your Restaurant?

Lone Star Payments now offers Square to Texas restaurants and sets it up with you: on-site across Dallas / Ft. Worth, or remotely with a live specialist anywhere else in Texas. Your Square account is a Square account — Square handles approval, payouts, rates and hardware sales. Details are on Square setup and support.

• 1. Free cost review: Square’s published costs next to our other options, at your actual card volume.
• 2. Plan and hardware: the right plan and devices for your counter, bar, tables, kitchen and kiosks.
• 3. Menu build: items, modifiers, taxes, tipping and team permissions, plus data from your old system where Square supports importing it. Our guide to switching POS without downtime covers keeping the old system running until Square is tested.
• 4. Kitchen and ordering: printers and KDS screens paired and configured, tickets routed to each station, and online ordering and table QR codes set up.
• 5. Training and go-live: front- and back-of-house staff training, and help through go-live.
• 6. Ongoing help: a real person in Dallas / Ft. Worth at (214) 838-1818.

Frequently asked questions

Square and related marks are trademarks of Block, Inc., used here to identify the products Lone Star Payments offers. Square pricing and features described on this page are Square’s published information as of October 2026 and can change — confirm current terms when you sign up.