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Running a bar puts a specific set of demands on a POS: you need fast transaction handling for a high-volume, tab-heavy environment, solid tips management, and ideally some way to keep track of what’s moving behind the stick. The tools below are evaluated strictly on what their captured features and transparent pricing tell us — no guesswork, no filling gaps from memory.
A quick note on reviews: none of the five tools in this guide had usable third-party review data in our research round, so we won’t assign scores or verdicts. Where we have complaint signals we’ll flag them; where we don’t, we simply can’t say.
Pricing at a Glance
| Tool | Entry Price | Mid Tier | Top Published Tier | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toast | $0/month (Starter Kit) | $69/month | $69/month (Point of Sale) | Additional products/add-ons exist |
| Square | $0/month (Free/Locations tier) | $49/month | $149/month | Per-location pricing; add-ons priced separately |
| Lightspeed | $69/month (Starter) | $189/month (Essential) | $399/month (Premium) | Enterprise tier is quote-only |
| UpMenu | $49/month (Basic) | $89/month (Standard) | $169/month (Premium) | |
| OpenTable | — | — | — | Pricing not captured (see note below) |
All prices billed monthly unless otherwise noted.
The Tools, Broken Down
Toast
Toast combines hardware, software, and payment processing. Its captured feature list explicitly includes Bar and lounge as a named venue type, alongside features directly relevant to bar operators: tips management, payment processing, gift cards, guest CRM, handheld POS, kitchen display system, and multilocation management. It also lists Toast Pay Card & Toast PayOut and instant deposit under its finance features — useful for operators who want fast access to revenue. Email marketing and a branded mobile app round out the customer-facing side.
The entry point is genuinely $0/month on the Starter Kit (billed monthly), stepping up to $69/month for the Point of Sale plan (billed monthly). Hardware and additional products are separate. The $0 entry makes it approachable for a bar that wants to get started without a large upfront software commitment.
Square
Square’s restaurant POS explicitly names Bars & breweries as a use case in its captured features, and its category list includes a section titled “Move with speed across your bar or brewery.” Features captured include take payments, manage orders from one place, schedule and pay your team, manage your cash flow, track inventory, track performance, gift cards (physical and eGift), and point of sale.
Pricing is structured by location: $0/month on the Free tier, $49/month on Plus, and $149/month on Premium (all billed monthly, per location). Add-ons like the Square KDS app ($30/month on Plus, $20/month on Premium) and Square Restaurant Inventory by MarketMan ($99/month on Plus or Premium) are priced separately.
Lightspeed
Lightspeed positions itself as a “flexible, customizable restaurant point of sale, payments and restaurant management platform with industry-leading insights.” Its captured venue list includes Bar alongside Brewery, Cafe, Fine Dining, Full service, Hotel, and Quick service. Feature captures include Point of Sale, Inventory Management, Kitchen Display System, Tableside ordering, QR code ordering, Online ordering, Workforce Management & Payroll, Lightspeed Pulse, Lightspeed Insights, Lightspeed AI, Reservations, Advanced Marketing, Benchmarks & Trends, and Supports multiple locations.
Plans run $69/month (Starter), $189/month (Essential), and $399/month (Premium), all billed monthly. An Enterprise tier exists but requires a quote. The pricing range is wider than Toast or Square’s published tiers, which is worth weighing against the depth of the captured feature set.
UpMenu
UpMenu describes itself as a platform covering everything a restaurant needs online. Its captured features include a Restaurant POS, Food Ordering System, Reservation System, Tableside Ordering, QR Code Menu, Restaurant Delivery Software, Delivery Dispatcher, Order Aggregation, Loyalty Program, Marketing Tools, Restaurant CRM, Mobile App (branded iOS and Android), Website Builder, and Catering Software. It also lists a Free Setup Service.
Pricing runs $49/month (Basic), $89/month (Standard), and $169/month (Premium), all billed monthly. Unlike Toast, Square, and Lightspeed, UpMenu’s captured features don’t explicitly name bars or bar-specific workflows (e.g., tabs, tips management) as a target use case — so it’s worth a direct conversation with their team to confirm how well it maps to a bar’s specific needs before committing.
OpenTable
OpenTable is worth knowing about, but we weren’t able to capture its current pricing or features — their site blocked our automated research. We’d recommend checking their pricing page directly in a browser rather than relying on anything we’d be guessing at here. We have no third-party review data for OpenTable in this round either.
Best-For Picks for Bars
Best for Bars on a Tight Budget
Toast (Starter Kit at $0/month)
A $0/month entry price with an explicit Bar and lounge venue type and tips management captured in features makes Toast the clearest budget-friendly starting point. You can get moving without a software subscription cost, then layer in additional products as the operation grows.
Best for Bars and Breweries That Want an Explicit Fit
Square or Toast
Both explicitly name bar/brewery as a supported venue type in their captured features. Square even names a dedicated “Move with speed across your bar or brewery” category in its product positioning. If speed at the bar and familiar, accessible tooling matter, either of these is a grounded choice — Square’s Free tier ($0/month per location) and Plus tier ($49/month) give flexibility, while Toast’s Starter Kit ($0/month) vs. Point of Sale ($69/month) offers a similar on-ramp.
Best for Bars That Want Deep Operational Features
Lightspeed ($69–$399/month)
If your bar needs Inventory Management, Kitchen Display System, Tableside ordering, Workforce Management & Payroll, Reservations, Benchmarks & Trends, and Lightspeed Pulse all under one roof — and explicitly lists Bar as a supported venue — Lightspeed’s feature breadth covers more ground in the captured data than the other tools here. The trade-off is a higher price floor and ceiling, and the Enterprise tier requires a sales conversation.
Best for Bars That Also Sell Online and Want Built-In Delivery Tools
UpMenu ($49–$169/month)
If your bar runs online ordering, delivery, or catering alongside in-venue service, UpMenu’s captured feature set — including Delivery Dispatcher, Order Aggregation, Loyalty Program, Restaurant CRM, and a branded mobile app — covers that digital-plus-physical combination at a price that stays below Lightspeed’s upper tiers. Just confirm bar-specific workflows (tabs, tips) directly with their team since those aren’t explicitly called out in the captured data.
Bottom Line
For most bars, Toast and Square are the easiest places to start: both explicitly name bars in their venue features, both have $0/month entry options, and both have straightforward published pricing. Lightspeed is worth a closer look if you need a richer operational feature set and are comfortable with a higher monthly spend. UpMenu suits bars with a strong online/delivery component. And OpenTable — check their site directly, since we couldn’t pull their pricing or features this round.
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