Best POS Systems · head-to-head
Clover vs Lightspeed Restaurant
A sourced, side-by-side comparison for pos systems. Clover has the lower entry price. Every figure links to the vendor's own page and the date we captured it.
At a glance
- Price: Clover $0/mo vs Lightspeed Restaurant $69/mo — Clover is cheaper to start.
- Free tier: Clover Yes; Lightspeed Restaurant No.
- HIPAA: Clover —; Lightspeed Restaurant —.
Side by side
| Clover | Lightspeed Restaurant | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $0/mo (Clover Go Starter) | $69/mo (Starter) |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| HIPAA (BAA) | — | — |
| SOC 2 | — | Yes |
| GDPR | — | Yes |
| Best for | Businesses wanting an open app ecosystem on dedicated Clover hardware | Full-service and multi-location restaurants needing offline resilience and floor management |
Sources — Clover: nerdwallet.com (verified 2026-06-14). Lightspeed Restaurant: lightspeedhq.com (verified 2026-06-14).
Key features
Clover: 450+ app marketplace for extensibility across verticals; Accepts EBT/SNAP (Clover Mini only), mobile wallets, PayPal, and Venmo; Industry-specific plans covering retail, restaurants, services, and QSR; Offline payment capability during internet outages
Lightspeed Restaurant: Offline mode keeps operations running without internet; iPad-based tableside ordering and card pre-authorizations at Starter tier; Centralized gift cards valid across all locations; SOC 2 audited yearly; ISO 27001 and EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework certified