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 public page it was captured from — the vendor's own wherever the vendor publishes the number, otherwise the named public source — with the date we captured it.

Clover has the lower entry price — Clover starts at $0/mo, Lightspeed Restaurant at $69/mo. Free tier: Clover Yes, Lightspeed Restaurant No. HIPAA: Clover —, Lightspeed Restaurant —.

As of 2026-09-05 · figures link to their source below

Side by side

Clover

$0/mo entry
Entry price$0/mo (Clover Go Starter)
Free tierYes
HIPAA (BAA)
SOC 2
GDPR
Best forBusinesses wanting an open app ecosystem on dedicated Clover hardware

Lightspeed Restaurant

$69/mo entry
Entry price$69/mo (Starter)
Free tierNo
HIPAA (BAA)
SOC 2Yes
GDPRYes
Best forFull-service and multi-location restaurants needing offline resilience and floor management

Sources — Clover: nerdwallet.com (verified 2026-09-05) · Lightspeed Restaurant: lightspeedhq.com (verified 2026-09-03)

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

← All pos systems compared · Open data