Square vs Lightspeed vs TouchBistro: Best POS for Canadian Restaurants 2026

Picking a POS is one of the few restaurant decisions you live with for years. Switching later means re-training staff, re-doing your menu build, often new hardware, and sometimes a penalty for leaving early. So the question isn't just "which POS has the nicest screens" — it's which one costs you the least, all-in, in Canadian dollars, for the kind of restaurant you actually run.

This is a straight head-to-head of the three systems most Canadian independents shortlist in 2026: Square for Restaurants, Lightspeed Restaurant and TouchBistro. Every price and rate below is taken from each vendor's own pricing page, in C$ where they publish it — and flagged clearly where they don't. Because the biggest surprise isn't a number. It's that one of these companies is Canadian-built and still won't tell you, on its pricing page, whether its prices are even in Canadian dollars.

Key takeaways

• Square is the cheapest way to start: a free software tier (C$0/month), a C$60/month Plus plan, a flat 2.5% on in-person credit, and no long-term contract. Debit is far cheaper at 0.75% + 7¢.
• Lightspeed is the only one that labels its prices in CAD — C$89 / C$239 / C$499 a month, processing at 2.6% + 10¢ — and it is a Canadian (Montréal) company with the deepest full-service feature set.
• TouchBistro does not publish a clearly-Canadian price. Its page shows "starting at $69/month" with no currency label at all, and both payment processing and hardware are quoted separately — so you can't compare it until you've been given a written quote.
• Processing fees, not software, are your biggest POS cost. At C$40,000/month in card sales, the monthly processing bill dwarfs any plan fee — so a 0.1% rate difference matters more than a $20 plan difference.
• Read the payment clause before you sign. The real lock-in on bundled POS-plus-payments deals is being charged extra to use a different card processor — a trap worth more than the sticker price.
• The right answer depends on your restaurant, not on a "best POS" ranking. The pick-by-type guide below gives you a straight recommendation.

The fast answer: which should you choose?

There's no single winner — but here's the short version before the detail:

• Small or new independent, tight budget, want to start cheaply and skip contracts? Square for Restaurants. Free to C$60/month, the lowest published in-person credit rate (2.5%), genuinely cheap debit, and no long-term contract to escape later.
• Full-service or multi-location, want deep features and one Canadian-built stack with honest CAD pricing? Lightspeed Restaurant. More expensive monthly, but it's the only one of the three that publishes its prices in Canadian dollars and the only one built in Canada for complex operations.
• Want restaurant-specialist iPad software and willing to negotiate? TouchBistro — but insist on seeing the price in CAD and the processing rate in writing before you sign anything, because its public page gives you neither.

The rest of this guide shows the numbers behind those calls. (Looking wider than these three? Our roundup of the best POS systems for Canadian restaurants covers Clover and the rest.)

Square vs Lightspeed vs TouchBistro: 2026 price comparison

Here are the current published figures, taken from each vendor's own pricing page. Where a vendor doesn't publish a number — or doesn't say which currency it's in — that's marked, because it's part of the decision.

*TouchBistro's pricing page shows "$69/month" and "$119/month" with no currency label and notes that hardware, payment processing and additional fees apply. Square's figures appear on its Canadian (squareup.com/ca) site using the "$" symbol but are not explicitly labelled "CAD." Lightspeed labels its plan prices "CAD /mo." Verify your own quote before signing — vendor pricing changes.

Two things jump out of that table. First, the software prices are not close: Square starts free and tops its named tier at C$60/month, while Lightspeed's comparable Essential plan is C$239/month. Second, only Lightspeed actually tells you, on the page, that the prices are Canadian.

Why processing fees matter more than the plan price

Owners anchor on the monthly software fee because it's the number the salesperson leads with. But it's rarely your biggest POS cost. The processing fee — the percentage the system skims off every card payment — is.

Run the math on a mid-sized independent doing C$40,000 a month in card sales, with an average cheque of C$40 (so roughly 1,000 transactions a month). Treating it all as in-person credit for a like-for-like comparison:

Illustrative example with stated assumptions; your mix of credit, debit and online orders will change the totals. The point is the method, not the exact dollar figure.

The lesson: a 0.1% difference on processing (2.5% vs 2.6%) is worth about C$40 a month at this volume — the same as a whole plan tier. And Square's debit rate of 0.75% + 7¢ is dramatically cheaper than its credit rate, so an operator whose customers tap debit a lot will pay far less than this worst-case credit example suggests. When you compare quotes, compare the blended rate across your real card mix, not the headline credit rate — and get every rate on the quote. For the full checklist of what to weigh beyond price, see our guide on how to choose a POS for your Canadian restaurant.

Square for Restaurants: best for lowest cost and no contract

Square is the entry point most small Canadian independents land on, and the numbers explain why. The Free plan is C$0/month, the Plus plan is C$60/month (plus C$40/month per added countertop device), and Premium is custom-priced for restaurants processing more than C$250,000 in credit card sales a year.

Processing is flat and published: 2.5% on in-person credit, 0.75% + 7¢ on debit, 2.8% + 30¢ online, and 3.3% + 15¢ for manually-keyed or card-on-file payments. Square states plainly: "No hidden fees. No long-term contract required," and you can upgrade or downgrade any time. Hardware is sold separately — a Stand runs about C$249, a Terminal C$399, a handheld C$449.

The one honest caveat: Square's Canadian pricing page shows every price with a bare "$" and never writes "CAD," even though it's the squareup.com/ca Canadian site with a "Canada (English)" locale. Canadian dollars are strongly implied, but confirm it on your own account.

Best for: new or small independents, cafés and quick-service spots that want to start cheaply, avoid contracts, and keep debit-heavy processing costs down.

Lightspeed Restaurant: best for full-service and Canadian-built depth

Lightspeed is the most expensive of the three on paper and the most capable. Plans are Starter C$89/month, Essential C$239/month, Premium C$499/month, with an Enterprise tier by quote. Integrated processing is 2.6% + 10¢ on the Starter and Essential plans, with custom rates on Premium. A Kitchen Display System screen is a C$40/screen/month add-on.

Two things set it apart. First, it's the only one of the three that explicitly labels its plan prices "CAD /mo" — no guessing. Second, it's a Montréal company, and its platform is built for the complexity of full-service and multi-location restaurants: coursing, floor plans, deep reporting, inventory. If you're running a 90-seat full-service room or more than one location, that depth is what you're paying the extra C$180/month for over Square's Plus plan.

Lightspeed's own pricing page notes "prices may vary depending on the nature of the business and the industry," so treat the published figures as a starting point for your quote.

Best for: established full-service restaurants and multi-site operators who want deep features, one Canadian-built stack, and transparent CAD pricing — and can absorb the higher monthly fee.

TouchBistro: strong software, opaque pricing

TouchBistro is a Toronto-built, restaurant-only iPad POS with a loyal following — and the hardest of the three to actually price. Its pricing page lists "Point of Sale, starting at $69/month" and an "Essentials Bundle, starting at $119/month," with a Custom Setup tier that's quote-only. Every add-on — payments, kitchen display, online ordering, inventory, loyalty — shows only "Get a Quote."

Here's the problem for a Canadian buyer: the page carries no currency label anywhere. There's no "CAD," no "USD," no region selector — just a "$" symbol. The footnotes add that "hardware, payment processing, and additional fees apply." So the real all-in cost isn't on the page at all, and you can't even be sure the starting prices you see are in Canadian dollars.

None of that makes TouchBistro a bad POS — plenty of Canadian restaurants run it happily. It means you cannot comparison-shop it from the website. You have to get a written quote, insist it's in CAD, and get the processing rate and contract length in writing before you compare it to Square and Lightspeed.

Best for: restaurants that specifically want TouchBistro's restaurant-focused iPad software and are prepared to negotiate — with the discipline to pin down every number in writing first.

The lock-in trap to read for before you sign

Sticker price and processing rate are the first two decision axes. The third — the one that costs owners the most — is payment lock-in. When a POS bundles its own card processing, the contract often makes it expensive or impossible to use a cheaper third-party processor, and leaving early can trigger a penalty.

This is where a cheap-looking monthly plan can quietly become the expensive choice. Before you sign any bundled POS-and-payments deal, read the clauses on processor choice, contract length, early-termination penalties and the switch window — and get the forced-processor terms in writing. We've covered the specific Canadian cases and the exact clauses to hunt for in the POS lock-in traps and hidden fees Canadian restaurants get caught by. It's also worth knowing how bundled processors can hold your funds — see POS reserve holds and frozen payouts — before you route all your revenue through one.

How to choose: a 7-point checklist

Work through these before you commit to any of the three:

1. Calculate your blended processing rate, not the headline credit rate — weight it by how much of your volume is tap-debit, credit and online.
2. Get every price in CAD, in writing. If a vendor won't label the currency, make them.
3. Add hardware to the total. All three sell it separately; a full till, reader and kitchen screen is a real four-figure line.
4. Read the contract length and exit clause. No-contract (Square) versus a multi-year term changes the true cost of being wrong.
5. Check the forced-processor clause. Can you bring your own card processor, and what does it cost if you do?
6. Match features to your format. A café doesn't need Lightspeed's coursing; a 100-seat full-service room will outgrow a bare-bones setup.
7. Confirm Canadian support and tax handling — GST/HST, tipping and provincial rules should be built in, not bolted on.

For the wider landscape beyond these three — including Clover and the other options — see the full roundup linked near the top of this guide.

One more thing worth separating in your head: your POS contract and your website are not the same decision. If your online menu and ordering page live independently of your till — the way an AI site builder like DineHere keeps them — then switching POS later never takes your web presence down with it. Keep the two un-coupled so one bad POS contract can't hold both hostage.

Frequently asked questions

Which POS is cheapest for a small Canadian restaurant?
Square for Restaurants is the cheapest to start: a free C$0/month tier, a C$60/month Plus plan, 2.5% on in-person credit, 0.75% + 7¢ on debit, and no long-term contract. For a small or new independent watching cash, it's usually the lowest all-in cost.

Is Lightspeed a Canadian company?
Yes. Lightspeed is headquartered in Montréal, Québec. It's also the only one of these three that explicitly labels its plan prices in CAD on its pricing page.

Is TouchBistro cheaper than Lightspeed?
On the sticker price, TouchBistro's "$69/month" starting figure looks lower than Lightspeed's C$89 Starter plan — but TouchBistro doesn't label its currency, doesn't publish its processing rate, and charges for hardware and add-ons separately. You can't reliably compare the two until you have a written TouchBistro quote in CAD.

What processing rates do these POS systems charge in Canada?
Square publishes 2.5% on in-person credit and 0.75% + 7¢ on debit. Lightspeed publishes 2.6% + 10¢. TouchBistro does not publish a processing rate — it's quoted per merchant. Always compare the blended rate across your real card mix.

Does Square work in Canada?
Yes. Square for Restaurants operates in Canada with a dedicated Canadian pricing page, though that page uses the "$" symbol without explicitly writing "CAD." Confirm the currency on your own account.

Why does TouchBistro's pricing page not show a currency?
TouchBistro's public pricing page lists prices with a bare "$" and no "CAD" or "USD" label and no region selector. For a Canadian buyer that means you should request a written quote and confirm it's in Canadian dollars before comparing.

Do any of these lock me into their payment processor?
Bundled POS-and-payments deals often make it costly to use a different card processor, and some carry early-termination penalties. Read the processor-choice and exit clauses carefully before signing — this is the most expensive trap in POS contracts.

How much is POS hardware in Canada?
All three sell hardware separately. Square lists items like a Stand around C$249 and a Terminal around C$399; Lightspeed and TouchBistro quote hardware per setup. Budget for a full till, card reader and any kitchen display on top of the monthly software.

Which POS is best for a full-service restaurant?
Lightspeed Restaurant is generally the strongest fit for full-service and multi-location restaurants, thanks to coursing, floor plans, deep reporting and inventory — the depth that justifies its higher monthly fee over Square's Plus plan.

Can I switch POS systems later?
You can, but it's costly: staff re-training, a new menu build, often new hardware, and sometimes an early-termination penalty. That's why the contract length and exit clause matter as much as the monthly price — choosing a no-contract option like Square keeps switching cheap.