Square is the best point of sale (POS) system for food trucks, because you can sell without monthly fees on its free plan, it has sleek, easy-to-use hardware, and it has reliable 24/7 support.
If you process a high volume of orders, we’d recommend using Toast. It has excellent customer engagement and inventory management tools, which are great for scaling your business.
We’ve spent hours researching and testing the best POS systems, putting them through several different assessments to determine their suitability for food trucks. We can also get you a custom-fitted quote for your chosen POS system.
Key Takeaways
- Square is the best POS for food trucks, because of its robust free plan, high-quality hardware, and solid offline functionality feature.
- If you’re dealing with multiple food trucks, Toast is a solid option, due to its extensive set of hospitality features and ability to manage complex and large operations.
- For businesses on a budget, SpotOn offers the cheapest options when it comes to paid plans, starting at $25 per month.
- You can get started with a food truck POS completely for free with options like Square, Toast, and SpotOn.
- When choosing a POS for your food truck, you should consider elements such as the quality of your hardware, the size of separate hardware components, and whether the system offers offline functionality.
- All of our results are based on hands-on user testing of each POS system we recommend.
Why Should You Trust Us?
The Tech.co team pours hundreds of hours into researching the best POS systems because it’s the only way to ensure we’re providing our readers with the most accurate, up-to-date information possible.
We’ve spoken to daily POS users working in restaurants, retail, and more, and have tested out more than 20 point of sale platforms ourselves, paying close attention to everything, from the quality and feel of the hardware to how easy the software is to use, to help you make a clear decision for your business needs.
Head to our methodology section to learn more about our product review process, which is one of the reasons more than one million users consult our articles every month.
| Price The typical lowest starting price. The lowest price available for your business will depend on your needs | Free plan | Tech.co rating Score out of 5 based on Tech.co's independent market research | Hardware | Offline mode | User limit | iPad app Is there a version of the software made specifically for iPad use? | Android app Is there a version of the software made specifically for Android tablet use? | 24/7 support | Reporting/analytics | Staff management | Pros | Cons | |||
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| BEST OVERALL  |  |  |  |  | |||||||||||
| Square | Toast | SpotOn | Clover | SumUp | |||||||||||
| $49/month | $69/month | $55/month | $135/month for 36 months | $99/month | |||||||||||
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| 4.8 | 4.6 | 4.3 | 4.1 | 3.8 | |||||||||||
| Sold by Square, separately or packaged with software. First card reader free. Compatible with most leading brands | Sells an impressive line of its own products. All splash-proof and durable to suit high-intensity food truck environment | Broad range, packaged with software for a one-time fee | Sells a broad range of hardware, including full cash stations and mobile card readers | Sells a range of in-house hardware, including iPad stands, card readers, and KDS | |||||||||||
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| Unlimited (each till requires a new license) | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited (each till requires a new license) | Unlimited | |||||||||||
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| Try Square | Visit Toast | Compare Quotes | Compare Quotes | Try SumUp |
Pros
- Free plan available
- Slick, stylish, and durable hardware that withstands shocks
- Serves businesses of all sizes and in all sectors
- Strong analytics, inventory, and third-party integrations
Cons
- Some necessary features for mid-sized businesses cost more
- Keyed-in transactions are expensive (3.5% + 15¢)
- Support options vary by plan
- Square Free: $0/month/location
- Square Plus: $49/month/location
- Square Plus: $149/month/location
- 2.6% + 10c fees for card transactions
My experience with Square
I recently put Square through a series of tests to evaluate its performance as a hospitality-focused POS system. Quite simply, it was an absolute pleasure.
Square is so easy to use, with a responsive touchscreen, a sleek interface, and logical site-mapping that means everything is where you would expect.
Aside from a few minor drawbacks, such as the inability to open item cards for individual items, it’s by far the best POS system that I’ve ever used.
Why is Square good for food trucks?
- Excellent line-busting frontend tools, including built-in self-serve QR code order functionality.
- Easy-to-use backend tools make it easy to manage menus and customer expectations, add orders, and edit table layouts. Examples include custom layouts and item grouping.
- 24/7 support to help you resolve issues on the go, which is a major selling point for quick-service establishments.
What could Square improve?
- Ringing up large orders is quite clunky, as you can’t add items in bulk. Rather, Square requires you to tap on an individual item multiple times.
- By default, you can’t add more than one variation on an individual item, such as two drink garnishes. You need to enable this in the backend first.
- High transaction fees add up if you sell in high volume.
Square’s simple interface made it easy for me to log customer orders quickly. Source: Tech.co testing
What hardware options are available for Square?
- Square Handheld ($399)
- Square Terminal ($299)
- Square Register ($899)
- Square Stand ($149)
- Square Kiosk ($149)
- Square Reader ($59)
- Square Reader for Magstripe (first is free, additional readers are $10).
Check out our full Square POS pricing guide for more information.
Square’s POS Terminal lets you take payments and print receipts on the go. Source: Tech.co testing
How much does Square cost?
- Square Free – Free
- Square Plus – $49 per month, per location
- Square Premium – $149 per month, per location
Learn more about how much the provider could cost in our Square POS pricing review.
Pros
- Great for Android users with built-in interface
- Strong menu customization for your team
- Advanced inventory management tools, including cost management
Cons
- Limited functionality on iOS devices
- No knowledge center
- Free Starter plan available
- Point of Sale plan starts at $69/month
- Build your own plan, including hardware, with custom pricing
- Transaction fees from 2.49% + 15¢
Why is Toast good for food trucks?
- Outstanding restaurant-first features, including the ability to instantly relay orders to the kitchen, optimize every transaction for speed and ticket size.
- Excellent customer-facing features, including Mobile Order & Pay, so customers can order via QR code, and SMS or email alerts for end customers.
- Rugged, durable, and easy-to-use hardware that remains responsive in the intense kitchen environment.
What could Toast improve?
- Toast is a closed payment processing loop, meaning customers have to accept the company’s native transaction fees.
- Toast often locks users into two-year contracts which incur high cancelation penalties.
- Toast is built on Android architecture, which might deter iOS natives.
What hardware options are available for Toast?
- Toast Go 3 ($549)
- Toast Kiosk ($1,099–$1,899)
- Toast Flex ($799–$1,199)
- Toast Kitchen Display System ($599–$1,199)
How much does Toast cost?
- Starter Kit – Free
- Point of Sale – $69 per month
- Build Your Own – Custom pricing
Check out our full review to learn more.
Pros
- Customizable POS options
- Solid inventory management tools
- Affordable hardware
Cons
- Charges extra for lots of features
- Pricier than similar systems
- Business management features are lacking
- Free plan available
- Restaurant plan from $55/month
- Terminal from $25/month
- Transaction fee: 1.99% + 25¢ to 2.89% + 25¢
Why is SpotOn good for food trucks?
- Backend is robust yet easy to use, so it is well-suited to busy kitchen environments.
- Excellent tools for managing your business and staff, including labor versus revenue breakdowns, automatic tip sharing, and cost versus profit analysis.
- Platform automatically switches to offline mode during an outage and offline card payments are instantly processed once you re-establish connection.
What could SpotOn improve?
- High transaction fees of 2.89% + 25¢, which is more expensive than Square’s 2.6% + 15¢ fee for card-present transactions.
- Pricing structure is not favorable to scaling businesses.
- Steep setup and installation costs.
There’s a lot of information you can keep track of for staff. Source: Tech.co testing
What hardware options are available for SpotOn?
- SpotOn Station 15 ($750)
- SpotOn Handheld ($375)
- SpotOn Station 10 ($415)
- SpotOn guest-facing display ($950 with 15″ station/$615 with 10″ station)
How much does SpotOn cost?
- All-In – Free
- POS Essentials – $55 per station, per month
- Build Your Own – Custom pricing
4. Clover: Best Hardware
- Pricing from: $135 per month for 36 months
Clover offers lots of excellent hospitality features, has a low learning curve, and has the best hardware on the market. Our team of researchers found the POS platform to be extremely easy to use, which helped it to the top score for hardware and joint-top score for software out of all the providers that we tested.
Pros
- Low learning curve and intuitive software
- Top-tier POS and payments app Clover Go
- Excellent hardware and accessories
Cons
- No free plan like SumUp, Square, and PayPal POS
- Additional features cost extra and can become expensive
- No inter-store transactions
- Cheapest plan: $16/month
- Cheapest Quick Service plan: $135/month for 36 months
- Transaction rates from 2.3% + 10¢
Why is Clover good for food trucks?
- Feature-rich platform, combining sophisticated staff management tools alongside POS basics, such as inventory and order management, custom item variants, offline mode, and a selection of third party integrations.
- Very easy to use, with our research team commending the platform’s “warmth” and “supportiveness”.
- Durable and splash-proof hardware perfectly suits the food truck environment.
What could Clover improve?
- Initial setup is slow compared with Square, which might deter time-poor business owners.
- Some features are available as paid add-ons.
- Offline mode functionality is highly limited, compared with Square.
The Clover Customers page offers options to customize data. Source: Tech.co testing
What hardware options are available for Clover POS?
- Clover Flex ($749)
- Clover Flex Pocket ($699)
- Clover Compact ($349)
- Clover Kiosk — $3,499 + $34.95 per month
- Clover Kitchen Display System ($899 + $25 per month/$799 + $25 per month for 14″ screen)
- Clover Station Duo ($1,899)
- Clover Mini ($849)
- Clover Station Solo ($1,799)
- Clover Go ($199)
Clover was found to offer the best hardware options in our research, and its touchscreen terminal and iPad stand are ideal for food trucks. Source: Tech.co testing
How much does Clover cost?
- Quick Service Starter plan – $135 per month for 36 months
- Quick Service Standard plan – $185 per month for 36 months
- Quick Service Advanced plan – $245 per month for 36 months
Pros
- Great range of hardware accessories for in-person selling
- Low monthly costs for small businesses on a budget
- Excellent stock management to track your inventory
Cons
- Lacks offline mode
- No restaurant reservation system
- Comparatively high transaction frees on free plan
- Free to install
- Hardware and software packages from $99/month
- 2.6% + 10¢ for transaction fees
Why is SumUp good for food trucks?
- Intuitive backend impressed our team. Nicole noted: “Adding items to create an order was super simple and intuitive.” They observed that the black and white UI “made the whole system incredibly easy to navigate.”
- Relatively low transaction fees — 2.6% + 10¢ for each card-based sale and 3.5% + 15¢ for each keyed-in transaction and online sale.
- Useful “park order” function that allows users to quickly adjust items mid-transaction, meaning that you can make minor alterations without needing to abandon the order and start again.
What could SumUp improve?
- Interface is very simplistic, which might deter some users.
- Lacks a reliable offline mode — making it ill-suited to food trucks without a stable internet connection.
- Inability to add modifiers is ill-suited to complex menus.
A SumUp card reader. Source: Tech.co testing
What hardware options are available for SumUp POS?
- SumUp Plus ($54)
- SumUp Solo ($99)
- SumUp Terminal ($249)
- SumUp Register ($499)
How much does SumUp cost?
- Standard — $0 per month (but transaction fees apply)
- POS with Connect Plus — $199 per month
- POS with Connect Pro — $289 per month
- Connect Plus — $269 per month
- Connect Pro — $349 per month
How Did We Rank the Best POS Systems for Food Trucks?
We take our impartial research and analysis seriously, so you can have complete confidence that we’re giving you the clearest, most useful recommendations.
After conducting an initial exploration to identify the most relevant, popular, and established POS platforms on the market, we put them through their paces with hands-on testing to see their real strengths and weaknesses. Specifically, we grade them against six main criteria: hardware, software, help and support, customer satisfaction, pricing, and usability.
We also consider factors that matter more to food truck owners, including the portability of hardware, quick service features, offline mode, and the presence and quality of smartphone and tablet apps.
After we’ve made sure all bases have been covered, we give each POS system a score out of five in every research category, as well as an overall score, before using these scores to determine their final ranking order.
After hundreds of hours, our process is complete — and we hope our results will help you find the best solution for your business.
Verdict: Which Food Truck POS Should You Choose?
Square is the best POS for food truck vendors. Not only does the provider offer a highly capable free version, but its ease of use and robust feature set elevate it above its contemporaries.
Clover is another great option if you’re able to invest more in feature-rich packages, while SumUp is another free POS system, that offers stronger reporting insights than Square.
Still undecided? If you’d like to compare prices from the leading POS providers, based on your food truck’s requirements, fill in our quick quote collection form today.
- Remote menu updates
- Robust payment processing
- Little upfront investment
- Flexibility
- Offline functionality
For further research, see our guide to POS system costs so that you know what price ranges to expect.
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