Vendor pricing · verified September 2026
Lightspeed Restaurant pricing in 2026
Lightspeed publishes three restaurant plans: Starter at $69 a month, Essential at $189 and Premium at $399, plus an Enterprise tier by quote. The kitchen display system is $30 per screen per month on every plan, online ordering and reservations are add-ons, and the page notes prices may vary by the nature of the business. Lightspeed does not publish its payment processing rate or contract terms on the pricing page.
Figures from lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant/pricing, read September 2026.
The three plans
Lightspeed is one of the few vendors that publishes a real price ladder, and the ladder is steep. Essential costs 2.7 times Starter, and Premium costs nearly six times it. That shape tells you the plans are not sized by restaurant size so much as by which features you cannot do without, so the useful question is not which tier fits your restaurant but which single feature is pulling you up a rung.
Two costs sit outside the ladder entirely. The kitchen display is $30 per screen per month on every plan, so a restaurant running three screens adds $1,080 a year regardless of which tier it chose. And the payment processing rate is not published at all, which matters more than any of the numbers that are: on $40,000 a month in card volume, half a percentage point is about $2,400 a year, more than the Starter plan costs.
| Plan | Monthly | Includes | KDS | Online ordering |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $69 | POS, menu manager, floor plans, insights | $30/screen | add-on |
| Essential | $189 | adds tasks, multi-location, advanced inventory | $30/screen | add-on |
| Premium | $399 | full departmental integration | $30/screen | add-on |
| Enterprise | quote | customized | — | — |
A Starter restaurant with two kitchen screens pays $69 + $60 = $129 a month before online ordering and processing.
What a year actually costs
Take a mid-sized restaurant on Essential with two kitchen screens and online ordering. The software is $2,268 a year, the screens add $720, and online ordering is an add-on whose price is not published. Before a single card is swiped, that is roughly $3,000 a year with one line still blank.
That blank line is the one to fill in first. Ask for the card-present rate, the keyed rate, and whether it is interchange-plus or a flat blended rate, and ask for the online ordering price in the same email. A plan price you can read on a website is worth less than a processing rate you cannot.
Side by side
| System | Monthly software | Processing | Hardware | Contract |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightspeed Starter + 2 KDS | $129 | not published | not published | not published |
| Square for Restaurants Plus + 2 KDS | $49 + $60 = $109 | 2.5% + 15¢ | purchased | No contract |
| Ginger | $0 with online ordering | interchange-plus, as low as 2% + 5¢ | Box, 2 printers, terminal included over $40k/mo | No contract |
Frequently asked questions
How much does Lightspeed Restaurant cost per month?
$69 for Starter, $189 for Essential and $399 for Premium, with Enterprise by quote, per Lightspeed's pricing page in September 2026. The kitchen display is $30 per screen per month on every plan, and online ordering is an add-on.
Does Lightspeed include a kitchen display system?
It is an add-on at $30 per screen per month on every plan. Two kitchen screens add $60 a month.
What is Lightspeed's payment processing rate?
Not published on its pricing page. Lightspeed notes prices may vary by business; ask for the processing rate in writing.
Is online ordering included with Lightspeed Restaurant?
No. Online ordering is listed as an add-on on all three plans, as are reservations. Prices for the add-ons are not on the pricing page.
How does Lightspeed compare with Ginger?
Lightspeed's cheapest plan is $69 a month plus $30 per kitchen screen, with online ordering extra and processing unpublished. Ginger is $0 a month with online ordering and the kitchen display included on tablets you own, interchange-plus processing as low as 2% + 5¢, no contract, and hardware included for restaurants over $40,000 a month in card volume.
Compare it against a system with no monthly fee
Ginger is $0 a month with online ordering, no contract, interchange-plus processing as low as 2% + 5¢, and the Box, up to two printers and a card terminal included for restaurants over $40,000 a month in card volume. The live demo opens in your browser with no signup.