Quick answer: Front-of-house software for a full-service restaurant comes down to four decisions: POS (Toast, SpotOn, Square, or Lightspeed), reservations and guest CRM (OpenTable or Resy), scheduling (Homebase or 7shifts), and floor execution (side work, pre-shift, handoffs, and guest feedback, where Sideworks fits). The POS is the anchor decision. It locks in your payments, hardware, and often your contract length, so make it first and make it carefully.
Disclosure: Sideworks makes one of the products on this list. We included it where it fits and called out what it doesn't do. Pricing was checked on vendor pricing pages in November 2026. Where a vendor doesn't publish pricing, we say so instead of repeating third-party estimates.
Why FOH technology is a balancing act
Operators are betting on front-of-house tech. In the National Restaurant Association's 2026 State of the Restaurant Industry report, 57% of full-service operators plan to invest in customer-experience technology this year, and 49% plan to invest in FOH efficiency. 58% of full-service operators said on-premises ordering and payment is the area of their business most affected by technology.
Guests are more skeptical. The same report found that nearly two-thirds of operators believe technology improves hospitality, but only 41% of consumers agree, and 38% say it takes away from the experience.
That gap is the whole game in full service. The best FOH tech is invisible to the guest: faster payment, a server who knows it's their anniversary, a table that's actually ready. The worst puts a screen between your team and the people they're serving.
Staffing makes it harder. The NRA found 22% of operators didn't have enough staff to meet demand, and the BLS quits rate for accommodation and food services was 5.0% in September 2026, more than double the 2.3% private-sector average. FOH tools have to be learnable by someone who started Tuesday.
How we picked
- Fit for full service. Coursing, seat numbers, split checks, tableside payment, and reservations matter more than kiosk speed.
- Pricing transparency. Published software prices and processing rates ranked higher.
- Contract and lock-in terms. Multi-year terms, proprietary hardware, and mandatory processing were weighed as costs.
- Staff usability. Can a new server learn it in one shift?
- Coverage of distinct FOH jobs. We picked tools so the list covers POS, reservations, scheduling, and floor execution, not seven POS systems.
FOH software comparison table
| Software | FOH category | Best for | Starting price (published) | Card processing (in person) | Contract |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toast | POS | Full-service all-in-one | Not fully published; quote | Not published | Varies by plan |
| SpotOn | POS | Transparent full-service POS | $0/station (All-In) or $55/station (Essentials) | 2.79% + 20¢ (All-In) / 2.45% + 15¢ (Essentials) | 2-yr (All-In) / month-to-month (Essentials) |
| Square for Restaurants | POS | No-contract, low upfront | Free plan available | Varies by plan | Month-to-month |
| OpenTable | Reservations | Diner network reach | Quote; per-cover fees apply | n/a | Varies |
| Resy (ResyOS) | Reservations and guest CRM | Flat fee, no cover fees | $289/mo (Platform) | Standard processing | Merchant terms |
| Homebase | Scheduling | Small teams, low cost | $0 (≤10 employees) | n/a | Monthly or annual |
| Sideworks | Floor execution and feedback | Side work, handoffs, guest feedback | $0 (Starter) | n/a | None |
Prices are monthly list prices from vendor sites in November 2026, before hardware, add-ons, or taxes. Lightspeed Restaurant, a POS alternative, is covered after the list.
The 7 best FOH software platforms
1. Toast: best all-in-one POS for full service
Toast is the default POS for many US full-service restaurants. It does tableside ordering on rugged handhelds, coursing, KDS, online ordering, gift cards, loyalty, payroll, and an AI assistant (Toast IQ), all in one ecosystem.
Key features
- Toast Go handhelds for tableside ordering and payment
- Coursing, seat-level ordering, and kitchen display integration
- Online ordering, loyalty, gift cards, and marketing
- Payroll and team management add-ons
- Toast IQ AI assistant for reporting and menu tasks
Pricing: Toast doesn't publish a complete rate card. Pricing depends on hardware, plan, and processing, so get a written quote that includes the effective processing rate and contract length.
Best for: Full-service restaurants that want one vendor for POS, payments, and back-office add-ons.
Watch out for: Toast requires Toast payments and Toast hardware. Read the term length on whichever plan you choose, and price out the add-ons (payroll, marketing, xtraCHEF) separately. The bundle is convenient, but it's also how switching costs build up.
2. SpotOn: best POS for pricing transparency
SpotOn publishes its software prices, processing rates, and hardware prices on its website. That's rarer than it should be. It's built for full service: table layouts, handhelds with tableside pay, offline mode, KDS, tip management, and built-in scheduling.
Key features
- Floor plans, coursing, and handhelds with pay-at-table
- Automatic offline mode
- Kitchen display and tip management
- Built-in scheduling (Teamwork) and reservations/waitlist
- AI menu assistant that edits the menu by prompt
Pricing: From SpotOn's pricing page:
- All-In: $0/station, 2.79% + 20¢ card present. Hardware included, but it carries a 2-year minimum term and processing minimums.
- POS Essentials: $55/station/month, 2.45% + 15¢ card present, month-to-month.
- Hardware (Essentials): about $750 for a Station 15 and $297 per handheld.
Best for: Full-service operators who want to see the real cost before the sales call.
Watch out for: The $0 plan isn't free. The higher processing rate and 2-year term are how you pay for the hardware. On $1.5M in card sales, the 0.34-point rate difference between plans is about $5,100 a year.
3. Square for Restaurants: best no-contract POS
Square for Restaurants is the lowest-commitment way to get a capable restaurant POS. It's month-to-month, offers a free tier, and runs on hardware you can buy outright. Its Premium tier adds coursing and seat management for full service.
Key features
- Free, Plus, and Premium tiers (Premium adds coursing and seat management)
- KDS add-on per device
- Online ordering and Square's broader payments ecosystem
- Square Pro for high-volume operators (custom pricing)
Pricing: Square offers a free plan with paid upgrades. Check Square for Restaurants for current plan prices and processing rates, since they differ by tier.
Best for: New or small full-service restaurants, and operators who refuse multi-year contracts.
Watch out for: Full-service features (coursing, seats) are on paid tiers, and processing rates vary by plan. Compare effective rates at your actual card volume.
4. OpenTable: best reservations network reach
OpenTable is still the largest diner-facing reservation network in the US. Its main value isn't the software. It's the guests who find you through the app.
Key features
- Reservations, waitlist, and table management
- Guest profiles and notes
- Exposure on the OpenTable diner network
- Marketing tools and experiences
Pricing: Subscription plus per-cover fees for reservations booked through the OpenTable network. Bookings made through your own website typically cost less. Get a quote that spells out the cover fee for each booking source.
Best for: Restaurants in markets where diners default to the OpenTable app, and new restaurants that need discovery.
Watch out for: Cover fees scale with your success. Work out your annual network covers × the per-cover fee before signing, and push direct bookings through your own site whenever you can.
5. Resy (ResyOS): best flat-fee reservations and guest CRM
Resy, owned by American Express, now includes Tock in its network. It's a strong pick for full-service restaurants that want guest profiles, deposits, and ticketed events without paying per cover.
Key features
- Flexible table inventory and 24/7 waitlist
- Guest profiles with visit history and notes
- Deposits, card holds, and prepaid experiences (via Tock-powered tiers)
- Events and POS integrations
Pricing: From Resy's plans page: Platform $289/mo, Platform 360 $459/mo (adds advanced analytics and guest insights). The Tock-powered Essential ($289/mo) and Premium ($459/mo) tiers charge 3% and 2% prepayment fees. Resy says there are no per-cover fees.
Best for: Busy full-service and chef-driven restaurants with high cover counts, where per-cover fees would add up.
Watch out for: Standard card processing still applies to deposits. Contract terms are in the merchant terms of service, not on the pricing page, so read them.
6. Homebase: best low-cost scheduling for FOH teams
Homebase handles the schedule, time clock, shift swaps, and team messaging. Its free tier makes it an easy first step off the spreadsheet. That matters: 7shifts' 2025 workforce report found 27% of restaurants still schedule manually.
Key features
- Drag-and-drop scheduling, shift trades, and availability
- Time clock and timesheets
- Team messaging
- AI Scheduling Assistant (Plus tier)
- Labor cost tracking, onboarding, and HR (All-in-One tier)
Pricing: From Homebase's pricing page, per location per month: Basic $0 (up to 10 employees, 1 location), Essentials $30, Plus $70, All-in-One $120. Annual billing saves 20%. Payroll is an add-on ($49 + $6 per employee).
Best for: Single-location full-service restaurants that need scheduling and a time clock now.
Watch out for: The free tier stops at 10 employees, and most full-service restaurants have more. Budget for Essentials or Plus. 7shifts is the restaurant-specific alternative, with deeper tip pooling and POS-driven labor forecasting.
7. Sideworks: best for floor execution and guest feedback
POS, reservations, and scheduling get the guest seated and the server on the floor. Sideworks runs what happens next: side work, opening and closing duties, pre-shift notes, shift handoffs, and guest feedback. It's the accountability layer between the schedule and the service.
Key features
- FOH opening, closing, and side work checklists with photo proof, assigned by role and shift
- Shift notes and handoffs so the PM manager knows what happened at lunch
- Guest feedback surveys by QR code, so you hear about a problem before Google does
- Scheduling, labor reports, and payroll export
- Sam, an AI assistant manager (Pro): "How was feedback this week?" "Who's closing tonight?" Answers come from your live data.
Pricing: Free for one location. Pro is $49/location/month ($39 billed annually) and adds Sam and unlimited locations.
Best for: Full-service GMs who want side work and closing duties done the same way every shift, with proof, without nagging.
Watch out for: Sideworks is not a POS and not a reservation system. It runs alongside Toast, SpotOn, Square, OpenTable, or Resy rather than replacing them.
Lightspeed Restaurant: a POS alternative worth a look
Lightspeed Restaurant publishes its plans: Starter $69, Essential $189, Premium $399/month, with KDS at $30 per screen. It's popular with bar-forward and multi-concept operators. Processing rates on higher tiers are custom, so get them in writing.
The real cost of a POS: do this math before signing
Software fees are the small number. Processing is the big one. Here's a worked example for a full-service restaurant with $1.5M in annual card sales and an average check of $60 (about 25,000 transactions a year):
| Scenario | Rate | Annual processing cost |
|---|---|---|
| 2.79% + 20¢ | SpotOn All-In (published) | ≈ $46,850 |
| 2.45% + 15¢ | SpotOn Essentials (published) | ≈ $40,500 |
| Difference | ≈ $6,350 a year |
That difference is bigger than most restaurants' entire annual software budget. Ask every POS vendor for the effective rate (total fees ÷ total card volume) at your volume, not the headline rate.
How to choose your FOH stack
- Pick the POS first. It decides your payments, hardware, and what integrates with what.
- Pick reservations based on where your guests already book. Network reach (OpenTable) or flat fees (Resy) depends on your market and cover count.
- Get scheduling off the spreadsheet. A free tier is fine to start.
- Close the execution gap. Side work, handoffs, and feedback are where guest experience is won or lost, and the POS doesn't track them.
FAQ
What is front-of-house (FOH) software?
FOH software runs the guest-facing side of a restaurant: point of sale, payments, reservations and waitlists, guest CRM, staff scheduling, and the checklists and communication tools servers, bartenders, and hosts use during service.
What's the best POS for a full-service restaurant?
Toast is the most common all-in-one choice. SpotOn has the most transparent published pricing. Square is best if you want no contract. The right answer depends on whether you value ecosystem depth, price transparency, or flexibility most.
Are "free" POS systems actually free?
Usually not. $0 software plans typically recover costs through higher processing rates, multi-year terms, or processing minimums. SpotOn's published All-In plan, for example, is $0 per station but carries a 2-year term and a higher card rate than its paid plan.
OpenTable or Resy: which is better?
OpenTable charges per-cover fees for network bookings but has broad diner reach. Resy charges a flat monthly fee ($289–$459) with no per-cover fees. High-volume restaurants usually save with flat fees, while newer restaurants that need discovery may get more from network reach.
Do I need separate scheduling software if my POS has it?
Not necessarily. Toast and SpotOn both offer scheduling. Standalone tools like Homebase and 7shifts often have better shift trading, availability management, and labor forecasting. Try your POS's built-in option first.
How do I keep FOH technology from hurting hospitality?
Use tech that removes friction for guests, like pay-at-table, accurate wait times, and remembering preferences. Avoid tech that adds friction, like forced QR menus for guests who'd rather have a server. The NRA found only 41% of consumers think restaurant technology improves hospitality, so let guests choose.
What FOH software helps with guest reviews?
Guest feedback tools catch problems privately before they become public reviews. That matters because, per BrightLocal's 2025 survey, only 4% of consumers never read online reviews. Sideworks includes QR feedback surveys on its free plan. Our guide to getting more Google reviews covers the rest.
Bottom line
Choose the POS first, and choose it on effective processing cost and contract terms, not the software fee. Match reservations to where your guests book. Then close the gap the POS can't see: side work, handoffs, and feedback. Before you buy, run the FOH software checklist for full-service restaurants, and see what's on the kitchen side in our BOH software guide.
