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Best Food Truck POS Systems of 2024
Food truck POS systems offer industry-specific features, like customer-facing screens, menu management and loyalty programs.
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The best food truck point-of-sale (POS) systems are affordable, flexible and created with mobile restaurants in mind. To find the right POS system for your business, consider monthly costs and payment processing fees, add-on features (like loyalty programs) and mobile hardware selection to choose the right option for you.
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Objective and comprehensive point-of-sale systems ratings rubric. (Learn more about our star ratings.)
NerdWallet's small-business software content, including ratings, recommendations and reviews, is overseen by a team of writers and editors who specialize in business software, including POS systems, payment processing, accounting and payroll. Their work has appeared in The Associated Press, The Washington Post, Nasdaq, Entrepreneur, ABC News, Yahoo Finance and other national and local media outlets. Each writer and editor follows NerdWallet's strict guidelines for editorial integrity to ensure accuracy and fairness in our coverage.
Here are our picks for the best food truck POS systems.
| Product | Payment processing fees | Monthly fee | Learn more |
|---|---|---|---|
 Square Restaurant POS NerdWallet Rating Learn more on Square's website | 2.6% + 10¢ in-person; 2.9% + 30¢ online. | $0 Free plan; $60 Plus plan; custom pricing for Premium plan. | Learn more on Square's website |
 Toast POS NerdWallet Rating Learn more on Toast's website | 2.49% + 15¢ if you buy hardware upfront; 3.09% + $0.15 for pay-as-you-go option. | $0 Starter Kit; $69 Point of Sale plan; custom Build Your Own plan. | Learn more on Toast's website |
 Clover POS NerdWallet Rating Learn more on Clover's website | 2.3% + 10¢ or 2.6% + 10¢ in-person; 3.5% + 10¢ online. | $15 and up. | Learn more on Clover's website |
 TouchBistro NerdWallet Rating Learn more on TouchBistro's website | N/A Quote-based. | $69 and up. | Learn more on TouchBistro's website |
TouchBistro
As a POS system created by people from the restaurant industry, TouchBistro offers robust functionality for all kinds of food-service businesses, including food trucks. With its variety of features, flexible system and custom-built plans, TouchBistro can be a great option for food trucks of all shapes and sizes. Read our full TouchBistro review.
$69 for base plan.
$25 for gift cards feature.
$50 for online ordering feature.
$99 for loyalty features or marketing features.
$229 for reservations feature.
Ordering: The TouchBistro mobile payments terminals let you take orders from inside or outside your food truck. You can add, edit and search order items and cash customers out with quick register buttons.
Payment processing: TouchBistro offers direct payment processing integrations from top providers like Square and Worldpay. Additionally, TouchBistro accepts the full range of payments including cash, credit and debit cards and digital wallets such as Apple Pay.
Menu: You can easily build a menu by adding or cloning items, sync it with other menus and schedule the introduction of specials based on time of day and season.
Staff: The system includes built-in features to track all of your employee activity, monitor employee hours and performance and enable clocking-in and out functionality.
Customer engagement: Add-ons are available for online-ordering, customer loyalty, marketing, gift cards and reservations for an additional monthly cost.
Inventory: The system allows you to track your ingredient inventory, update inventory after new shipments come in and manage stock levels.
Reporting and analytics: You can access your sales data anywhere. The system includes over 50 detailed reports such as daily sales and staff insights.
Support: Customer support via phone, chat and email is offered 24/7/365 as well as self-service resources on its website.
Tailored for the restaurant industry.
Helpful features such as menu cloning, time tracking and inventory management.
Customizable add-ons.
Easy-to-use interface.
Customer support available 24/7 at no additional cost.
No free or pay-as-you-go options.
No transparency on hardware or payment processing costs; quote only.
Automatic contract renewal with short cancellation window.
» MORE: Best restaurant POS systems
Square Restaurant
Square Restaurant POS
$0
Free plan; $60 Plus plan; custom pricing for Premium plan.
The free version of Square for Restaurants has mobile POS options and includes a free magstripe card reader. This limits your costs to only the related processing fees of a card transaction. Additional tools, such as team management, customer directory, online checkout and a virtual terminal, are also available in the free plan. Read our full Square for Restaurants POS review.
$0 for Square Restaurant’s free plan.
$60 for Plus plan.
Custom pricing for Premium plan.
$0 for Square magstripe-only card reader ($10 for each additional reader) or if using Tap to Pay for iPhone (iPhone not included).
$49 and up for Square Reader contactless and chip card reader.
$149 for Square Stand iPad POS or Square Stand Mount (iPad not included; monthly financing available).
$299 for Square Terminal mobile card reader with built-in printer (monthly financing available).
$799 for Square Register two-screen system (monthly financing available).
2.6% plus 10 cents for in-person transactions.
2.9% plus 30 cents for online transactions.
3.5% plus 15 cents for manually keyed transactions.
Orders: Square for Restaurants POS allows you to customize your menus from anywhere and take orders with QR codes.
Payments: Square serves as your payment processor with its POS system. You can accept credit and debit cards, cash, checks and gift cards — both online and offline.
Inventory: Square POS allows you to manage and track your inventory from anywhere. You can edit items, update quantities, receive low stock alerts and import or export inventory items.
Dashboard: The Square Dashboard gives you the ability to manage your back-office operations in one place, with tools for inventory, managing customer profiles and viewing sales data.
Team management: Set employee permissions, track employee time and optimize labor costs and staffing with employee reports and analytics.
Directory: This free feature lets you add customer profiles with contact information, view purchase history and save credit cards on file.
Analytics: Real-time analytics and sales reporting — giving you the ability to track sales, compare data based on timeframes and see what customers spend and return — at no additional cost.
Square tools: In addition to the third-party integration options Square offers in its marketplace, you can also buy add-on tools such as Square payroll, marketing and customer loyalty.
Support: Square provides customer assistance for its free plan Monday to Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. If you upgrade to the Plus plan, you’ll have support 24/7. Help articles, videos and FAQ are also offered.
Free plan available.
App and card readers are compatible with iOS and Android devices.
Can pay for hardware in installments.
No long-term contracts or installation fees.
All plans include free online ordering.
Free plan doesn’t include 24/7 support.
Customer loyalty program is an add-on for all plans.
Toast
Toast POS
$0
Starter Kit; $69 Point of Sale plan; custom Build Your Own plan.
Toast's POS system is designed for restaurants even to the point of including hardware that can withstand spills and heat. Its free plan is a low-cost option for food truck businesses that are just starting out. Read our full Toast POS review.
$0 for Starter Kit plan.
$69 Point of Sale plan.
Custom plans available.
$799.20 for Handheld Starter Kit (but $0 if you agree to a higher processing fee).
$1,024.20 for Countertop Starter Kit (but $0 if you agree to a higher processing fee).
$1,339.20 for Guest Self-Service Starter Kit (but $0 if you agree to a higher processing fee).
3.09-3.69% plus 15 cents per transaction, if you choose a pay-as-you-go plan.
2.49% plus 15 cents for card-present transactions, if you pay for hardware upfront.
3.50% plus 15 cents for card-not-present transactions, if you pay for hardware upfront.
Menu management: This cloud-based system lets you access and update your menus from any device and manage availability of menu items.
Inventory management: This add-on lets you monitor inventory, determine recipe costs, schedule recurring orders and send orders directly to your suppliers.
Payments: Toast handles credit and debit card processing in-house, but doesn’t provide rates. Instead, processing rates are quote-based for each business.
Reporting and analytics: The system lets access key reports and sales performance through a cloud-based system. You can view net sales, labor costs and monitor performance over a set period of time.
Training: Toast has online lessons, videos and articles that can be used for training, plus live Toast classroom sessions and a test mode that can be used to become familiar with the system.
Add-ons: For an additional fee, you can get features such as mobile ordering with QR code scanning capabilities, scheduling and team communication, marketing, customer loyalty programs and gift cards.
24/7 customer support via web messaging.
Free plan available with one POS terminal.
Built specifically for restaurants.
Flexible payment options.
Contract required.
» MORE: Best POS systems for bars
Clover
Clover’s impressive mobile hardware options can run on cellular data plans. Plus, its free customer engagement tools make it a strong choice as a mobile POS system for food trucks. Read our full Clover POS review.
$0 for Clover Go Payments plan.
$14.95 for Clover Go Essentials, Retail Starter, Personal Services Starter, Professional Services Starter and Standard and Home & Field Services plans.
$49.95 for Retail Standard, Personal Services Standard and Advanced and Professional Services Advanced plans.
$59.95 for Quick-Service Dining Starter and Standard plans.
$69.90 for Retail Advanced plan.
$79.90 for Quick-Service Dining Advanced plan.
$89.95 for Full-Service Dining Starter plan.
$109.90 for Full-Service Dining Standard plan.
$129.85 for Full-Service Dining Advanced plan.
$49 for chip, swipe and contactless Clover Go card reader.
$599 for Clover Flex mobile POS with printer.
$799 for Clover Mini POS.
$799-$899 + $25 per month for kitchen display system.
$1,699 for Clover Station Solo.
$1,799 for Clover Station Duo.
$2,499 + $34.95 per month for self-ordering kiosk.
2.3% plus 10 cents for in-person transactions for most plans, though rates may also vary by hardware type.
2.6% plus 10 cents for in-person transactions on Retail Starter, Personal Services Starter and Professional Services Standard plans, as well as Home & Field Services Standard and Advanced plans.
3.5% plus 10 cents for online or keyed-in transactions.
Menus: The POS system lets you create menu items, select categories and add color-coding to help with order accuracy.
Ordering: The system accepts all major payment types including contactless and allows you to preset tip amounts.
Inventory management: To keep inventory current, you can assign categories, labels, modifiers and variants.
Team performance: The system lets you manage schedules and timesheets, set permissions and run reports to see how employees are performing.
Analytics: You can track sales from any computer or mobile device and filter reports to show your busiest times and best-selling items.
24/7 customer support.
Can pay for hardware in installments.
Customer loyalty program available.
Includes online ordering capabilities.
Cannot use existing tablets that weren’t bought through Clover.
How to choose a food truck POS system
As a mobile, fast-paced business, you’ll want a food truck POS system that’s made for the restaurant industry, affordable, flexible and easy to use.
Here are some main factors to consider before reaching a decision.
Payment processing
A good POS system will give you the ability to accept multiple payment methods including credit and debit cards, digital payments, cash and gift cards. Also, consider whether you want a system that doubles as an in-house payment processing company or if you want the option to integrate with a third-party processor. Integrations can be ideal if they save you money, but using an in-house option is usually more convenient.
Menu and inventory management
Your POS system will need to have menu management capabilities, including the ability to customize your menu — accommodating different item types, categories, modifications and other useful options. The ability to track and manage your inventory as well as out-of-stock notifications are important, also.
Customer orders
The POS system should be able to take orders quickly and easily, communicate with any peripheral devices (like receipt or ticket printers) and allow for modifications, split payments, taxes, gratuity, promotions and discounts.
Mobility
An offline mode, so you can take orders and accept payments without an internet connection, as well as multiple mobile hardware options, like tablets and smartphones, is important.
In addition, consider how the POS system handles peripheral connections — can you connect to a Bluetooth printer, for example — as well as how and where you have access to your POS account. NerdWallet’s picks for the best mobile POS systems include options for restaurants, too.
Additional sales tools
In addition to basic business operations, you can benefit from a POS system that includes features such as employee management, customer relationship management and loyalty programs, analytics and reporting and third-party integration options.
Customer support
Look at systems that offer customer support in a variety of ways. This includes direct support via phone, live chat and email, as well as self-service resources such as tutorials, FAQ and community forums on its website. Some POS systems will also provide hands-on assistance with setup and training.
Hardware options
You’ll need hardware to operate your POS system, which can be your largest upfront investment. When looking at different POS systems for your food truck, you’ll want to determine what kind of mobile hardware is offered (tablets, smartphones or hand-held devices), where you can purchase the hardware, if you can use hardware you already own, what types of other devices are compatible with the core terminals and overall cost.
A version of this article was first published on Fundera, a subsidiary of NerdWallet.
Methodology
NerdWallet’s point-of-sale systems provider ratings reward companies whose products and services are priced well and work in a variety of payment scenarios, among other criteria.
Ratings are based on weighted averages of scores in several categories, including cost, system capabilities, contract requirements, customer service and integrations and add-ons. Learn more about how we rate point-of-sale (POS) systems providers.
These ratings are a guide, but services, hardware and pricing can vary widely from business to business and provider to provider. We encourage you to shop around and compare several providers.
NerdWallet does not receive compensation for any reviews. Read our editorial guidelines.
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