Step one: find the requirement that eliminates options
Almost every business has one non-negotiable — a specific integration, a hardware constraint, a workflow like half-and-half pizza pricing or size-based grooming rates. Identify it first and your list of candidates shrinks immediately.
Step two: compare total monthly cost
Not the headline rate. Add up everything and compare like for like.
- Monthly software per location
- Per-terminal or per-device fees
- Add-on modules you'd genuinely enable
- Hardware purchase, lease or financing
- Effective processing rate from a real statement
Step three: demo with your own data
Load your real menu or your fifty most awkward products. Run your five most common transactions and count the taps. Fifteen minutes of this tells you more than a week of reading feature lists.
Then check the terms
Contract length, early termination, hardware ownership, and who answers the phone on a Saturday night. These matter more in year two than any feature you compared in year one.
Think about where the business is headed
A system that fits you today should also fit you in two years. If you plan to add a second location, sell online, or add appointments, check that the platform supports it before you're locked into a workflow that doesn't scale.
Ask who sets it up and who supports it
A box that arrives in the mail with a setup video is not the same experience as someone building your menu with you and training your staff. Ask specifically who does the setup, whether it's in person or remote, and what happens when something breaks at 7pm on a Friday.
Don't skip the staff test
Have the person who will actually use the register every day try it, not just the owner. Speed and simplicity for the person ringing up the 200th transaction of the day matters more than a feature list.
- Can a new hire learn it in one shift?
- How many taps for your most common item?
- Is the screen readable in your actual lighting?
Get it in writing
Before signing anything, get the total monthly cost, the processing rate, the contract length, and the hardware ownership terms in writing. Verbal promises from a sales call don't hold up later.