A register and payment system touches payments, devices, inventory, permissions, receipts, reporting, and sometimes online ordering.

1. Write down the busy hour. 2. List hardware and required connections between tools. 3. Test staff permissions and refunds. 4. Check the provider’s current offline and support documentation.

Do not switch from a single bad shift or a forum poll. Diagnose whether the issue is provider, internet, hardware, or setup.

Ask each vendor the same six questions. Get the answers in writing before anyone books an install.

• Hardware: what you own, lease, or rent, and what you can reuse. Square’s restaurant page says hardware is not included with its subscription. It says you may be able to reuse iPads, kitchen printers, receipt printers, cash drawers, and routers. Ask every vendor about the devices you already have.
• Payment processing, meaning the company that moves card money into your bank. Ask whether the register ties you to one processor. Toast’s billing FAQ says you must use Toast’s processing services. Clover’s pricing page says its devices cannot be used with other payment processors, even if bought from another seller. Ask Square too, in writing.
• Offline mode, meaning taking cards while the internet is down. Ask how long stored payments last and who pays for a decline. Square’s restaurant page says offline payments are declined if you do not reconnect within 24 hours of the first one. Square’s help center says pending offline payments expire after 72 hours and cannot be recovered, and highly recommends uploading within 24 hours to cut the risk of declines and chargebacks. Plan around 24 hours. Square makes you responsible for expired, declined, or disputed offline payments. Clover says its devices can take offline payments for up to 7 days. Clover says you accept the risk of a declined or partial payment.
• Contract terms: length, early-exit fees, auto-renewal, and what happens to leased hardware at the end. Clover says its hardware subscriptions are non-cancelable, though you can pay one off or upgrade. If you neither buy nor return the equipment at the end, the term extends at the same monthly charge, so Clover asks you to tell it your choice at least 30 days before the term ends. Terms and termination fees vary by the company that sold you Clover. Square’s restaurant page says its plans have no locked-in contracts. Toast’s billing FAQ points to the Toast Merchant Agreement for rates and terms.
• Data export: how items, customers, sales history, and gift card balances come out if you leave. Ask for a sample file now, not on the day you cancel.
• Staff workflows: who can refund, void, discount, and open the drawer. Give each person their own code, so every refund traces to a name.

If your current system passes all six, fix the setup before you switch. Start with why the card reader disconnects during service. Already down to two names? Read Toast vs. Clover for a bar or Square vs. Toast for a Manhattan restaurant.

New York City’s consumer agency, DCWP, says businesses must accept cash unless they have a machine that turns cash into a prepaid card. They cannot charge more for paying in cash. The city law allows that machine only if it charges no fee and needs no more than a one-dollar minimum, and cash must be taken whenever it is broken. Phone, mail, and online orders can be card-only unless the customer pays in the store. So plan for a cash drawer and a cash count at close. If the register rounds cash totals to the nickel, DCWP says the rounding must favor the customer and be disclosed before the sale.

Card fees have rules too. Under a New York State law, a business that adds a card fee must display the highest total price for each purchase, before sales tax, and the fee cannot be more than the card company charges the business. DCWP says a sign at the register announcing a fee on all card sales is not allowed, and neither is a fee that shows up as a line on the receipt without the total price posted first.

If a vendor offers a surcharge or cash-discount setting, read the DCWP business guidance first. This is general information, not legal advice. Talk to a lawyer about your own pricing.

Bring the real process to a Tech Audit before a migration.

No. The useful fit depends on the business and current process.

Check the provider’s current compatibility documentation directly.

Want it handled? Tech Consulting — Want a second set of eyes? We can map the setup before you buy or replace anything.

Product features and rules can change. Use the linked source as the current word.

• Square: Restaurant POS (FAQ on hardware, offline payments, and plans) — Square’s restaurant POS page; hardware reuse, offline payment limits, and contract language. Checked October 19, 2026.
• Toast Support: Credit Card Processing and Billing FAQ — Toast’s own answer on using another card processor, and where rates and terms live. Checked October 19, 2026.
• Clover: POS pricing and FAQ — Clover’s FAQ on hardware subscriptions, processors, and termination fees by provider. Checked October 19, 2026.
• Clover Help: Accept offline payments — How Clover offline payments work, the time limit, and who carries the decline risk. Checked October 19, 2026.
• NYC DCWP: Tips for Business — NYC’s cashless ban summary and New York State credit card surcharge guidance. Checked October 19, 2026.
• Square Support: Process offline payments — Offline limits and what happens to payments that do not upload. Checked October 19, 2026.
• New York General Business Law § 518 — The state rule on credit card surcharges. Checked October 19, 2026.
• NYC DCWP: Prohibition of Cashless Establishments — The city rule on accepting cash. Checked October 19, 2026.