Lightspeed Restaurant vs Otter vs Qu POS vs SkyTab

Lightspeed Restaurant is a cloud point of sale for restaurants, bars, cafes and hotel restaurants, run mainly on iPads. Otter started as a tablet that gathers orders from delivery apps and is now sold as a restaurant point of sale system. Qu is a cloud restaurant point of sale and ordering platform for large quick-service and fast-casual chains. SkyTab is now presented as Shift4 Dine, a restaurant point of sale from Shift4 with its own hardware, built-in payment processing, online and QR ordering, reservations, loyalty, labour scheduling and cloud reporting. All four are listed under Restaurant POS. They differ in price, audience and platforms.

Key differences

  • price

    On price, Otter at USD 79 per location per month; SkyTab at USD 29.99 per month. These figures are not directly comparable because the currency or billing basis is not the same. Lightspeed Restaurant and Qu POS do not publish a starting price.

  • audience

    Not every audience is shared. Entries that only one product lists: Lightspeed Restaurant: Single-location restaurants; Otter: Quick service and fast casual restaurants taking online orders; Qu POS: Enterprise QSR and fast-casual chains; SkyTab: Table-service and quick-service restaurants.

  • platforms

    Platform support differs. Lightspeed Restaurant: iOS; Otter: Web, iOS, Android; Qu POS: Web; SkyTab: Web, iOS, Android.

  • countries covered

    On geography, Lightspeed Restaurant names 12 countries, Otter names 4 countries, Qu POS names 3 countries and SkyTab names 5 countries. 2 countries appear in every list.

  • integrations

    The integration lists differ. Lightspeed Restaurant names 19 integrations, Otter names 34 integrations, Qu POS names 29 integrations and SkyTab names 25 integrations. 4 partners appear in every list.

Side by side

Lightspeed Restaurant vs Otter vs Qu POS vs SkyTab: side-by-side comparison from published vendor information
FieldLightspeed RestaurantOtterQu POSSkyTab
What it isLightspeed Restaurant is a cloud point of sale for restaurants, bars, cafes and hotel restaurants, run mainly on iPads.Otter started as a tablet that gathers orders from delivery apps and is now sold as a restaurant point of sale system.Qu is a cloud restaurant point of sale and ordering platform for large quick-service and fast-casual chains.SkyTab is now presented as Shift4 Dine, a restaurant point of sale from Shift4 with its own hardware, built-in payment processing, online and QR ordering, reservations, loyalty, labour scheduling and cloud reporting.
Best forSingle-location restaurants; Multi-location restaurant groups; Hotel restaurants; Bars, cafes, breweries and fine diningQuick service and fast casual restaurants taking online orders; Restaurants on several delivery apps; Food stands, small cafes and food trucks; Multi-store and high-volume restaurantsEnterprise QSR and fast-casual chains; Franchise and multi-brand operators; Drive-thru and kiosk heavy conceptsTable-service and quick-service restaurants; Multi-location and enterprise groups; Bars, nightclubs, pizzerias and coffee shops
Pricing modelSubscription (tiered plans) plus quote-based EnterpriseSubscription per locationQuote onlySubscription per month
Starting priceNot publishedUSD 79 per location per monthNot publishedUSD 29.99 per month
Free planNot publishedNot publishedNot publishedNot published
Free trialNot publishedNot publishedNot publishedYes
ContractNot publishedMonthly plans renew monthly; hardware leases need 24 monthsNot publishedNot published
PlatformsiOSWeb, iOS, AndroidWebWeb, iOS, Android
CountriesAustralia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Mexico and 6 moreAustralia, Canada, United Kingdom, United StatesCanada, Mexico, United StatesCanada, Ireland, Spain, United Kingdom, United States
LanguagesDutch, English, French, German, Norwegian, SpanishNot publishedNot publishedEnglish, Spanish
Number of integrations19342925
CertificationsPCI compliantCCPA, GDPRNot publishedNot published
Security practicesNot publishedNot publishedNot publishedNot published
FoundedNot publishedNot publishedNot publishedNot published
HeadquartersMontreal, CanadaLos Angeles, United StatesArlington, United StatesNot published
OwnerNot publishedNot publishedNot publishedShift4
Last reviewed29 September 202629 September 202629 September 202629 September 2026

Integrations

Named by all four

  • 7shifts
  • MarketMan
  • Restaurant365
  • Uber Eats

Named only by Lightspeed Restaurant

  • Cloudbeds
  • Fresh
  • Lightspeed Delivery by Deliverect
  • MEWS
  • Oracle Opera Cloud Hospitality
  • Otter
  • Planday
  • QuickBooks
  • Resy
  • Uber Direct
  • Xero

Named only by Otter

  • Clover
  • Deputy
  • DoorDash Drive
  • Epos Now
  • Flipdish
  • GoTab
  • Homebase
  • Hungry Panda
  • Lavu
  • Lightspeed
  • Loyverse
  • Micros
and 14 more
  • Order with Google
  • Brink
  • POSitouch
  • Postmates
  • Revel
  • Seamless
  • Shift4
  • Shipday
  • Skip the Dishes
  • Slice
  • Square
  • Squirrel Systems
  • Stripe
  • Toast

Named only by Qu POS

  • Bikky
  • Chase
  • Checkmate
  • Cohesion
  • Compeat
  • Crunchtime
  • Fiserv
  • Fourth
  • FreedomPay
  • Givex
  • Global Payments
  • HotSchedules
and 9 more
  • Incentivio
  • Lunchbox
  • Olo
  • PayPal
  • Paytronix
  • Presto
  • Punchh
  • Thanx
  • UrbanPiper

Named only by SkyTab

  • Backbar
  • Birdeye
  • clickBACON
  • Deliverect
  • Mailchimp
  • Menufy
  • Nory
  • Opera Cloud
  • ORCA
  • Pour Controls
  • Shogo
  • Solink
and 2 more
  • Textmunication
  • TimeForge

Which to choose

Lightspeed Restaurant

Choose Lightspeed Restaurant if your business matches one of the audiences it is listed for: Single-location restaurants; Multi-location restaurant groups; Hotel restaurants.

Otter

Choose Otter if you fit its listed audience: Quick service and fast casual restaurants taking online orders; Restaurants on several delivery apps; Food stands, small cafes and food trucks.

Qu POS

Choose Qu POS if your business matches one of the audiences it is listed for: Enterprise QSR and fast-casual chains; Franchise and multi-brand operators; Drive-thru and kiosk heavy concepts.

Our profile lists a weaker fit: Independent single-site restaurants. Qu positions itself for enterprise quick-service and fast-casual chains.

SkyTab

Choose SkyTab if you are in one of these groups: Table-service and quick-service restaurants; Multi-location and enterprise groups; Bars, nightclubs, pizzerias and coffee shops.

What we could not confirm

Lightspeed Restaurant

  • Billing period of the Starter, Essential and Premium prices, and which features each plan includes (the comparison ticks are not in the page text)
  • Contract length and cancellation terms
  • Payment processing rates
  • Full integration list for L Series and U Series editions
  • Legal entity, founding year, funding and employee count
  • Security certifications beyond PCI compliance
  • Whether an Android or web POS client exists

Otter

  • Base prices of the Lite and Standard order-aggregation plans (the details page lists features but not the plan prices)
  • Enterprise or multi-location pricing (the site offers a quote)
  • Founding year, founders, funding and parent company: the site has no About page and states none of these
  • Employee count
  • Full list of countries and which integrations work in which country; the vendor's own customer claims differ (100,000+ restaurants on the homepage, 275k+ customers and 40+ countries on the why-otter page)
  • Interface languages of the product (the marketing site has Spanish, French and Portuguese versions)
  • Security certifications such as SOC 2 or PCI level
  • Free trial or free plan
  • Whether Otter is owned by or affiliated with another company: the legal terms mention affiliates but name none

Qu POS

  • Any price or contract terms
  • Founding year, employee count and funding amounts (investors named on the company page: Cota Capital, Enlightened Hospitality Investments, Bobby Cox Companies, NRD Capital)
  • Security certifications (a PCI DSS guide is published but no certification statement is given)
  • Supported hardware models
  • Interface languages

SkyTab

  • What unit the monthly fee is charged per (terminal, location) and any setup or processing rates
  • Contract term, renewal and early termination terms
  • Founding year and headquarters of the SkyTab product
  • Employee count and funding
  • Security certifications
  • Full list of countries served

Go further

Lightspeed Restaurant profileOtter profileQu POS profileSkyTab profile

Other comparisons with these products

Sources

Facts on this page come from the pages below. Prices and features change, so confirm with each vendor before you buy.

Lightspeed Restaurant, reviewed 29 September 2026

  1. Product overview, FAQhttps://www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant/
  2. Plans and priceshttps://www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant/pricing/
  3. Feature listhttps://www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant/features/
  4. Hardwarehttps://www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant/hardware/
  5. Editions and country selectorhttps://www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant/integrations/
  6. Partner marketplace listhttps://www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant-k-series/integrations/
  7. Multi-locationhttps://www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant/multilocation-restaurant-pos/
  8. Paymentshttps://www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant/payments/
  9. Inventoryhttps://www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant/inventory/
  10. Deliveryhttps://www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant/delivery/
  11. Accountinghttps://www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant/accounting/
  12. Workforce and payrollhttps://www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant/payroll/
  13. Reservationshttps://www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant/reservations/
  14. Support and traininghttps://www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant/support-onboarding/
  15. Headquarters, scalehttps://www.lightspeedhq.com/about/

Otter, reviewed 29 September 2026

  1. Homepage: positioning, pricing bundles, comparison, claimshttps://www.tryotter.com
  2. POS bundle prices, processing fees, hardware termshttps://www.tryotter.com/pricing
  3. Order aggregation plan details, add-on prices, hardware priceshttps://www.tryotter.com/pricing-details-aggregate
  4. Integration partner listhttps://www.tryotter.com/integrations
  5. POS product pagehttps://www.tryotter.com/products/otterpos
  6. Order Managerhttps://www.tryotter.com/products/order-management
  7. Kitchen displayhttps://www.tryotter.com/products/kds
  8. Kioskhttps://www.tryotter.com/products/kiosk
  9. Online orderinghttps://www.tryotter.com/products/online-ordering
  10. Cateringhttps://www.tryotter.com/products/catering
  11. Menu managementhttps://www.tryotter.com/products/menu-management
  12. Loyaltyhttps://www.tryotter.com/products/loyalty
  13. Marketing automationhttps://www.tryotter.com/products/marketing
  14. Ratings and reviewshttps://www.tryotter.com/products/ratings-and-reviews
  15. Financialshttps://www.tryotter.com/products/financials
  16. Analyticshttps://www.tryotter.com/products/analytics
  17. Live alertshttps://www.tryotter.com/products/live-alerts
  18. Website builderhttps://www.tryotter.com/products/website-builder
  19. Virtual brandshttps://www.tryotter.com/products/virtual-brands
  20. Inventory Savings cash backhttps://www.tryotter.com/products/inventory-savings
  21. Otter Go apphttps://www.tryotter.com/products/app
  22. Company claims, customer nameshttps://www.tryotter.com/why-otter
  23. FAQ topicshttps://www.tryotter.com/faq
  24. Legal terms by regionhttps://www.tryotter.com/legal
  25. Legal entity, billing and cancellation termshttps://www.tryotter.com/legal/tech-services
  26. Legal entity and Los Angeles addresshttps://www.tryotter.com/legal/privacy-policy
  27. Page discovery; UK and Australian site versionshttps://www.tryotter.com/sitemap.xml

Qu POS, reviewed 29 September 2026

  1. Homepage, positioning, customershttps://www.qubeyond.com/
  2. Platform and reliability claimshttps://www.qubeyond.com/platform
  3. POS featureshttps://www.qubeyond.com/ordering/pos
  4. Kioskhttps://www.qubeyond.com/ordering/kiosk
  5. KDShttps://www.qubeyond.com/kitchen-solutions/kitchen-display-system
  6. Paymentshttps://www.qubeyond.com/payments/qu-pay
  7. Franchise managementhttps://www.qubeyond.com/management/brand-franchise-management
  8. Integration directoryhttps://www.qubeyond.com/integrations
  9. Leadership and investorshttps://www.qubeyond.com/our-company
  10. Support and HQ addresshttps://www.qubeyond.com/support
  11. Customer case studieshttps://www.qubeyond.com/case-studies
  12. Positioning and investorshttps://www.qubeyond.com/resource-center/enlightened-hospitality-investments-partners-with-qu-to-accelerate-innovation-for-the-restaurant-industry

SkyTab, reviewed 29 September 2026

  1. UK homepage (skytab.com redirects to Shift4 Dine)https://dine.shift4.com/en-GB
  2. US pricinghttps://dine.shift4.com/en-US/pricing
  3. UK pricing and supporthttps://dine.shift4.com/en-GB/pricing
  4. Integrationshttps://dine.shift4.com/features/third-party-integrations
  5. Online orderinghttps://dine.shift4.com/features/online-ordering
  6. Labor managementhttps://dine.shift4.com/features/labor-management
  7. Reportinghttps://dine.shift4.com/features/reporting-and-analytics
  8. Reservationshttps://dine.shift4.com/features/reservations-and-waitlist
  9. Loyalty and marketinghttps://dine.shift4.com/features/loyalty-and-marketing
  10. Multi-locationhttps://dine.shift4.com/features/multi-location-management
  11. Mobile apphttps://dine.shift4.com/features/incharge-mobile-app
  12. Hardwarehttps://dine.shift4.com/pos-hardware
  13. Quick servicehttps://dine.shift4.com/restaurant-types/quick-service-restaurants
  14. Customershttps://dine.shift4.com/contact
  15. Legal entityhttps://dine.shift4.com/privacy-policy