Lightspeed Restaurant is a POS platform with an online ordering tool called Order Anywhere bundled into its software tiers. There's no separate per-order commission built in, but a software subscription and a payment processor of some kind, either Lightspeed Payments or Stripe, are both required to actually take an order, and the tier a restaurant actually needs tends to cost meaningfully more than the advertised entry price.
What Lightspeed Actually Offers
Lightspeed Restaurant's Order Anywhere tool covers pickup ordering from a mobile-friendly site and QR code ordering for contactless in-person orders, all connected to the same POS.
- Basic plan at $69/mo, Essential at $189/mo, Premium at $399/mo
- Order Anywhere included in the base software tiers
- Requires either Lightspeed Payments or a Stripe account to accept payment
- In-person processing around 2.6% plus 10 cents, online around 2.6% plus 30 cents
- Additional costs for hardware, inventory management, and advanced reporting add-ons
What Lightspeed Actually Costs
Order Anywhere itself carries no separate commission, but the base software tier and a connected payment processor are both non-negotiable costs before a single online order can be taken.
Hardware, inventory management, and advanced reporting add-ons sit outside these base numbers entirely, so a restaurant budgeting off the software tier alone risks underestimating the real total once those extras get added in.
| Cost Line | Rate or Price |
|---|---|
| Basic software | $69/mo |
| Essential software | $189/mo |
| Premium software | $399/mo |
| Online payment processing | Approximately 2.60% + 30 cents |
| Hardware and add-ons | Separate, priced individually |
Which Tier a Restaurant Actually Needs
The $69 Basic tier is the number most often quoted, but full-service restaurants frequently need inventory management, advanced reporting, or multi-location features that only appear on the Essential or Premium tiers, at $189 and $399 a month respectively. A full-service operation shopping based on the $69 headline price can find itself quoted closer to $200 to $400 a month once its actual feature requirements are accounted for.
Working out which tier actually applies before comparing prices elsewhere is worth doing early, since a quick-service operation with simple needs might genuinely land on Basic, while a full-service restaurant comparing its real Essential or Premium cost against a different platform is comparing very different numbers than the headline $69 figure suggests.
What AUANI Offers Instead
AUANI starts at $0 a month with no setup fee and no hardware requirement. The Free tier carries a 10% marketplace fee and includes pickup, dine-in, real courier delivery, loyalty, and POS sync as standard.
The Monthly plan is $300 a month, drops the marketplace fee to 5%, and adds a fully hosted website, a 0% direct ordering widget, the full Google visibility suite, and menu analytics, all included in the one published price rather than split across tiers.
Side by Side
| Feature | Lightspeed Restaurant | AUANI |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest software tier | $69/mo | $0/mo |
| Per-order commission | None built in | 10% Free, 5% Monthly, 3% at 2+ locations |
| Online processing rate | Approximately 2.60% + 30 cents | Standard processing, no added markup |
| Requires new POS hardware | Yes, typically | No, syncs with existing POS |
| Permanent free tier | No | Yes |
An Honest Case for Choosing Lightspeed Anyway
A restaurant already committed to replacing its POS hardware and wanting online ordering, inventory, and reporting from one connected vendor has a real reason to consider Lightspeed. AUANI doesn't replace a POS; it syncs with one already in place.
Best For
Lightspeed suits a restaurant ready for new POS hardware and comfortable with a recurring software subscription from day one. AUANI suits a restaurant that wants to test online ordering for free before committing to any monthly software cost.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Lightspeed charge a commission on Order Anywhere orders?
No, there's no separate per-order commission built in, though standard payment processing still applies.
Does Lightspeed require a new POS system?
Order Anywhere is built on top of Lightspeed's own POS, so yes, it requires using Lightspeed as the underlying system.
Is there a free tier on Lightspeed Restaurant?
No, the cheapest published software tier starts at $69 a month.
Does AUANI require new POS hardware like Lightspeed does?
No, AUANI syncs with an existing POS rather than requiring a hardware replacement.
Does a full-service restaurant usually need more than the $69 Basic tier?
Often yes, since inventory management and advanced reporting typically require the Essential or Premium tier, pushing the real monthly cost closer to $189 to $399.
Where can I compare every platform in this series at once?
The master fee comparison table and the Restaurant & Bar online ordering guide both cover this.
For the full picture against every platform in this series, see the master fee comparison table. For the full picture beyond fees, see the Restaurant & Bar online ordering guide.