Brindola vs Square for Restaurants
Square for Restaurants or Brindola for your restaurant
Square for Restaurants is a cloud restaurant POS from Block, Inc., with its own card processing, hardware, online ordering and a free plan, sold in eight countries. Brindola runs the whole service on your own hardware and network, takes no share of your sales, and keeps going with the internet down.
In short
- With the line down, Brindola keeps the kitchen, payments, the close and the reports running; Square queues card payments, which expire if they are not uploaded within 72 hours.
- Brindola is one price per venue with no percentage; your card rate is whatever your bank gives you.
- Kitchen screens come with Brindola's Plus plan; Square charges per kitchen screen per month.
- Your tickets and guests stay on a device in your venue, not in Square's cloud.
- Square is ahead on built-in card payments, its own hardware, online ordering, loyalty and payroll, and it can start at $0 a month.
Last checked 3 September 2026 · squareup.com
Why venues choose Brindola over Square
The whole service runs without the internet
Orders, kitchen screens, payments, the register close and every report run on a device in your venue. Nothing waits for the cloud, and nothing expires.
Several brands from one kitchen
Each brand gets its own tab and catalog, one order can carry two brands, and revenue is reported by brand and by channel.
No percentage of your sales
One monthly price per venue. Cards go through your bank's own terminal at the rate your bank gives you, and Brindola records the payment.
Kitchen screens included
Stations, courses, age timers and a pass view come with Plus, with no monthly fee per screen.
Your data stays in your building
Tickets, guests, tenders and margins live in one file on hardware you own. Only the day's totals leave, and only to a backoffice you connect.
Sold where Square is not
Square sells in eight countries. Brindola is sold and invoiced in every country on this site, with Bolt Food and Glovo orders on the kitchen screen and more platforms coming soon.
Square for Restaurants and Brindola, side by side
| Topic | Square for Restaurants | Brindola |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0, $49 or $149 a month per location (UK £0, £69 or custom), plus a fee on every card payment. | One monthly or yearly price per venue, with no free plan and no percentage of sales. |
| Card payments | Stronger here: Built in. US in-person 2.6% + 15¢ (Free), 2.5% + 15¢ (Plus), 2.4% + 15¢ (Premium); UK in-person 1.75%. | Works alongside your bank's terminal; the payment is recorded with the terminal's receipt number. |
| Without the internet | Card payments are stored and must upload within 72 hours. The close-of-day report, loyalty, online and delivery orders, gift cards and the kiosk wait. | Stronger here: Orders, kitchen, payments, the close and reports all keep running; delivery orders and backoffice sync catch up later. |
| Cards with the line down | Accepted offline at your risk: expired, declined or disputed payments are yours to carry. | Up to your bank's terminal, which runs on its own connection. |
| Where the data lives | In Square's cloud. | Stronger here: On the main device in your venue, in one file you can back up. |
| Kitchen screens | $30 a screen a month on Plus, $20 on Premium; not on Free. | Stronger here: Included in Plus: stations, courses, age timers and a pass view. |
| Floor plan and courses | Floor plans on Plus and Premium; courses and seats on Premium only. | Stronger here: Floor plan and zones on Plus; courses and guest counts on every plan. |
| Several brands | Not described. | Stronger here: Brand tabs and catalogs, revenue by brand and channel. |
| Delivery platforms | Stronger here: Delivery partners with real-time menu sync, plus your own online ordering page. | Bolt Food and Glovo on the kitchen screen; Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Wolt and others coming soon. No ordering website. |
| Guests | Stronger here: Loyalty, QR ordering and payment, and a self-service kiosk app. | Reservations that become orders, a kiosk paid at the counter, a customer display. No loyalty or QR ordering. |
| Stock and costs | Unit costs, a cost-of-goods report and purchase orders on paid plans; ingredient inventory via a partner at $99 a month. | Lots, expiry, stocktakes, supplier orders and item margins from the cost you enter. |
| Devices | Stronger here: Square's own register, handheld, terminal and kiosk; iPhone, iPad and Android. | A Windows, Linux or macOS main device; Android phones and tablets as terminals, kitchen screens or a kiosk. |
| Where it is sold | Australia, Canada, France, Ireland, Japan, Spain, the UK and the US. | Stronger here: Every country on this site. |
What Square has that Brindola doesn't
- A free plan
- Square Free is $0 a month per location; you pay only the card fees. Paid plans have a 30-day trial.
- Card processing built in
- Square is the processor as well as the POS: no merchant account to open and no separate terminal contract.
- Its own hardware, at published prices
- Register $899, Handheld $399, Terminal $299, Stand and Kiosk $149 each, with instalments, and Tap to Pay on a phone. The handheld takes the order and the card at the table.
- Online ordering and delivery menu sync
- A branded ordering page for commission-free pickup and delivery on every plan, and menus kept in step with delivery partners.
- Loyalty and QR ordering
- Points and rewards with promotions, and guests ordering and paying from a QR code at the table.
- Cost-of-goods reporting
- A cost-of-goods-sold report on the paid plans, and ingredient inventory through a partner add-on.
- A whole business platform
- Scheduling, tip pooling, payroll, invoices, marketing, text messages and banking in one account, with 24/7 phone support on Plus and Premium.
Choose Square for Restaurants if…
…your venue is in one of Square's eight countries and you want the POS, card processing, hardware, online ordering, loyalty and payroll from one company, starting at $0 a month.
Choose Brindola if…
…the service must keep going when the line drops, you would rather pay one price per venue than a share of every card, you run several kitchen screens or brands, or Square does not sell in your country.
Try the system that keeps trading
Fourteen days on the full Plus plan, with no card and no account. Load your catalog, pull the network cable, and keep serving.
The Square pages we read
- squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing — 2026-09-03
- squareup.com/gb/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/pricing — 2026-09-03
- squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/restaurants/features — 2026-09-03
- squareup.com/us/en/hardware — 2026-09-03
- squareup.com/help/us/en/article/7777-process-card-payments-with-offline-mode — 2026-09-03
- squareup.com/help/us/en/article/8551-view-offline-payments — 2026-09-03
Square is a trademark of Block, Inc., which is not affiliated with Brindola or Pliu AB.