Brindola vs Lightspeed Restaurant
A cloud POS on an iPad, or a full restaurant system on your own hardware
Lightspeed Restaurant is a cloud-based iPad POS for restaurants, bars and hotels, with its own card processing, hardware and integrations, sold through regional sites in twelve countries. Brindola runs every screen in your venue on your own hardware and network, keeps your data in your building, and keeps the whole service going with the internet down.
In short
- With the line down, every Brindola screen keeps working from a device in your venue; Lightspeed stores entries on the device and uploads them to its cloud later.
- Kitchen screens come with Brindola's Plus plan; Lightspeed charges $30 a screen a month.
- One price per venue, with no card processing tied to it and no percentage of sales.
- Your tickets and guests stay on a device in your venue, not in Lightspeed's cloud.
- Lightspeed is ahead on recipe costing, iPad and pay-at-table hardware, loyalty and gift cards, and hotel integrations.
Last checked September 3, 2026 · www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant
Why venues choose Brindola over Lightspeed
The whole service runs without the internet
Terminals, kitchen screens, the pass, split bills and the Z report all work from one device in your venue. A dead line changes nothing in the room.
Hardware you can buy in your own town
A Windows, Linux or macOS computer runs the venue, and Android phones and tablets join as terminals, order screens at the table, kitchen screens or a kiosk. Nothing has to be an iPad.
Kitchen screens included
Stations, courses, age timers and a pass view come with Plus, with no monthly fee per screen.
No cut of your card revenue
One monthly price per venue. Cards go through your bank's own terminal at your bank's rate, and Brindola records the payment.
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.
Several brands from one kitchen
Separate brand tabs and catalogs, one order that can carry two brands, and revenue by brand and channel, for a dark kitchen or a food hall.
Lightspeed Restaurant and Brindola, side by side
| Topic | Lightspeed Restaurant | Brindola |
|---|---|---|
| Without the internet | Entries are stored on the device and uploaded when the connection returns; what pauses is not stated. | Stronger here: Every screen works from the main device in your venue: orders, kitchen, payments, the close and reports. |
| Where the data lives | In Lightspeed's cloud, with remote access. | Stronger here: On the main device in your venue, in one file you can back up. |
| Price | Starter $69, Essential $189, Premium $399 a month, Enterprise on quote; prices may vary by business. | Essentials $49, €49 or £45 a month per venue; Plus, with kitchen screens, $99, €99 or £89. |
| Kitchen screens | $30 a screen a month, on any plan. | Stronger here: Included in Plus: stations, courses, age timers and a pass view. |
| Card payments | Stronger here: Lightspeed Payments built in, same rate for every card; rate not published, $15 chargeback fee. | Works alongside your bank's terminal; the payment is recorded with its receipt number. |
| Terminals | Ordering on the iPad app; payment terminals that go to the table. | A Windows, Linux or macOS computer and Android phones and tablets. |
| Recipes and stock | Stronger here: Recipe costs and margins, live ingredient deductions, recurring supplier orders and variance tracking. | Lots, expiry, stocktakes, supplier orders, item margins from the cost you enter, and dishes made in-house. |
| Delivery platforms | Uber Eats, Skip The Dishes and DoorDash through Deliverect. | Bolt Food and Glovo on the kitchen screen; Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Wolt and others coming soon. |
| Guests | Stronger here: Loyalty, gift cards and timed promotions. | Reservations that become orders, a kiosk and a customer display. No loyalty or gift cards. |
| Staff | Clock-in and clock-out, permissions, staff reports, scheduling via 7shifts. | Roles, permissions, manager approval, staff revenue and tips. |
| Several brands | Not described; several locations on Premium. | Stronger here: Brand tabs and catalogs, revenue by brand and channel. |
What Lightspeed has that Brindola doesn't
- iPad and payment at the table
- Ordering runs on the iPad app, and Lightspeed's payment terminals go to the table. Brindola's phone and tablet app is on Android, and cards are taken on your bank's terminal.
- Recipe costing
- Ingredient-level inventory with recipe costs, real-time deductions, low-stock alerts, recurring supplier orders and variance tracking.
- Payments and hardware from one supplier
- Lightspeed Payments, Verifone terminals, Epson printers, cash drawer and stands on one invoice.
- Multi-site, hotels and an API
- Premium adds multi-location management, shared gift cards and customer data, hotel revenue centres, property-management integration and API access.
- Loyalty, gift cards and clock-in
- Loyalty, gift cards, timed promotions, clock-in and clock-out, and scheduling through 7shifts.
- Twelve countries and a wide partner network
- Regional sites across North America, Europe and Australia, with partners such as OpenTable, 7shifts and Deliverect.
Choose Lightspeed Restaurant if…
…your servers work from iPads, food cost is a reason you are buying, and you want the POS, card processing and hardware from one supplier, or you run hotel outlets.
Choose Brindola if…
…the service must keep going when the line drops, you want your data on hardware you own, kitchen screens without a per-screen fee and no card processing tied in, or you run more than one brand from one kitchen.
See what "offline" means in practice
Fourteen days on the full Plus plan, with no card and no account. Load your catalog, pull the network cable in the middle of service, and keep serving.
The Lightspeed pages we read
- www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant/pricing — 2026-09-03
- www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant — 2026-09-03
- www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant/features — 2026-09-03
- www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant/hardware — 2026-09-03
- www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant/ipad-pos — 2026-09-03
- www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant/kitchen-display-system — 2026-09-03
- www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant/inventory — 2026-09-03
- www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant/delivery — 2026-09-03
- www.lightspeedhq.com/pos/restaurant/payments — 2026-09-03
- www.lightspeedhq.com — 2026-09-03
Lightspeed is a trademark of Lightspeed Commerce Inc., which is not affiliated with Brindola or Pliu AB.