GoTab vs Lavu vs Lightspeed Restaurant: Which Is Right for You in 2026?
All three are genuine restaurant POS competitors, but they lean toward different operating styles. GoTab is built around guest-initiated ordering — QR codes,…
Best for: Multi-location restaurant groups that want a cloud POS with straightforward, published per-month pricing.
At a Glance
GoTab
Lavu
Lightspeed Restaurant
Primary category
Retail, Restaurant & POS
Retail, Restaurant & POS
Retail, Restaurant & POS
Rating
Not documented
Not documented
Not documented
Pricing model
Subscription (custom quote)
Subscription (quote-based)
Subscription
Starting price
Custom pricing (Basic and Pro tiers, contact sales)
From about $59-69/month per terminal (custom quote)
$69/month
Free plan
Not documented
Not documented
Not documented
Free trial
Not documented
Not documented
Not documented
Platforms
Web, iOS, Android, Windows
Web, iOS
Not documented
Team collaboration
Not documented
Not documented
Not documented
AI features
Not documented
Yes
Yes
Public API
Yes
Not documented
Not documented
Standout Differences
GoTab is built for guest-initiated ordering
GoTab's combination of mobile QR ordering, self-service kiosks, and tab management stands apart from Lavu and Lightspeed, which are described in more traditional order-management-and-payments terms. That makes GoTab a stronger fit for bars, breweries, and venues where guests order and manage their own tabs.
GoTab
Lavu bundles payroll into the POS
Lavu is the only one of the three whose description explicitly includes payroll tools alongside order management, kitchen displays, online ordering, and payments — a back-office function neither GoTab nor Lightspeed Restaurant is described as offering.
Lavu
Lightspeed has the clearest starting price
Lightspeed Restaurant publishes a $69/month starting price, while Lavu's roughly $59-69/month is per terminal and GoTab requires contacting sales for a custom quote across its Basic and Pro tiers — meaning Lightspeed and Lavu are the easier two to budget for upfront.
Lightspeed Restaurant, Lavu, GoTab
Multi-location operations called out explicitly
Lightspeed Restaurant's description specifically names multi-location operations as a capability, which is useful signal for a growing restaurant group comparing all three on scalability.
Lightspeed Restaurant
Feature-by-Feature
Pricing & Plans
Feature
GoTab
Lavu
Lightspeed Restaurant
Published starting price
Unavailable
Available
Available
Per-terminal pricing structure
Not documented
Available
Not documented
Ordering Modes
Feature
GoTab
Lavu
Lightspeed Restaurant
QR code / mobile self-service ordering
Available
Not documented
Not documented
Self-service kiosks
Available
Not documented
Not documented
Tab management
Available
Not documented
Not documented
Online ordering
Not documented
Available
Not documented
Operations Features
Feature
GoTab
Lavu
Lightspeed Restaurant
Kitchen display systems
Not documented
Available
Not documented
Payroll tools
Not documented
Available
Not documented
Multi-location operations support
Not documented
Not documented
Available
iPad-based hardware
Not documented
Available
Not documented
Pricing Compared
Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.
GoTab
Basic — Custom (contact sales) Custom
Pro — Custom (contact sales) Custom
Lavu
Starter — From ~$59-69/month per terminal Monthly or annual (custom quote)
Growth tiers — ~$129-249/month Monthly or annual (custom quote)
Optimize — ~$279/month Annual (custom quote)
Lightspeed Restaurant
Starter — $69/month Monthly
Essential — $189/month Monthly
Premium — $399/month Monthly
Enterprise — Custom Custom
Pros & Cons
GoTab
Pros
Easy Tab feature lets guest tabs travel across a venue's bar, table and patio areas rather than being tied to one location.
Combines traditional staff-operated POS with self-service kiosk and mobile ordering in one unified system.
Well suited to multi-vendor venues like food halls and stadiums that need one system spanning several concepts.
Backed by institutional funding, including a Truist Ventures-led Series A, supporting continued product development.
Cons
Pricing is not published and requires contacting sales for a customized quote, making upfront cost comparison harder.
Smaller company size and funding relative to larger competitors like Toast means a smaller integration and partner ecosystem.
Less brand recognition outside the hospitality and entertainment venue industry.
Best-fit use cases lean toward bars, breweries and multi-zone venues, which may mean less specialization for simple single-counter quick-service restaurants.
Lavu
Pros
One of the original iPad-native restaurant POS platforms with a mature feature set
Offline mode keeps service running during internet outages
Bundles payroll and scheduling alongside core POS functionality
Lavu Capital provides built-in access to working-capital financing
Generally positioned as more affordable than Toast for independent restaurants
Cons
Pricing is not fully transparent online and typically requires a custom quote
Smaller market share and integration ecosystem compared to Toast and Square
iPad dependency ties hardware choice to Apple's ecosystem and pricing
Reported starting prices vary across third-party sources, adding some uncertainty
Less brand recognition among large multi-location enterprise chains
Lightspeed Restaurant
Pros
Deep table, floor plan and multi-course order management built for full-service restaurants
Backed by a large, publicly traded company (LSPD) with continuous product investment
24/7 phone support included across plans
Raw API access on higher tiers for custom integrations
Single vendor can also cover retail and golf hospitality for multi-concept operators
Cons
Total real-world cost is often well above the advertised starting price once payments, hardware and add-ons are included
Lightspeed Payments is effectively mandatory, with penalty fees for using a third-party processor
Advanced inventory and API access are locked behind the more expensive Premium tier
Kitchen display system is a separate paid add-on rather than included
Pricing and feature tiers can be complex to compare against flat-rate competitors like Square
Use Cases
Choose GoTab: Bars, breweries, and hospitality venues that want QR ordering, self-service kiosks, and tab management built into their POS.
Choose Lavu: Restaurants that want an iPad-based POS bundled with kitchen display systems, online ordering, and payroll in one subscription.
Choose Lightspeed Restaurant: Multi-location restaurant groups that want a cloud POS with straightforward, published per-month pricing.
GoTab
Bar and Brewery Tab Management — Bars and breweries use Easy Tab to let guests open a tab, move between the bar and tables, and settle everything with one payment.
Food Hall and Multi-Vendor Venues — Food halls and multi-concept venues use GoTab's Marketplace tools to run several vendors under one unified ordering and payment system.
High-Volume Stadium and Arena Concessions — Stadiums and arenas deploy self-ordering kiosks and mobile ordering to reduce queue times and speed up concessions during peak demand.
Lavu
Independent restaurant point-of-sale — Independent restaurants use Lavu's iPad POS, kitchen display and payment processing to run day-to-day front- and back-of-house operations.
Multi-location quick-service management — Small restaurant groups and quick-service chains use Lavu's cloud back office to manage menus, inventory and reporting across multiple locations.
Restaurant working-capital financing — Operators use Lavu Capital to access working-capital advances based on their processing history without applying for a traditional bank loan.
Lightspeed Restaurant
Independent Full-Service Restaurants — Single-location restaurants use the Starter plan for core POS, menu, and floor-plan management.
Multi-Location Restaurant Groups — Growing groups use the Essential or Premium plan to centrally manage multiple restaurant locations.
Hotel and Multi-Revenue-Center Hospitality — Hotels use the Premium plan to run POS across multiple food and beverage outlets from one system.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is cheapest to start with — GoTab, Lavu, or Lightspeed Restaurant?
Lightspeed Restaurant has the clearest published price at $69/month. Lavu is close behind at roughly $59-69/month, but that's priced per terminal, so total cost scales with how many stations you need. GoTab doesn't publish a starting price and requires a custom quote for its Basic and Pro tiers, making it the hardest of the three to budget for without contacting sales.
Which POS is best for a bar or brewery with tab management needs?
GoTab, since it's specifically built around mobile QR ordering, self-service kiosks, and tab management for restaurants, bars, breweries, and hospitality venues — a feature set the other two don't describe.
Does Lavu or Lightspeed Restaurant include payroll?
Based on their descriptions, Lavu is the one that includes payroll tools alongside order management, kitchen displays, online ordering, and payments. Lightspeed Restaurant's description focuses on order management, payments, and multi-location operations without mentioning payroll.
Which is the best fit for a multi-location restaurant group?
Lightspeed Restaurant explicitly calls out multi-location operations as part of its platform, making it the most directly positioned of the three for a growing restaurant group managing several sites.
Do any of these require specific hardware like iPads?
Lavu is described as iPad-based, so it likely requires Apple hardware. GoTab and Lightspeed Restaurant don't specify hardware requirements in their descriptions, so that detail would need to be confirmed directly with sales.