Comparison
Eclyde vs Square, side by side.
Square is one of the easiest tills in the trade to get trading, and for a small cafe it is often simply the right answer. Eclyde only builds for restaurants, and that shows up at the pass and on the delivery run.
In short
Square is a general-purpose point of sale with published rates, well-made hardware and a very fast setup, which suits cafes and counter service. Eclyde only builds for restaurants, so the kitchen display, driver dispatch and commission-free direct ordering sit in the core platform rather than being bought as separate pieces.
Updated 20 August 2026
What is Square genuinely good at?
Getting you trading, and being honest about what it costs. Square publishes its rates on its own website, which most of this trade still refuses to do. The hardware is genuinely well made, the entry tier costs nothing to start, and you can unbox it and take money the same afternoon without anybody visiting. It is reliable and the ecosystem around it is enormous. If you run a coffee shop with a six-line menu doing two hundred cards a day and no delivery, Square is hard to beat and swapping it for something heavier would be a waste of your money. We would tell you that rather than sell you a system you do not need.
Where does a restaurant-only system pull ahead?
At the points where a restaurant stops looking like a shop. A pass that needs coursing and station routing. Modifiers that price per side, because half and half is not an edge case in a pizza shop. Your own drivers, with zones and dispatch. And marketplace tickets landing in the same queue as everything else instead of on a shelf of tablets.
- Kitchen display with coursing and station routing in the core
- Your own drivers, with zones, batching and live tracking
- Modifiers that price per side and per size
- Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat orders in the same queue
What can Eclyde tell you that basic reporting cannot?
Two specific things, and it is worth being precise rather than waving at the word intelligence. It flags the customers about to stop ordering, reading each one's own pattern rather than an average, so a monthly regular is not chased after a fortnight and a weekly one is not left three weeks. And it ranks dishes by the margin they actually carry rather than by how many you sold, which is how a bestseller that loses you money finally gets noticed. Both then act: the lapsed regular gets their usual with a few euro off, without anyone writing the message.
So which should you pick?
Short menu, one counter, no drivers, no marketplace tablets: Square, and enjoy the simplicity. A kitchen with a pass, your own delivery, three apps to reconcile and a commission bill that has started to annoy you: that is the case for Eclyde. The dividing line is not size, it is whether the complicated parts of your night happen after the money is taken.
Questions, answered straight.
Not covered here? Just ask us.
Is Square simpler to set up?
Yes, for a small counter operation it genuinely is, and we are not going to argue otherwise. You can be trading in an afternoon with no onboarding call. Eclyde takes more setting up because there is more to set up: menu, modifiers, zones, kitchen routing and staff training.
Can I use my Square hardware with Eclyde?
Your tablets almost certainly carry over, the card reader will not. Square's readers are tied to Square's own processing, so they will not work with another system. Eclyde runs on standard iPads and Android tablets with Stripe-powered payments, so it is one piece of kit to change rather than the lot.
Is Eclyde more expensive than Square?
At low volume, yes, and honestly so. Square's entry tier costs nothing monthly. The comparison changes once you are paying separately for a kitchen display, online ordering, loyalty and something to run your drivers, so add up the whole bill rather than the headline. Eclyde is €59 a month plus 5% per order, or €169 billed annually at 0% commission, with everything included on both.
Does Square do delivery?
Through courier partners, yes, and for a lot of restaurants that is enough. What it is not built for is running your own drivers, where you need zone pricing, dispatch and batching. If your drivers are your own, that job moves to a separate system alongside Square.
I run a coffee shop. Should I be looking at Eclyde at all?
Probably not, and it would be a poor use of your money. A short menu, one counter, no delivery and no kitchen pass is exactly what Square is good at. Come back to us if you add delivery drivers, a pass that needs coursing, or a marketplace commission bill that has started to sting.
Does Eclyde keep working if the internet drops?
The till keeps taking orders and syncs when the connection returns. Card authorisation is the honest exception on any system, Square included, because no reader can authorise a card with no line at all. Keep a cash float for the bad nights.
Do I need to leave Square all at once?
No, and most people should not. Run the ordering page and delivery on Eclyde alongside your existing till for a few weeks, check the numbers agree, then move the counter over during a quiet week.
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