Lightspeed Retail vs. TouchBistro

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Lightspeed Retail
Score 6.2 out of 10
N/A
Lightspeed Retail is a retail PoS system from Lightspeed headquartered in Quebec. Core retail POS features are expanded on higher service tiers with ecommerce option and payments gateway, an accounting system, and a customer loyalty program.N/A
TouchBistro
Score 2.9 out of 10
N/A
TouchBistro is a complete mobile POS solution on the iPad for the restaurant industry. It allows users to manage reservations, view the menu, take orders and review sales reports with a few simple touches. Instead of servers repeatedly moving between customers and terminals for order management, servers can remain with customers and instantly submit orders to the kitchen and bar. Servers no longer need to write down an order and then enter it into a distant terminal. TouchBistro's single entry…
$25
per month
Pricing
Lightspeed RetailTouchBistro
Editions & Modules
Basic
$79.00 ($69.00)
per month (when billed annually)
Starter
$119.00 ($99.00)
per month (when billed annually)
Standard
$139.00 ($119.00)
per month (when billed annually)
Advanced
$189.00 ($169.00)
per month (when billed annually)
Pro
$259.00 ($229.00)
per month (when billed annually)
Enterprise
Contact Sales
Gift Cards
$25
per month
Online Ordering
$50
per month
POS License
$69
per month
Reservations
$229
per month
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Lightspeed RetailTouchBistro
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details——
More Pricing Information
Best Alternatives
Lightspeed RetailTouchBistro
Small Businesses
Square POS
Square POS
Score 9.1 out of 10
Square POS
Square POS
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Epicor Eagle
Epicor Eagle
Score 8.2 out of 10
Shopify
Shopify
Score 8.8 out of 10
Enterprises

No answers on this topic

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User Ratings
Lightspeed RetailTouchBistro
Likelihood to Recommend
6.3
(13 ratings)
2.7
(13 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.8
(4 ratings)
9.1
(1 ratings)
User Testimonials
Lightspeed RetailTouchBistro
Likelihood to Recommend
Lightspeed
It is perfect for any small business looking for inventory control, Tracking purchase history, and just an all round easy to use software for retail and beyond. I would not use it if I have only a few hundred items or was a larger company that can afford to build my own POS software.
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TouchBistro
For a small business like ours, it works very well, is very user friendly, but the cost to add more tablets so that we can keep one at the bar, one on the interior dining area and one on the outside dining area is difficult as they have to be iPads, and there is an additional cost to add another tablet for use on the floor
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Pros
Lightspeed
  • Lightspeed Retail has great reports that are very easy to read and understand.
  • Lightspeed Retail is great to train new employees on because of its ease of use. There are not lots of different things that you have to learn just basics.
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TouchBistro
  • The best thing about Touch Bistro is how user friendly it is! Works just like an iPhone. My younger employees hardly need any training on it.
  • Touch Bistro is very easy to set up and to maintain on a daily basis. Putting in my specific products and ingredients was simple. Adding modifiers, pricing and descriptions was simple enough. We have specials that change daily and updating the system in the morning is fast and easy.
  • Employees can clock in and out with Touch Bistro. Inventory can be tracked and updated.
  • Running reports is important in my business. Touch Bistro allows me to easily track my sales, for any period of time. I can easily find the numbers I need to pay my sales tax or do payroll. With just a few clicks I can compare my sales from month to month or year to year.
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Cons
Lightspeed
  • With a larger SKU assortment size, the software really starts to struggle with doing physical inventory after scanning in a few hundred items.
  • Several times throughout each year Lightspeed went down on us (not our internet connection but actually Lightspeed verified).
  • Special order system could use a lot of modern improvements (ability to schedule ahead of time, etc.)
  • Reports are very basic, and will likely require there Lightspeed Analytics to actually get reports useful for day to day operations.
  • Weak system for receiving purchase orders.
  • Does not handle items and cases for reordering very well. Have used multiple Point of Sale systems in the past 10 years that allow to set reorder points based on single items, but reorder the case automatically, Lightspeed has no support for this.
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TouchBistro
  • Online ordering can not be added on to once the customer arrives, can’t edit or change anything once placed
  • Slow speed to place next order, and syncing with debit machines
  • Frustrating that screen needs to be closed until payment goes through, hard in a very busy restaurant
  • New updates always cause glitches in the system. The last update I now have drinks printing to my kitchen that never did before.
  • Admin and servers not being able to do printouts
  • Discounts not displaying on day printouts
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Usability
Lightspeed
Very easy to use and figure out without calling customer support which is also very responsive and helpful.
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TouchBistro
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
Lightspeed
I gave the rating of a 9 because ninety percent of the time when I talk to their support they're very helpful. One of the only real issues I have is there are times where the queue will be 7-9 people deep. When you have an error you don't know how to fix, sometimes this is very troubling. But overall their support is usually quick and friendly.
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TouchBistro
First of all, I hardly ever need support for Touch Bistro, that’s how well it works. In the very instances over the years where I did need to call, customer support was easily accessible and fast and accurate with their responses
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Alternatives Considered
Lightspeed
Lightspeed is faster, sleeker and more modern than our previous POS system. I can’t express enough how easy the online store portion of Lightspeed is - it just intuitive and sometimes, is TOO easy, I feel like I have to be forgetting something. Lightspeed is staying modern and current where our previous POS was not
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TouchBistro
Harbortouch has a very robust POS system however it has issues that we do not seem to have with TouchBistro. One of the issues with Harbortouch is if the internet goes down, the credit card reader will not work and actually lock of the POS system causing extra customer wait times while their food is getting cold. TouchBistro's system will still capture the card info even when the internet is down and process it when the internet is working again
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Return on Investment
Lightspeed
  • Certainly has saved money on cash-outs/ accounting due to QuickBooks integration.
  • Faster processing through tills means happier customers and more sales per hour.
  • Expensive product at $5K a year has taken away some profitability for this small business. It's way, way over priced.
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TouchBistro
  • The software is easy to understand and use
  • We could not find a case for the iPads that would also fit the third party card reader so we went without. This resulted in card readers breaking off in the charging port rendering the iPad useless.
  • Reports were available in real time, so it was extremely easy to see sales and make quick decisions.
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ScreenShots