Lightspeed Retail vs. TouchBistro

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Lightspeed Retail
Score 6.9 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 6.0 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
Community Pulse
Lightspeed RetailTouchBistro
Best Alternatives
Lightspeed RetailTouchBistro
Small Businesses
Square POS
Square POS
Score 10.0 out of 10
Square POS
Square POS
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Epicor Eagle
Epicor Eagle
Score 7.9 out of 10
Shopify
Shopify
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises

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User Ratings
Lightspeed RetailTouchBistro
Likelihood to Recommend
7.7
(0 ratings)
8.1
(0 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(0 ratings)
8.2
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.8
(0 ratings)
9.1
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Lightspeed RetailTouchBistro
Likelihood to Recommend
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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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
  • Very very user friendly.
  • Easy iPad interface that is easy to upgrade to new hardware if an iPad breaks, etc.
  • On the Advanced plan the reporting is outstanding.
  • Very easy to train new employees, especially younger employees raised on phones and tablets.
  • We use their payments system and it's a very easy integration. I believe Stripe is their payment provider.
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  • Very fast transaction times; I do not need to wait for the credit slip printer to respond, it is almost instantaneous.
  • I can add, delete, or modify menu items on the fly and in real time in literally a handful of seconds.
  • TouchBistro provides an intuitive and easy way to check my tasting room’s metrics in real time from anywhere on the globe.
  • My employees are able to access a customized menu of item modifiers and discounts very quickly and easily.
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Cons
  • They have not had major updates to their system in years. The inventory system is stagnant. Although their inventory system is robust, it is outdated.
  • They do have 24-hour support, however, wait times are excessive and representatives have challenges understanding your issues.
  • Trying to get issues resolved can take months or never at all. Management is non-existent. Trying to reach a supervisor is impossible.
  • They have a culture of telling you what you want to hear but have no intentions of actually following through.
  • Lightspeed is a great solution if you are a small business just getting started. But if you are intending to grow and expand, Lightspeed will become detrimental to your growth.
  • The reporting/analytics is basic at best. They do offer paid options that are very expensive, but it is very robust. The basic reporting is very minimal.
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  • 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
Very easy to use and figure out without calling customer support which is also very responsive and helpful.
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It's an incredibly easy system to navigate both from a management perspective as well as a service member perspective.Training, programming items and inventory, day to day sales, processing payments, gathering reports and data, gift card sales and processing (with the exception of online for us) is easy and seamless.
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Support Rating
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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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
We used Microsoft Retail Management System before this and this was in a whole other league of its own with features and ease of use. I really like using Macs also. They are much more reliable and longer lasting than IBM or Similar computers. The cloud based system is great also so you do not have to have another unit to store you database on
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Toast overall was a very impressive system. However being new to Canada I was hesitant to sign. Clover worked well with payment processing but was not a great system for sales and service. Square would repeatedly crash and miss payments, their customer service was terrible and took too much effort to have any corrective assistance. We went with TouchBistro because in all the restaurants I have worked in this has been a consistent system and was able to integrate with Moneris payments.
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Return on Investment
  • I have to spend a lot less time training my employees because Lightspeed is so easy to use!
  • Keeping track of our inventory is as simple as clicking a few buttons.
  • Our online sales have grown tremendously since changing to Lightspeed
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  • The consistency of ordering with Touch Bistro has aged me money! From the customer to the person who takes the order to the person who makes the order and then back to the customer we have less room for error with Touch Bistro.
  • It can be slow during large volume times, especially if a lot of my customers are laying with credit cards or gift cards.
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ScreenShots